List of the longest-running West End shows
This is a list of long running shows (3,000 performances or more) in the West End, a well known professional theatre district in London, England. Unless otherwise states, the number of performances listed is for the original West End production of the show. M denotes a musical, P denotes a straight play, R denotes a revue, D denotes a dance musical, and S denotes a special case. An asterisk indicates an announced closing date for a currently-running show. All currently-running shows are updated as of August 8, 2014, unless otherwise stated.
# | Title | Genre | Opening date |
Closing date |
Performances | Comment |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | The Mousetrap | P | November 25, 1952 | 25,393 [note 1] | Currently running at the St. Martin's Theatre
| |
2 | Les Miserables | M | October 8, 1985 | 12,000 [note 2] | Currently running at the Queen's Theatre
| |
3 | The Phantom of the Opera | M | October 9, 1986 | 11,574 | Currently running at Her Majesty's Theatre | |
4 | The Woman in Black | P | June 7, 1989 | 10,136 [note 3] | Currently running at Fortune Theatre | |
5 | Blood Brothers | M | July 28, 1988 | November 10, 2012 | 10,013 | |
6 | Cats | M | May 11, 1981 | May 11, 2002 | 8,949 | Opened in London at the New London Theatre
|
7 | Starlight Express | M | March 27, 1984 | January 12, 2002 | 7,406 | |
8 | No Sex Please, We're British | P | June 3, 1971 | January 16, 1987 | 6,761 | |
9 | Mamma Mia! | M | April 6, 1999 | 6,500 [note 4] | Currently running at Novello Theatre
| |
10 | The Lion King | M | October 19, 1999 | 6,195 | Currently running at Lyceum Theatre | |
11 | Chicago | M | October 18, 1997 | September 1, 2012 | 6,187 | This is the longest running revival
|
12 | Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story | M | October 12, 1989 | March 3, 2002 | 5,140 | Opened at the Victoria Palace Theatre
|
13 | Stomp | D | September 25, 2002 | 5,000 [note 5] | Currently running at Ambassadors Theatre
| |
14 | We Will Rock You | M | September 25, 2002 | May 31, 2014 | 4,659 | |
15 | Miss Saigon | M | September 20, 1989 | October 30, 1999 | 4,264 | |
16 | Billy Elliot the Musical | M | May 11, 2005 | 4,000 [note 6] | Currently running at Victoria Palace Theatre | |
17 | The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged) | P | March 7, 1996 | April 3, 2005 | 3,744 | |
18 | Wicked | M | September 27, 2006 | 3,500 [note 7] | Currently running at Apollo Victoria Theatre | |
19 | Jesus Christ Superstar | M | August 9, 1972 | August 23, 1980 | 3,357 | |
20 | Me and My Girl | M | February 12, 1985 | January 16, 1993 | 3,303 | This is a revival of the 1937 musical. |
21 | Evita | M | June 21, 1978 | February 18, 1986 | 3,176 [note 8] | |
22 | The 39 Steps | P | September 14, 2006 | 3,000 [note 9] | Currently running at Criterion Theatre |
Oh! Calcutta! should be on the list, as it opened in the West End on September 30, 1970 and closed in either January or February 1980 [note 10] If it played the standard eight shows a week throughout its run, it would have been performed about 3800 times. It should be ranked 16th, 17th, or 18th, but it is impossible to know which because of the close margin between number of performances.
The next longest running play is There's a Girl in My Soup (1966–1973). The next longest running musical is Oliver! (1960–1966).
The next show to hit the 3000 performance milestone will be Jersey Boys if it is still playing in June 2015.
See also
- West End theatre
- Long-running musical theatre productions
- List of the longest-running Broadway shows
Notes
- ↑ As of November 12, 2013; no updated figures available. (Source)
- ↑ As of October 25, 2014, when the official Twitter of Les Miserables Tweeted about the milestone.
- ↑ As of August 25th, 2013; no updated figures available.
- ↑ As of October 11, 2014, when the official Twitter of Mamma Mia! Tweeted about the milestone.
- ↑ As of July 19, 2014; no updated figures available. (official announcement of 5,000th performance)
- ↑ As of November 10, 2014, when the official Facebook page of Billy Elliot announced the milestone.
- ↑ As of January 23, 2015, when the official Twitter of Wicked Tweeted about the milestone.
- ↑ Exact number came from musicalheaven.com; 2900 given by Society of London Theatre is most likely an estimate.
- ↑ As of December 4, 2013, when the Criterion Theatre made a Facebook status about the milestone
- ↑ No closing date is known for the production, only that it was in 1980. The Duchess Theatre's next production was Private Lives, which was reviewed in The Times on March 8, 1980; therefore it can be inferred that Oh! Calcutta! closed in the first two months of 1980.
References
- Playbill: Wicked surpasses Me and My Girl; 20 Longest Running Musicals Revealed
- London Theatre Direct: 20 Longest Running Musicals in West End
- Society of London Theatre: 20 Longest Running Shows in West End
- Londonist: 10 Longest Running London Theatre Shows
- West End Theatre: Top 10 Longest-running London Shows – currently playing and in history