Ross Noble joining cast of The Producers Tour

Ross Noble is joining previously announced cast members Jason Manford and Louie Spence in the Tour of the Producers  from 18th May. He is playing Franz Liebkind who is a short tempered, carrier pigeon keeping former Nazi who has written  an admiring musical tribute to Adolf Hitler, titled Springtime for Hitler.

Noble is  award-winning comedian, king of improvisational comedy and actor who rose to  popularity through making appearances on celebrity quiz shows including  Have I Got News for You. He has also released DVDs of several of his 14 sell-out worldwide tours.  His previous acting credits include playing Stitch the clown in a horror comedy movie of the same name. But this is the first time he will have appeared in a musical.

Noble said "“It’s going to be a lot of fun. Jason and I are in a very similar position. We worked together on the circuit, and then what happens is once you start doing your own tours, you don’t get to hang out with other comics the same way you used to.So it’s funny that we’re working together again, but in a completely different context. If you’re going to branch out and do stuff a little left field, you should properly take people by surprise. I think it’s quite funny, I’ll make horror films, I’ll do musicals. Don’t follow the usual path!I love The Producers. And I thought, the chance to be in that show, and especially the part I’m doing, a mad German who has written this show, Springtime For Hitler, and wears this mad helmet all the way through, is great.And I get to do an outrageous German accent, too.”

 

Scarlett Strallen & Michael Xavier Radio 2 Christmas Special Concert

BBC's Radio 2 Friday Night is Music Night is presenting  a Christmas spectacular of  music on Friday 19th December at 8:00 pm , featuring poetry and readings with Jeremy Vine presenting an all star cast including actors Dervla Kirwan (Injustice; Ballykissangel) David Harewood (Homeland); West End stars Scarlett Strallen (Candide; A Chorus Line) and Michael Xavier (The Pajama Game; The Sound Of Music) with Mike Dixon conducting the BBC Concert Orchestra  with a 16 voice choir from the Royal Academy of Music.

The  Christmas Special programme of music  features favourites including  'White Christmas', 'Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas', and 'The Christmas Song', together with classical favourites Prokofiev's 'Troika' and Victor Healy Hutchinson's arrangement of 'God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen' from his Carol Symphony. With poetry and prose from Dickens to Dylan to Benjamin Zephaniah. 

Sting replacing Jimmy Nail in The Last Ship on Broadway

Sting is joining the cast of  his musical The Last Ship for a limited run from December 9th to January 10, 2015. He is  replacing actor Jimmy Nail (who is believed to be happy about the move).  According to the New York Times, the show has been  losing $75,000 a week since performances began on 29th September when it  needs to gross at least $625,000 a week to break even and to sustain a Broadway run.

Sting is due to due to join Paul Simon on a tour of  New Zealand on January 30, 2015, making any further extensions unlikely.

The Last Ship  is a new musical with an original score by 16-time Grammy Award® winner Sting inspuired by his  by Sting's own childhood experiences.

Aladdin heading for Palladium

The Tim Rice Broadway hit  show Aladdin is due to open at the London Palladium in early 2016.

According to Baz in today's Mail,  Disney were meeting with Palladium executives this week for another round of discussions to seal the deal.

The musical Cats starring Nicole Scherzinger who is due to play a very glamorous Grizabella (pictured below) is  opening there on 6th December for a limited run to 7th Febuary.

Apparently The Andrew Lloyd Webber show has close to £6M in advance box office sales already with £6.5M forecast by the first preview which is  phenomenal for a 12-week run.

Imelda Staunton's Momma Rose heading for Savoy

​​Gypsy is one of the greatest American musicals  and it is returning to the West End for the first time in forty years , with Imelda Staunton in the lead role playing Momma Rose.

The production, directed by Jonathan Kent, won rave reviews from the critics, and sold out its limited run at Chichester’s Festival Theatre. A deal to bring it to the Savoy Theatre in late March is expected to be finalised today or early next week. It will run for 35 weeks with previews starting on or around March 30th and  the booking extending until the end of 2015. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is currently booking at the Savoy  until 7th March.

Her co-stars at Chichester were Lara Pulver and  Kevin Whately Lewis (ITV) who made his Chichester debut as Herbie. They and other cast mmbers  will transfer with the production if  their  schedules allow.

