(Credit: Jeff Busby)

The Sydney Opera House will reopen on Jan. 5, 2021, with the production of Franz Lehár’s operetta ” Die Lustige Witwe,” following a 10-month long hiatus.

The operetta will star the principal soprano of Opera Australia Julie Lea Goodwin in the role of Hanna Glawari, and English-Australian operatic tenor and musical theatre actor Alexander Lewis in the role of Count Danilo Danilovitsch.

Graeme Murphy is the director.

The Sydney Opera House has been registered as a COVID Safe business with the NSW Government. Opera Australia’s production of the famed Lehár operetta will proceed under the Sydney Opera House COVID-19 guidelines, with “checkerboard”-style seating for up to 1,125 guests, or 75 percent of its capacity. Patrons aged 12 and over attending the performance are required to wear a face mask at all times while inside the opera house, including during the performance.

“When ‘The Merry Widow’ opens, Opera Australia will be the only opera company in the world performing to a live audience,” said Artistic director Lyndon Terracini in the statement to Guardian Australia. “What’s happening in the rest of the world – particularly in Europe is shocking, but we have to be confident. We’ve been out of the Opera House for 10 months, that’s a long time.”

The production of “Die Lustige Witwe” is set to run until Jan. 16, 2021.