Crazy for Gershwin Tour Announced

A new Crazy for Gershwin tour in October and November has just been announced. It is a celebration of the works of George Gershwin including classic orchestral compositions alongside a selection of show-stopping numbers written in collaboration with his lyricist brother, Ira.

The performances from the Gershwin songbook of music, song and dance will include: ‘Rhapsody In Blue’; ‘I’ve Got A Crush On You’; ‘Someone To Watch Over Me’, ‘Oh, Lady Be Good!’, ‘Fascinatin’ Rhythm; ‘S' Wonderful’; ‘Strike Up The Band’; A Foggy Day (In London Town) and highlights from ‘Porgy and Bess’ such as ‘Summertime’ and ‘It Ain’t Necessarily So’.

Performers include the London Concert Orchestra, Jonathan Scott – piano, Meeta Raval – soprano, Rodney Earl Clarke – baritone, Richard Balcombe – conductor plus a  ballroom duo and two tap dancers.

Dates and tickets for tour of Crazy for Gershwin

Maria Friedman & Adam Guettel in Concert & Conversation

As part of the London Festival of Cabaret Triple Oliver Award-winning actress and director Maria Friedman joins celebrated Tony Award-winning American composer/lyricist Adam Guettel for just two nights at the Ambassadors Theatre on 20th and 21st May.

They will be accompanied by a five piece band in this intimate show which includes previews of Adam's newest work and offers a fascinating insight, as they discuss their relationships including Adam's grandfather - the great Richard Rodgers, Stephen Sondheim and other musical theatre legends.



Tickets for Maria Friedman & Adam Guettel

David Ribi & Ceris Hine in Zanna Don't at Landor

Zanna, Don't! is a musical fairytale written by Tim Acito with additional lyrics and material by Alexander Dinelaris which is running at the Landor Theatre from 3rd June-29th June with matinees at 3:00 pm on Saturday and Sunday.

The cast includes Zanna/David Ribi (Dreamboats and Petticoats,Hairspray): Kate/Ceris Hine (Ushers,Rocky Horror): Roberta/Jennifer Saayeng (The Colour Purple, Ghost); Mike/Jonathan David Dudley (Les Mis Film, Titanic, Joseph, Scrooge): Steve: Liam Lloyd (Damn Yankees): Candi/Carol Heffernan: Arvin/Jonathan Wooldridge: Tank: Ben Sell and ensemble members Thomas Wright and  Georgia Olivia

 

Welcome to Heartsville High, set in a world where everyone is gay - well, almost everyone! The big-man-on-campus is the chess champion, and the captain of the football team is made cool by being cast as the lead in the school musical. The students write a controversial show called "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" about straight people in the military, which becomes the catalyst for a young man and woman to fall in love. 

 

Enter Zanna, a magical, musical fairy who, with a wave of his wand, brings true love to one and all!

 

The production will be directed by Drew Baker with choreography by Holly Hughes and Musical direction by Isaac McCullough.

Buy Tickets for Zanna Don't

Annie Get Your Gun Cast on The One Show Tonight

The cast of the tour of Annie Get Your Gun will be appearing on BBC's The One Show tonight between 7:00-8:00pm

The tour stars Emma Williams as Annie Oakley, Jason Donovan and Norman Pace (all pictured here), and kicks off at Manchester Opera House on 12th May before embarking on a UK countrywide tour until 4th October.

Danielle Hope, Joanna Riding & Daniel Boys Live in the Delfont Room: An Evening With ...

Live in the Delfont Room: An Evening With… returns for a limited summer season of evening cabaret from June to September 2014.

The opening line up includes:

26th June - Danielle Hope 

31st July - Joanna Riding

28th August - Daniel Boys

 

Tickets for Live in the Delfont Room 

I Can't Sing to close at the Palladium in two weeks

The Simon Cowell/Harry Hill X Factor - Musical I Can't Sing has posted its closing notices and shutters at the London Palladium on 10th May.

It received good reviews from critics after its opening night on 26th March but a statement was released last night saying saying that producers Stage Entertainment and Syco Entertainment, Simon Cowell's company,  have announced the closure.

