Frozen musical wins exemption to play to bigger audiences

The Disney musical Frozen has received an exemption to play to larger audiences when it opens in Sydney next month, with major arts companies urging a relaxation of restrictions be extended to Christmas and summer concerts.

NSW Health Minister Brad Hazzard has lifted the capacity limit inside the Capitol Theatre to 85 per cent, in a breakthrough moment for the pandemic hit arts and entertainment sector.

Frozen on Broadway.

Currently, restrictions of 50 per cent apply for a maximum of 1,000 people for seated and ticketed events, or one person per four square metres.

All patrons aged over 12 years will need to wear a mask and those living in hot spot areas of pandemic outbreaks will be barred from attending.

Exemptions have not yet been granted for Pippin which opens at the Lyric Theatre from Tuesday.

Graeme Kearns, managing director of Foundation Theatres which owns the Capitol and the Lyric, said the outcome was a "great step", the result of weeks working with NSW Health to develop protocols that would ensure the venues could operate safely with larger audiences.

New tickets for Frozen went on sale Monday as soon as producers were notified of the exemption. Staggered entry and departure will be introduced and seats left vacant at the rear of the auditorium.

It's a different story for the Australian Brandenburg Orchestra, which applied with the Australian Chamber Orchestra, Pinchgut Opera, and Sydney Symphony Orchestra for an exemption through the City Recital Hall.

Noel Noel, Australian Brandenburg Orchestra with Emma Birdsall.

ABO has been forced to remove from sale all tickets for its NOEL! NOEL! concert series, three weeks from opening, while it awaits advice from the government on the COVID-safe regulations.

Some of the six concerts, sold as part of the 2020 subscriber season in January, already exceed current capacity limits and without an exemption the company is contemplating reseating or refunding ticketholders.

"We've done one concert series this year and that was in March," ABO's head of marketing Tom Morgan said. "We are a live performance company and ticket revenue forms the bulk of our income. A lot of those seats are pre-sold to subscribers so if we are limited to 50 per cent capacity there's a good chance a number of those subscribers will be turned away. They have a right to a refund if we cannot seat them and we do rely heavily on ticketing income."

The popular and profitable concert series, now in its 20th year, represents 15 percent of the company's overall ticketing income in a typical year, Mr Morgan said. In 2020 the series will represent more than half its annual revenue.

Mr Morgan says commercial theatres seemed to have a "louder voice" than the state's arts companies.

"It's been a hard year for all the arts companies, and we are seeing sporting events occurring before huge crowds and commercial theatres look to be at 75 or 85 per cent capacity. We want everyone to succeed, but with three weeks until our concerts open and to still not have a decision from the government to open up beyond 50 per cent capacity is extremely disappointing."

NSW Health said it had worked with the Capitol Theatre to ensure the risk associated with increased numbers could be appropriately managed.

"The NSW Government continues to consider the capacity for other entertainment productions. However, no final decisions have yet been made."