(© David Gordon)
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s the Really Useful Group has rebranded as LW Entertainment, with plans to expand activity across the entertainment industry while continuing to manage the composer’s body of work.
The company will develop brand and franchise strategies for titles including The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Evita, Sunset Boulevard and Starlight Express.
The business is led by chief executive James McKnight alongside chief operating officer and general counsel Louise Hughes, group chief financial officer Lawrence Chapman and chief commercial officer Libby Grant. Famed composer Lloyd Webber will continue to focus on musical composition.
Lloyd Webber explained today: “To mark this sea change in the Really Useful Group’s story, the company is to be renamed LW Entertainment to represent the broadening of its work across different entertainment fields, whilst bringing it into line with LW Theatres which has just completed its most successful trading year ever. As usual, every penny of LW Theatres’ profit will be ploughed back into the buildings.”
LW Entertainment will focus, in Lloyd Webber’s words, on “copyright exploitation”, with theatrical production handled by Michael Harrison for Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals. Current and recent productions include the WhatsOnStage Award-winning Starlight Express, the multi-award-winning Sunset Boulevard and the five-star Evita at The London Palladium, with upcoming projects including Cats: The Jellicle Ball, which will open on Broadway in 2026, and a new musical, The Illusionist.
The company has also licensed the immersive Phantom-inspired production Masquerade, currently in previews in New York, and is planning further Phantom projects in theater, film, publishing, and music.
A multi-book publishing program with Penguin Random House will launch in 2026, beginning with Our Strange Duet, a young adult novel by Erin A Craig retelling the Phantom story from Christine Daaé’s perspective.
Additional initiatives include an equity investment in GWB Entertainment to strengthen work in the Asian market, development of a potential Phantom anime with Qubic Pictures, and a new consumer products program in partnership with Merchantwise and Event Merchandising Ltd.
The Phantom of the Opera has been seen by over 160 million people worldwide since its 1986 debut. A revitalized production will begin a multi-city US tour in November 2025, alongside international stagings in over 40 cities in 2026. Meanwhile, Jesus Christ Superstar recently played a three-night sell-out at the Hollywood Bowl, with Cynthia Erivo as the first woman to play Jesus.L
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.theatermania.com ’
