For performance venues around England, it is the week they have been waiting for – being able to legally fill their auditoriums after 17 months.
But despite all legal limits being lifted, venues and theatres, while excited, are tentatively making changes to their policies – with some opting to keep some restrictions.
Ahead of Monday, Sky News has spoken to a number of people from the industry that have expressed their relief, anxieties and hopes for the next step in its social and financial recovery.
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‘Important’ for UK that theatres reopen – McKellen
Nica Burns, co-owner of Nimax Theatres in London
Six of London’s best known theatres, such as the Lyric and the Palace, are co-owned by Nica Burns – making her a major player in the city’s entertainment district.
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Speaking to Sky News from her office on Zoom, she said that while restrictions across the UK are lifting, her theatres would not be immediately increasing capacity and relaxing mask rules.
A number of her venues opened in May at the initial lifting of restrictions, meaning she has already had a head start.
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“A lot of tickets that were already sold, had been sold at 50%,” she said. “The advance ticket sales go back a couple of months when what they were promised were the capacity and robust mitigation measures – and we’re giving them 50%, and 60% and 70% capacity will go up to potentially go to 75%.”
Explaining her more cautious approach, she said: “I think it’s that I just thought that was the right thing to do.”
Ms Burns added that some of her theatres are old and narrow, meaning, for now, reduced capacity will help alleviate pinch points and keep people safe.
The approach taken by Ms Burns is different to that of counterpart Andrew Lloyd Webber, who is planning to pack his auditoriums as soon as possible and is hosting what he calls a “Freedom Day” performance of Cinderella – but his theatres will still require patrons to wear masks and present recent proof of a negative test, according to his website.
Delfont Mackintosh Theatres, home to shows such as Mary Poppins and Hamilton, also says online that it will be asking for proof of vaccination status and encouraging mask use from 21 July when auditoriums fully reopen.
Shows in the West End are booking now.
Image: The Palace Theatre, co-owned by Ms Burns, has been dark since last March
Chris Stafford, chief executive of Curve Theatre in Leicester
The Curve Theatre in Leicester will open on Tuesday, without any social distancing, for the first time since the pandemic when the national tour of Magic Goes Wrong opens.
“We’re really pleased to say audiences feel confident returning to theatre,” Mr Stafford told Sky News over Zoom from the venue’s auditorium.
“We are seeing audiences booking tickets to come back and have a shared experience together.
“But also, one of the really important things for us is that we offer audiences as they build their confidence security, that the theatre coming back and returning to live events will be as safe as it possibly can be.”
Mr Stafford explained that while his venue received culture recovery grants from the government, and that his venue is partially subsidised by the Arts Council, audiences need to return to “pre-COVID levels”.
He added that 330,000 people a year were visiting his venue before the pandemic – making it a key part of Leicester’s economy
“It’s essential that they survive this pandemic,” he concluded.
Masks will still be required at the venue, Mr Stafford confirmed, while social distancing will be dropped.
Leicester Curve reopens on Tuesday 20 July, with a touring production of Magic Goes Wrong.
Image: Magic Goes Wrong will reopen Leicester’s Curve. Pic: Robert Day
Loki Mackay, manager of The Comedy Store in London
“There are so many things to do still,” Loki Mackay told Sky News ahead of The Comedy Store reopening, adding: “The short notice made it difficult to plan ahead.”
The iconic central London venue will open its doors again next week and invite punters back in to what is one of the world’s most famous comedy clubs.
Upon reopening, the club will go pretty much back to standard trading – masks will be optional, no social distancing will be in place, and visitors won’t need to prove their health status.
Mr Mackay told Sky News he was “doing okay with tickets” but added there will be no full houses for a while.
He says comics are “raring to go” after 18 months of podcasting and blogging to make ends meet.
On support over the last year, he said that it was “b***** all” and that everything they have heard has been through the newspapers. And while he has had some some Arts Council funding, it all went on rent.
