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The Little Mermaid: The Musical

The musical adaptation of Disney’s The Little Mermaid has become a huge family favourite on Broadway and to date, it is the only Disney Theatrical production not to cross the Atlantic. Overshadowed by the turbulent arrival of Legally Blonde the Musical, the coming of The Little Mermaid has slipped under the rumour mill radar. So what is happening?

Disney Theatrical’s The Little Mermaid sold out every performance of its six-week tryout period at Denver’s Ellie Caulkins Opera House in June and July 2007. Despite its success, the show was drastically reworked and didn’t transfer to Broadway until November 2007. Its official opening was delayed by five weeks because of a stagehand strike disrupting the preview period, but despite all this problems and some damning reviews, The Little Mermaid has already achieved great success through sales and audience response and, unsurprisingly, is rumoured to be transferring to London very soon. Although no plans have been publically alluded to, a brief performance at the 2008 What’s On Stage awards was enough to get the rumour mill going. The gossip mongers appear to be suffering from a lack of insider information, so there has been very little serious speculation concerning casting. But then, unlike Spring Awakening and Legally Blonde, The Little Mermaid’s West End transfer seems far from imminent so that would explain that. Because The Little Mermaid is a huge spectacle, with translucent and ebullient sets, performers on skates and an evil octopus so of course, it’ll need a large stage like the one it currently enjoys in New York’s Lunt-Fontanne Theatre. With a UK touring production of We Will Rock You planned, many think the number’s up for the London show, with both Legally Blonde and The Little Mermaid said to be after taking over the immense Dominion. Another, perhaps more credible theory is that The Little Mermaid will be taking on the Lyceum Theatre, currently home to another Disney production, the spectacular Lion King. Not only has the Lion King has been shortening its extension periods with every announcement, but in New York, Disney Theatrical pushed its own,  still successful, production Beauty and the Beast out of the Lunt-Fontanne to make way for The Little Mermaid. Will Disney do the same in London? Watch this space to find out.

Sunday openings for West End theatres?

Actors’ union Equity has backed a scheme proposed by the Society of London Theatre regarding Sunday openings for theatres in the West End. Proposals had originally been made sixteen months ago, with the Society looking to cash in on entire weekends with the ever increasing popularity of musicals and well-publicised productions in London, thanks in no small part to the recent wave of reality TV talent searches as well as marketing through social networking sites such as Facebook and Myspace. Equity demanded more money for its members to work on Sundays and negotiations with casts and agencies have resulted in a minimum wage of £600 a week for actors if the Sunday opening plans go ahead.

Sunday matinees have been a popular practice at London’s Royal National Theatre and a number of regional repertory theatres such as Chichester Festival Theatre for many years, as changeable repertory schedules can easily eliminate a midweek performance in favour of a full weekend without causing too much confusion. However, Sundays have been on Broadway schedules since the mid-twentieth century, with the majority of houses closed earlier in the week, usually on the much quieter Mondays or Tuesdays. A number of the biggest shows Broadway shares with the West End, including Mamma Mia!, Avenue Q and Grease, play two performances on a Sunday at earlier times to their Saturday schedules, at 2pm and 7pm. Not only does this make Broadway theatre easier to access in people’s free time, it also allows for many theatre tourists to pack in up to five shows in one weekend, bringing in more customers in and generating a great deal more interest (and money) than earlier in the week.

If the West End follows suit, it would not be the first time a Broadway initiative has been carried across the pond. The majority of shows on Broadway open slightly earlier on a Tuesday or Wednesday night, usually at 7pm as opposed to 7:30 or 8pm. The rationale for this change in New York in the 1990’s was to make it easy for locals to catch a show and get home at a reasonable hour during the relatively tourist-bereft midweek nights. A couple of shows in London have followed suit in this scheme, such as Mary Poppins which recently closed at Soho’s Prince Edward theatre, and The Sound of Music at the London Palladium. Although this was again to partially boost numbers on slower nights, it was also to encourage local people to bring their children to family shows which were packed out at weekends.

Already in London, Disney’s The Lion King has made (if you’ll excuse the pun) a roaring success of its Sunday matinees at the Lyceum theatre, which are significantly busier than most shows are on Mondays when The Lion King is closed. The energetic Stomp at the Ambassador’s was the first show in London to play two shows on a Sunday, after achieving great success with its Sunday matinee before its transfer from the Vaudeville.

Now, with sixteen months of negotations between Equity, performers, management and the Societly of London Theatre drawing to a close, it looks to be only a matter of months before many, if not most, West End houses will follow suit.

Lee Mead as Billy?

Although Lee Mead has made no announcement in regard to his post-Joseph plans, this week he appeared in a workshop performance of Billy, the musical based on the 1959 novel Billy Liar. Originally staged at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 1974, Billy starred Michael Crawford in the title role and Elaine Paige in one of her earliest West End successes. The impressive workshop cast also included Auf Wiedersehen Pet’s Tim Healy and his wife, Coronation Street and Waterloo Road star Denise Welch and was directed by Paul Kennyson, artistic director of the Haymarket Theatre Leicester.

Casting for the production proper will begin early next year, and Lee is currently considering a number of roles, including Billy. For now, it is believed the production will tour later in 2009, with a planned West End residency at some point.

Lee Mead will be appearing in Joseph until 10 January 2009.

Never Forget cancels Lyric transfer

Producers of the hit Take That musical Never Forget has announced that it will close after its time at the Savoy comes to an end in November. The show had planned to transfer to Shaftesbury Avenue’s Lyric Theatre in time for Christmas but plans to downsize for the smaller stage at the Lyric have been shelved in order to ‘protect the integrity of the production in its current format’.

Never Forget will instead embark on yet another UK tour (after two hugely successful outings) and hopes to return to the West End at some point in 2009. It will continue its phenomenal run at the Savoy until Saturday 15 November 2008.

If you have booked to see Never Forget at the Lyric Theatre, please call our team on 0871 789 1004 for all the information you need.

Legally Blonde the Musical: still coming to London?

Legally Blonde: The Musical has been hotly anticipated in London since its San Francisco tryouts in early in 2007. There was never any doubt the planned Broadway transfer would go ahead and despite opening to mixed reviews at New York’s Palace Theatre last April, tickets for Legally Blonde: The Musical became must-haves for teenagers in the tri-state area and tourists visiting the Big Apple.

This year, however, one of Broadway’s hottest shows dramatically announced its early closure. Click here to read the UK Tickets view.