Her Majesty’s Theatre Box Office – What’s On

What’s playing and coming up at the Her Majesty’s Theatre.

The Phantom of the Opera Christmas Ticket Sale – Save up to £16 on tickets

48 HOUR SALE: Save up to £16 on tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre this Christmas

The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre – 48 Hour Sale – Save over 25% off tickets

48 HOUR SALE: Save up to £17 on tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London

Karimloo and Boggess confirmed for Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary celebrations at the Royal Albert Hall

Cameron Mackintosh has confirmed the leads for the 25th anniversary celebration of The Phantom of the Opera, to be held at the Royal Albert Hall on 1 and 2 of October 2011.

Ramin Karimloo, who is currently playing the Phantom in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies, which runs at the Adelphi Theatre until 27 August, will star in the title role, joined by Sierra Boggess as Christine. Both stars have enjoyed extensive periods playing the roles in both the original show and Love Never Dies.

Tickets will go on sale for the Royal Albert Hall show on Monday 4 July at 10am.

A cast and orchestra of over 200 will feature in the three special performances, which promises to be a lavishly staged new interpretation of the musical, directed by Laurence Connor with musical staging and choreography by the show’s original choreographer Gillian Lynne. A brand new set will feature in the Royal Albert Hall production by Matt Kinley inspired by Maria Björnson’s original designs.

Other cast will include Barry James as Monsieur Firmin, Gareth Snook as Monsieur André, Liz Robertson as Madame Giry and Wynne Evans as Piangi.

Sir Cameron Mackintosh, who produces the original show, said “From the very first performance, audiences have fallen in love with the unique alchemy of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s gorgeous score and Maria Björnson’s fabulously beautiful design, so brilliantly staged by Hal Prince and Gillian Lynne. The success of the show has become the stuff of theatrical legend so Andrew and I felt we needed to create a really special performance to celebrate the 25th anniversary.”

The last celebration for The Phantom of the Opera took place on 23 October last year, to mark the 10,000th performance of the show.

Speculation over a concert or special performance of Phantom had been fuelled by Ramin Karimloo posting on Twitter in March that he would be appearing in the 25th anniversary celebrations, and by an Ebay auction held in aid of Comic Relief, to win ”two great tickets to the Celebration of Phantom’s 25th Birthday in October 2011 – when he [Karimloo] will don the mask as the original Phantom one more time”.

Michael Crawford, currently playing the Wizard in Lloyd Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium, originated the role of the Phantom, alongside Sarah Brightman as Christine. It is still unconfirmed whether Crawford and Brightman will play any part in the celebrations for the show.

The Phantom of the Opera originally opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 9 October 1986 directed by Harold Prince and has won over 50 major theatre awards, including seven Tonys on Broadway and three Olivier Awards in the West End, and has grossed over £3.2 billion worldwide.

LINKS

Book tickets to the Phantom 25th Anniversary at The Royal Albert Hall 

Book tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London

 

 

 

Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary celebrations to be staged at the Royal Albert Hall

Plans have been announced for the 25th anniversary celebrations of The Phantom of the Opera this October.

A gala celebration of the long-running show will be staged at the Royal Albert Hall in London. The show’s original choreographer, Gillian Lynne, will stage the spectacle, which will be produced by Phantom’s producer Cameron Mackintosh and the musical’s composer Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Unconfirmed sources suggest that the show will be a fully staged, brand new production of the show which will run for more than just one evening.

The role of the Phantom will be played by Ramin Karimloo, who is currently starring as the Phantom in Lloyd Webber’s sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, Love never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre and has also spent long periods playing in the original show.

The Stage newspaper is also reporting today that Karimloo will be joined by Sierra Boggess, who will reprise the role of Christine after playing the role in Phantom in Las Vegas and in Love Never Dies in London. The actress is currently in rehearsals for a new production of Terrence McNally’s Master Class on Broadway featuring Tyne Daly.

As previously covered on westendtheatre.com, Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful group and Cameron Mackintosh Ltd will team up to produce the large-scale show, following Mackintosh’s dazzling production last October celebrating the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables at the O2.

