OLIVER! Breaks Records At The Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Oliver! breaks all records at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane for the second time this year and takes an astonishing £829,383 for the w/e 31 October (half-term). This breaks the record previously held by Oliver! earlier in its run. Prior to Oliver! the record was held by the musical of The Producers in 2004.

Oliver! currently stars Omid Djalili as Fagin (until 12 December 2009), Jodie Prenger as Nancy, Steven Hartley as Bill Sikes and a cast and orchestra of over 100. Griff Rhys Jones takes over the role of Fagin from 14 December 2009.

With a cast and orchestra of over one hundred, OLIVER! is London's most spectacular blockbuster. Featuring the hit songs, ‘Consider Yourself', ‘I'd Do Anything', ‘Food Glorious Food', ‘Oom Pah Pah', ‘As Long As He Needs Me' and ‘You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two'. Just do anything for a ticket. The new production at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane is more spectacular than ever before. The sensational score is full of Lionel Bart's irresistible songs.

Book your tickets now so that you won't have to pick a pocket or two to get in!

Now booking until February 2011

The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane is a theatre in the West End area of London, officially situated on Catherine Street, but backing onto Drury Lane just to the east of Covent Garden.

A cockpit in that location was converted into a theatre during the reign of James I. After the Restoration of the monarchy in 1660, a splendid new theatre was built to designs by Christopher Wren. Having been razed by fire on January 25, 1672, it was succeeded by a larger and still more elaborate building also designed by Wren, which housed two thousand spectators with the opening attended by Charles II on March 26, 1674.

The great English actor David Garrick managed the theatre during the mid-eighteenth century, during which time he produced many plays, including most of Shakespeare's work.

By the end of the 18th century, the building was in need of updating, and was demolished in 1791. A third theatre was designed by Henry Holland and opened on March 12, 1794, lasting for only 15 years before burning down on February 24, 1809.

The present Theatre Royal in Drury Lane, designed by Benjamin Wyatt, opened on October 10, 1812 with a production of Hamlet. The interior has been substantially redesigned and overhauled many times since then: a contemporary sketch of it when it was new is shown on the right, seen from the point of view of the beau monde in the lower gallery. It is one of the West End's largest, and has been the setting for appearances by Edmund Kean and Sarah Siddons, among others.

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