Whilst the ‘official’ date on when West End theatres will reopen is currently stated as 1 June 2020, most theatre tickets seem to now be off sale until 1 September 2020.
Major theatre producer Delfont Mackintosh now have tickets unavailable until 1 September 2020, as well as third party ticketing websites like Love Theatre, London Theatre Direct and all sites operated through the company Encore (including West End Wilma).
This date is in line with an interview Andrew Lloyd Webber gave with Page Six, earlier this month saying that “realistically, theatres will probably not open again until September 2020”.
This may just be a precaution, taking tickets off of sale and there is currently no official statement to say that theatres will be closed until September but it makes sense.
Shows won’t just be able to reopen once all this is over. There will need to be full rehearsal periods for shows that reopen as the casts won’t have performed for so long they won’t be able to just go back in to it. Imagine playing a role like Elphaba in Wicked eight times a week and then not doing it for six months – voices will have to be worked on to build up the stamina for something like that which will take time.
