Good news for theater fans in London this summer: Reuters is reporting that two-thirds of respondents to an informal survey of more than 32,000 theater-goers predicted that the Olympics would help increase London theater attendances in 2012.
And 70 percent said they planned to attend theater productions as much or more than they usually did during the Olympics and Paralympics Games which run between July 27 and September 9.
Composer and theater-owner Andrew Lloyd Webber, who owns a string of West End venues, warned in December that the going would be "very tough" for theaters over the summer and said several shows, which he did not name, would temporarily close.
According to the Society of London theater, West End ticket sales rose 3.1 percent to a record of $826 million in 2011, although attendances slipped nearly two percent to 13.9 million.