Kenny Wax MBE
Kenny Wax MBE has been working in the West End since 1989, first as an usher, then as a flyman, box office clerk, follow spot operator and on-stage crew and now operates at the epicentre of London's theatre industry. He is delighted to have received an MBE in the King’s Birthday Honours in recognition for his services to the industry, having previously completed a six-year term as President and subsequently as Vice President of the Society of London Theatre (SOLT) – the trade organisation for the West End theatre industry. He currently serves as a member of the SOLT Board, Laurence Olivier Award committee, Equity negotiating committee, parliamentary sub-committees and is an Associate Member of The Broadway League.
Current productions include SIX the Musical, which is playing to packed houses in the West End and on a UK tour, on Broadway where it won two Tony Awards, on a North American Tour and is about to reopen in Australia. It recently played in Toronto, Amsterdam, Berlin, Munich, Trieste and Zurich, having previously completed runs on cruise ships and in Korea. The studio album received ‘gold’ status and together with the Broadway cast album across various music platforms, the songs from the show have thus far reached one billion streams.
Opening at the Garrick Theatre in August 2024 is Marlow and Moss’s new musical, Why Am I So Single?. Opening July 2024 at The Other Palace is Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World, an 80-minute pop musical for families, based on the book by Kate Pankhurst, about influential women in history, winning the UK Theatre Award for ‘Best Show for Children and Young People’ (2022). In development, the Company is working on The Boy Who Harnessed The Wind, based on the true story of William Kamkwamba who single-handedly built a windmill in his village to create electric light for his family’s dwelling and to pump water to the crops in their fields.
Kenny has so far produced nine stage shows with Mischief, including: The Play That Goes Wrong (winner of the Olivier Award for ‘Best New Comedy’ and a Tony Award on Broadway) which is entering its tenth year in the West End at the Duchess Theatre; Peter Pan Goes Wrong which completed successful runs in Los Angeles and Broadway before embarking on a UK tour in 2023 starting in the West End; The Mind Mangler, The Comedy About A Bank Robbery which ran for four years at the Criterion Theatre; Mischief Movie Night which gained Mischief its fourth consecutive Olivier nomination and was streamed for the first time all over the world in December 2020 and sees a return at The Other Palace in July 2024; Groan Ups which played at the Vaudeville in autumn 2019 and later toured the UK and Magic Goes Wrong, made in collaboration with magicians Penn & Teller. Establishing Mischief Screen with Mischief Theatre, Kenny was Executive Producer of two Christmas television specials on BBC 1: Peter Pan Goes Wrong and A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong, as well as the BBC comedy series The Goes Wrong Show, available on DVD with the second series available on BBC iPlayer.
Notable shows include the world première of Top Hat, winner of three Olivier Awards including ‘Best New Musical’ (2013) and winner of the Evening Standard Award for ‘Best Night Out’ (2012). Once On This Island, winner of the Laurence Olivier Award for ‘Best New Musical’ (1995). The Worst Witch won the Laurence Olivier Award for 'Best Family Show' in 2019 with Hey Duggee The Live Theatre Show winning the same award in 2023. Other productions nominated for Laurence Olivier Awards include stage adaptations of Jacqueline Wilson’s Hetty Feather and Julia Donaldson’s What The Ladybird Heard.
In 2022, Kenny opened Identical, based on the book ‘The Parent Trap’ by Erich Kastner. Directed by Sir Trevor Nunn, it received tremendous reviews for its try-out production and is awaiting a theatre for a West End transfer. The Company produced the first ever UK tour of Bugsy Malone – the acclaimed Lyric Hammersmith production, based on the world-famous movie by Alan Parker; and a stage version of the much loved book, We’re Going On A Bear Hunt, recently completed a UK and international tour.
Kenny also collaborated with New Vic Theatre from Stoke-on-Trent, to produce, at the Alexandra Palace Theatre in London, the legendary story of The Great Escape in Tom, Dick & Harry and in 2023 teamed up with legendary mentalist Derren Brown and his team to create Unbelievable, a show which ran for four months at the Criterion Theatre in the West End.
