Saturday Follows Bombay to Victoria???

With the closure of Bombay Dreams this June (See News, 24 Mar 2004), one of the West End’s ‘top five’ theatres opens up. Aside from the opera houses, Bombay’s home, the Apollo Victoria – along with the Dominion, Palladium, Lyceum and Theatre Royal Drury Lane – is one of the few West End venues with more than 2,000 seats, and thus one of the only places economically viable for big-budget musicals that need to recoup their costs. As such, demand is always high for the top five, even as turnover at the venues (where long-runners tend to settle) is low. Longer term, some of the major musical contenders for the Apollo Victoria include revivals of Evita and The Sound of Music and the screen-to-stage adaptations of The Lord of the Rings and Billy Elliot. More immediately, though, another musical with a film pedigree, Saturday Night Fever, is tipped to return this summer. The ultimate disco musical, based on the 1977 hit film starring John Travolta, premiered in May 1998 at the West End's London Palladium, where it continued until February 2000. It has been touring regularly since.

Got some goss? Contact gossip@whatsonstage.com

Related Content