As the pandemic struck, SIX was playing to sold out houses in London’s West End, across the UK and Australia, and had its opening night in New York on Thursday March 12 cancelled when the New York Governor shut down Broadway three hours before the show was due to open.
But the producers, Kenny Wax, Wendy & Andy Barnes and George Stiles are really "on it".
Every time there's ben a shift in Covid regulations which might allow for public performances of the hit musical they've announced plans to reopen. And all too often they'd had to abandon things, including the UK tour of a "drive in" production.
There have been fresh announcements from the government in recent days so I wasn't surprised to find yet another press release in my inbox. Here's what they're saying today -
In these uncertain times and awaiting news from the Government on the new tiering system and specifically which tier London will fall into, the good news for SIX fans is that even if there is another delay, there will be 11 additional weeks to catch Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s smash hit before it returns to the Arts Theatre.
If the show opens on Saturday 5th December as currently scheduled, SIX will become the first musical to resume performances in the West End since theatres were closed down in March due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Tickets for the new dates are on sale via London Box Office.
The SIX producers say, “We have been thrilled and overwhelmed by the response for tickets. Audiences are obviously desperate to get back to the theatre. We hope that after several false starts we will be able to proceed in London and Salford as planned.”
Writer and co-director, Lucy Moss, promises the Queendom that the new London production will be “the shiniest version of SIX yet!”
SIX will perform 9 shows a week at the Lyric Theatre in London where capacity has been reduced to 50% to comply with the latest COVID-19 Secure guidelines for social distancing plus robust risk mitigation. In addition to hand sanitation, face coverings and track and trace, other measures will include contactless tickets, temperature testing and the deep clean and sanitation of the theatre."
Like most theatre Directors I've spend most of lock down rehearsing a show. Don't worry, bizarrely government regulations allow for this as long as no members of the public are admitted. However it's been surreal not knowing when that will be as no one has been able to guarantee that audiences will actually be able to watch from December 2nd as previously announced.