Rehearsals have begun for Andrew Lloyd Webber's new West End musical, Cinderella, with the London opening night scheduled for July.

Some UK theatre productions are even scheduled to reopen in late May and a £700 million cash injection to support art, culture and sporting institutions.

Announced in Finance Minister Receives Snacks Annual Budget is providing hope We know that theater and performing arts and their news can start planning for the future.

Julian Bird is the chief executive of UK Theatre and the Society of London Theatre, representing venues such as Shakespeare's Globe.

He welcomed the news but said more certainty is needed.

So you know, we wait for a little more certainty, but we're going to see shows open, you know, in late May, socially distanced and then we really, you know, wait for all the research, work, the science work to really see where the June the 21st is a possibility to open in full, and if that really becomes clear that it is, then we'll start to see producers at theaters invest into the big shows into the major things that tall all over this country, and hopefully we'll see those back on stage as soon as we can, probably the vast majority from the autumn onwards, but some before that which will be fantastic.

The government also said it will extend a £500 million production restart scheme to support the UK movie and TV industry.