The last celebration for The Phantom of the Opera took place on 23 October last year, to mark the 10,000th performance of the show. Patrick Woodroffe will design the lighting for the show, advised by original Phantom lighting designer Andy Bridge.

Speculation over a concert or special performance of Phantom had been fuelled by Ramin Karimloo posting on Twitter in March that he would be appearing in the 25th anniversary celebrations, and by an Ebay auction held in aid of Comic Relief, to win ”two great tickets to the Celebration of Phantom’s 25th Birthday in October 2011 – when he [Karimloo] will don the mask as the original Phantom one more time”.

Michael Crawford, currently playing the Wizard in Lloyd Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium, originated the role of the Phantom, alongside Sarah Brightman as Christine. It is unconfirmed whether Crawford and Brightman will play any part in the celebrations for the show.

The show originally opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 9 October 1986 directed by Harold Prince. Over 80 million people have seen the show worldwide, ranking it the most popular entertainment of all time.

LINKS

Book tickets to the Phantom 25th Anniversary at The Royal Albert Hall 

Book tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London

Book tickets to Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre in London

Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary celebrations

We’ve got the celebration poster, now we are waiting for news of the celebrations.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical The Phantom of the Opera will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year: Phantom first previewed on 27 September 1986 at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London, with its official opening night on 9th October, and it has played at the venue ever since.

Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful group and the show’s producer, Cameron Mackintosh, are rumoured to be planning a 25th anniversary concert for the musical, following Mackintosh’s large-scale concert celebrations at the O2 last year for the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables.

The last celebration for The Phantom of the Opera took place on 23 October last year, to mark the 10,000th performance of the show.

Further speculation over a concert or special performance of the show has been fuelled by current star of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom follow-up Love Never Dies, Ramin Karimloo. He posted on Twitter last month that he would be appearing in the 25th anniversary celebrations, and an Ebay auction has been held in aid of Comic Relief, to win ”two great tickets to the Celebration of Phantom’s 25th Birthday in October 2011 – when he [Karimloo] will don the mask as the original Phantom one more time”.

Michael Crawford, currently playing the Wizard in Lloyd Webber’s new production of The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium, originated the role of the Phantom, alongside Sarah Brightman as Christine. Crawford and Brightman would be expected to take part in any celebrations for the show.

Over 80 million people have seen the show worldwide, ranking it the most popular entertainment of all time.

LINKS

Book tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London

Book tickets to Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre in London

Book tickets to The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium

 

Andrew Lloyd Webber keeps theatres

Andrew Lloyd Webber has pulled out of a deal to sell four of his West End theatres to a consortium led by Michael Grade.

The original deal for the theatres was rumoured to be around £50 million and the consortium buying the theatres was led by former BBC Chairman and ITV Chief Executive Michael Grade and theatre agent Michael Linnit.

A statement released by Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group regarding the sale to the GradeLinnit consortium said that “at the eleventh hour, GradeLinnit raised issues relating to a long-standing contractual agreement between one of the theatres and a production company about a possible future production. GradeLinnit decided that they would not want to take this contract forward as owners of the theatre. The Really Useful Group has chosen to continue with the agreement and therefore the sale will not be going ahead.”

The deal had included the New London Theatre, current home to War Horse, the Palace Theatre, where Priscilla Queen of the Desert is playing, Chicago venue the Cambridge Theatre and Her Majesty’s Theatre, which has run Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera since 1986.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and his Really Useful Group will continue to own the four theatres and West End flagship venues the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, currently housing Oliver! and then Shrek The Musical, the London Palladium, which sees Lloyd Webber’s The Wizard of Oz open in February, and a 50% stake in the Adelphi Theatre, home to Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies.

It is expected that Michael Grade will be particularly disappointed that the sale has not gone through. His family’s history is entwined with London theatre, with his uncle Lew Grade staging Sunday Night at the London Palladium in the 1950s and 60s for his ATV network. Michael has recently recorded a Radio 2 history of the venue timed for its centenary this December.

