Recent History
Until 2001, the theatre was owned and operated by the Wimbledon Civic Theatre Trust, on behalf of the London Borough of Merton, who still own the freehold of the building. The trust was responsible for overseeing a multi-million pound refurbishment in the late 1990s, incorporating a brand new backstage area, fly tower and a complete re-seating of the orchestra stalls as well as redecoration of the interior. During this period, the theatre was closed for an entire year.
The venue fell into severe financial difficulties in 2003 and was forced to close. Following lengthy talks between leading producers, local councillors and companies, in autumn 2003 a deal was agreed for the theatre to be managed by the Ambassador Theatre Group (ATG).
Following a name change to the New Wimbledon Theatre, the venue reopened in February 2004 with Matthew Bourne's production of The Nutcracker, with major productions in 2004 and 2005 including Saturday Night Fever, Blood Brothers, Footloose, Jesus Christ Superstar, Fame, Jekyll & Hyde and the London revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Cats.
The theatre has since played host to a large variety of touring productions, plus the UK launch of Josef Weinberger's UK collection of Disney musicals available to amateur companies throughout the British Isles.
Most recently the New Wimbledon saw the launch of a new UK pantomime company, First Family Entertainment, a collaboration between Howard Panter of ATG and David Ian of Live Nation Theatrical. The company produced eight pantos across the UK in 2005-6, with their flagship production being Cinderella at New Wimbledon, starring Susan Hampshire, Richard Wilson, John Barrowman, Naomi Wilkinson, Peter Duncan and Tim Vine. In 2006, First Family presented the premiere of Peter Pan starring Happy Days' Henry Winkler, Bobby Davro and Sarah-Jane Honeywell.
In 2010 the national tour of Spamalot, the musical based on the film Monty Python and the Holy Grail, opened at the New Wimbledon.
Read more about this topic: New Wimbledon Theatre
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