CEO of Stage Entertainment, Rebecca Quigley, said: "The West End can be an unpredictable place as the closure of a number of high profile productions recently has shown. I Can't Sing! has had audiences on their feet night after night, four and five star reviews from the critics and an amazing company and creative team, but it seems that isn't always enough."

Ticket holders with seats booked for after 10th May should contact their original point of purchase.

Alexander Hanson in City Stories at St James' Theatre

Alexander Hanson recently played the lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber's new Stephen Ward musical and Pontius Pilate in the arena tour of Jesus Christ Superstar. He will now be appearing in City Stories at the St James' Theatte on  on Thursday 1st and Friday 2nd May.

Returning by popular demand, City Stories is a new type of cabaret drama with a sequence of interwoven love stories and a love letter to London. Written and directed by award winning playwright James Phillips with original music composed by singer-songwriter Rosabella Gregory.

These first two shows feature special guest Alex Hanson.  Long term City Stories company members who will feature during the residency include Gary Kemp, Sally Dexter, Scott Handy, Louisa Clein, Karina Fernandez, Daphne Alexander and Sarah Quintrell.

Tickets for City Stories

The Bodyguard Tour to Launch at Southampton Mayflower February 2015

The Bodyguard Musical at the Adelphi Theatre is due to close on 30th August with Made in Dagenham starring  Gemma Arterton due to start previews there on October 9th.

Beverley Knight is currently playing Rachel Marron with Alexandra Burke due to take over the role on 2nd June. Miss Knight is then playing the lead in Memphis the Musical which starts previews in October at the Shaftesbury.

The musical is due to go on tour next year opening at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton on  February 12th and running until the 28th.The only other date I have so far is Newcastle Theatre Royal from April 1st to 18th.

Tickets for The Bodyguard Tour at Southampton go on sale  on Tuesday May 6th.

Helen Hobson & Jerome Pradon in Picture Perfect: A New Musical

Updated 18th May:Charlotte Wakefield is replacing the previously announced Lucie Jones, who will not now appear due an unforeseen scheduling clash. Charlotte was nominated for an Olivier Award for her West End debut in Spring Awakening and the Evening Standard Award for The Sound of Music. She has performed with Helen Hobson as mother and daughter in Mamma Mia! and then Maria and Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music in Regent’s Park.
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Picture Perfect: A New Musical explores love and relationships using the songs of award-winning American composer Scott Evan Davis. Conceived and directed by Simon Greiff it will  premiere at the St James Studio with four performances on Saturday 31st May and Sunday 1st June.
Josh is graduating college and preparing to face the future - whatever that may bring! Unlucky in love, he wonders whether the right person is out there for him. Ellie, on her gap year from her law degree, wonders whether she’s making the right decisions in life - both professional and personal! Harry and Elizabeth, Josh’s parents, are also at a turning point in their lives - with Harry inadvertently starting an affair with a younger woman, and Elizabeth believing now is the time to finally leave her husband. Is anything ‘Picture Perfect’?

The cast features  West End stars. Helen Hobson -  starring roles include Donna in Mamma Mia! and Mrs Johnstone in Blood Brothers as well as playing the Mother Abbess in The Sound of Music in Regent’s Park. Jerome Pradon - roles include Javert in Les Miserables, Aragorn in The Lord of the Rings and The Man in Whistle Down the Wind. Lucie Jones was recently in American Psycho at the Almeida and played Meatloaf in the international tour of We Will Rock You. She also played Cosette in Les Miserables in the West End. Joel Harper-Jackson has just appeared in the Rent 20th Anniversary tour.

 Tickets for Picture Perfect 

Jonathan Wilkes and Jason Donovan as Frank Butler in Annie Get Your Gun

Jonathan Wilkes and Jason Donovan at Annie Get Your Gun photo shoot. 

The show also stars Emma Williams (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang) as Annie Oakley and Norman Pace (Chicago) as Buffalo Bill (until September).

They are sharing the role of Frank Butler in the tour which starts at Manchester Opera House 12th May.

