Briton is chosen to take over from Jean-Luc Choplin at theatre celebrated for its range of cultural events

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Paris’s Châtelet theatre, celebrated for its range of cultural events including English-language Broadway musicals, is expected to name Briton Ruth Mackenzie as its new artistic director.

Mackenzie was chosen from a shortlist of candidates to take over from Jean-Luc Choplin, Paris city hall said on Tuesday. Her appointment is supported by the capital’s mayor, Anne Hidalgo.

Mackenzie, 59, is currently artistic director of the Holland festival. Her appointment needs the approval of the theatre’s administrative board, which meets on 11 January.

A city hall spokesperson said the final decision would be made “in the weeks to come”, but that it was unlikely that Mackenzie’s nomination would be overturned.

Mackenzie, CBE, was director of the Cultural Olympiad in 2012, and has previously been drama officer for the Arts Council, dramatic director of the Vienna festival, general director of the Manchester international festival and the Scottish opera and a special adviser to the UK department of culture.

Bruno Julliard, deputy mayor in charge of culture, said Mackenzie had proposed a “programme of events open to all musical genres, innovative and multi-disciplined productions”. Julliard indicated she was chosen for also stressing the importance of digital arts, which he said would take the theatre into “as yet unexplored territory”.

Broadway mélodies: Kiss Me Kate at the Châtelet in Paris – in pictures Read more

The Châtelet will close in March for a €31.5m (£26.7m) facelift – €5m of which has been raised by public donations – which is expected to take 28 months. But the theatre is already planning events at outside venues. The first to be announced is a new 47-show run of its hit musical production, Singin’ in the Rain, under the glass nave of the city’s Grand Palais in November this year.

Choplin, a self-confessed devotee of classic American musicals, directed the Châtelet for a decade before standing down last year, and oversaw classic productions of My Fair Lady, Kiss Me Kate, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd and 42nd Street. The shows were usually sell-outs with most of the audiences made up of French theatregoers.

An appeal for candidates to replace Choplin was launched last summer. The jury set up to select a successor said on Tuesday it had interviewed “several candidates of a very high quality”.