UK Edition
Andrew Lloyd Webber announces Gillian Lynne theatre - the first in the West End to be named after a woman
The glass ceiling tinkled in the West End on Tuesday night after Andrew Lloyd Webber announced the first West End theatre to be named after a woman.
The theatre impressario said that the New London Theatre would be renamed the Gillian Lynne Theatre, after Gillian Lynne, the 92-year-old former ballet dancer and groundbreaking choreographer responsible for Cats and The Phantom of the Opera. The change will be officially made later this year.
Lloyd Webber broke the news to Graham Norton, who he was speaking to at the New London Theatre at a special event as part of the Telegraph Legends interview series.
“I am delighted to be able to announce that the New London Theatre is to be renamed as the Gillian Lynne Theatre,” he said.
“Gillian has been a pioneer of British musical theatre and dance. Gillie’s groundbreaking work on Cats inspired and launched countless careers in dance. It is only fitting that the theatre in which she created Cats is named in her honour.”
The announcement was swiftly celebrated on Twitter, with people commenting that the tribute was "perfect".
Lynne told The Telegraph: "I am thrilled and completely surprised at this honour. I am now 92 and my Nineties have not been kind – I have not been well for over three months – but that said as soon as I can, I will go over every inch of the Gillian Lynne Theatre and take even closer pride in it and its original brilliant designer Sean Kenny.
"As far as Andrew is concerned, it is my immense pride to work with such a brilliant man and be allowed to make theatre with him. I am so proud and so grateful for this honour."
Once officially renamed, the theatre, which opened in 1973 and has been owned by Lloyd Webber since 1991, will be a rare example of one named after a woman. In Clerkenwell, Sadler's Wells theatre has a studio named after Lilian Baylis, one of the creators of the dance venue, but the Thorndike Theatre in Surrey, named after actress Sybill Thorndike, has since been renamed Leatherhead Theatre.
By contrast, there are plenty of London venues named after men: the Gielgud, Harold Pinter, Wyndham, Novello, Noel Coward and the National's Olivier and Dorfman theatres, to name but a few.
Lynne, now 92, was made a Dame in 2014 as a reflection of her contributions to theatre and dance. Born in Bromley in 1926, she danced from childhood – in part to cope with the pain of losing her mother in a tragic car accident when she was just 13.
As a dancer, her break came during the Second World War, when she was spotted by Royal Ballet School founder Ninette de Valois and invited to join Sadler's Wells Ballet. Lynne celebrated her 20th birthday by gaining her first major solo with the opening of the Royal Opera House. She moved to the West End after leaving Sadler's in the Fifties, taking roles such as Claudine in Can Can, although she also appeared on screen in The Master of Ballantrae, opposite Errol Flynn.
Lynne's collaborations with Lloyd Webber began with Cats in 1981, for which she was an associate director and choreographer alongside director Trevor Nunn. Five years later, the composer approached her about working on Phantom of the Opera while the pair of them were on a flight to Australia. Once they had landed, he played her the score: "When I first heard it I thought I was going to faint," she said in 2016.