London Revival of How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

All Star Productions is presenting  The Pulitzer Prize-winning Frank Loesser Musical How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at Ye Olde Rose and Crown Theatre in Walthamstow, East London, from 6th-24th May.

This musical was last seen in the West End in the 1960s and revived in Chichester in 2005. It tells the story of young, ambitious J Pierrepont Finch, who, with the help of the book How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, rises from window washer to chairman of the board of the World Wide Wicket Company.

Cast includes Adam Pettigrew, Alyssa Nicol, Mark Turnbull, Amy Burke, Adam Mitchell, Charlotte Tooth, Tony Rosenberg, Annie Wensak, Harry Stone, Geraldine Allen, Josh Wilmott, Lizzie McConachie, Haley- Jo Whitney, Nicholas Devlin and Benjamin Newhouse-Smith.

Tickets for  How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying

Anna Jane-Casey, Sophie-Louise Dann, Damian Humbley and Ben Lewis in Forbidden Broadway at the Menier in June

Updated 30th April: An updated version of New York's longest running comedy revue Forbidden Broadway is being presented at the Menier Chocolate Factory from 18th June - 16th August 2014.

Forbidden Broadway sends up shows and their stars winning numerous awards including the 2008 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Musical Revue, the Special Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre, six additional Drama Desk Awards, Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, Obie and Lucille Lortel Awards.

All of the cast members have previously appeared at the Chocolate Factory: Anna-Jane Casey (credits include Billy Elliot (Victoria Palace), Spamalot (Playhouse), Company (Crucible, Sheffield), Sunday in the Park with George and the 2009 production of Forbidden Broadway (both at the Menier Chocolate Factory): Sophie-Louise Dann (soon to appear in Closer Than Ever at Jermyn Street Theatre. Sunday in the Park with George (Chatelet, Paris), Lend Me a Tenor – the Musical (Gielgud; Olivier Award nomination for Best Supporting Role in a Musical) and Forbidden Broadway (Menier Chocolate Factory). Damian Humbley (starred as Charley Kringas in the Menier Chocolate Factory’s Olivier Award winning production of Merrily We Roll Along. Damian played Seymour in the UK tour of the Chocolate Factory’s production of Little Shop of Horrors. Company (Crucible, Sheffield), Lend Me a Tenor - the Musical at the Gielgud Theatre and The Last Five Years at the Chocolate Factory) and  Ben Lewis (last appeared as the Govenor and Vanderdendur in Candide at the Menier. Other credits include Therese Raquin (Finborough), the Australian productions of Love Never Dies, A Little Night Music (Opera Australia), as well as Spamalot and Priscilla - Queen of the Desert).

This updated version of the show, from Broadway's director Phillip George, showcases productions from both Broadway and the West End including The Book of Mormon, Once, Matilda, Wicked and Miss Saigon!


Tickets for Forbidden Broadway

Mamma Mia! Cast Changes

From Monday 9th June Mamma Mia! will welcome new cast members to the show at the Novello Theatre.

Rebecca Lock ( The Phantom of the Opera, Avenue Q and Mary Poppins) will be joining the cast as Rosie, Alasdair Harvey (We Will Rock You, Forbidden Broadway and Sunday in the Park with George) as Harry, Charles Daish (Race, A Streetcar Named Desire)as Bill, Alice Stokoe as Sophie Sheridan and Lloyd Green as Sky (both making their professional stage debuts).

Also joining the cast will be Rosanna Bates (Ali), Brodie McBride (Lisa), James Alexander Gibbs (Pepper) and James Alan-Evans (Eddie).

Dianne Pilkington will continue to star as Donna Sheridan, with Kim Ismay as Tanya and Richard Trinder as Sam. At certain performances the role of Donna Sheridan will be played by Shona White.

Douglas Hodge Musical Meantime

Douglas Hodge has just been talking to Ken Bruce on BBC Radio 2 and mentioned working on his musical Meantime when he stops playing Willy Wonka and leaves Charlie & the Chocolate Factory on 17th May.

