Will Olympics sink London theatre for summer of 2012?

London - European tour operators are predicting that visitors will stay away from London in droves during the 2012 Olympic Games next summer.

The games, running July 27 to Aug. 12, are set to attract more than a million extra visitors to London. But what will happen to the hordes of theatregoers who normally travel from abroad each summer to take in shows in London's West End? The European Tour Operators Association (ETOA) is warning of a colossal slump, saying that tourist bookings have been decimated. Mark Rubinstein, president of the Society of London Theatre, said producers understand the Olympic period will represent “a very different landscape from what we are used to at that time of year.” But he added there are opportunities for theatres during the games. Among the factors making theatre buffs leery of London are congestion in an already busy area, high-priced hotel rooms with low availability as well as the other complications an Olympic host city might experience. Perhaps not content to wait and see, word is that at least one producer is making noises about pulling the plug for the duration of the Olympics and the subsequent Paralympic Games, also in London. The Really Useful Theatre Group (RUG), the company owned by Andrew Lloyd Webber, is discussing closing its shows, including "Phantom of the Opera:" and "The Wizard of Oz." for the Olympic period, though a RUG spokesman says "nothing has yet been confirmed." Earlier in the year, the theatre community was much more optimistic. This July, producers of the acclaimed musical "Wicked," the ninth-longest-running musical in the West End, announced it was extending booking to through the Summer Olympics, with tickets on sale until October of 2012. The extension at the Apollo Victoria Theatre also encompasses the Queen's Diamond Jubilee Celebrations in Britain next June. If some London theatres do end up closing their doors during the Olympic Games, there will be no shortage of other attractions to keep fans entertained. Among the theatre highlights for the London 2012 Festival program, a vast cultural smorgasbord unveiled last week in a press conference, patrons will find "Crow," a new show from the Handspring Puppet Company, responsible for the successful "War Horse," which won a Tony Award on Broadway and is opening in February in Toronto. "Crow" will be staged as part of the Greenwich & Docklands Festival. Other events from the Cultural Olympiad, aimed to "match the Olympic and Paralympic Games in offering once-in-a-lifetime experiences," include "To Be Or Not To Be: Shakespeare Encountered," presented by Olivier Award winner Mark Rylance as a celebration of Shakespeare's birthday. It is more event than show, described as "a series of pop-up performances of sonnets and the speeches around London." Also, just a month before the start of the Olympic Games, there will be a free theatrical musical extravagana that "will welcome the cast of every single one of London's musicals to Trafalgar Square on June 23 and 24. For those who love dancing, the annual London "Big Dance" aims to reach 5 million people and culminates in Trafalgar Square on July 14 with more than 1,000 choreographed performers celebrating Big Street Dance Day. "In a time of world economic crisis, I think we need art and culture even more than when time are good," said Tony Hall, chair of the Cultural Olympiad Board upon the unveiling of the festival. Music and athletics will mingle on the Olympics' opening day, July 27, with a mass bell-ringing project in which bells all over Britain will be rung simultaneously for three minutes, beginning at 8 p.m. The 2012 Olympics will take place on 2.5 square km of land in East London, on what was once contaminated industrial land.