Based on the memoirs of Gypsy Rose Lee, with lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, Gypsy is considered by many to be the greatest of the Broadway musicals. Featuring classics including "Let Me Entertain You," "Rose's Turn" and "Everything's Coming Up Roses,"

Full cast announced for Maria Friedman's High Society at the Old Vic

Updated 20th February: Maria Friedman has cast Kate Fleetwood in the Grace Kelly role of Tracy Lord saying in High Society, saying she wanted a "fantastic actress who can sing brilliantly" adding  that Lord's character is "fiercely intelligent, bright, modern, charismatic human being."  (She  recently appeared in the National Theatre's London Road  and will appear in Rufus Norris's film version).  Joining her will be Rupert Young (The White Queen, Merlin) as Tracy's ex-husband C.K. Dexter Haven, Jamie Parker (Assassins) as reporter Mike Connor (the roles played by Bing Crosby and Frank Sinatra in the 1956 film)  Barbara Flynn is Tracy's mother Margaret Lord, Annabel Scholey is the photographer Liz Imbrie wih  Ellie Bamber as Tracy's sister Dinah.

Other cast members include   Richard Grieve (George Kittredge), Christopher Ravenscroft ( Seth Lord), Jeff Rawle (Uncle Willie), Ricky Butt (Mavis) plus ensemble members John Brannoch, Omari Douglas, Claire Doyle, Chris Ellis-Stanton, Leon Kay, Sammy Kelly, Zak Nemorin,  Katharine Pearson and Philippa Stefani.

The musical will be presented in the round, accompanied by a 12-piece band with jazz pianist Joe Stilgoe as Joe.

London's Old Vic is presenting Cole Porter's High Society from Wed 30th April – Sat 22nd August 2015. It  is being directed by multi-award-winning director and musical star Maria Friedman (Merrily We Roll Along, Olivier Award-winner for Best Musical Revival, Critics’ Circle and Evening Standard Awards for Best Musical).
  
High Society is based on The Philadelphia Story and the 1956 MGM film musical starring Bing Crosby, Grace Kelly and Frank Sinatra. Featuring classic numbers including ‘True Love’, ‘You’re Sensational’ , ‘Well did you Evah!’ and  ‘Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?’

Buy tickets for High Society 

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels to Tour next year

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels is currently booking at the Savoy Theatre until 7th March next year.

It is then going on the UK tour.  The dates I have so far are 5-16th May/Birmingham New Alexandra: 20th-30th May/ Opera House Manchester: 9th-20th June/Sunderland Empire: 23rd June-4th July/ Glasgow King's : 7th-18th July/Liverpool Empire: 21st-25th July /Torquay Princess; 28th July-1st August/Stoke Regent:  4-8th August/Oxford New Theatre, 15th-26th September/Edinbugh,Playhouse

More dates and casting news to follow  

West End Musicals Performing on Children in Need

The West End musicals performing on BBC's Children in Need fund raising marathon tonight are Part 1 between 19:30-22:00: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and in the final Part 3  from 22:35 Gemma Arterton and the cast of Made in Dagenham, plus  Sunny Afternoon and a preview of Ronan Keating who opens in Once shortly. 

Elaine Paige Page by Paige concert to be broadcast on BBC Radio 2

Musical theatre diva  Elaine Paige has been celebrating  her 50 years in show business with a special Page by Paige concert tour which ended recently but was recorded at the Royal Albert Hall, with the BBC Concert Orchestra conducted by Chris Egan and special guests Gardar Thor Cortes, and the Mountview Academy Theatre of Arts. The concert will be broadcast on BBC Radio 2 on Friday 5th December from 8.00-10.00pm.

The concert features music from throughout Elaine's career, including Memory from 'Cats'; As If We Never Said Goodbye from 'Sunset Boulevard'; Je Ne Regrette Rien from 'Piaf', I Know Him So Well from 'Chess' and Good Morning Starshine from 'Hair'.

Louie Spence joining Jason Manford on Producers Tour

TV personality and dancer Louie Spence is joining  comedian Jason Manford in the brand new UK Tour of The Producers which is based on Mel Brooks'  Academy Award winning movie winning a record-breaking 12 Tony Awards and 3 Olivier Awards.

His musical theatre credits include Miss Saigon, Cats and Closer to Heaven.

The UK tour starts at the Churchill Bromley in March 2015 when  Louie will play Carmen Ghia, Roger De Bris' flamboyant assistant, until 2nd May

Jason Manford  said: "I've worked with Louie a few times and I literally couldn't think of a performer more suited to play Carmen Ghia. He's a fantastic dancer and he knows how to get the laughs."

Michael Ball confirmed to star in Mack and Mabel at Chichester and then tour

Updated 2nd February: At interviews he has been giving to promote his new concert tour If Everyone Was Listening  and album of he same name which is due for release on 17th November (my review here) Michael Ball has said he will be returning to  musical theatre this year with rehearsals starting  just days after his tour ends on 3rd May.

