Andrew Lloyd Webber's Company May Buy St. James Theatre as 'Test Site' for Shows

By: Dec. 11, 2015
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According to UK's Evening Standard, Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Company is poised to purchase the St. James Theatre complex, situated near London's Buckingham Palace, to use as a test site for shows which may head to the West End and Broadway in the future. The Standard reports that heads of agreement have already signed with the theatre's current owners.

Webber shared his belief that there was a need for a venue where producers can "test-run" productions at a low cost prior to the much riskier business of launching full-out productions. The St. James' main theatre consists of only 300 seats.

Tickets to the try out productions will be sold at low prices to the public in return for their feedback on the show. Webber tried out the proposition last Spring by putting up a workshop production of his current Broadway musical SCHOOL OF ROCK at New York's Gramercy Theater in lower Manhattan, charging on average, $40 a ticket.

"You can get really genuine feedback from an audience if they'd paid a bit for their tickets," he explained to the Standard, adding that he would rent the venue out to other theatre companies for a relatively cheap fee.

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Photo Credit: Walter McBride / WM Photos


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