West End theatre

West End theatres on Shaftesbury Avenue in 2016.
The London Palladium in Soho opened in 1910. While the Theatre has a resident show, it also has one-off performances such as concerts. Since 1930 it has hosted the Royal Variety Performance 43 times.

West End theatre is mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres in and near the West End of London.[1] Along with New York City's Broadway theatre, West End theatre is usually considered to represent the highest level of commercial theatre in the English-speaking world. Seeing a West End show is a common tourist activity in London.[1] Famous screen actors, British and international alike, frequently appear on the London stage.[2][3]

There are a total of 39 theatres in the West End, with the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, opened in May 1663, the oldest theatre in London.[4] The Savoy Theatre—built as a showcase for the popular series of comic operas of Gilbert and Sullivan—was entirely lit by electricity in 1881.[5]

The Society of London Theatre (SOLT) announced that 2018 was a record year for the capital's theatre industry with attendances topping 15.5 million for the first time since the organisation began collecting audience data in 1986. Box office revenues exceeded £765 million.[6] While attendance in 2019 was down 1.4% compared to the previous year, box office revenues reached a record £799 million.[7]

The majority of West End theatres are owned by the Ambassador Theatre Group, Delfont Mackintosh Theatres, Nimax Theatres, LW Theatres, and the Nederlander Organization.

  1. ^ a b Christopher Innes, "West End" in The Cambridge Guide to Theatre (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1998), pp. 1194–1195, ISBN 0-521-43437-8
  2. ^ "Stars on stage". London theatre. Retrieved 23 June 2015
  3. ^ Orlova-Alvarez, Tamara; Alvarez, Joe (30 January 2019). "John Malkovich Is Coming To West End". Ikon London Magazine. Archived from the original on 30 January 2019. Retrieved 10 January 2022.
  4. ^ Cite error: The named reference Oldest was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  5. ^ "Shakespeare's indoor Globe to glow by candlelight". The Guardian. Retrieved 6 April 2020.
  6. ^ "2018 BOX OFFICE FIGURES RELEASED BY SOCIETY OF LONDON THEATRE AND UK THEATRE". Society of London Theatre. March 2019. Archived from the original on 18 December 2020. Retrieved 24 November 2019.
  7. ^ "New Figures Reveal West End Theatre is Thriving". London Box Office. February 2020.

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