His uncle Bernard Delfont converted the London Hippodrome into the Talk of the Town restaurant in 1958, bringing in a host of entertainers including Frank Sinatra, Eartha Kitt and Judy Garland, and staging the Folies Bergère. In the early 1990s Bernard Delfont struck a deal with Cameron Mackintosh to take on his Prince Edward and Prince of Wales theatres, creating the company Delfont Mackintosh, which today owns seven West End theatres.

Lloyd Webber has been slowly divesting of his theatre assets. In 2005 Really Useful sold four theatres to Nimax Theatres – the Lyric, Apollo, Garrick and Duchess for £11.5 million. And in a frank interview with the Daily Mail in July, Lloyd Webber talked of the stress involved in keeping the theatres going and the large debt owed on them: “We’ve got an overdraft of about £100 million against the theatres, which is too much… it’s simply beyond me.”

Producers associated with the venues that were to be sold include Cameron Mackintosh, producer of The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre, Broadway producers Barry and Fran Weissler and their production of Chicago at the Cambridge and Liz Koops and Garry McQuinn at Back Row Productions, producers of Priscilla at the Palace Theatre.

It has long been rumoured that Cameron Mackintosh would like to buy the London Palladium and the Theatre Royal Drury Lane for his Delfont Mackintosh company, but Lloyd Webber has so far been unwilling to divest of the venues.

LINKS

More information on the New London Theatre, Cambridge Theatre, Her Majesty’s Theatre and Palace Theatre

Lloyd Webber sells venues to Michael Grade

Lord Lloyd Webber has agreed to sell four of his West End theatres to a consortium headed by Michael Grade, according to The Stage newspaper.

The deal for the theatres, rumoured to be around £50 million, was brokered earlier this week. The consortium buying the theatres is led by former BBC Chairman and ITV Chief Executive Michael Grade and theatre agent Michael Linnit.

The deal includes the New London Theatre, current home to War Horse, the Palace Theatre, where Priscilla Queen of the Desert is playing, Chicago venue the Cambridge Theatre and Her Majesty’s Theatre, which has run Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera since 1986.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and his Really Useful Group will continue to own West End flagship venues the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, currently housing Oliver! and then Shrek The Musical, the London Palladium, which sees Sister Act close on Saturday and Lloyd Webber’s The Wizard of Oz open in February, and a 50% stake in the Adelphi Theatre, home to Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies.

Final contracts are still to be signed. Really Useful Group chief executive Andre Ptaszynski has told staff at the venues that “we are fully committed to a process of information provision and consultation, where appropriate, with staff (and trade unions) to make sure that we cover all employee issues and concerns.”

Michael Grade’s family history is entwined with London theatre, with his uncle Lew Grade staging Sunday Night at the London Palladium in the 1950s and 60s for his ATV network. Michael has recently recorded a Radio 2 history of the venue timed for its centenary this December.

His uncle Bernard Delfont converted the London Hippodrome into the Talk of the Town restaurant in 1958, bringing in a host of entertainers including Frank Sinatra, Eartha Kitt and Judy Garland, and staging the Folies Bergère. In the early 1990s Bernard Delfont struck a deal with Cameron Mackintosh to take on his Prince Edward and Prince of Wales theatres, creating the company Delfont Mackintosh, which today owns seven West End theatres.

Michael Grade’s ability to run leisure and entertainment companies has often come under fierce criticism. He took over Bernard Delfont’s First Leisure Corporation, set up with Max Payne, in 1997, leaving in 1999 after a turbulent few years. He received harsh criticism from Delfont’s widow, Lady Delfont, who told the Daily Telegraph in 1999 that, “At no time did we understand that Michael Grade’s job was to asset-strip a thriving company.”

His recent tenure at ITV was during a troubled time for the broadcaster and, as Chairman of Pinewood Shepperton studios, he recently faced calls to step down by one of its leading investors, the funds group Crystal Amber, charged with an unconvincing performance since the company floated six years ago and a lack of adequate direction.

Lloyd Webber has been slowly divesting of his theatre assets. In 2005 Really Useful sold four theatres to Nimax Theatres – the Lyric, Apollo, Garrick and Duchess for £11.5 million. And in a frank interview with the Daily Mail in July, Lloyd Webber talked of the stress involved in keeping the theatres going and the large debt owed on them: “We’ve got an overdraft of about £100 million against the theatres, which is too much… it’s simply beyond me.”

