U.K. culture secretary Lucy Frazer has revealed ambitions to shift the balance of power in the theater world from Broadway in New York to London’s West End. 

Delivering the keynote address at the Society of London Theatre summit in London on Monday, Frazer stated her plans to work closely with U.K. theater practitioners to “make the West End a magnet for the best productions, the best directors and the best playwrights in the business.”

The plans for growing the U.K.’s theater sector are part of the government’s $63 billion vision for the creative industries. “We want the Creative Industries Vision to be something that paves the way for a shift in the balance of power from Broadway to the West End,” Frazer said.

“In Andrew Lloyd Webber’s essay in The New York Times, marking the closing of ‘Phantom of the Opera,’ he highlighted the punishing economics that made it harder to put on shows on Broadway,” Frazer added. “And that is not to say the situation is perfect in the West End. But the mix of theater you find in London looks stronger than ever at the moment.”

Frazer also highlighted the tax reliefs available for theater and plans for developing future talent by creating and supporting opportunities for young people to explore their creativity, thereby enabling them to become the West End stars of the future.

The culture secretary also highlighted one-woman show “Prima Facie,” which was transported from the West End to Broadway and won Jodie Comer a Tony award as “evidence – if ever there was any needed – that British theater is today in a far livelier condition than seemed possible three years ago after the first COVID lockdown began just after Easter.”

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