Michael White, a veteran West End theatre producer who was the originating producer behind
The Rocky Horror Show and
Oh! Calcutta!, regularly imported Broadway hits to the West End including
Annie, A Chorus Line, On Your Toes and
She Loves Me, has died, aged 80. He also produced films, including
Monty Python and the Holy Grail, that became the basis for the Broadway musical
Monty Python’s Spamalot (which he was not involved in).
According to a former partner Lyndall Hobbs, quoted in a BBC online news story, “It would seem he died of heart failure having been told about eight weeks ago that he needed open heart surgery but he was too weak for surgery.”
The West End is honoring him March 9, by dimming the lights at venues across the capital for two minutes staring at 7 PM GMT.
Across a career that spanned more than fifty years, he produced more than 100 shows in the West End. He also had a number of Broadway credits, including
Sleuth, Sizwe Banze Is Dead and
The Island. In 2014 he received the Special Award at the Olivier Awards to recognize his achievements.
