2012 results for the whole of the West End are expected to be confirmed later this month, but already Kenwright has forecast that the next 12 months will be even better. Results for 2011 saw the West End record all-time high box offices of £528m, although attendance fell by 1.7% to 13.9m.
Kenwright told The Stage, "2013 will be a massive year for London and Theatreland in particular - all our analysis, forecasts and experience confirms that the next 12 months will be record-breaking in every sense. In fact, I am confident that attendances will break 14.5m for the first time ever, and that we will once again break box office revenue records with more than £560 million of ticket sales."
200 Motels - A controversial orchestral film score by Frank Zappa is to have its UK premiere as part of a major celebration of modern classical music. Zappa's 200 Motels will be performed this autumn as part of the Southbank Centre's ambitious The Rest is Noise festival. A planned performance of the work at the Albert Hall in 1971 was pulled on the grounds of obscenity.
The UK premiere has come about after long negotiations with Zappa's estate. "His widow Gail has been reluctant to allow it to happen unless it could be done in the manner he would have wanted, so it's taken us literally years to get to this stage, said Jude Kelly, the Southbank Centre's artistic director.
Zappa, who made more than 60 albums - including other classical works - in a career spanning more than three decades, died in 1993. 200 Motels is the orchestral score for the 1971 musical surrealist film co-written and directed by Zappa and Tony Palmer.
On The Beach - Little Miss Sunshine actor Paul Dano is to play Beach Boy star Brian Wilson in a forthcoming biopic. Love & Mercy will cover several decades of Wilson's life, focusing on his struggle with mental illness and his relationships. "I still can't believe how cool it is that my life will be portrayed on the big screen," the songwriter said.
Parking Lot - Blackpool's former ABC Theatre, which in the past has hosted performances from the Beatles and Morecambe and Wise, is facing demolition following a council decision to buy the site and turn it into a car park. Built as a music hall in 1895 the venue was totally revamped in 1963. It has been used for television variety performances, as a cinema and most recently a nightclub. The venue has been closed since 2011 and now Blackpool Council has agreed to purchase the building to secure "a strategic site for the development of the town centre".
(Jim Evans)
