Record ticket sales at Birmingham Hippodrome
Rockers, gangs and a nutcracker have helped the Birmingham Hippodrome set a new box-office record, just days after its autumn season was launched.
Last week nearly 35,000 theatre tickets worth almost £850,000 were bought or reserved in just eight days, with the biggest sellers being the Queen musical We Will Rock You, the 50th anniversary tour of West Side Story, and Birmingham Royal Ballet’s seasonal production of The Nutracker.
Hippodrome bosses put the surge in sales down to a need for families to “enjoy some escapist fun at a time when everything else seems to be doom and gloom.”
The theatre has already enjoyed a lucrative run of its summer spectacular, the Disney/Cameron Mackintosh production of Mary Poppins, which has played to nearly 130,000 people over 12 weeks, bringing in £4.5 million in ticket sales.
Rob Macpherson, marketing and development director, said: “I’d say around half the people who’ve been to see Mary Poppins at the Hippodrome have not been to the theatre before, so populist shows like this and We Will Rock You are bringing more people into the theatre.
“But because Mary Poppins was choreographed by Matthew Bourne, who also tours his own dance productions such as Swan Lake, it also brings in people from other areas of the arts.
“We Will Rock You took £300,000 of last week’s sales, more than a third (35 per cent) which is incredible considering it doesn’t open until July 1, 2009 – that’s about 12,000 tickets sold already.
“We knew it would do good business but to be honest we were stunned by how many tickets have been snapped up in the first week of sale.”
Other Autumn shows boosting the Hippodrome’s box-office include the Witches of Eastwick, starring former Wet Wet Wet singer Marti Pellow, and the return of Dr Who and Torchwood star John Barrowman in a newly written pantomime, Robin Hood.
Stuart Griffiths, the theatre’s chief executive, added: “We have been quite taken aback by the popularity of the new season, and our new box office system was really put through its paces. At one point nearly 75 per cent of our tickets were being purchased online.
“In this industry, you learn never to be complacent, but despite the calamities in the financial markets, thousands of people are making sure they still have a few treats in store over the next twelve months.
“They won’t be disappointed.”