It has now been confirmed that he is starring in the musical Mack and Mabel  written by Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart which will run   at the Chichester Festival Theatre from July 13th to September 5th,(press night held on July 21st). The show will then go on a national tour from October 1st to December 6th, visiting venues including Plymouth Theatre Royal, Manchester Opera House and Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff.  Booking opens for the Chichester production at the end of February.

 The plot involves the tumultuous romantic relationship  between  between  Keystone Cops director Mack Sennett and actress Mabel Normand, one of Sennett’s Bathing Beauties.They had a rocky relationship. He drank and she (who had demons of her own) endured his beatings.It has a wonderful score including numbers I Won't Send Roses, Wherever He Ain't and Tap Your Troubles Away.

Director Jonathan Church and choreographer Stephen Mear are looking for the right actress to play Mabel.  Stewart’s ‘book’ has always been flawed and  problematic and apparently Church and Ball have insisted it be revised. Robert Jones will design he production.

The show was first produced in the UK  in 1981 at the Nottingham Playhouse starring Denis Quilley as Mack and Imelda Staunton as Mabel but despite a successful run it failed to transfer to the West End. Soon afterwards ice dancers Torvill and Dean used the  Mack & Mabel overture for one of their routines and  won the gold medal in the 1982 World Figure Skating Championships. In February 1988 a one-off charity concert featuring George Hearn, Georgia Brown, Denis Quilley and Tommy Tune was staged at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, London. It was also revived at  Leicester Haymarket in 1995 and at the Piccadilly  with Caroline O'Connor as Mabel (also recorded). Recently at Southwark Playhouse with Laura Pitt-Pulford as Mabel

Copacabana 2015 tour to go ahead

Producers behind the troubled Copacabana tour   starring Jon Lee which has had to cancel its remaining 2014 tour dates have insisted all cast and crew will be paid what is owed to them, with 2015 dates set to go ahead. I'm afraid I can't tell you what the dates ae  as the producers website has been shut down!

As previously reported   the tour hit difficulties earlier this month when three dates in Bournemouth were pulled, followed by the cancellation of the rest of the UK tour planned for 2014.

Review of Michael Ball's new CD If Everyone Was Listening

I was fortunate enough to be sent a copy of Michael Ball's new CD  If Everyone Was Listening which is due for release on 17th November prior to his new concert tour of the same  name which starts next April.   

The 15 tracks which Michael has chosen to record are a mix of individual classics and contemporary songs spanning the years 1960 to 2013.Every song features beautiful lyrics including songs by singer/songwriters Sarah McLachlan, Jason Mraz, John Martyn or  interpreters of lyrics like Alison Krauss and Anne Murray.

Because a number of the tracks were new to me I ended up listening to the album four or five times and have to say that by the end of this time I found it refreshingly different to his other albums and really love it.  Stand out tracks for me were I Won't Give Up (Jason Mraz), You Needed Me (Anne Murray), May You Never (John Martyn)  and the Oscar winning Falling Slowly from Once the Film and Musical.

It's a  change in direction for Michael, steering away from the popular standards and show tunes he usually records as he says :when I was deciding which tracks to record for this album, I was delving back into my own music collection and was inspired by listeners of my radio show who seem to share similar music tastes That encouraged me to make this my most personal album yet. People who know me know how hands on I am with any project I undertake so it won’t come as any surprise to anyone that I took a very active role in the producing and arranging of all these songs.”

There are four classic songs from his  teenage years: ‘Still The Same’ soft rock hit from Bob Seger, ‘You Needed Me’ the Grammy award winning song sung by Anne Murray in 1978; ‘May You Never’ by legendary folk/jazz/blues singer John Martyn and ‘If Everyone Was Listening’ by Supertramp.

This album shows that Michael is a  big fan of country music which has inspired some of the choices on the album such as Jace Everett’s ‘Bad Things’ (the theme from the hit TV series True Blood) Jake Owen’s ‘What We Ain’t Got’ and the multi-Grammy winners Lady Antebellum duo, whose ‘Need You Now’ becomes a solo.  Although he says It’s by no means a country album, I just feel that the genre continually produces great songs which can be interpreted in many ways.”

 

Godspell to tour next year

Following the enormous success of 2014’s gala performance at Shaftesbury Avenue’s Lyric Theatre, in support of the charity Make-A-Wish-Foundation®UK, Godspell In Concert is set to tour the UK in 2015, opening at the Hackney Empire on 4th April and currently ending in Norhtampton on 3rd July. 

The UK tour will feature a brand new, modern-day rock score including favourites Light of the World, All Good Gifts and Day by Day.

