News: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe roars into the Gillian Lynne Theatre with Samantha Womack

The smash-hit production of C.S. Lewis’ classic The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, which has been wowing audiences around the UK and Ireland, will make its West End premiere this summer at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, Drury Lane, London.

The show has been seen and enjoyed by a quarter of a million people on its nineteen-week tour which ended triumphantly this month in Bristol where it was described as ‘a must-see production – an exceptional re-imagining of a treasured story to bewitch and beguile the whole family.’

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe – starring Samantha Womack as the evil White Witch – will begin performances on 18 July 2022 and play a strictly limited season through until 8 January 2023.

Step through the wardrobe into the enchanted kingdom of Narnia. Join Lucy, Edmund, Susan and Peter as they wave goodbye to wartime Britain and embark on the most magical of adventures in a frozen, faraway land where they meet Mr Tumnus the faun, talking beavers, Aslan (the noble king of Narnia) and the coldest, most evil White Witch.

C.S. Lewis’ book (published by HarperCollins) has been engrossing readers young and old for over 70 years, has sold 85 million copies in 60 languages and is one of the top ten best-selling books of all time.

Samantha Womack recently played the lead role in the sold-out production of The Girl on the Train in the West End and on tour. Her past theatre roles include the Tony award-winning production of South Pacific, Guys and Dolls at London’s Piccadilly Theatre (directed by Michael Grandage) and playing Emma in an award-winning production of Harold Pinter’s Betrayal (directed by Sir Peter Hall). Her varied work on television has seen Samantha moving from comedy to drama with the cult success of BBC’s Game On and Babes in the Wood to ITV’s gritty crime drama Liverpool 1, Imogen’s Face and Ronnie Mitchell in EastEnders.

The full cast will be announced soon.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is directed by Michael Fentiman based on the original production by Sally Cookson.