The venue reopens later this week, with acts such as Marcus Brigstocke, Kiri Pritchard-Maclean and Tom Stade.
Image: A view of The Comedy Store sign in central London
Sir Ian McKellen, theatre legend appearing in Hamlet at the Theatre Royal Windsor
Sir Ian McKellen, 82, who is starring in Hamlet at the Theatre Royal in Windsor, told Sky News he believes audiences will be nervous to come back into venues.
He said: “I am a little bit nervous about that. I daresay the audience will be nervous too.
“Do audiences really want to come back and sit next to people with a cough, who’s a bit fidgety?”
He said he didn’t know if “our patterns of behaviour” will have changed, or “will swing back to normality”.
Sir Ian added: “I suspect not for a little bit.”
Tickets for Hamlet, which has just extended its Windsor run, are available now.
Image: Sir Ian McKellen, who stars in Hamlet at the Theatre Royal in Windsor, which runs until 25 September 2021
Mazz Murray and Ben Forster, West End performers and appearing at the Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall will be back with a bang this week, as it hosts its delayed 150th birthday celebrations.
On Monday it will host its very own 150th birthday party, then on Wednesday, stars of the West End will take to the stage in aid of charity Acting For Others.
Ben Forster, who has performed iconic roles such as Jesus, in Jesus Chris Superstar, and the Phantom, in Phantom Of The Opera, will be one of the stars on stage that night.
“The last 18 months has been terrible. We would never have expected coming into the pandemic that it would have lasted for so long,” he told Sky News from the Royal Albert Hall.
“I just want people to feel the love again, and it heightens people’s spirits. That’s why people go and watch musicals, because it lifts them and takes them on a journey for for a moment. And that’s what this show is going to do.”
Mazz Murray, who will be taking on the role of Donna in Mamma Mia in August, will also perform, and says it’s going to be a “real mix of emotions”.
Murray added that while performers have had little support over the past year-and-a-half, “there’s been no precedent and that unfortunately their professions were spent in dark, busy unventilated spaces”.
“So if anyone’s going to have to take the rough end, then I’m prepared to take it,” she said. “It was it was very, very difficult. I’m hoping that we’re at the end of it, but I love what I do – so on this occasion, we all got the short straw.”
Like other venues, the Royal Albert Hall is asking people to wear masks and take tests – but won’t enforce it as the hall feels it is unfair when the government permits taking masks off.
Tickets to The Best Of The West End on Wednesday 21 July are available now.
Image: Staff install and switch on a new sign at the Royal Albert Hall in London, as it prepares to celebrate its 150th anniversary
Jenna Boyd, West End performer in Come From Away
Jenna Boyd will be part of the cast of the Olivier-winning Come From Away when it reopens later this week.
It’s based on the true events in the immediate aftermath of 9/11 when planes were rerouted to Gander in Newfoundland, Canada.
Speaking to Sky News during a rehearsal break at the Phoenix Theatre, Ms Boyd said the last 18 months had been “hideous”.
“This industry has felt abandoned,” she said. “There are a number of people who have been fortunate enough to be able to receive some sort of financial aid – but the huge majority of people have been literally hung out to dry.”
Speaking about getting back on stage, she said: “I think it’s going to be fairly overwhelming for all of us. There’s going to be a few tears as we walk out and there’s going to be a few tears as we finish, and it’s all because the love that the audience gives from their appreciation of what goes on on that stage and the story that’s been told is so, so mammoth.”
Come From Away opens on 22 July at London’s Phoenix Theatre.
Image: Come From Away tells the true story of the flights that were diverted to Newfoundland after 9/11
Steve Cowley, local theatre performer, appearing in one man show Battle Cry
Steve Cowley from Chesterfield in Derbyshire says he is “really excited” to get back on to stages over the next few weeks. He’ll perform in one man show Battle Cry in Birmingham and Buxton – the first time he’ll have appeared on stage in the flesh since early 2020.
