Formerly known as the St James Theatre, the new The Other Palace will officially open in February 2017.
Andrew Lloyd Webber has today confirmed plans for The Other Palace, the latest addition to The Really Useful Theatres Group and the new home for new musicals at various stages of development.
Officially opening its doors in February 2017, The Other Palace is situated close to Buckingham Palace and the Victoria Palace – hence its name.
Talking about the news, Andrew Lloyd Webber said: “ I very much hope that writers and producers will use The Other Palace as a space in the heart of London where they can try out and refine new material without the distraction of complicated sets and automation. I had a great experience trying out “School of Rock” at the Gramercy Theatre in New York in this way. It was a joy to work on the material without computers getting in the way. I hope my experience will be repeated by others in these exciting spaces.”
Some of the productions to open the newly named theatre’s season will open with a production of Michael John LaChiusa’s Grammy and seven-time Tony Award nominated musical The Wild Party directed by Drew McOnie and produced by Paul Taylor Mills.
The season will then continue with the UK premiere of Whisper House in April 2017, with the world premiere of Sally Cookson’s adaptation of the Fellini classic La Strada will then take place from May to July.
The first work-in-progress production will be Bateman and Conley’s cautionary fairy-tale The Little Beasts produced by Perfect Pitch, a not-for-profit theatre company dedicated to creating new British musicals. This will be an opportunity for audiences to contribute feedback, placing them at the heart of the development process.
Following on from Little Beasts, the National Youth Music Theatre will present two productions, a new musical about the wonder of childhood, Imaginary, and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s ten-time Tony Award nominated musical, Sunday in the Park with George, during August 2017.
Completing the first season at the theatre will be a three week summer festival From Page to Stage Festival of New Musicals, produced and curated by Katy Lipson of Aria Entertainment. Over twenty professionally produced new musicals will be performed at all stages of development, in every space of The Other Palace.
The theatre will continue as St James Theatre until the 28th January 2017, when the run of RENT the musical concludes.
Tickets for the first season of the newly named The Other Palace are on sale now.