Music · London
Sam Ryder's Jesus Christ Superstar Has Five Performances Left
The Palladium run closes Saturday with Julian Clary the last of four King Herods. Tonight's performance is BSL-signed, and it reopens at Drury Lane in October.
Jesus Christ Superstar closes at the London Palladium on Saturday 5 September, after a run that opened on 20 June. Five performances remain: a matinee and an evening today, Friday evening, and two on Saturday. Sam Ryder plays Jesus in his West End debut, with Tyrone Huntley as Judas, Desmonda Cathabel as Mary Magdalene and David Thaxton as Pontius Pilate.
The production is Regent's Park Open Air Theatre's, directed by Tim Sheader with choreography by Drew McOnie and design by Tom Scutt — the staging that has been passed around British theatre for a decade and still fills a 2,300-seat house on Argyll Street.
Four King Herods in eleven weeks, and the last of them is Julian Clary.
The Herod slot has been the gimmick and the draw. Four performers shared it across the summer: Jesse Tyler Ferguson from 20 June to 11 July, Richard Armitage from 13 July to 15 August, Layton Williams from 17 to 29 August, and Julian Clary from 31 August to Saturday, returning to a role he played on the 2023–24 UK tour. Boy George had been announced and never appeared — his manager confirmed on 30 July that he would not, and Armitage covered the dates.
Access and prices: tonight's 7.30pm performance is signed in British Sign Language, with interpretation provided by Theatresign. Tickets are from £40 with no booking fees, including a £2 restoration levy, and the age guidance is 10 and over. Performances run Monday to Saturday at 7.30pm with Thursday and Saturday matinees at 2.30pm; there is no Sunday show.
It is not really a goodbye. LW Theatres says the show is extending to Theatre Royal Drury Lane 'due to record-breaking demand for the summer season at The London Palladium', running 16 October to 9 January from £25. Eight performers will share Herod there — Matt Bomer, Rob Brydon, Reece Shearsmith, Bob The Drag Queen, Michael Ball, Simon Russell Beale, Omid Djalili and Layton Williams again. Which produces a neat piece of West End choreography: the Palladium hands this show to Drury Lane in October, six weeks after Drury Lane loses Disney's Hercules on the very same night this one closes.