The Shubert Organization is partnering with Trafalgar Entertainment to open a new theater in London.
The 1,575-seat Olympia Theatre is set to welcome audiences in 2027, as part of the £1.3 billion redevelopment of Olympia, a 140-year-old exhibition venue in West Kensington. The partnership between the two major theater owners marks the first time in 100 years that the Shubert Organization, the biggest theater owner on Broadway, has directly partnered and invested in a London theater.
“This is an extraordinary opportunity for Shubert to be part of shaping the future of London’s cultural landscape,” said Robert E. Wankel, chairman and CEO of the Shubert Organization.
The Olympia Theatre will also be the largest new theater to open in London since the National Theatre in 1976.
The theater is set to include wider seats and more legroom than the average West End theater, as well as bar space at every level, four exclusive premium lounges and private seating boxes, high-speed elevators and 1,600 square meters of lobby space with views of the London skyline.
In addition to the theater, the Olympia building is set to include a 4,000-capacity live music venue (operated by AEG Presents), exhibition and conferencing spaces for up to 20,000 people, hotels, offices and a coeducational senior school. The building is partnering with the BRIT School, the U.K.’s leading performing and creative arts school, behind talent such as Tom Holland, Adele and Amy Winehouse.
This will be the 21st venue for Trafalgar Entertainment, which has venues in London, the U.K. and Australia and is a co-producer on a number of theatrical productions, including the London production of Good Night, Oscar, starring Sean Hayes, at the Barbican, the new West End musical Clueless and Anything Goes in the West End and U.K. tour. The production arm is also gearing up for the new Broadway production of The Rocky Horror Show at Studio 54 this season.
Trafalgar also has entities that produce pantomimes, distribute live event cinema and sell tickets in the West End.
While this is the first direct investment by the Shubert Organization in a London theater in a century, there is a lot of crossover between productions in the West End and Broadway, with popular shows typically finding their way to both locations.
“For Trafalgar Entertainment to have such an important company as the Shubert Organization with us operating the exceptional new Olympia Theatre creates an appropriately global and exciting partnership,” said Howard Panter, joint CEO and Creative Director of Trafalgar Entertainment.
The theatre has been designed by a team led by Haworth Tompkins, which specializes in theatre architecture projects.
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