World Theatre Day shows importance of our rich and varied stage productions

Author Agatha Christie (right) talking to impresario Peter Saunders (centre), actor Richard Attenborough and his wife Sheila Sim, at a party to celebrate her play 'The Mousetrap' (photo: Getty Images)

Spotlighting International Theatre Institute’s annual celebration with magnificent seven enduring smash hits that have enjoyed longest runs in West End history.

Initiated in 1961 by the International Theatre Institute, every year we celebrate the value and importance of stage, World Theatre Day on March 27 acting as a wake up call for governments, politicians and institutions to see and appreciate productions’ value to cultural society and economic growth.

The Society of London Theatres reported that in 2018 London’s West End theatres drew in a combined audience of 15.5 million, resulting in box office revenue of over £765 million.

So, to mark recent World Theatre Day, Steve Cain compiled a list of seven smash hit shows that have enjoyed longest runs in West End history.

Long-running show The Phantom of the Opera (photo: Getty Images Madame Tussauds)

1 The Mousetrap –

25/11/1952 onward

Agatha Christie’s murder-mystery, The Mousetrap, has been the world’s longest-running play for decades and continues to attract coach parties of international tourists.

Although having been described as “a not very distinguished play from a poor period,” its success is largely the result of its producer Peter Saunders’ publicity stunts.

The plaque unveiled to commemorate 'Les Miserables' as the longest running West End musical (photo: Tim Whitby/Getty Images)

When audience numbers started flagging, he noisily celebrated its 1000th performance; then gave it an annual birthday party and invited the press, until it had become an institution.

As the West End production continues to run and run, an extensive UK tour is due to commence later this year to mark the 70th anniversary of the play.

2 Les Misérables –

08/10/1985 onward

English playwright and composer Willy Russell (right) with Scottish singer Barbara Dickson who starred in his production Blood Brothers (photo: Getty Images)

Set in 19th-century France, the story follows the life of Jean Valjean, a man imprisoned for stealing bread to feed his family.

He rejects a life of crime but his past haunts him as he tries to redeem his life, improve his place in society, and to raise Cosette, a young girl entrusted to him by her dying mother.

But he and Cosette become embroiled in the political unrest in Paris with ultimately tragic results.

The show is the longest-running musical ever in the West End and has won three Olivier Awards including, in 1985, Best Actress in a Musical (Patti LuPone), and in 2012 and 2014, the Audience Award for Most Popular Show.

3 The Phantom of the Opera – 09/10/1986 onward

The story tells of a horribly disfigured composer who haunts the Paris Opera from an underground cavern, where he writes music for his beautiful protégée Christine Daaé.

Christine is horrified by the Phantom but feels pity for him.

He terrorises the theatre into promoting Christine ahead of the diva Carlotta, and romance blossoms as Raoul, the patron of the opera house, offers to protect Christine.