Meet the Team
directors
Richard is Managing Director of The Limelight Group, an international production and merchandise company based in London which he founded in 1996.
He has been professionally involved in theatre for over 40 years, including General Manager for Bill Kenwright Ltd, Chairman of AKA – the leading advertising agency in London for theatre marketing, and Development Director for Boom ENTS – a live experience, event and entertainment agency specialising in digital marketing. He sat on the Council of Management for the Theatre Managers’ Association (TMA) for seven years.
Richard also has an extensive directing CV for both the West End and UK regions, including: Smokey Joe’s Café; Are You Lonesome Tonight; Little Shop of Horrors; Girls’ Night Out; Outside Edge; Charlie & the Chocolate Factory; Up ‘N Under; Bouncers….to name a few. He writes and directs some of the most significant intellectual properties for pre-school theatre both in the UK and the US. These include: six Peppa Pig Live shows worldwide; Teletubbies; Octonauts; LazyTown – again, to name a few. All of these projects are created in partnership with West End producer Edward Snape with whom Limelight Productions has a joint venture, FieryLight.
Currently, Richard is CEO of FieryLight which has major tours of Peppa Pig Live in both the UK and US which will tour throughout 2022, as well as extensive other UK-based productions.
The Limelight Group also provide General Management, Tour Booking and Merchandise services for a range of clients and are currently expanding their portfolio to include site-based, immersive experiences at venues throughout the UK.
For further information please visit www.thelimelightgroup.co.uk.
David Ian is a British theatre producer who presents shows all over the world. He is the recipient of five Olivier awards and three Tony nominations.
From 2005, David was Chairman and CEO of the global theatrical division of Live Nation having previously joined the group in 2000 when it was part of Clear Channel, the largest theatrical group in the world. At Live Nation, David was responsible for Broadway Across America, which produced, and toured first class Broadway shows in over 40 cities in the United States and Canada. He was simultaneously CEO of the UK division, which included over 25 theatres both in London’s West End and most regional markets in the UK.
Other DIP productions include: Grease, Saturday Night Fever, The King and I, West Side Story, Singin’ in the Rain, Ain’t Misbehavin’, Anything Goes, The Producers, Defending the Caveman, Guys and Dolls, Daisy Pulls it Off, La Cage aux Folles, Sweet Charity, Flashdance, Gypsy, The Shawshank Redemption, The Phantom of the Opera (Las Vegas), My Fair Lady, Jesus Christ Superstar, Chess, The Rocky Horror Show, Dr Dolittle, Starlight Express, Seminar, Steel Magnolias, Ghost the Musical, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Jersey Boys, Annie, Xanadu, Show Boat, The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole, Sunset Boulevard, Scrooge, Quartet, Benidorm Live, Magic Mike Live and Tootsie.
2020 productions include Hello Dolly!, The Drifters Girl and My Best Friend’s Wedding. David Ian Productions is one of the leading presenters of Theatre in Asia and China, with productions of Cats, Chicago, The Bodyguard, The Sound of Music and Evita recently touring the region. DIP was acquired by Crossroads Live in early 2019.
In 1978, after two years as a label and special products manager at CBS (Sony Music), Len founded Echo Advertising and Marketing. For the next 26 years, as Chairman and CEO, Len helped Echo become the largest independently owned advertising agency in Canada and one of only five dominant entertainment specialist-advertising agencies in the world. Echo developed and created the materials for some of the largest grossing live shows, events and tours of all times, including: Rolling Stones’ tours Voodoo Lounge, Steel Wheels, Bridges to Babylon, Forty Licks; Pink Floyd’s Division Bell Tour; U2’s PopMart and Elevation Tours; CSNY2K. Echo also marketed over 60 movies a year, multiple Broadway and West End productions including: The Phantom of the Opera in Canada, and the US, Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat in Chicago and across Canada; Ragtime and Kiss of the Spiderwoman on Broadway.
In 2006, Len started a new entertainment-focused advertising and marketing agency called twenty6two Int’l. Since its inception, twenty6two has been responsible for the creation and execution of all the advertising and marketing for both Barbra Streisand tours; the Rolling Stones’ A Bigger Bang; The Who and Genesis live tours.
On Broadway, Las Vegas, Toronto and beyond, Len and his team act as CMO for spectacles like, Rock Of Ages, Spider-Man: Turn Off The Dark, Bat out of Hell the musical, Oprah Live, Potted Potter, Jamie Allen’s iMagician, Champions of Magic, The Banksy Exhibit, amongst others.
Len is a founder of a micro brewery called Ace Hill. acehillbeer.com based in Toronto Canada.
production team


