My Neighbour Totoro - Barbican / Coliseum / Gillian Lynne

It’s going in from Early 2025

Feb I think

March 8th-November 2nd. 34 weeks.

I'm quite looking forward to this. I don't think sightlines will be an issue, the GL is a shapeshifter of a theatre so I'm sure it'll all be set up to be fine. There's been productions that have utilised a false wall to create a more end-on stage, obviously sacrificing some seats.

It's one hell of a longer run than I expected! Almost nine months (I suppose to sufficiently fill out the demand left over from the two runs and then some.)

If it's staying that long I hope the ticket prices are more reasonable It's got great potential to be a knockout family show if it is accessible to as many as possible.

I do wonder about the future of SATSE... Totoro will definitely be the GL's next big thing for the foreseeable future. I was hoping shows like the Witches could have a short stint there, or shows in transfer limbo like BJ and such. I suppose there's still a window for something from when Oz ends to when it opens in March.

Exciting stuff!

Running until 02 November. I imagine sales would have to hugely drop off for this not to extend through the holidays into early 2026...

I was referring to 'end-on' in my post (rather than Proscenium) for a reason. For some shows it's not seeing around the Proscenium Arch that's the issue for auditorium side views, but aspects of the show's own set design. I specifically referred to pieces of set that have walls or side panels, and also the deep-perspective layered impact of some of the images created in 'Totoro'. There are some theatres in London where there is little arc in the auditorium configuration, and at points in their life it made them perfect for being used as Cinemas e.g The Prince Edward Theatre showing extreme wide screen Cinerama format movies from the early 1950s right up to 1974; and The Dominion which was a cinema for most of its life up until the 80s. Both of them are post-Victorian era designed theatres. Front rows that are long (in a big house like The Dominion) would still be impacted at the ends, but houses like these afford a larger proportion of the audience a picturebook end-on view than those Victorian and Georgian theatres with an extreme horseshoe configuration. The Gillian Lynne is more recent still of course, and though built to be flexible in configuration has specific sideview seats and is quite wide. 

Of which there are many, and congrats to the RSC for having a hit to replace the loss of Les Mis royalties!

Surely Matilda being an RSC production would have replaced the Les Mis royalties?

Am I right in thinking that the royalties from Les Mis weren't much and had got smaller over the years before Cameron Mackintosh decided to replace it with the 'new' production? 

In this current landscape, any money is good money. Les Mis helped the RSC survive for them to see today. This is probably like mana.

And for the GL, it's probably great too. Its last few shows if my memory serves correctly have all been relatively standard shorter runs(?) This is more long-term.

Are we going to update the name of the thread?

I think it's a great venue for Totoro.

The seats at the Barbican are still my favourite though, so comfy!

The GL's pretty good for families, with those front of house photo opportunities many shows have used. Added value experiences can make the day (witness those lifesize Barbie toy boxes in cinemas - genius).

This makes me happy. I loved this at the Barbican and was sad I never managed to make a return visit. This shall now be rectified