Jun 29, 2020

Manitoba Opera Announces Cancellation of 2020/21 Season Opening Production of Sweeney Todd

Manitoba Opera announced today that the 2020/21 season opening production, Sweeney Todd, is cancelled.  The company made the decision to cancel the Manitoba premiere of this Broadway masterpiece scheduled to run at the Centennial Concert Hall November 7, 10, and 13, owing to a number of reasons in response to the pandemic.

“The Board of Trustees and I came to this conclusion based on a number of factors,” explained Larry Desrochers, General Director & CEO. “First and foremost, the safety of our patrons, artists, crew, staff, and volunteers is of paramount importance, and we do not believe that we can guarantee the appropriate level of safety for a full-scale production at this time.

The Province has indicated that it will not be reviewing the re-opening of large venues like the Centennial Concert Hall until September. To prepare a production for November, chorus rehearsals would normally start in August, and rehearsals are not possible with social distancing in place.

Social distancing measures that must be in place for the audience in the Centennial Concert Hall reduces the number of available seats to sell and that means producing large-scale productions is not economically viable at this time.”

Though the fall production has been cancelled, Manitoba Opera will continue to present opera throughout the year. Plans have been developed for a variety of artistic, community engagement, and education programming.  Some events will be online, some live, and others will be a combination of both, depending on circumstances.