London stage pulls in record crowds: theatre bosses

0 Comments | AFP, July, 2008

LONDON (AFP) — London theatre enjoyed its most successful year ever in 2007, with 13.6 million visits, according to a report out Tuesday.

Attendances were up 10 percent on 2006, with musicals accounting for most of the growth, figures from The Society of London Theatre showed.

Popular television casting programmes for lead roles benefited musicals such as "Grease" and "Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat," the society said.

Last year, 65 percent of attendances were at musicals, 22 percent at plays, six percent at dance, four percent at opera, and three percent for other entertainment or performance pieces.

Star actors appearing in the West End theatre district, including Sir Ian McKellen in William Shakespeare's "King Lear" and Harry Potter...