Evita musical at The Barbican cancelled due to coronavirus closure

The Barbican cancels Evita musical this summer 

The critically acclaimed Regent's Park Open Air Theatre production of Evita, which was meant to transfer to London's Barbican Centre this summer, has been cancelled, it has been confirmed. The venue has made the painstaking decision to close its doors until 30 June 2020, or possibly longer. Evita was due to open on 27 June 2020 and run until 22 August 2020.

In a message to ticketholders, Open Air Theatre stated: "In light of the ongoing situation relating to COVID-19, the Barbican will now be closed until the end [of] June. We are therefore sad to confirm that the forthcoming production of Evita has been cancelled.

"All ticket holders will be contacted with regards to refunds, however, as there are a large number of events affected by the venue's closure, we appreciate your patience.

"We are sorry to disappoint our audiences but Regent's Park Theatre, the producers of the show, are working hard to find a way for the production to return to London soon."

The musical Evita was reimagined by renowned West End director Jamie Lloyd and the show was visited by over 75,000 theatregoers at Regent's Park last year. It quickly broke box office records becoming the highest-grossing production in the venue's history.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's musical first premiered in London's West End back in 1978 and boasts such memorable numbers as "Don't Cry For Me Argentina", "Another Suitcase in Another Hall", "Oh! What A Circus", and "You Must Love Me", which won Madonna an Academy Award for her 1996 rendition in the film.

Other cancelled shows for The Barbican include Schaubühne's Orlando, Ivo van Hove's Death in Venice, Belarus Free Theatre's Dogs of Europe and Odéon–Théâtre de l'Europe's Glass Menagerie starring Isabelle Huppert.

Managing Director of The Barbican Nicholas Kenyon stated: "Cancelling and postponing events at this scale really isn't in our nature. However, having reviewed the current Government advice and looking at how long social distancing measures are likely to be in place, we feel we're very unlikely to be open until at least the end of June. We, therefore, felt the best approach was to inform audiences, as well as the artists and organisations we work with, as soon as we could. We'll continue to keep reviewing the closure date over the coming weeks.

"To close our building was a poignant moment for us all. We'll be back as soon as we can and are already looking forward to the moment we can reopen our doors. Until then, we're continuing to focus on our digital offer, as we look to bring the best of the Barbican to audiences online."