Rutland Musical Theatre has announced the dates of its long-awaited performance of Fiddler on the Roof.

The group, which turns 40 next year, was due to perform the popular musical set in imperial Russia and written by Joseph Stein earlier this year.

Sadly, however, the pandemic struck before the popular group was due to perform in Uppingham during its usual April timeframe.

The theatre group's Katie Ross posted on Facebook: "Well, what a year 2020 has turned out to be! I'm sure you will all agree that the pandemic and lockdown period has certainly made us all appreciate just how much we miss being able to visit the theatre.

"We were so lucky to have been able to have a final full 'run through' of the show before lockdown which demonstrated just how fantastic our production of Fiddler on the Roof is going to be!

"We would like to take this opportunity to offer you our heartfelt thanks for your kind words, support, patience and understanding over the past few months as we have found our way through a most unprecedented situation.

"Though we are clearly not out of the woods yet it is important that as a company we look forward and plan for what we hope will be better times ahead.

We are therefore thrilled to announce that our production of Fiddler on the Roof will now be performed from: WEDNESDAY 7th – SATURDAY 10th JULY 2021 at the UPPINGHAM THEATRE! "

Katie continued: "We appreciate these are not our traditional April half term dates, however the committee discussed this at length and felt it would be better and safer to plan to perform slightly later in the year as a one off, when the weather will be better and covid will be much more under control (we hope and pray!!)."

The group has announced the moving of dates for those who already have tickets.

Wednesday 1st April 2020 at 7.30pm has moved to Wednesday 7th July 2021 at 7.30pm

Thursday 2nd April 2020 at 7.30pm has moved to Thursday 8th July 2021 at 7.30pm

Friday 3rd April 2020 at 7.30pm has moved to Friday 9th July 2021 at 7.30pm

Saturday 4th April 2020 at 2.30pm has moved to Saturday 10th July 2021 at 2.30pm

Saturday 4th April 2020 at 7.30pm has moved to Saturday 10th July 2021 at 7.30pm

Instructions are also given if the new dates are no longer suitable.

Katie continued: "So, what happens now? find out below:

1ï¸"That's great! The new date is okay!"

If your change of date is okay with those in your booking, you don't have to do anything. You can simply arrive at the performance with your current tickets showing the correct day of the week, I.e. Wednesday.

2ï¸"That's great! But I need to change the date/performance I come to?"

Katie explained: "If you still are super excited about supporting us and seeing the show but now need to change the day/performance you attend, please email [email protected] with your name, booking reference and the date/performance you wish to move your booking to and we will sort this for you the best we can. We will try and get as close to 'like for like' seats as we can, however we will only be able to offer the seats that are available."

3ï¸"Oh no! Sadly I can't make any of these dates!"

"If the change of date means you are now unavailable to attend the

performance and you wish to have a refund, please email [email protected] with your name and booking reference and we will issue you with a refund. If you are unable to make the new dates but still wish to support us in some way, we would kindly ask that you consider donating your ticket money to the Rutland Musical Theatre.

"Like so many, as a small community run charity we have been seriously hard hit by the pandemic and your support and donation would go a long way towards helping us continue to bring high standard music theatre to the local community and would be so greatly appreciated by so many people. If this is something you would like to do, again, please email [email protected] with your name and booking reference so that we can release your seats and thank you personally on behalf of the whole company for your kind donation."

Katie added: "If you wish to wait for further developments, you are also welcome not to rush into a decision on the above. Ticket sales will be going LIVE again in the next few weeks for anyone wishing to purchase additional tickets.

"If email is not your preferred method, you are also welcome to contact Laura, our Vice Chair and Bookings Co-ordinator on:

01572 492848.

[email protected]

"We will be dealing with a higher number of emails than usual, and as a community run charity run by volunteers only, it may take us slightly longer than usual to respond so please do bare with us and be reassured we will deal with your questions and requests as quickly as we possibly can.

"May we thank you once again for your patience and understanding and we can't wait to welcome you all to the Uppingham Theatre in July 2021 for our production of the wonderful 'Fiddler on the Roof'!"