The show is about a veteran suffering with PTSD, which opened to acclaim when it debuted a couple of years ago.
Mr Cowley teaches acting as well as treading the boards for a living, but last year left him at a loss when his only work suddenly dried up.
“Even my agent had to get another job,” he told Sky News from his local theatre, adding: “It’s scary to see the industry on its knees.
“We were probably overlooked, and I thought I might quit at one point.
“I used the government’s job retraining tool, and it gave me things like market trader, funeral director and beauty consultant – none of them were me.”
You can watch Battle Cry at the Buxton Fringe on 23 and 24 July.
Image: Buxton will host an arts festival later this week
Cinemas and gig venues
It’s a busy time for large parts of the industry right now, understandably, so many of the people Sky News contacted were unable to chat.
However, cinemas such as Vue and Curzon said in statements that masks would still be encouraged at their screenings with safety protocols – like enhanced cleaning – largely unchanged. The UK’s biggest chain, Cineworld, says masks remain mandatory in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as per the government guidance there, but won’t be in England anymore (they will be encouraged for staff, though).
At gig venues – the Academy Group, which looks after the local O2 venues across the country, says while masks are no longer mandatory, their use is encouraged. Its venues will also be asking for proof of a negative test or that both vaccinations have been had.
It is important to note that each venue, company and operator will have different rules, and it is advised to check with them before making any decisions to book events.
His death came just weeks after he reunited with his Black Sabbath bandmates – Tony Iommi, Terence “Geezer” Butler and Bill Ward – and performed a huge farewell concert for fans.
The band paid tribute to him on Instagram by sharing an image of Osbourne on stage at the farewell gig in Birmingham and writing “Ozzy Forever”.
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Iommi, the band’s lead guitarist, said he was in disbelief at the news.
“It’s just such heartbreaking news that I can’t really find the words, there won’t ever be another like him. Geezer, Bill and myself have lost our brother.”
More on Ozzy Osbourne
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1:17
Watch: Ozzy’s last concert
Butler, Black Sabbath’s bassist and primary lyricist, thanked Osbourne for “all those years – we had some great fun”.
He said: “Four kids from Aston – who’d have thought, eh? So glad we got to do it one last time, back in Aston. Love you.”
Image: Osbourne with his wife Sharon during the 46th Annual Grammy Awards. Pic: AP
Sir Elton John described Osbourne as his “dear friend” and a “huge trailblazer” who “secured his place in the pantheon of rock gods”.
“He was also one of the funniest people I’ve ever met,” the singer wrote on Instagram.
Ronnie Wood, of The Rolling Stones, wrote: “I am so very sad to hear of the death of Ozzy Osbourne. What a lovely goodbye concert he had at Back To The Beginning in Birmingham.”
Born John Michael Osbourne on 3 December 1948 in Aston, Birmingham, he became known as the godfather of heavy metal.
The self-styled Prince of Darkness pioneered the music genre with Black Sabbath before going on to have huge success in his own right.
He was famous for hits including Iron Man, Paranoid, War Pigs, Crazy Train and Changes, both with the band and as a solo star.
Legendary American heavy metal band Metallica shared an image of them with Osbourne from 1986 along with an emoji of a broken heart.
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Posting on Instagram, Sir Rod Stewart said: “Sleep well, my friend. I’ll see you up there – later rather than sooner.”
Queen guitarist Sir Brian May said he was “grateful I was able to have a few quiet words” with Osbourne after his farewell show at Villa Park three weeks ago.
He said the world will miss the singer’s “unique presence and fearless talent”.
“You’ve no idea how I feel – thank you from the bottom of my heart,” an emotional Ozzy Osbourne told fans as he performed from a throne on stage at his beloved Villa Park, reunited with Black Sabbath, less than three weeks ago.
It was an exit on his own terms by heavy metal’s biggest character, with a supporting line-up of hard rock luminaries including Slayer, Metallica and Guns’n’Roses, all inspired by his music.
