Latest in West End

UPDATED with quotes, 7:42 AM: Members of the UK’s major theater unions have spent the past hour protesting against the sudden closing of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella run in London’s West End and have warned of more to come. Actors union Equity organized the protest outside the Gillian Lynne Theatre after multiple…

EXCLUSIVE: A major new Ivo van Hove stage adaptation of Stephen King’s horror classic The Shining is in the works for a 2023 West End debut, with an A-list creative team in place and Ben Stiller in talks to play the role of the crazed, haunted dad Jack Torrance. Rehearsals are set to begin in the fall, with London…

Ralph Fiennes will lead the cast as New York City power broker Robert Moses in the world premiere of David Hare's Straight Line Crazy at London’s The Bridge theater this spring. Nicholas Hytner will directed. Straight Line Crazy, beginning performances March 16, 2022, opening March 23 and running through June 18, will…

The West End opening night of the new Back to the Future – The Musical will be without its usual Doc Brown: Actor Roger Bart has tested positive for Covid-19 and will be temporarily replaced by his understudy at the Adelphi Theatre. Deadline has confirmed the situation. Bart had already performed several shows for…

Karla Burns, an actress and singer whose acclaimed performance as Queenie in the musical Show Boat earned an Olivier Award and a Tony Award nomination, died June 4 in Wichita, Kansas, following a series of strokes. She was 66. Her death was confirmed by her sister, Donna Burns-Revels, in a New York Times obituary. In…

Whoopi Goldberg won’t be falling back into the old habit after all: The View moderator has canceled plans to appear in an upcoming London revival of Sister Act The Musical due to the production’s pandemic-caused postponement. Goldberg, who is also a producer of the musical, had been set to reprise her Deloris Van…

London's West End theaters won't be re-opening May 31. The Society Of London Theater posted an update on its website saying that date has now been revised beyond June 28, pending further delays due to the continued coronavirus pandemic. "This does not mean theatres will reopen on 29 June; if further cancellations…

Cameron Mackintosh, the theater owner and producer, has said that it is likely venues in both the UK and U.S. won't be able to re-open until 2021 due to the ongoing pandemic. In an interview with BBC Radio Two, Mackintosh said that the West End and Broadway would be "the last to go back" after lockdowns ease. “For…

A new stage musical version of the 1993 Tom Hanks comedy Sleepless in Seattle is set for a London world premiere next spring. Sleepless, a Musical Romance will begin previews March 21 at London’s Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre, with an opening night of March 31. The production was announced on the theater’s…

EXCLUSIVE; Update with Complicité response  Two years ago, a West End staging of a new play based on Hollywood producer Robert Evans’ classic Hollywood memoir The Kid Stays In The Picture seemed all but certain for an imminent transfer to Broadway. Strong reviews, a sold-out run, rampant press rumors of a transfer, a…

Ann Crumb, the stage’s Aspects of Love star who became the first American actress chosen by Andrew Lloyd Webber to originate a starring role, died yesterday of ovarian cancer at her parents’ home in Pennsylvania. She was 69. Her death, which followed a nearly five-year battle with the disease, was announced by her…

EXCLUSIVE: Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, creators of the Olivier Award-nominated musical Six, have signed with CAA for representation. Marlow and Moss wrote the book, music, and lyrics for Six, a pop concert-style modern retelling of the lives of Henry VIII's six wives. Moss co-directed the West End production (along…