{"id":145016,"date":"2018-06-22T17:02:06","date_gmt":"2018-06-22T17:02:06","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/west-end-theatre-renamed-after-cats-choreographer-gillian-lynne\/"},"modified":"2018-06-22T17:02:06","modified_gmt":"2018-06-22T17:02:06","slug":"west-end-theatre-renamed-after-cats-choreographer-gillian-lynne","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/west-end-theatre-renamed-after-cats-choreographer-gillian-lynne\/","title":{"rendered":"West End theatre renamed after Cats choreographer Gillian Lynne"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"DameImage copyright Craig Sugden
Image caption Dame Gillian Lynne with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cameron Mackintosh and dancers from Cats <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The original London home of Cats has been renamed after its choreographer, becoming the first West End theatre to be named after a non-royal woman.<\/p>\n

The New London Theatre was officially renamed the Gillian Lynne Theatre on Friday at a ceremony hosted by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh.<\/p>\n

"You've made many stars look wonderful over your career, but today you are the star," said Sir Cameron.<\/p>\n

Cats, for which Lynne won an Olivier, ran at the venue from 1981 to 2002.<\/p>\n

The former ballerina, now 92, was made a dame in 2014 for services to dance and musical theatre.<\/p>\n

Image copyright PA
Image caption The theatre played host to Cats for 21 years <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Dame Gillian's feline choreography for Lloyd Webber's musical was a significant factor in its phenomenal success.<\/p>\n

Based on Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats by TS Eliot, the show opened in May 1981 with Elaine Paige, Bonnie Langford and Paul Nicholas among its cast.<\/p>\n

After Cats, Lynne worked with Lord Lloyd-Webber again on The Phantom of the Opera and Aspects of Love.<\/p>\n

Her many other credits include the stage version of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Barbra Streisand's film Yentl.<\/p>\n

Friday's event saw a brief dance performance from Cats followed by Dame Gillian being carried onto the stage on a golden throne.<\/p>\n

The veteran choreographer was then presented with a key to the theatre by Lord Lloyd-Webber, whose School of Rock musical is currently playing there.<\/p>\n

Image caption The theatre was officially renamed on Friday <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Lynne, who revealed this year that her 90s had "not been kind", told the audience she could hardly believe the "incredible" accolade.<\/p>\n

To affectionate laughter, she expressed "how lucky" she felt to be honoured by "two such special, attractive men - even on a bad day".<\/p>\n

"It seemed so obvious to name the theatre after her," said Lord Lloyd-Webber afterwards. "I was ashamed I didn't think of it earlier."<\/p>\n

Mackintosh echoed his sentiments while clarifying that the Dame Gillian Lynne exhibit currently housed at his Victoria Palace Theatre would remain in situ.<\/p>\n

Langford, who played Rumpleteazer in Cats and who can now be seen as Carmel in the BBC's EastEnders, said it was an "extraordinary honour" and "very fitting".<\/p>\n

"Not only is it a theatre named after a woman, it's a woman who's still living and very much present," she told the BBC.<\/p>\n

Media playback is unsupported on your device
Media captionDame Gillian Lynne interviewed in 2014<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

"Her name will now remain in lights forever, which is what she has always wanted."<\/p>\n

"It's wonderful and timely that Gillian should be given this honour," said Paige, who played Grizabella in Cats and who now presents a Sunday afternoon show on BBC Radio 2.<\/p>\n

"I was very proud to be part of Cats, so to come back to this theatre and see her be lauded is just brilliant."<\/p>\n

"It's a tribute to all the choreographers and movement directors who have made our musical theatre as great as it is," said the theatre owner and producer Nica Burns.<\/p>\n

'Spoilt for choice'<\/h2>\n

Though London's West End has many theatres bearing the names of male actors and playwrights, Lynne is the first non-royal woman to have that honour.<\/p>\n

The Old Vic, the Apollo Victoria and the Victoria Palace are named after Queen Victoria, while Her Majesty's Theatre is so named for Queen Elizabeth II. <\/p>\n

Men, in contrast, are well represented, with John Gielgud, Harold Pinter, Noel Coward and Ivor Novello among those to have theatres bearing their name.<\/p>\n

This contrasts with New York, where one can find the Ethel Barrymore Theater, the Vivian Beaumont Theater and the Lucille Lortel Theatre among others.<\/p>\n

Image copyright PA\/BBC
Image caption L to R: Noel Coward, John Gielgud and Harold Pinter <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

When asked who should be the next woman to have a theatre in her honour, Elaine Paige admitted she was "spoilt for choice".<\/p>\n

"There are lots of dames around so take your pick," the Evita star told the BBC. "There are so many deserving candidates."<\/p>\n

"You're not going to tempt me into naming names," said Burns, co-owner of six London houses. "These kind of things have to be very carefully considered."<\/p>\n

"It'll happen naturally," insisted Mackintosh. "The best ideas are Eureka moments, so hopefully the next one will seem just as obvious."<\/p>\n

Follow us on Facebook, on Twitter @BBCNewsEnts, or on Instagram at bbcnewsents. If you have a story suggestion email entertainment.news@bbc.co.uk.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Image copyright Craig SugdenImage caption Dame Gillian Lynne with Andrew Lloyd Webber, Cameron Mackintosh and dancers from Cats The original London home of Cats has been renamed after its choreographer,<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":145017,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-145016","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145016","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=145016"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/145016\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/145017"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=145016"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=145016"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=145016"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}