Evita run at the Barbican cancelled as the venue closes until 30 June

The Regent's Park Open Air Theatre production of Evita has been cancelled as the venue has decided to stay closed until 30 June.

In a message to customers the Open Air Theatre has said: "In light of the ongoing situation relating to Covid-19, the Barbican will now be closed until the end 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, reinvented by director Jamie Lloyd, was seen by over 75,000 people in Regent's Park last year and became the theatre's highest grossing production ever.

Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical originally premiered in the West End in 1978 and features such songs as "Don't Cry For Me Argentina", "Oh! What A Circus", "Another Suitcase in Another Hall" and "You Must Love Me", which won an Academy Award when performed by Madonna in the 1996 film.

Among the other shows cancelled is the Schaubühne's production of Orlando, Ivo van Hove's Death in Venice, Belarus Free Theatre's Dogs of Europe and Odéon–Théâtre de l'Europe's Glass Menagerie with Isabelle Huppert.

Nicholas Kenyon, managing director of the Barbican said: "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."