With Black Sabbath, Osbourne was at the forefront of heavy metal. As Ozzy, he was one of the biggest rock stars in the world. Nowhere was this more evident than at the Back To The Beginning in his home city, where 40,000 fans gathered to see the show billed as his “final bow”.
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1:17
Ozzy’s final show
“Without Sabbath, there would be no Metallica,” frontman James Hetfield told the crowd in Birmingham.
It was a sentiment echoed by many of the other acts who performed on stage. Announced by his wife Sharon earlier this year, the show was a chance for the performer to reunite with Black Sabbath and say thank you and farewell to fans after years of health problems, including Parkinson’s disease, which had forced him to cancel recent tour shows.
Other celebrities, from Sir Elton John to Dolly Parton, sent video messages of support. Fans knew it would be his last performance, but could not have known his death, at the age of 76, would come so soon.
It was a truly metal goodbye.
Image: Black Sabbath in the 1970s. Pic: Everett/Shutterstock
‘I think there’s a wild man in everybody’
John Michael Osbourne was born in Solihull in December 1948 and grew up in the Aston area of the West Midlands city.
As a teenager, he was bullied at school. Drink and drugs later became a way to escape his fears, he said in interviews, and after leaving school at 15, he worked several jobs, including labouring and in an abattoir.
It was hearing The Beatles, he said, that made him want to be a musician.
“I think there’s a wild man in everybody,” he says in a resurfaced interview clip. “Ozzy Osbourne and John Osbourne is two different people. John Osbourne is talking to you now.” His eyes widen a little manically, he grins, the voice cranks up. “But if you want to be Ozzy Osbourne, it’s like… it just takes over you.”
Image: (L-R) Tony Iommi, Ozzy Osbourne and Geezer Butler of Black Sabbath at the Grammys in 2014
In 1967, he was recruited to the band that two years later would become Black Sabbath, inspired by a film of the same title. This was a line-up of four working-class schoolfriends – Tony Iommi, Bill Ward and Geezer Butler, alongside Ozzy – who twisted heavy blues into something darker, creating a sound and otherworldly image that felt new, exciting and rebellious.
A self-titled debut album was released in 1970 and made the Top 10 in the UK. The follow-up, Paranoid, released just seven months later, topped the charts after the single of the same name became their big breakthrough. The album also included the unforgettable Iron Man and the anti-war protest song War Pigs – its unmistakeable riff inspiring the Arctic Monkeys’ 2014 single, Arabella.
Black Sabbath went on to release six more albums with Osbourne at the helm before he was fired in 1979 due to his drinking and substance use, something he claimed was no better or worse than other members at the time.
Image: Osbourne in 1978. Pic: Andrew Kent/Retna/Mediapunch/Shutterstock
In 1980, he returned with his debut solo album, Blizzard Of Oz, and the lead single Crazy Train. As a solo artist, he went on to release 13 studio albums – the last being Patient Number 9, in 2022 – and had hits with songs including Mr Crowley, Diary Of A Madman, No More Tears, Bark At The Moon and Shot In The Dark.
His first UK number one was a re-recording of the Black Sabbath ballad Changes, as a duet with his daughter, Kelly, in 2003, and his collaborations over the years included everyone from Alice Cooper (Hey Stoopid in 1991) and Post Malone (Take What You Want in 2019) to, in a somewhat unusual move, Hollywood star Kim Basinger for a re-recording of the dance hit Shake Your Head by Was (Not Was) in 1992.
With Black Sabbath and as a solo star, he is estimated to have sold 100 million records throughout his career – for context, this is reportedly on a par with Sir Paul McCartney’s solo sales – so the numbers speak for themselves.
Image: With daughter Kelly Osbourne and wife Sharon in 2020. Pic: AP
Biting the bat
Osbourne was also a huge personality and played up to his hellraising image – the Prince of Darkness.
The most famous Ozzy story goes like this.
