Royal Wanganui Opera House is back with live shows for music and theatre lovers

Nikki Moore and Shirna Matthews are happy to be back in the swing of things at the Royal Wanganui Opera House. Photo / Bevan Conley

Performance is set to return to the Royal Wanganui Opera House in less than a month for the first time since Covid-19 lockdown.

The opera house was closed from the end of March until May 14 when the box office was able to reopen under Covid-19 alert level 2.

Whanganui District Council's venues and events manager, Jo Jonas, said the lockdown period was still busy for staff.

"During the closure, staff worked from home dealing with ticket inquiries and venue bookings as well as taking the opportunity to work on the theatre's archives," she said.

"The last show in the opera house was Royal NZ Ballet Tutus on Tour on March 14 and a number of shows had to be cancelled or postponed due to the Covid-19 restrictions."

Two shows at the opera house have been rescheduled to November this year and three shows to early 2021. However, there are still shows booked in at the opera house for the rest of the year.

The Lucien Johnson Quartet (jazz saxophone, piano, drums, bass) is the first show back on Saturday, July 4 at 7.30pm.

"This is followed by Kitchen Chaos on Sunday, July 5 at 2pm – a show for children where magic is accidentally let loose in the kitchen," said Jonas.

"The Cat in the Hat is coming in July too and Sharyn Underwood's School of Dance recital 'Mr Sandman' has been rescheduled to August 1 and 2."

Jonas said there have been inquiries from promoters looking to get New Zealand performers back on stage and touring the country.

"We may get an opportunity to see acts which would normally be touring abroad but are instead staying on our safe shores."