Hodge has He has released two albums of his own compositions: Cowley Road Songs and Nightbus which won the Stiles and Drewe 2012 Best New Song Award for Powercut from his musical Meantime which is a love story set across 50 years. He co-wrote it with Aschlin Ditta in November 2008. Ditta is an old friend of his from the National Youth Theatre who wrote a film he did called Scenes of a Sexual Nature.

Meantime was taken up a few years ago by producer Matthew Byam Shaw and workshopped with Sheila Hancock, Catherine Tate, Lara Pulver, David Haig and Jason Pennycooke (who was in La Cage aux Folles with him at the time).

New Movie Biopic of Lionel Bart starring Geoffrey Rush

According to Baz in today's Mail,  Oscar-winning actor Geoffrey Rush is committed to portraying the older Lionel Bart in a new movie musical which uses the composer's songs to tell his rags to riches and then broke again story.

Director Vadim Jean is working on the biopic with writer and composer Elliot Davis who was one of several music students Bart hired to help him transcribe his scores. Peter Darling (Billy Elliot, Matilda and Charlie And The Chocolate Factory) is the choreographer  for the movie which Jean hopes to start filming this autumn.

Jean, BBC Films executives and a casting director are currently searching for an actor to portray the composer between the ages of 28 and 35.  He will then look for actors to portray Barbara Windsor, George Sewell, Miriam Karlin and others in the East End troupe assembled by Joan Littlewood at the Theatre Royal, Stratford East for Bart’s Fings Ain’t Wot They Used T’Be. (Which is about to be revived at Stratford East from 8th May with Jessie Wallace, Gary Kemp. Ryan Molloy and Stefan Booth).

Here Lies Love David Byrne and Fatboy Slim rock musical to open at the National in October

The National Theatre will open its renamed and reformed Cottesloe as the Dorfman Theatre)  in October with Here Lies Love which is a new rock musical about Imelda Marcos, former first lady of the Philippines along with the woman who raised her (Estrella Cumpas)  until she and her family were forced to leave the Philippines

The show charts the rise of Ferdinand Marcos and his wife to the tune of a disco beat.  It has been created by former Talking Heads front man David Byrne and  DJ Fatboy Slim. The acclaimed New York production ( it has just returned to the Public Theatre for a second run) will again be directed by Alex Timbers.

The title of the concept album and musical is taken from a comment made by Imelda Marcos during a visit to her husband Ferdinand Marcos's embalmed body when she said that  she would like the phrase "Here Lies Love" to be inscribed on her tombstone.

Byrne has incorporated speeches made by Marcos and his wife into the lyrics of his songs with the action set in a disco that constantly changes shape, dancers moving around raised adjustable platforms with the audience standing and moved around as the set is transformed.  The set is surrounded by two dozen TV screens filled with footage and facts on politics in the Philippines.

Trailer for The Jersey Boys Film

Trailer for The Jersey Boys film directed by Clint Eastwood which is due for release in the UK and USA on 20th June.

The film stars John Lloyd Young as Frankie Valli.  (He is currently playing this role in The Jersey Boys in London's West End until  27th April). With Erich Bergen as Bob Gaudio, Christopher Walken as Gyp DeCarlo, Mike Doyle as Bob Crew, Joey Russo Joe Pesci, Erica Piccininni as Lorraine, Donnie Kehr as Norm Waxman, Jeremy Luke as Donnie, Johnny Cannizzaro as Nick DeVito and Kathrine Narducci as Mary Rinaldi.

Eastwood has kept true to his word of casting the main roles with stage actors from the show's Broadway, touring and international productions.

The Jersey Boys is also touring the UK from September.

