Disney’s The Greatest Showman - Bristol(?) / TRDL

I like Casey Nicholaw but he's such a safe choice for Disney. Couldn't they have gone for say Rebecca Frecknall or Alex Timbers to spitball some suggestions?

If it's aim is Broadway and we're just somewhere to get it right, I have no issues with a Broadway name doing this.

I'd also very happily watch Tompsett.

Is the relationship between Disney and Timbers strained, didn’t they kick him off Frozen?

As the New York Post about doing shows in London, being much cheaper, surprised more shows don’t do this, you got a chance to make changes before Broadway.

A Rebecca Frecknall "Greatest Showman" would be the funniest and most deeply strange thing to ever exist on the West End, and I say that as a big fan - I'm not entirely sure what she'd do with this surface-level, spectacle-focused, pop-song-filled show, but if she applied any of her usual approaches, it would end in... abstract choreography from a chorus surrounding a symbolically-dressed Patsy Ferran as she sings "Never Enough." Frecknall would rather quit her job, and Disney would rather make original films.

If they wanted someone slightly left-field, they would still need someone populist with a sense of spectacle. Some good choices might have included Luke Sheppard (&Juliet, Starlight Express, Little Big Things), Robert Hastie (Operation Mincemeat, Standing at the Sky's Edge), Matthew Warchus (Matilda, Groundhog's Day), Drew McOnie (new AD of Regent's Park)...

... But they'd rather have Nicholaw, because safe is what you need when you're filling TRDL. This is unlikely to have a name - certainly not a name of Jackman or Zendaya's calibre - and so it can't afford to be anything but what its audience expects: a showy, slightly dull but tech-y translation of the film, with all the songs in the right places and not too much overthinking.

Alex Timbers or Luke Sheppard would've been fantastic picks. Sheppard has shown he can handle huge productions, expect he'll get something whopper soon.

I can't imagine Tammy Faye will hang around all that long if I'm honest, so they'll probably be able to get the Palace if they wanted it.

It will be interesting to see how the new Kensington theatre does, considering the Eventim Apollo nearby hasn’t done too well, that part of London is not easy to get to.

I like to see 2 new medium size houses in the West End, be great if they were in the same development, could include commercial space and maybe have apartments above it, would take some imagination, a theatre doesn’t have to be even above ground even. But generally West End theatre is either too big or too small.

I wonder how many shows London has missed out due to no space available?

It's irritating to get to where the Olympia is from Soho, or anywhere East.

If you're coming from Soho, you can either go down to Piccadilly Circus and get the Piccadilly line to West Kensington, which is about 15 minutes and a 15 minute walk on the other side, or get the Central line from TCR to Shephard's Bush which is the same (where you can change to the Overground I believe to skip that walk?). It sits annoyingly between stations unlike the Evertim Apollo which is right outside Hammersmith station.

I wouldn't mind getting there. But some people, especially those who may be taking kids or something, definitely will need justification to get them out there. Even if I think it's fine... It needs a seller show.