The Evening Standard in London has published its annual power list of The Standard 100 People Shaping London.
Amongst the politicians, restaurateurs, socialites, scientists, business and sports people are also London’s movers and shakers in the world of arts – and West End theatre.
Does the list contain George Osbourne and Elon Musk? Yes, it does. Does the list not contain Cameron Mackintosh? No, it doesn’t. But regardless, check out our curated list of where the West End power lies.
Read the full list here.
Sir Elton John and David Furnish, composer, performer, producers
Elton John’s latest West End musical, The Devil Wears Prada, has started its run at the Dominion Theatre, and all signs are good that it’s a hit. Elton also has long-runner Disney’s The Lion King playing in the West End at the Lyceum Theatre, which recently celebrated its 25th birthday. And his musical Tammy Faye, which started at the Almeida Theatre, bypassed the West End and headed straight for New York. Broadway critics have not been kind.
The Evening Standard says: “At 77, Elton John continues to inspire and captivate along with his husband Furnish. A mentor sans parallel, he helped kickstart the careers of Ed Sheeran and SG Lewis — redefining the London landscape in the process. He is also one of the world’s leading philanthropists, raising more than £500 million via his foundation to help fight Aids.”
James Graham, Playwright
Prolific playwright James Graham will see his recent Nottingham Playhouse play Punch come to the Young Vic in London next year, alongside a return of his award-winning mega-hit Dear England, once again playing at the National Theatre after a successful West End run. Add to this the book he has written for Almeida musical Tammy Faye (see Elton John, above), a 2025 tour for his stage adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s Boys From the Blackstuff, and a myriad of other projects including season 3 of Sherwood.
The Evening Standard says: “Graham holds the West End in the palm of his inky hand. He’s written 30 plays in 18 years, meaning not a day has gone by without one of his shows being on in theatreland. These include 2023’s Dear England (nominated for two Evening Standard Theatre Awards) and this year’s Boys from the Blackstuff, an adaptation of Alan Bleasdale’s unemployment drama.”
Sonia Friedman, Producer
Sonia Friedman has shaped the West End in the last decade like no other producer, moving effortlessly from blockbuster crowd-pleasers (The Book of Mormon, Mean Girls, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Stranger Things: The First Shadow), to championing plays – both classic and new. Her current production slate in London includes Juno and the Paycock at the Gielgud Theatre starring Mark Rylance and J Smith Cameron; and Robert Icke’s Oedipus at the Wyndham’s Theatre starring Mark Strong and Lesley Manville. Add to that, a new stage adaptation of The Shining, and a huge slate of new shows in development or coming soon.
The Evening Standard says: “Friedman is the most influential theatre producer in the city. From Harry Potter and the Cursed Child to a critically acclaimed adaptation of Stranger Things, her company has put on more than 200 shows since 2002. These have won more than 300 major awards — including the Evening Standard Theatre Award for Best Play on five occasions.”
Sam Mendes, Director and producer
Sam Mendes remains a significant force within the West End, despite also working across film and TV. He has directed current West End hit The Lehman Trilogy, which has returned to the Gillian Lynne Theatre for a limited run, and is taking his acclaimed National Theatre production of The Motive and the Cue to New York. Already in New York is his production of Jez Butterworth’s The Hills of California. Mendes is also executive producing the big screen adaptation of the RSC’s Hamnet.
The Evening Standard says: “Last year’s winner of the Evening Standard Lifetime Achievement Award needs no introduction. Mendes has directed everything from the best James Bond films to some of the most remarkable theatre the West End has ever seen. If we had a pound for every time someone told us “you MUST see The Hills of California”, we’d be able to buy the film rights.”
Cush Jumbo, Actor and writer
Cush Jumbo is currently starring in the hottest show in the West End – Macbeth at the Harold Pinter Theatre, alongside David Tennant. Cush is also a writer, having written the book with Katy Sechiari for children’s show Bear Snores On, and co-producing it at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre this spring.
The Evening Standard says: “We first spotted Jumbo’s talent 11 years ago with her extraordinary show, Josephine and I — which won her the Emerging Talent trophy at the 2013 Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Since then, she’s starred in the lead role of US TV series The Good Wife and The Good Fight, distinguished herself as a brilliant Hamlet at the Young Vic, and Lady Macbeth at the Donmar, which transferred to the West End this autumn.”
Tom Holland, Actor
Whether Tom Holland will be rushing back to the West End to star in another production is hard to say. But he has cast a long shadow over London theatre with his performance earlier this year as Romeo in Jamie Lloyd’s Romeo and Juliet at the Duke of York’s Theatre. The Spider-man movie star caused nightly mayhem on St Martin’s Lane, and brought a whole new generation of people into the West End to experience theatre. We’d like him back, but Hollywood keeps calling.
The Evening Standard says: “Zendaya’s husband-to-be is more than just a pretty face (and Spider-Man). The West End may have been thriving already, but his sell-out run as Romeo in Jamie Lloyd’s minimalist adaptation of Shakespeare’s play at the Duke of York’s was a crowning moment for commercial theatre this year. He’s one of the many slebs who’s set up shop in Richmond.”
