Shirley Valentine Kershaw directed by Glen Walford. Two years later it opened in London's West End at the Vaudeville Theatre, with Pauline Collins directed by Simon Callow. After eight previews, the Broadway production, with Collins again directed by Callow, opened on 16 February 1989 at the Booth Theatre, where it ran for 324 performances. Ellen Burstyn replaced Collins later in the run, and Loretta Swit starred in a US national tour in 1995. From 26 March - 8 May 2010, as part of the Willy Russell season at the Menier Chocolate Factory, Meera Syal played Shirley in the production's first London West
Title role not be fictional, such as Erin Brockovich in the film of the same name or Thomas More in the play "A Man for All Seasons" by Robert Bolt. The title character need not be named in the title, but may be referred to by some other word or phrase, such as Bilbo Baggins in "The Hobbit" or Idi Amin in "The Last King of Scotland". A title character may only be indirectly "described" in the title, as in "An Ideal Husband" by Oscar Wilde, where the 'ideal husband' (the title role) is the apparently perfect Sir Robert Chiltern. The title