Show that could revive West End

The fortunes of Kiss Me, Kate have summed up those of Broadway since 11 September and now the show is set to become a barometer of The West End.

It has cost £3.3 million to bring Kiss Me, Kate to London and the West End is waiting with baited breath to see if it runs and runs or fizzles away. In an ordinary year there is little doubt that Kiss Me, Kate would be a near instant sell-out - but 2001 has, of course, been far from ordinary. Foot-and-mouth and then events on and since 11 September have prompted a major downturn in foreign visitors, who typically generate a third of the West End's revenue.

After prompting from Lord Lloyd-Webber and Sir Cameron Mackintosh in these pages Mayor Ken Livingstone pledged £500,000 towards 100,000 free and discounted tickets for West End shows.

If a show of Kiss Me, Kate's pedigree fails to set the West End alight, however, it will be seen as extremely worrying for the future fortunes of theatreland - not least among the producers of My One and Only, The Full Monty, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and South Pacific, all set to open in the next few months.

Kiss Me, Kate has been running on Broadway for two years, during which time it has scooped five Tony Awards and reaped around £40 million.

Advance bookings are a key pointer to a show's prognosis. Kiss Me, Kate's are - at the moment - not healthy. Yesterday, the Victoria Palace Theatre's box office said: "any time" when asked when a group of ten could get evening tickets.

Co-producer Roger Berlind admits advance sales are not encouraging. "It has been pretty bad," he said: "with the publicity we have received here, as well as the very enthusiastic reaction of the advance audiences you would have thought word-of-mouth would have created some financial traffic. But I guess we will have to wait for the reviews." He said: "I think in view of the circumstances for the show to be very successful would be a dramatic achievement. It means an awful lot to me."

As it does to the entire West End.