The Greatest Showman musical to open in London's West End in 2027
Following a sold-out eight-week run in Bristol, Disney's stage adaptation of The Greatest Showman will transfer to London's Theatre Royal Drury Lane next spring, with most of the Bristol cast reprising their roles.
The 2017 Hugh Jackman film The Greatest Showman, known for its chart-topping soundtrack, is being brought to the West End stage next spring. The Disney musical will take up residence at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, currently home to Disney's Hercules.
The transfer follows a sold-out eight-week run at Bristol Hippodrome earlier this year.
Cast returning from Bristol
Oliver Tompsett and Samantha Barks will resume their Bristol roles as circus entrepreneur PT Barnum and his wife Charity. Barks previously played Elsa in Disney's stage version of Frozen at Drury Lane. Also returning are Ben Joyce as Barnum's associate Phillip Carlyle, Vajèn van den Bosch as opera singer Jenny Lind, and Malinda Parris as Lettie Lutz, the "bearded lady."
The stage show features all the film's songs, including This Is Me and Never Enough, written by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, who have also composed several new numbers for the production.
The production incorporates circus performance and magic tricks, including an aerial routine set to Rewrite the Stars. It largely follows the film's plot, though in Bristol several of the "curiosities" in Barnum's troupe differed from their screen counterparts. Disney Theatrical Group executive producer Anne Quart has said the characters were designed to be vulnerable and to represent ideas of otherness.
The book is by Tim Federle, and the show is directed by Casey Nicholaw, a Tony winner for The Book of Mormon. A separate musical inspired by the film, Come Alive!, has been running at London's Empress Museum for two years with a different storyline but the same original songs.