The singer was on stage in Des Moines, Iowa, 1982, when the bat appeared. He assumed it was a toy. So, like any good hellraiser would do, he bit its head off.
Image: Pic: Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
For more than 40 years, he found himself jokily fielding questions about bats. What do they taste like? (Salty). What happened afterwards? (Headline news, painful rabies shots). Do you have any pets? (Yes. They’re all dead). “I get a lot of weird people at my concerts,” he told David Letterman in 1982, of how the animal came to appear in front of him. “It’s rock ‘n’ roll, y’know”.
He was sometimes irritated by the bat connection. But he also played up to the image, recounting the story in interviews, offering plush bat toys among his merch, and appearing as himself, biting a bat, in the 2000 Adam Sandler comedy Little Nicky, about the son of Satan.
Known for catapulting raw meat at fans during gigs, there were plenty of other tales of darkness and debauchery. Osbourne’s wild persona and on-stage theatrics always went hand-in-hand with the music.
From Prince of Darkness to reality TV
He was famously managed by his wife, Sharon, whom he first met when her dad, Don Arden, was managing Black Sabbath. As well as the music, Sharon and Ozzy together founded the Ozzfest festival tours in 1996 – and in 2002 came his second act.
It’s hard to imagine it now, but before the perfectly coiffed Kardashians it was a scruffy 50-something rocker from Birmingham and his family who ruled the Hollywood reality TV scene. As with his music, he was a pioneer – this time round of a new era of addictive viewing.
The Osbournes followed the lives of Ozzy and Sharon and two of their children, Kelly and Jack (their eldest daughter, Aimee, famously had nothing to do with the show), and the family fallouts and sunny California culture clash proved to be a ratings winner. The MTV series catapulted the metal star to global mainstream celebrity heights.
His marriage to Sharon was tumultuous but the pair always stayed together, and they renewed their wedding vows in 2017. Sharon was the driving force behind Ozzy’s successes, to him eventually getting clean, and behind his farewell show.
Image: Metallica frontman James Hetfield was among those who paid tribute at his final gig earlier in July. Pic: Ross Halfin
Despite weathering the storm of drink and drug use, Osbourne’s air of indestructibility was challenged when a quad bike accident left him with a broken collar bone and ribs, as well as short-term memory loss, in 2003.
The 2020 documentary Biography: The Nine Lives Of Ozzy Osbourne, had summed up with its title the performer’s seeming ability to defy the odds. However, the health problems started to mount up. Scheduled tours were postponed, and in 2023 he told fans holding on to tickets that he had come to the realisation he was “not physically capable” of dealing with life on the road.
But there was one gig he couldn’t miss – a surprise appearance to close the Commonwealth Games in his home city in 2022, just weeks after undergoing surgery.
Now, fans will remember the shows they did get to see, the music that ushered in a new genre – and especially his most recent gig, which was said to have raised around £140m for charities. Just a few days afterwards, his new memoir, Last Rites, was announced. It will be released in October.
Image: Ozzy Osbourne’s star on the ‘Birmingham Walk of Stars’
During his career, Osbourne was inducted into the UK Music Hall of Fame and the US Rock And Roll Hall Of Fame – twice for both, with Black Sabbath and as a solo artist. “Countless artists from many genres have credited Ozzy as a major influence, including Metallica, Lita Ford, Rage Against The Machine, and Busta Rhymes,” reads his US citation. “With his longevity, impact, and iconic persona, Ozzy Osbourne is a phenomenon unlike any other.”
He also has a star on the Hollywood Walk Of Fame – as well as in Birmingham’s Broad Street – an Ivor Novello, and five Grammy wins from 12 nominations.
But other honours, such as the NME’s Godlike Genius award, and Classic Rock’s Living Legend, also give a sense of how much his personality played a part in why he is so beloved by fans and critics alike. In the Nine Lives documentary, daughter Kelly describes him as “the most irresistible mad man you will ever meet in your life”.
