Qdos Entertainment have announced that they will return to the London Palladium over the festive season in 2017 with Dick Whittington.
On the return of pantomime to the Palladium Qdos Entertainment Chairman Nick Thomas said: “We’ve been overwhelmed by the exceptional response that our production of Cinderella has received – the show has now broken the Box Office record for the highest grossing week in the West End. We couldn’t resist Really Useful Theatres invitation to return to the iconic home of pantomime for a second year and look forward to revealing more about Dick Whittington and its cast in the New Year”.
Qdos Entertainment’s run of Cinderella, which opened earlier this month, continues at the Palladium until 15 January 2017. The production – directed by Michael Harrison and co-directed and choreographed by Andrew Wright – has a cast including Paul O’Grady as Baroness Hardup, Julian Clary as Dandini, Amanda Holden as The Fairy Godmother, Lee Mead as Prince Charming, Paul Zerdin as Buttons, Nigel Havers as Lord Chamberlain, Count Arthur Strong as Baron Hardup, Natasha J Barnes as Cinderella and Suzie Chard and Wendy Somerville as The Wicked Stepsisters.
As the world’s biggest pantomime producer, over the past 34 years Qdos Entertainment has established itself as one of the largest entertainment companies in Europe. Over the past three decades the pantomime giant, owned by Nick Thomas, has staged 649 pantomimes and this season expects over 1.6 million people will see one of its shows.
The London Palladium, owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Theatres Group, is a venue to which all performers aspire and has hosted more annual Royal Variety Performances than any other theatre. It has recently returned to its variety roots and is taking its rightful place as one of the most popular venues for leading musicians, performers, comedians and now Pantomime which returned this December after an absence of nearly 30 years.
Further details about the production of Dick Whittington will be announced at a later date.