Maria Friedman’s five star hit production Merrily We Roll Along will become the first show to play as part of The West End Theatre Series, a new partnership between CinemaLive and Digital Theatre enabling people across the world to experience the magic of West End theatre on the big screen.
Following in the footsteps of hugely successful big screen initiatives including NT Live, which has now seen more than 1.5 million people in 500 venues around the world attend a cinema relay performance, West End Theatre Series will premiere from 24 October when Sondheim’s rarely performed work will be screened to cinemas across the UK, with countries including the USA, Canada, Ireland, Australia and Russia also having the opportunity to catch the hit production, which finished its run in the West End earlier this year, across the autumn.
Claiming to have collected more five-star reviews than any other musical in West End history, Merrily We Roll Along is a fittingly popular production to kick the initiative off. Starring Jenna Russell, Mark Umbers and Damian Humbley as the trio of friends at the centre of Sondheim’s time-travelling piece, the production took home 2012’s Best Musical Critics’ Circle Award and enjoyed a hugely successful West End run after an outpouring of acclaim when it opened at the hit-making fringe venue the Menier Chocolate Factory.
While CinemaLive has been distributing theatrical productions to the big screen since 2008, The West End Theatre Series marks pioneering stage-to-screen company Digital Theatre’s cinema debut, with the company up to now better known for offering theatre fans the chance to buy or rent a selection of popular productions from across the country on their computers or Samsung Smart TV.
Working with theatre companies to capture live performance authentically using multiple camera angles, Digital Theatre now boasts more than 20 productions in its online library, including Regent’s Park Open Air theatre’s 2011 Olivier Award-winning revival of Into The Woods and the David Suchet-led Long Day’s Journey Into Night. Customers at TKTS, our award-winning ticket booth in Leicester Square, can currently take advantage of an exclusive loyalty card in partnership with Digital Theatre and earn stamps with every ticket purchased towards free Digital Theatre productions.
For full details and a list of cinemas taking part in The West End Theatre Series, visit www.cinemaLive.com