It was a historic moment for Disney in the West End last week

There was a historic window for Disney in the West End last week.

For the first time since 1997 (and ignoring government imposed closures for Covid etc), not a single Disney production had a performance in the West End from 9 to 18 September 2024. That means there’s been over 27 years’ worth of complete Disney productions housed in London venues until this September. 

Between Beauty and the Beast, Mary Poppins, The Lion King, Frozen and Aladdin, there has always been a venue hosting a complete Disney production in London (of course, with Covid, some couldn’t go ahead from March 2020 to summer 2021). Frozen, of course, closed earlier this month. 

That changed last week, when The Lion King took a nine-day break in order to undergo automation, lighting and set refurbishments. We’ll have a full feature for you on that in the coming weeks, but the period of closure saw sets removed, lights replaced, equipment modernised and greater levels of efficiency put in place.

Which meant, for the first time since Beauty and the Beast’s opening, according to The Lion King’s production manager Adam Pritchard the House of Mouse didn’t have any complete productions sitting in a West End house.

Of course – this was more of a calm before a Disney deluge of huge productions – Hercules will be making its eagerly anticipated West End premiere next summer, while on the horizon is the stage musical version of The Greatest Showman, which we’re sure will find its way to the West End stage in time. That small chapter of dormant Disney was also in order to guarantee another 25 years of The Lion King at the Lyceum.

Beyond the West End, Disney’s Aladdin is touring across the nation, with Mary Poppins also opening soon on the open road.