Theatre News

Placido Domingo leads tenth anniversary West End Live line up, Miss Saigon debuts

The free outdoor event is the largest of its kind in the world

Placido Domingo will perform on Saturday
Placido Domingo will perform on Saturday

The line-up has been announced for the tenth anniversary West End Live, which takes place in Trafalgar Square over the weekend of 21 and 22 June 2014.

Over half a million people attended the event, which is organised by Westminster City Council and the Society of London Theatre, last year.

West End Live regulars returning this year include: Billy Elliot, The Bodyguard, The Lion King, ZooNation’s Groove On Down The Road, Jersey Boys, Les Misérables, Let It Be, Mamma Mia!, Matilda The Musical, Once, The Phantom Of The Opera, Stomp, Thriller Live and Wicked.

Roddy Dolye's The Commitments launches the event on Saturday and will be joined by a number of other West End Live first-timers including Miss Saigon, 20th Century Boy, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Forbidden Broadway, Porgy And Bess and The Pajama Game.

Also making their West End Live debut will be English National Opera and The Royal Opera House Chorus, led by renowned tenor Plácido Domingo, concluding Saturday’s festivities by performing a selection of opera classics.

On Sunday, as part of the tenth birthday celebrations, there will be a special cabaret, 10 from 10, featuring ten iconic songs from some of the event's "favourite shows", performed by some of "Theatreland’s best loved names".

And for the first time this year, there will be a free 'Theatre Emporium' housed in a 1920s Spiegeltent in Leicester Square, where the public will get a chance to "peek behind the scenes and discover all the elements that bring a theatrical production to the stage."

"We are delighted to be celebrating a decade of West End Live," said Julian Bird, chief executive of the Society of London Theatre. "Theatre is one of the capital’s greatest draws with an international reputation for offering world-class entertainment, and West End Live is a unique opportunity to showcase the quality and range of shows the London stage has to offer."