ORANGE Theatre Company's two annual productions will be put back a timeslot after coronavirus stopped rehearsals for Mamma Mia.
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The popular musical was set to be staged in May for 10 performances across a three-weekend run, the first in a number of years.
Beauty and the Beast was due to be staged in October.
Instead, Mamma Mia will run the same number of performances across two weeks in October, while Beauty and the Beast is hoped to be staged in 2021.
Mamma Mia director and OTC president Blake Thomas said rehearsals stopped just before social distancing restrictions came into force.
There's only a set number of performances [of a show] allowed at any one time in Australia.
- Orange Theatre Company president Blake Thomas
"We wanted to make sure our cast and crew members were safe," he said.
Mr Thomas said the committee made the decision to move the performances two weeks ago and it had been a challenge to reschedule the shows due to licensing.
"There's only a set number of productions or performances [of a show] allowed at any one time in Australia and the rights holders all work it out," he said.
"For example, they won't give Orange Theatre Company and Bathurst Theatre Company the same show close together."
Mr Thomas said the cast only needed six more weeks of rehearsal and hoped they might be able to recommence preparations in August if restrictions were lifted.
"We have no doubt we will pick it up from where we left off," he said.
Mr Thomas said the cast had kept in contact during isolation.
"When we put rehearsals on hold, they were obviously disappointed, but very supportive of that decision," he said.
Orange Civic Theatre performing arts manager Michelle Pearce said the process was under way to reassign tickets to the new dates.
Once existing ticket holders are satisfied with their allocations, sales will be reopened to the general public.
Mamma Mia is a jukebox musical written around the ABBA song catalogue.
It tells the story of a young woman, who invites three men from her mother's past to her wedding in the hope of discovering the identity of her real father.
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