A tour of hit musical The Phantom of the Opera has been forced to shut down as theatres remain dark due to the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
Andrew Lloyd Webber 's famous story of a disfigured musical genius' dangerous obsession with beautiful soprano Christine Daae has been at Her Majesty's Theatre in London for 34 years, making it one of the longest-running West End shows of all times.
Sadly, theatres have been left dark for weeks after the outbreak of the COVID-19 virus meant that strict social-distancing rules had be be put in place.
A UK and Ireland tour of Phantom, produced by Cameron Mackintosh, had only played its opening date when they were forced to postpone all other performances.
And now, they've regrettably announced that the rest of the tour will not go ahead.
A statement released by Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Group said: "It is with great sadness that due to the current state of complete shutdown of the British theatre by the Government because of Covid-19, Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Group must announce that their new UK and Ireland Tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, which had only played its opening date prior to a 14 month tour, will not re-open.
"The great uncertainty around the duration of social distancing requirements and the perilous financial situation in which many regional theatres find themselves have conspired to make re-routing an entire major tour like Phantom impossible for some time as so many existing tours are needing to reschedule.
"The production opened at Curve, Leicester at the beginning of March. Subsequent runs in Manchester and Dublin have already been cancelled. Following these dates, the tour was due to play Birmingham, Edinburgh, Sunderland, Cardiff, Plymouth, Southampton and Bradford.
"Whilst it is heart breaking for us as producers as well as for our wonderful cast, orchestra and crew who had all worked so hard to create this truly spectacular but tragically short-lived reinvented staging of the original production, we are determined that the disappearance of the Phantom from the British regional stage will not be forever and that when theatre is back thrilling audiences again the Music of the Night will soar once more from the orchestra pit.
"Ticket holders will be contacted directly by their venue/point of sale in due course and we appreciate their patience in this unprecedented time."
