No Sleep ‘Til London! Pasadena Playhouse’s Sleepless in Seattle Musical Eyes West End Run

Sleepless in Seattle? Try Sleepless in London! The new musical version of the hit 1993 movie could be tugging at the heartstrings of West End audiences as early as 2014, according to The Los Angeles Times. Sleepless in Seattle, which received its world premiere in May at California’s Pasadena Playhouse, was helmed by the theater’s artistic director Sheldon Epps and starred Broadway alums Chandra Lee Schwartz and Tim Martin Gleason. No London dates, theater or casting have been set, but Epps has confirmed that he will be the director of the British production.

“I’m feeling optimistic that [a London run is] going to happen,” Epps told The Los Angeles Times. “It could happen in the spring or fall of next year. Sleepless in Seattle ran from May 24 to June 23 at Pasadena Playhouse, featuring music and lyrics by Ben Toth and Sam Forman and a book by Jeff Arch, a co-writer of the original film screenplay alongside Nora Ephron and David S. Ward.

Sleepless in Seattle tells the story of Sam, a widower living in Seattle whose young son calls a radio talk show and convinces his father to talk about his grief. Women from all over the world are moved by his story, including a Baltimore newspaper reporter named Annie, who writes to Sam and suggests they meet at the top of the Empire State Building. The film starred Tom Hanks as Sam and Meg Ryan as Annie.