Indhu Rubasingham, Artistic Director of the National Theatre
There was cheering across theatreland in December when Indhu Rubasingham was confirmed as the National Theatre’s next artistic director, taking over from Rufus Norris. It not only felt well overdue for a woman to lead the National, but the cheering was also for Rubasingham’s superb reputation leading the Kiln, and her talent in directing powerful theatre.
The Evening Standard says: “The former artistic director of the Kiln in Kilburn will ascend to the top job in theatre, director of the National Theatre, next spring. A champion of young, disenfranchised voices, she will be the first woman to hold the position and follow in the footsteps of Laurence Olivier, Nicholas Hytner and Rufus Norris.”
Daisy Edgar-Jones, Actor
Like Tom Holland and Lily Collins (below), screen star Daisy Edgar Jones is hitting the boards; and she has chosen her stage debut carefully, partnering with multi award-winning director Rebecca Frecknall for the last in Frecknall’s unofficial trilogy of Tennessee Williams’ productions – Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Once again, the production will originate at the Almeida. Whether Edgar-Jones will also be following Paul Mescal into the West End with the show (Mescal is returning to the London stage in February to reprise his role in Frecknall’s A Streetcar Named Desire) remains to be seen, although seems a sure bet.
The Evening Standard says: “Normal People catapulted her to fame; Where The Crawdads Sing cemented her status as one of the brightest stars of our generation. Now she’s coming to the London stage in December for a new adaptation of Tennessee Williams’s classic, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, at the Almeida — following in the footsteps of her Normal People co-star, Paul Mescal, who drew unprecedented crowds to the Islington playhouse for his performance in Streetcar last year.”
Lily Collins, Actor
Lily Collins is bringing new people into the West End by starring in Barcelona, currently playing at the Duke of York’s Theatre, alongside Álvaro Morte (The Wheel of Time). One of the first commercial projects to be directed by Lynette Linton since she announced her departure from the Bush Theatre, Barcelona the play had mixed reviews but Lily has enjoyed excellent notices, and the show has been packing in audiences in the West End. Let’s hope this is not the last West End stage appearance for Lily Collins.
The Evening Standard says: “Emily in … London? Yes. The star of one of Netflix’s biggest hits/hate watches is currently taking the West End by storm in Bess Wohl’s Barcelona at the Duke of York’s Theatre.”
Sir Ian McKellen, Actor and pub landlord
Ian McKellen fell off the stage of the Noel Coward Theatre mid performance in June, when playing Falstaff in Robert Icke’s Player Kings. Despite initial bravado, his recovery has been longer, and more dramatic, than expected. It hasn’t stopped McKellen being out and about recently at opening nights everywhere, as he should be. But like falling off a horse, we hope he gets back on that stage as soon as possible.
The Evening Standard says: “The Grapes in Limehouse has one of the toughest pub quizzes in London. Which is no surprise when you find out the landlord — who lives above — is Sir Ian McKellen. Though most know him simply as Gandalf from The Lord of the Rings, he is one of the most talented and fearless actors on the British stage — when he’s on it — and possibly the only person who can be disparaging about the late Queen and get away with it.”
Andrew Lloyd Webber, Composer and theatre impresario
Andrew Lloyd Webber remains peerless in terms of his theatre success, with seven decades as a composer of hit musicals, as an owner of West End theatres through LW Theatres, and as a producer of musical hits around the world. Fine, there have been bumps in the road (Cinderella). But his musicals are also starting to be reinvented by – and for – new generations, with Jamie Lloyd’s mega-hit revival of Sunset Boulevard now playing on Broadway, Cats recently set in New York’s 80s ballroom scene and the promise of a new immersive Phantom, plus a new Jamie Lloyd production of Evita this summer in London, and a brand new Lloyd Webber musical based on movie The Illusionist.
Add to that his current London productions, including The Phantom of the Opera at His Majesty’s Theatre, and Starlight Express at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre; and touring productions including Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
The Evening Standard says: “At age 76, the hits just keep on coming. Since the Sixties, London theatre has been in debt to the king of the West End. From Cats to The Phantom of the Opera, the musical magician has had commuters humming his tunes on the Tube for more than half a century.”
Sir Leonard Blavatnik, Businessman and West End theatre owner.
Len Blavatnik is the billionaire businessman (worth £29 billion – see the West End Theatre Rich List), and owner of the West End’s Theatre Royal Haymarket. His Access Entertainment company, run by former BBC exec Danny Cohen, is involved in a myriad of stage and screen projects.
Since 2023 the Theatre Royal Haymarket has focused on reviving the theatre’s tradition as a playhouse, with Waiting for Godot starring Lucian Msamati and Ben Whishaw, currently playing to 8 December, and Theatre Royal Bath productions of The Score starring Brian Cox, and The Deep Blue Sea starring Tamsin Greig coming next year.
Blavatnik’s philanthropy and involvement in the arts includes his help to secure the David Bowie archive for the V&A, and co-producing the new Florence Welch musical Gatsby at the American Repertory Theatre. Blavatnik is also involved in Bridge Theatre owner’s Nick Hytner and Nick Starr’s new King’s Cross theatre and arts venture Lightroom.
The Evening Standard says: “The saying “fingers in many pies” might as well have been coined about this particular mogul, who owns most of Warner Music Group, the Theatre Royal Haymarket and hotels all over the world. He can open doors as easily as he can close them — although they’re usually revolving.”
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