This week has seen the eagerly anticipated re-opening of a number of UK theatres, including the exceptional Curve Leicester, who held their live season launch on Thursday evening - in front of a socially distanced audience and streaming online for viewers at home.

The launch marked the first time that the stunning venue had welcomed an audience into its performance space for 14 months. Hosting the proceedings in the theatre’s newly configured auditorium were: Chief Executive of Curve Chris Stafford, News Editor at The Stage Matt Hemley and Arts Journalist Geeta Pendse. Artistic Director Nikolai Foster was sadly absent as he had been taken ill earlier on in the week. However, Stafford read out a statement from Foster reflecting on the last year and looking forward to the future, which was both emotional and inspiring. This set the tone for a very uplifting and extremely positive evening.

Featuring both performance and conversation, the ultimate aim of the season launch was to create hype around their upcoming work but also to reassure audiences that they will be safe coming back to Curve. They have implemented one-way systems, increased ventilation, additional cleaning, temperature checks, allocated entry times to the building and much more to ensure that attendees will feel comfortable.

The opening performance of the evening was from Jessica Daley, effortlessly singing the complex title number from Love Never Dies. She will be performing in the upcoming celebratory concert, The Music of Andrew Lloyd Webber, alongside a starring cast next month. Containing 40 of Lloyd Webber’s songs, the show is put together by an “extraordinary” creative team, with Foster at the helm directing.

Next week sees the premiere of Alex Parker and Katie Lam’s new musical, Am Dram: A Musical Comedy, described by Lam as “a love letter to community theatre”. Laura Pitt-Pulford, who plays Rose, sings the second number in the show ‘Out in the Light’ and gives an incredibly passionate vocal performance, accompanied by Parker’s superb piano arrangement.

Curve has longstanding relationships with creatives including CEO & Artistic Director of Serendipity Pawlet Brookes and Aakash Odedra, who celebrates the 10th anniversary of his Leicester-based dance company this year, and both talk about their future plans with the hosts during the launch. The venue also recently announced a list of artists who they will be working with as Resident Creatives going forward. Hip hop dance company Wayward Thread are one of the chosen companies and four of their talented dancers deliver a phenomenally intricate piece during the launch, along with Nottingham’s Sheep Soup who perform a catchy number called ‘Use It or Lose It’ from their musical, Hoarding, to close the first half.

Opening the second half is Melanie La Barrie who brings the house down singing ‘What I Did For Love’ from A Chorus Line, which is Curve’s exciting Christmas production this year; some three years after Stafford obtained the rights. Amongst the Made at Curve work, there are also plenty of major touring shows visiting the venue for limited runs including Peter James’ Looking Good Dead, Mischief’s Magic Goes Wrong and Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Following a short Q&A between the hosts and socially distanced audience, the evening comes to a close with Emma Williams performing ‘Seasons of Love’ from Rent, which will receive a concert staging in August.

A jam packed evening reflects the jam packed programme that we can look forward to at Curve this season. We can’t wait to get back in that beautiful venue, Besties!