#west-end-theatre

#west-end-theatre

The West End's post-pandemic revival has delivered a multimillion-pound boost to one of Britain's biggest theatre groups, with the return of Oliver! helping Sir Cameron Mackintosh's company rebound to, and surpass, pre-Covid trading levels. Cameron Mackintosh Limited reported an 18 per cent jump in revenues to £234 million last year, overtaking its 2019 performance as audiences returned in force and demand for major productions recovered.

Tributes have poured in for RuPaul's Drag Race UK star The Vivienne, one year on from her death. On Saturday (3 January), monuments across Liverpool and the north west were lit up green to honour the drag star, whose real name was James Lee Williams, in reference to her role as the Wicked Witch of the West in Andrew Lloyd Webber's West End and UK tour production of the Wizard of Oz.

Famously the world's longest consistently running play, Agatha Christie's Mousetrap has now been running for over 70 years, and is one of those plays that everyone is presumed to see once in their lives. The murder-mystery storyline is set in "the present", presumably England, around the time the play was published in 1952, including the continuation of World War II rationing.

Stranger Things actress Sadie Sink will make her West End debut in a new production of Romeo & Juliet. British actor Noah Jupe, best known for his role in horror series A Quiet Place, will play the Romeo to her Juliet. They will portray the star-crossed lovers on stage at the Harold Pinter Theatre in London from March 2026, as first reported by US outlet Deadline. Award-winning writer and director Robert Icke, who has previously adapted George Orwell's 1984 and Chekhov's Uncle Vanya, will direct the project.

DanceSport International (DSI London) was originally founded as a dance studio in 1982 by Geoffrey Hearn and ballroom dancer Peggy Spencer MBE. It opened a dress making department in 2000, and now has 52 skilled artisans who handcraft every piece. DSI London has been the main supplier of costumes for Strictly Come Dancing in its last three series. Sales director Gerald Schwanzer explained how the company's dancing background has made it a favourite for performers and choreographers.

He lives up to the task. What is literally built around him is gorgeous. Rae Smith's set changes from a beautiful drawing room to a flamboyant garden to a dramatic reception room, marble statues and all. The costumes, too, also designed by Smith, are increasingly fabulous, none more so than Lady Bracknell's billowing skirts and sparkling jewellery. Jack and Algernon look, in every outfit, like they are straight off the red carpet at the Met Gala.