ABOUT

Photo by David Levine

Founded in 2012 by award-winning producer Katy Lipson, Aria Entertainment is one of the UK’s leading independent theatre production companies, with over 120 productions staged across the West End, Off-West End and on UK tours.

Aria’s productions span new plays, musicals, revivals and concert productions, with a particular passion for developing ambitious new work and bringing exceptional stories and artists to audiences in London and beyond.

Recent & West End Productions

Katy’s recent production of KENREX: A True Crime Thriller became the most Olivier Award-nominated new British play of the 2025–26 season, receiving six Olivier Award nominations including Best New Play, and winning two Olivier Awards for Best Actor for Jack Holden and Best Sound Design for Giles Thomas.

Aria’s West End credits include KENREX (The Other Palace), Hot Mess (The Other Palace), the world premiere of Brokeback Mountain at @sohoplace, Cruise (Duchess Theatre and Apollo Theatre), which received an Olivier Award nomination for Best New Play, and the critically acclaimed transfer of The Last Five Years to the Garrick Theatre.

Recent London work includes The Addams Family in Concert at the London Palladium, Pippin: 50th Anniversary Concert at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, Hot Mess at The Other Palace and Southwark Playhouse, and Ballad Lines at Southwark Playhouse, Zorro, From Here to Eternity, Broken Wings, Flowers for Mrs Harris, Little Women and Rags.

UK Tours

Aria has produced numerous major UK tours, including The Osmonds, The Cher Show, Hair, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice, Here and Now: The Steps Musical and three national tours of The Addams Family.

Several Aria productions have gone on to international success, including The Addams Family in Singapore, Hair in Germany, The Last Five Years in China and Taiwan, Zorro in South Korea and Cruise internationally.

Productions including The Toxic Avenger, The Last Five Years, Little Women and Pippin are also available to audiences worldwide on BroadwayHD.

Developing New Work

A central part of Katy’s work has always been the development of new musical theatre. She founded From Page to Stage, a festival dedicated to supporting emerging musical theatre writers and composers. Between 2013 and 2017, the festival provided a platform for more than 100 new musicals, many of which went on to receive full productions and international licensing.

Katy continues to champion new theatrical work and is passionate about developing productions with the potential for a long-lasting life in the West End, on Broadway and internationally.

Hope Mill Theatre

From 2016 to 2019, Katy served as Producing Artistic Director of Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester, where she created and produced a programme of ambitious new work and major revivals, many of which subsequently transferred to London.

During her tenure, she led European and Northern premieres of Pippin, Parade, Little Women and Yank!, presented the first UK production of Jerry Herman’s Mame in more than 50 years, and worked with Stephen Schwartz on a reimagined production of Rags.

Awards & Recognition

Katy was awarded Best Producer at the Off-West End Awards in 2017 and was nominated for International Producer of the Year by the League of Professional Theatre Women in New York in 2019. She is a recipient of the Stage One Bursary and Start-Up Award and continues to mentor emerging producers through Stage One’s Bursary and Bridge the Gap programmes.

Katy has appeared on The Stage 100 multiple times in recognition of her contribution to UK theatre. Her productions of Hair, Spring Awakening and Flowers for Mrs Harris have all won WhatsOnStage Awards.

TRW Production

Katy is proud to be Vice President of TRW Production, a new theatrical production and development company with a portfolio of more than 10 projects currently in development. trwproduction.com

What’s Next

With a growing portfolio of productions in development across theatre, concert and international markets, Aria Entertainment continues to develop, produce and champion bold theatrical work for audiences in the UK and around the world.