A Chorus Line to Open at Palladium Next year

With Shrek the Musical now due to close next February at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane it has paved the way for the new musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory starring Douglas Hodge as Willy Wonka to open there instead of The London Palladium as first announced.

The Wizard of Oz closed its doors at the Palladium on Sunday which means that the theatre is now dark. Scrooge starring Tommy Steele is due to play there for a strictly limited season from October 24th – January 5th 2013 and it has just been announced that A Chorus Line will now open there next year for a limited run from February to June.

It will be directed by Bob Avian who was Michael Bennett’s co-director and co-choreographer when A Chorus Line was first staged in New York and then London in the Seventies.  A Chorus Line was a box office and critical hit on Broadway with12 Tony Award nominations (winning 9) in addition to the 1976 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. It ran for 6,137 performances, becoming the longest-running production in Broadway history until surpassed by Cats in 1997.

The late and great Marvin Hamlisch wrote the score with numbers including I Hope I Get It, At The Ballet, Dance: Ten; Looks: Three, One (Singular Sensation), and What I Did For Love.

Andrew Lloyd Webber (owner of the Palladium) said: "I am delighted to welcome A Chorus Line. This classic Broadway production has not been seen in the West End for almost 35 years, Marvin Hamlisch was a great friend and supporter in my early career and I can think of no more fitting tribute to him than this major revival."

It will preview at the London Palladium on February 2nd next year (opening night on 19th February) and run until 29th June.