Press release
London, 26th October 2021
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Today, Bill Kenwright Ltd, the company founded by West End and Broadway theatre producer and director Bill Kenwright, is pleased to confirm their purchase of The Other Palace Theatre from Andrew Lloyd Webber’s LW Theatres.
The Other Palace was redeveloped in 2012, with a 308-seat performance space, separate state-of-the-art studio, bar, and restaurant, making it the first newly built theatre complex in central London in 30 years. LW Theatres has owned and operated the theatre, since 2015.
Bill Kenwright said:
“Anyone who knows me… and that includes all of the current London theatre owners… knows that owning a theatre in London has never been on my bucket list.
Andrew has been a friend and collaborator for over 40 years and when I heard that he was thinking of selling The Other Palace, that mindset altered. The Other Palace is a theatrical hub for new and exciting work where Andrew and his team have achieved so much. I had not only produced there, but also seen other productions both on the main stage and in the studio and had always felt the big hug that the theatre itself seemed to deliver. After nearly two years of pandemic chaos, it felt exactly the right moment for a positive step and a commitment to the future.
As we continue to learn, discover, and plan the next chapter for the venue and how it will continue to play a key role in growing exciting new talent, and exhilarating work, we will be bringing back an old favourite so that The Other Palace’s Christmas lights can well and truly start shining again. After these months of both literal and metaphorical darkness, it’s a nice feeling.”
Andrew Lloyd Webber said:
“I have hugely enjoyed running The Other Palace, and we have enjoyed great success in this wonderful and unique place over the last 6 years. It is an amazing creative facility, and I am delighted that it will continue to be in safe hands under the stewardship of Bill Kenwright, who shares my passion and commitment for developing and nurturing young talent and new work.”
Bill Kenwright Ltd will be announcing the reopening date and first production in the coming days. BKL has also run Theatre Royal Windsor for 23 years, the only year-round unsubsidised producing theatre in the UK which reopened this year with one of the only rep companies in the UK presenting Hamlet and The Cherry Orchard, with Ian McKellen in the title role of Hamlet. For the last four decades BKL has been the most prolific production house in the West End and across the nation with many Broadway and international successes. The company also has a film and TV division – BK Studios.
Lisbeth R. Barron and the team at Barron International Group, LLC, acted as the exclusive financial advisor to LW Theatres Group in the transaction. Financial terms of the transaction were not disclosed.
Bill Kenwright Ltd were advised by Phillips Solicitors and LWT Group were advised by Harbottle and Lewis.
ENDS
ABOUT BILL KENWRIGHT LTD.:
Bill Kenwright Ltd is one of the largest commercial producers in the world, West End successes include Heathers the Musical (developed at The Other Palace, then Theatre Royal Haymarket), Be More Chill (transferred from The Other Palace to the Shaftesbury Theatre), Let The Right One In directed by John Tiffany (Apollo), Rufus Norris’ Festen and Cabaret; Jessica Lange in A Streetcar Named Desire, The Glass Menagerie and Long Day’s Journey into Night; Judi Dench in Filomena, Hay Fever and The Gift of the Gorgon (all directed by Sir Peter Hall); The Wizard of Oz (Palladium); Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Adelphi and New London); Evita (Dominion); and the Windrush musical The Big Life (Lyric Theatre).
Broadway highlights include: Dancing At Lughnasa, Medea, Ibsen’s A Doll’s House, Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, Théâtre de Complicite’s The Chairs (multiple Tony Awards). Blood Brothers, which Bill Kenwright also directed, ran for three years on Broadway (Music Box) and 24 years in the West End (Phoenix).
In addition to now taking on The Other Palace, Bill Kenwright Ltd has also operated Theatre Royal Windsor as an unsubsidised producing Theatre that operates all year round (believed to be one of the only unsubsidised producing houses in the UK) for over 23 years, as well as countless major film and TV productions through BK Studios.
ABOUT LW THEATRES GROUP LTD.:
LW Theatres Group owns and operates commercial theatres in the heart of London’s West End.
The Group is wholly owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber and holds some of the most prestigious and desirable theatres in the world. These include the iconic London Palladium and the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (Frozen), which has reopened as a landmark destination venue, breaking new ground in the theatre industry. The Group also owns the Cambridge Theatre (Matilda the Musical), the Adelphi Theatre (co-owned with the Nederlander Group, Back to the Future: The Musical), the Gillian Lynne Theatre (Cinderella) and Her Majesty’s Theatre (The Phantom of the Opera).
ABOUT BARRON INTERNATIONAL GROUP, LLC:
Barron International Group, LLC is a privately-owned investment banking firm with a globally-focused client base.
The firm’s founder, Lisbeth R. Barron, has more than 30 years of experience spearheading in excess of $70 billion in ground-breaking strategic advisory and capital-raising transactions throughout her career in the Media, Entertainment, Leisure, Hospitality, and Branded Consumer Products industries.
For PRESS ENQUIRIES, please contact: info@theotherpalace.co.uk
