Grandage Gears up for More West End Hits???

Over the past 18 months, Donmar Warehouse artistic director Michael Grandage has had commercial hits with his two musicals revivals of Guys and Dolls and Evita (both originated in the West End) and Schiller play classic Don Carlos (transferred from Sheffield Crucible). And his commercial output is set to increase. Tobias Round and Nick Frankfort - who have worked with Grandage at the Donmar as, respectively, general manager and executive producer – have resigned their positions at the subsidised venue to set up a separate company, Creative Management and Productions Limited, to develop the director’s commercial ventures. Frankfort told The Stage: “Our main function will be to produce plays, both here and abroad, not just in the West End but touring internationally as well. We will be managing Michael’s work and in the future also taking on other creative practitioners…. We are going to commission new work but we will also be looking at revisiting classic plays and musicals. We will be bringing the skills and production values we shared at the Donmar to a commercial market.” Unlike Grandage’s predecessor at the Donmar, Sam Mendes, who set up a production company (previously Scamp Ltd, now called Neal Street Productions) with his Donmar executive producer Caro Newling (See News, 13 Feb 2004), Grandage will remain with the Donmar and will not become a company director of the new entity.

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