‘Phantom of Opera’ to resume from April 23

The Seoul run of the musical “The Phantom of the Opera,” which was suspended after its cast members were confirmed with COVID-19, will resume on April 23.

On March 31, a Canadian ensemble cast member was confirmed with the virus infection. Two days later, her colleague, an American actor, also tested positive. The production initially decided to halt the musical shows until April 14 but delayed it further after the second infection.

Before confirmed as having the coronavirus , the two crew members had briefly returned to their home countries, returning to Korea in March.

The rest of the cast went into self-quarantine although they all tested negative for the virus.

“Staff and cast members’ 15-day self-quarantine are over,” the international tour production of “The Phantom of the Opera” said in a statement. “We decided to resume the performance from the 23rd after rechecking the overall situation of production and health condition of performers and staff.”

The production company said that all 126 members and staff were retested for the virus before the end of the self-quarantine period and all were confirmed negative.

It also announced that one of its cast members, who was discharged from the hospital on April 10, will remain in self-quarantine for another two weeks and will not perform on April 23.

“We will continue to strictly follow the government’s regulations for preventing infection such as mandating the wearing of masks on-site, monitoring body temperatures and distancing performers from the audiences,” the official added.

A total of 8,578 people who attended the performances from March 18 to 31 are being monitored by the Seoul Metropolitan Government. So far there have been no infections among the audience.

By Song Seung-hyun (ssh@heraldcorp.com)