BroadwayHD to offer West End plays and musicals

The digital theater streaming network BroadwayHD is growing bigger than its name. It will soon be the first to stream hits from London's West End.

BroadwayHD will start offering current and recent offerings with "Wind in the Willows" from the London Palladium on Nov. 23, an adaptation starring Rufus Hound as Mr. Toad and a story by "Downton Abbey" creator Julian Fellowes and Olivier Award-winning composer and lyricist George Stiles and Anthony Drewe.

After that will be a 2014 stage adaptation of "From Here to Eternity" with songs by Stuart Brayson and Tim Rice, the first time that show will be streamed. Set just before the Pearl Harbor attack in 1941, the dark story follows two U.S. soldiers in Hawaii who fall in love with the wrong women. It begins airing Dec. 7.

That's followed on Dec. 14 by "The Railway Children," a family friendly show set in Edwardian England and centered on three children's love for their imprisoned father who are fascinated by the nearby railway.

Other titles will be brought to the streaming network in 2018.

"The West End is home to some of the greatest productions and creative talent in theater history," Stewart F. Lane and Bonnie Comley, founders of BroadwayHD, said in a statement. "Establishing a channel through which others can experience this amazing and compelling art is a true honor."

BroadwayHD offers high-definition theatrical events to computers, TV and phones, hoping to become the Netflix of Broadway. A monthly subscription is $8.99. BroadwayHD now has its own Amazon channel and its app will be pre-loaded on Ericsson-connected TVs.

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Online: www.broadwayhd.com

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