This Week In The West End #WestEndWeek
Posted on 3 February 2014
First up this week new cast members join the West End production of The Book of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre tonight (3rd Feb). However, the original leads - Gavin Creel (Elder Price), Jared Gertner (Elder Cunningham), Alexia Khadime (Nabulungi) and Stephen Ashfield (Elder McKinley) - have all extended their contracts and continue to star in the musical.
Joining the musical are: Hugo Harold Harrison, Kevin Harvey, Christopher Copeland, Keisha T Fraser, Sia Kiwa, Joshua Liburd, David McMullan, Felix Mosse, Tanya Nicole-Edwards, Ashley Samuels, Rhys Taylor and Michael Vinsen. One year after opening, The Book of Mormon is still the hottest ticket in town so early booking is advisable.
The West End production of Wicked has today released over 450,000 new tickets for sale and extended booking to 25th April 2015. The new booking period will see the show celebrate its 9th year at the Apollo Victoria Theatre where it casts a spell over audiences eight times a week.
Wicked is now the 15th longest running musical in West End theatre history and with Willemijn Verkaik (Elphaba) and Savannah Stevenson (Glinda) currently leading the cast the production is in fine shape. Since opening in September 2006, Wicked has been seen by over 5.5 million people and played over 3,000 performances in the West End.
Roald Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory will also extend its booking period at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane later this week. From Friday (7th Feb) the show’s booking period extends to May 2015.
Sam Mendes’ production has had a very successful run so far. The musical recently broke the West End theatre record for the highest reported weekly gross sales for a second time, taking a total of £1,080,260 in the week commencing 30th December 2013. The show set the previous record of £1,062,606 in the week commencing 28th October 2013.
Other West End shows to recently extend their booking periods include: Tell Me On A Sunday at the Duchess Theatre (extended to 8th March 2014), Twelve Angry Men at the Garrick Theatre (extended to15th March 2014), Stephen Ward at the Aldwych Theatre (extended to 31st May 2014), War Horse at the New London Theatre (extended to 14th February 2015) and Once at the Phoenix Theatre (extended to4th July 2015).
Finally, this week audiences will bid farewell to Mojo at the Harold Pinter Theatre and Let It Be at the Savoy Theatre which end their runs on Saturday (8th Feb).
Andrew Tomlins
