Mamma Mia! Theatre is a leap too far for War Horse
War Horse has been kicking its heels at the Lincoln Center in New York for the past year.
the National Theatre’s executive director, who oversaw the transfer of the production from London, has been seeking a bigger paddock for his thoroughbred and alighted on the Winter Garden.
With seating for 1,526, the venue could offer it plenty of room, but, alas, it is occupied by Mamma Mia! Starr, who had heard rumours that the Abba musical was beginning to run out of puff, gently suggested to
its producer, that it was time to cede the venue to his show.
It was, after all, originally built by
in 1896 to be the American Horse Exchange. The formidable Miss Craymer bridled at the idea — her show had grossed $1million last week alone.
Starr was quick to see that he was flogging a dead horse and accepted that he would have to take his nag elsewhere. For good measure, he dispatched flowers to Craymer to apologise.
A spokesman for the National said that Starr was too preoccupied last night with the Broadway opening of another of its productions, One Man, Two Guvnors, to comment. The spokesman added that War Horse has been “consistently the highest grossing play on Broadway since it opened”.
War Horse has been more successful — certainly in critical terms — as a stage production than
later film version. The King’s Speech, by contrast, now appears to be struggling to find an audience as a West End play.
The reviews for the stage production were all adulatory, with the exception of The Sunday Telegraph. “With the film so fresh in the memory,
as
and
as have little, if any, hope of usurping and
in our memories,” it decreed.