Theatre News

West End shows cancel performances due to fire in Holborn

Shows including ”Mamma Mia!” and ”Beautiful” have been forced to cancel tonight

| London | London's West End |

1 April 2015

An electrical fire in Holborn has meant that some West End shows are having to cancel performances tonight, 1 April 2015.

There are now around 70 firefighters at the #Holbornfire no reports of injuries and local offices have been evacuated pic.twitter.com/8cQTSWSlN2

— London Fire Brigade (@LondonFire) April 1, 2015

The Lion King, Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Gypsy, The Woman in Black, Mamma Mia!, and The Play That Goes Wrong have all been affected by the blaze, which has left buildings in the surrounding area without power.

More than 2,000 people have been evacuated since the fire began this afternoon, and no-one is believed to be injured.

Letters Live at Freemason's Hall starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Louise Brealey has also been cancelled tonight, the venue has confirmed on Twitter.

Other shows in the area are currently planning to go ahead with tonight's performance, including Made in Dagenham, Oppenheimer, War Horse and Memphis the Musical. The Royal Opera House is also remaining open.

A major incident has been declared by police, with roads in the vicinity of Kingsway being closed and a 25m safety cordon in place. Holborn station has been closed.

If you are going to the theatre in the West End tonight, best to call the relevant box office to check whether or not the show is going ahead.

Update

As of 10am on 2 April, power is still out across the area but Holborn tube station is reopened. The fire is still burning under the pavement, but has been isolated to a small area.

It currently looks like shows are aiming to go ahead tonight. A statement on The Lion King website said they are "confident" that the matinee and evening performances will both go ahead as planned.

The Royal Opera House has no catering available at the venue due to the outage, but Swan Lake and Swanhunter are both scheduled to perform today.

11am The Savoy Theatre is still without power; it remains to be seen if today's performance of Gypsy will go ahead.

12.30pm The matinee performance of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical has been cancelled, as the theatre is still without power. It is hoped that the evening performance will go ahead as normal.

4pm The evening performance of Beautiful – The Carole King Musical has also had to be cancelled, as the theatre still has no power.