West End theatres are attracting their biggest audiences since records began more than 20 years ago, with reality television tie-in shows bringing in large numbers of young people.

About 1.25 million more people visited plays, musicals, opera and dance in Central London in 2007 than in the previous year, according to new figures from the trade body, the Society of London Theatre.

Attendances topped 13.63 million, compared with 10.2 million in 1986, and box-office takings reached £469,729,135, generating VAT receipts of £70 million.

Shows such as Joseph and His Ama-zing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Grease, whose lead stars were chosen by the public in TV talent shows, have had a dramatic impact on the figures.

The composer Andrew Lloyd Webber was said to have risked his reputation by becoming involved with the BBC programmes How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? and Any Dream Will Do. But he struck gold in his search for two unknown talents to star in new productions of The Sound Of Music and Joseph.

The winners — Connie Fisher and Lee Mead — won over the critics, and the two series became compulsive Saturday night television for an average eight million viewers.

Rosemary Squire, the society’s president, said: “These shows are fantastic for our industry. They have brought in a whole generation of folk who aren’t theatregoers. They bring in people who wouldn’t normally come to the West End, people who have felt excluded, perhaps, by an imaginary barrier.”

The hope now is that those people feel inspired to taste something else in the West End.

Richard Pulford, the society’s chief executive, said: “2007 was something of an annus mirabilis for London theatre, with many new productions which caught the public imagination, but we’re under no illusions that in the current economic climate we’re going to have to work very hard to maintain this level of success.”

Although musicals once again were the biggest draw, attendances for plays were up by 1 per cent on the previous year. Ms Squire said: “The death of the play is not happening.”

But she gave warning that the economic climate could make life more difficult for theatres in the future. “We are going to have to work extremely hard, to be inventive about how we market things and how we attract foreign tourists.

“It’s high turnover but still relatively low profit,” she said. “Costs are extremely high. Major musicals cost between £2 million and £6 million to stage.There is a massive investment in technology, the sheer number of people, the orchestra, the performers.”

Attendance figures for 53 theatres were compiled by the society, which represents producers, theatre owners and managers of the biggest commercial and grant-aided theatres in Central London.

— Investment in British film production has fallen by 17 per cent in the past year, with the US writers’ strike, the exchange rate and the Government’s new tax regime for film-makers taking their toll of the industry.

Only £743.9 million was invested last year in films made in the UK by British or American companies, compared with £891.3 million in 2006.

Tim Adler, editor of Screen Finance, said: “Film-makers who had become used to the Treasury covering one third of their budgets were left scrabbling when the Government slashed the benefit to 20 per cent.”

Box-office takings have risen after two years of decline, however, topping £904 million, according to figures from the UK Film Council.

A golden age?

268 Number of new productions in West End last year (213 in 1986)

£401m Gross box office takings (£112,067 in 1986)

17,285 Number of performances last year (16,543 in 1986)

44 Average number of theatres open (42 in 1986)

13.6m Number of people attending theatre (10.2 million in 1986)

Source: Society of London Theatre

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