The Stage

Not worth the gamble

Published Tuesday 4 November 2008 at 10:35

The Hippodrome and its future is an interesting and rather vital discussion.

I have been to see it with its current attraction Le Clique and was most impressed by the great fun of the show, and its ability to attract an audience in their twenties and thirties to the West End.

This unashamedly new version of vaudeville is a great complement to the mix of other theatrical shows. As the Spiegeltent, which plays such a show in New York and Australia, has been running for years, it is an indication that we now have something new, and with these locations as suppliers of acts, an endless chance of keeping it fresh.

The venue itself is wonderfully versatile - it apparently hosted a Bar Mitzvah recently, and has been a disco, etc.

The gambling casinos in the West End are all doing badly - business has dropped off alarmingly. And to compound the gaming depression, even Las Vegas and Macau are finding the going tough.

Now that a very successful format has been found to operate at this terrific venue, why waste millions converting it into a very risky new casino?

Let’s all rally around to keep the Hippodrome as a great venue for live entertainment.

Mike Walsh

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