Lloyd Webber has a close association with all four venues he is divesting: the Palace Theatre was famously the office of Prince Edward, who worked for Lord Webber on a number of his shows from the venue; the Cambridge Theatre housed his production of The Beautiful Game in 2000; the New London was where his acclaimed, internationally successful production of Cats started in 1981; and Her Majesty’s Theatre has been home to his most successful ever production, The Phantom of the Opera, which celebrated its 10,000th performance at the venue this week.

LINKS

More information on the New London Theatre, Cambridge Theatre, Her Majesty’s Theatre and Palace Theatre

Her Majesty’s Theatre in London – Map

A London map highlighting the location of the Her Majesty’s Theatre, Haymarket, London, SW1Y 4QL

Read more about the theatre, including What’s On, Journey Planner, Seating Plan, Parking and Transport

Back to all London Maps of Theatres

Phantom celebrates anniversary

Today, Saturday 9 October 2010, marks the 24th anniversary of The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London.

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s show, produced by Cameron Mackintosh, has been seen by over 100 million people worldwide and is Broadway’s longest running show.

The musical opened at Her Majesty’s Theatre on 9 October 1986 directed by Hal Prince, choreographed by Gillian Lynne and designed by Maria Björnson. Stars of the show included Michael Crawford as the Phantom, Sarah Brightman as Christine and Steve Barton as Raoul.

Michael Crawford is soon to return to the London stage in another Lloyd Webber project, this time playing the Wizard in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s multi million pound new production of The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium.

It’s a busy weekend for Cameron Mackintosh as the Phantom anniversary comes the day after the world’s longest-running show, Les Miserables, celebrated its 25th anniversary.

Earlier this year Andrew Lloyd Webber opened his sequel to the Phantom, Love Never Dies, at the Adelphi Theatre.

Book tickets to The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London

PHANTOM FACTS

• Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical version of The Phantom of the Opera  is the most successful piece of entertainment of all time, produced in any media, and its success is continuing all over the world.
• The Phantom started previews at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London on 27th September 1986, and opened on 9th October 1986. It opened at the Majestic Theatre in New York on 9th January 1988.
• The Phantom of the Opera became Broadway’s longest running show ever when it overtook the record set by Cats with its 7,486th performance on January 6th 2006. It is the only Broadway show ever to reach 18th, 19th, 20th and 21st birthdays with the 22nd fast approaching in January 2010.
• The Broadway production played its 9000th performance on 17 September 2009.
• It is estimated that Phantom has been seen by more than 100 million people worldwide having been played in no fewer than 14 languages.
• The show has won over 50 major theatre awards including three Olivier Awards, the most recent being the 2002 Oliver Audience Award for Most Popular Show, an Evening Standard Award, seven Tony Awards including Best Musical, seven Drama Desk Awards and three Outer Critic Circle Awards.
• The Phantom of the Opera has been produced in 149 cities, in more than 25 countries around the world, including UK, US, New Zealand, Japan, Austria, Canada, Sweden, Germany, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, Holland, Switzerland, Belgium, Korea, Denmark, Spain and Russia.
• The original cast album of The Phantom of the Opera was the first in British musical history to enter the music charts at number one. Album sales now exceed forty million worldwide and it is the biggest selling cast album of all time.
• The cast album has gone six times platinum in the US, twice platinum in the UK, nine times platinum in German, four times platinum in the Netherlands, 21 times platinum in Korea and 17 times platinum in Taiwan.
• Joel Schumacher directed a big screen version of the show which was released worldwide at the end of 2004. It starred Gerard Butler as The Phantom, Emmy Rossum as Christine, Patrick Wilson as Raoul and Minnie Driver as Carlotta.
• ‘Learn to Be Lonely’, a new song written for the movie, was nominated for Best Original Song at the 2005 Oscars. Beyonce performed the song at the ceremony.
• Phantom – The Las Vegas Spectacular opened in a purpose built theatre at the Venetian Resort Hotel in 2006.

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