Bookings for West End success Chicago have shot through the roof, with over £3m taken in four days. The show, which was booking to the end of October, has now been extended to 30th January, 1999. And if that isn't success enough, the show loks set to do very well at the Olivier Awards next month.
Staff at the Royal Opera House and the English National Opera are planning a rally, including both speeches of support and entertainment, at The Conway Hall, Red Lion Square in Holborn at 7.00 pm on 24th March.
Bownes to take Chichester FT to tribunal
Scaked administrator David Bownes is to take the Chichester Festival Theatre to an industrial tribunal, alleging wrongful dismissal. Former director Duncan Weldon is awaiting the outcome of Bownes' claim before initiating proceedings himself.
Flinshire Count Council has increased its grant to Theatr Clwyd to £908,000.
The London Arts Board has decided to stop support of the Greenwich Theatre, cutting its £191,000 grant to nothing for the next financial year. Although the grant for the King's Head has also been cut (from £38,000 to £10,000), the venue will survive because of a grant of £25,000 from the Mackintosh Foundation.
Northern Arts has announced that no theatre companies will be cut or have their grants reduced for the coming financial year, and two, the Cleveland Theatre Company and Live Theatre. will receive increased grants.
Entries are now being invited for the 1998 Vivian Ellis Prize for musical theatre, a national competition to discover, nurture and promote new writers in musical theatre working in Britain. Details from:
Chris Grady
Vivian Ellis Prize
Rose-Morris
11 Denmark Street
London WC2H 8LS
Stage wedding
Newcastle's New Tyne Theatre was the scene for an unusual stage wedding om 31st January: stage crew members Claude Farren (26) and Michaela Wilkinson (25) were married as their families sat in the stalls to watch.