It was announced today that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory broke the record for the highest weekly gross sales at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane at the end of December, with box office receipts of more than £1.1m.
The West End, of course, isn’t transparent about its weekly take as producers are on Broadway, except when they’ve got something to crow about like here, but this level of income puts the show on a serious par with takings for many shows on Broadway — but with (somewhat) lower ticket prices. Which makes it even more of an achievement.
Mark Shenton has been a full-time freelance London-based theatre critic and journalist since 2002, and is proud to have co-founded MyTheatreMates with Terri Paaddock. He has variously (and sometimes simultaneously) been chief theatre critic for the Sunday Express, The Stage, WhatsOnStage, What's On in London magazine and LondonTheatre.co.uk. He has taught at ArtsEd London in Chiswick on musical theatre history since 2012. He was until recently President of the Critics' Circle, and is also on the board of Mercury Musical Developments and the National Student Drama Festival (NSDF). You can follow him on Twitter @ShentonStage, and on instagram at @ShentonStage. His personal website is www.shentonstage.com.