Musical Theatre 2014 Olivier Award Winners

Best Actor in a Musical - Gavin Creel for The Book Of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre

Best Actress in a Musical - Zrinka Cvitesic for Once at the Phoenix Theatre

Best Performance in a Supporting Role in a Musical - Stephen Ashfield for The Book Of Mormon

MasterCard Best New Musical - The Book Of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre

Best Musical Revival - Merrily We Roll Along at the Harold Pinter Theatre

Best Theatre Choreographer - Casey Nicholaw for The Book Of Mormon at the Prince of Wales Theatre

Best Entertainment and Family - The Wind In The Willows at the Duchess Theatre

Autograph Sound Award for Outstanding Achievement in Music - Once - Martin Lowe for composition and arrangements, Glen Hansard and Marketa Irglova for music and lyrics

White Light Award for Best Lighting Design - Tim Lutkin and Finn Ross for Chimerica at the Almeida Theatre and Harold Pinter Theatre and Paul Pyant and Jon Driscoll for Charlie And The Chocolate Factory at Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Best Sound Design - Carolyn Downing for Chimerica at the Almeida Theatre and Harold Pinter Theatre and Gareth Owen for Merrily We Roll Along at the Harold Pinter Theatre

Best Costume Design - Mark Thompson for Charlie And The Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane

BBC Radio 2 Audience Award - Les Miserables at the Queen's Theatre

Damian Humbley, Caroline O'Connor and Summer Strallen in Andrew Lippa Tribute at Menier

Damian Humbley, Caroline O'Connor and Summer Strallen star in The Life of the Party - A Celebration of the Songs of Andrew Lippa will be hosted by the man himself at the Menier Chocolate Factory from 3th  May to 14th June (previews from 27th May(.

Andrew Lippa is a composer whose shows include The Wild Party, The Addams Family and recent Broadway show Big Fish. The show will also include numbers from his new oratorio I Am Harvey Milk.

Tickets for Andrew Lippa Concert

Performances and Presenters at 2014 Olivier Awards

With the Olivier Awards taking place inside the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden this Sunday there is also plenty of action outside withWest End leading man Michael Xavier (about to appear in The Pajama Game) and TV presenter Myleene Klass hosting some great musical theatre entertainment on the stage in Covent Garden Piazza from 5:00 pm.

There are llive performances from hit shows and touring productions including Avenue Q, Happy Days, The Pajama Game, Les Misérables, Matilda The Musical, Wicked and  The West End Gospel Choir.

When the actual ceremony (hosted by  Made in Dagenham's Gemma Arterton and Stephen Mangan) starts at 18:30 it will be streamed directly to theatre fans in the Piazza .

This year’s  presenters include Michael Ball, Samantha Barks, Kristin Davis, Beverley Knight, Dame Penelope Keith, Mark Strong, Luke Treadaway, Gok Wan and Ruth Wilson.

Among the shows performing are Best New Musical nominees The Book Of Mormon, Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Once and The Scottsboro Boys. Broadway's Bernadette Peters and opera star Joseph Calleja will take to the Royal Opera House stage and  ABBA’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus join the cast of Mamma Mia! to celebrate the show’s 15th birthday.  

The Pajama Game Marquee

The Pajama Game marquee is now up at the Shaftesbury Theatre. 

Rehearsals are currently under way as the show starts previewing on 2nd May and opens on 13th May.

It is running for a strictly limited period of 20 weeks booking until 13th September as Memphis the Musical starring Beverley Knight and Killian Donnelly then previews there 3rd October and opens on 19th October.

Liz Robertson Performs Songs From My Trunk at the Hippodrome

Black Sapphire Productions presents Liz Robertson in Songs From My Trunk on April 20th in the Matcham Room of The Hippodrome, Leicester Square at 6.00 pm & 9:00 pm.

Directed by Sarah Ingram with Musical Director by Chris Walker, Liz described the show :"All little girls have dreams and mine was to dance like Fred Astaire and sing like Barbra Streisand. And therein lay my problem, I was a female possessing a vocal ability more in the white soprano range, from a young age I wanted to sound like the pop stars of my era, or to be sexy, down and dirty like Ella, Nina and Cleo but there was nothing warm and smokey in my sound.

As I have aged so has my voice, reaching notes lower and deeper than I had thought possible, so now is the time to start exploring those new notes with songs that I have always desired to sing but never could without sounding ridiculous. So here we are experimenting....at my age!

Buy tickets for Liz Robertson in Songs From My Trunk. Ticket Prices are £15, £20, £25 and £30.