News: My Neighbour Totoro transfers to the West End

Executive Producer Joe Hisaishi and the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), in collaboration  with Nippon TV and Improbable, today announce a 34-week run for Studio Ghibli’s record-breaking My Neighbour Totoro at the Gillian Lynne Theatre in London’s West End.

The production will run from Saturday 08 March – Sunday 02 November 2025, with an opening night on Thursday 20 March. Priority booking opens on Monday 29 April, with public booking from  Friday 03 May.

Adapted by Tom Morton-Smith (Oppenheimer) from Hayao Miyazaki’s celebrated 1988 animated  feature film, the production is directed by Improbable Co-Founder, Phelim McDermott. Winner of six  Olivier Awards and five WhatsOnStage Awards, My Neighbour Totoro broke the Barbican’s Box Office record for most tickets sold in a single day in April 2022, ahead of its global premiere in October 2022. Following both critical and audience acclaim, the production returned to the Barbican Centre for a strictly limited run in Autumn 2023. The production closed at the Barbican Centre in March 2024.

My Neighbour Totoro features production design by Tom Pye, costume design by Kimie Nakano,  lighting design by Jessica Hung Han Yun, movement by You-Ri Yamanaka and puppetry design and direction is by Basil Twist. The production features music from Joe Hisaishi’s iconic score in a new orchestration by Will Stuart, performed live with sound design by Tony Gayle. Video  design is by Finn Ross and Andrea Scott. Casting is yet to be announced.

Artwork for the stage adaptation of My Neighbour Totoro includes a hand drawn title by Toshio Suzuki, Producer for Studio Ghibli, who was involved in the planning and production of the original  animated film.

Mr. Suzuki said: “It would be really wonderful if people thought of Totoro when they think of London.”