Birmingham Hippodrome recorded its highest paid attendance for more than 50 years in 2013-14, according to its performance review.
The theatre sold 625,732 tickets, with an average capacity of 86%. More than half the audience comprised people visiting the Hippodrome for the first time.
The standout shows were The Lion King and the National Theatre’s War Horse which received standing ovations at every performance. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was the best-attended panto in a decade.
The Hippodrome’s 2015 season offers audiences a “packed year of world-class theatre featuring star names, a huge variety of top West End musicals and the very best in opera and ballet”.
Birmingham Royal Ballet will celebrate its 25th season in residence at the Hippodrome in 2015. David Bintley will celebrate 20 years with the company with a world première of his ballet The King Dances.
Other highlights include the return of the Olivier Award-winning tap dance spectacle Top Hat, the ever popular Dirty Dancing, the National Theatre’s play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! starring Belinda Lang and Gary Wilmot.
During the summer the Hippodrome will welcome the Cameron Mackintosh and Michael Harrison production of Barnum featuring Brian Conley and the West End musical The Bodyguard with Alexandra Burke.
In the autumn, Shaun Williamson and Kate Anthony will visit Birmingham in Cole Porter’s Anything Goes and Craig Revel Horwood will play Miss Hannigan in a new production of Annie.
Full details are available at the Birmingham Hippodrome web site.