Osbourne’s was an unlikely journey from Birmingham to LA. He was a working-class hero of heavy metal, a reality TV favourite – forever the Prince of Darkness.
“People say to me, if you could do it all again, knowing what you know now, would you change anything?” he once said. “I’m like, f*** no… If I’d done normal, sensible things, I wouldn’t be Ozzy.”
Christina Aguilera has told Sky News it is “magical” to see her hit film Burlesque being brought to London’s West End – and also opened up about her rise to fame in the late 1990s.
The US star topped the US and UK charts with Genie In A Bottle in 1999, before finding an even bigger audience with her acclaimed album Stripped and hits including Dirrty, Beautiful and Fighter in the early 2000s.
Image: Christina Aguilera is a producer for the stage adaptation of Burlesque. Pic: Hayden Coens @daydreamsmedia
In 2010, she starred in Burlesque alongside Cher, Julianne Hough and Stanley Tucci, and now, 15 years later, is a producer for the stage version of the show alongside the film’s original director and writer, Steven Antin.
Speaking ahead of the show’s gala night, Aguileratold Sky News presenter Leah Boleto she has enjoyed taking a backseat and seeing the fresh interpretation of her character – a small-town girl turned into a star.
Image: Burlesque The Musical. Pic: Pamela Raith Photography
“It’s just so beautiful to see the talent that’s on this stage and to absorb it and appreciate the fresh takes on things,” she said. “I love actually taking a step back and a backseat… it’s beautiful to see the reinvention.
“When you’re in it, you focus on the choreography, all these different elements, that being able to take a backseat and being more of a visionary of the bigger picture, it’s really a special thing.”
Aguilera said she had been “blown away” by Jess Folley, who plays her character Ali in the show, and has fully embraced the “powerhouse vocals” as well as the vulnerability needed for the role.
“She just is doing such a magnificent, magnificent job and likewise inspires me as well,” she said.
Image: Jess Folley stars as Ali, the role originally played by Aguilera, in Burlesque The Musical. Pic: Pamela Raith Photography
Aguilera said she would love to see her film co-star Cher popping by to see the show in London.
“She’s always welcome to grace us with her incredible, iconic presence. And I’m just so grateful that I had the time to be with her. I mean, looking back, it’s just – did that even happen?”
Aguilera arrived on the scene at the same time as Britney Spears, at a time when young female pop stars were celebrated, sexualised and scrutinised.
After the success of her debut album, she took a different direction with Stripped – embracing her sexuality and famously taking on a less girlish image with chaps, a nose stud and black streaks in her hair for the Dirrty video, and opening up about her life and emotions through songs such as Fighter and Beautiful.
Image: Aguilera at the MTV Video Awards in New York in 2002. Pic: Star Max via AP Images
She also took on the patriarchy in Can’t Hold Us Down, a duet with Lil’ Kim, and performed on the hit cover of Lady Marmalade alongside Lil’ Kim, Maya and Pink for Moulin Rouge!
“I always want to stay true to authenticity,” she said. “And for me, with that first album it was wonderful to get my foot in the door…
“It’s important to me that I stepped out on my own and reflected all sides of me as a woman, embracing my sexuality and sensuality, and my body… Dirrty, I just loved those chaps and everything about that was just so fun and raw.”
So would she do it all again, then? Or would she prefer to be an artist starting out now?
“The ’90s, it was a pretty special time in music. And it was a time when you could still like go to Virgin records or like wherever and look at the CDs, look at the packaging. And, you know, sometimes the authenticity is missed.”
However, the good thing about social media now is that it has given stars the means to tell their own stories, she adds. “You have an opportunity now to really present yourself in ways that it’s not just about the music, to become more the narrator in real time… this is what it is like, be your own voice rather than reading about yourself in an article.”
But still, she wouldn’t swap. “It has to stay where it was.”
Burlesque The Musical is showing at The Savoy theatre in London now