Prior to the gala the show last played the West End in 1972 at the Wyndham’s, where it turned David Essex into an overnight sensation and more recently has enjoyed a successful run on Broadway.

By permission of Stephen Schwartz, composer of Wicked and Pippin, Russell Scott and Mark Pettitt for Godspell in Concert UK Ltd will produce the UK tour. Kenneth Avery Clark directs the production which was critically lauded at its London performance and Russell Scott, Musical Director is at the helm of the show’s spectacular new orchestration.  Full UK casting to be announced later in 2014.

Tour dates for Godspell

Dates for Tommy Steele in the Glenn Miller Story Tour

Updated 6th April.  The dates for this tour can be found here.Booking is now open for most of the venues.

Entertainer Tommy Steele is to star as Glenn Miller in a new musical  which is being directed and produced by Bill Kenwright. The Glenn Miller Story will be choreographed by Bill Deamer.with further cast and creatives  yet to be announced.

The  production will feature a 16 piece bandand  tour the UK from next summer before a planned run in the West End . The show  will explore the “life, fame and vanishing” of Miller, who disappeared on a flight over the English Channel when he was on his way to entertain troops during the Second World War.:Bill Kenwright said “When I was a youngster it was always Elvis and Tommy Steele for me. Nothing much has changed since then. When I found out that Glenn Miller means to Tommy what Elvis did for me in those early years, I was determined to talk him into starring in a musical that would depict the story of the legendary musician’s life.“More than anything we want this to be a great night out – what we both call one of those ‘Palladium’ musicals – great acting, singing, dancing, choreography, music and lights.”

Urinetown Cast Changes

Comedian Phill Jupitus is  joining  the cast of Urinetown The Musical next month taking over the role of Caldwell B Cladwell from Simon Paisley Day from 1st  December to 24th January at the Apollo Theatre. In October 2009, he joined the West End cast of Hairspray, playing the role of Edna Turnblad at the Shaftesbury Theatre. He also joined the 2011 tour of Spamalot, playing the role of King Arthur.

Also joining the cast on 1st  December are Julie Jupp who is taking over from Jenna Russell as Penelope Pennywise, and Alasdair Buchan is  taking over from Marc Elliott as Mr McQueen.

Jupitus told the Evening Standard his break in musical theatre came when top West End casting director David Grindrod watched him on Never Mind the Buzzcocks."I've always quite liked musicals as a punter but I don't think I even thought about being one until David Grindrod got me in to read a part for The Woman in White. I said to him 'why did you call me in?' and he said 'you can hold a tune'. I said 'how do you know?' and he said 'I watch Buzzcocks.'"
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Now it's Hunger Games the Musical

The Hunger Games musical  has just been announced with the stage adaptation of the book and film franchise  due to arrive in London in 2016

According to Hunger-Games.net, the movie studio is partnering with Dutch media company Imagine Nation and the U.S.-based Triangular Entertainment, to create a "theatrical experience" based on the mega-franchise. The stage adaptation will premiere in a new specially built theatre  next to Wembley Stadium in London.
Broadway's Robin de Levita,  will produce the new musical and  said: "I'm thrilled to be partnering with an innovative next-generation studio like Lionsgate on a property that resonates so deeply with global audiences.The theatre is a fantastic medium to bring the many meaningful layers of Suzanne Collins' writing to life."

Christmas with Lee Mead

Lee Mead is back on the  West End stage on Sunday 7th  December at the Garrick Theatre  for a very special seasonal concert celebrating Christmas at London’s  The show celebrates the festive season by presenting  a selection of Christmas classics and carols including  Winter Wonderland, I’ll Be Home For Christmas, Blue Christmas, Rockin’ Around The Christmas Tree and Silent Night along with favourites from  Les Miserables, Phantom of the Opera,  and Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. There will be selections from Lee’s three solo albums and material from his new album duefor release next year which includes songs from Guys n Dolls, South Pacific and Singin’ In The Rain.

Lee will be joined  by special guests – Amanda Henderson, who also stars in Casualty and  has appeared in various musicals including Cameron Mackintosh’s most recent London production of Oliver and the recent Les Miserables movie and Stephen Rahman Hughes who founded the group Teatro accompanied on stage by a 7 piece band led by MD Mason Neely.

Tickets for Christmas with Lee Mead

Copacabana Tour starring Jon Lee Cancelled

Updated 9th November.  Rest of tour dates now cancelled.

A tour of the musical Copacabana starring Jon Lee is hanging in the balance after the  producers have cancelled a number of dates following reports of late payments to cast and suppliers.

The Barry Manilow musical has cancelled a planned run in Newcastle at the Mill Volvo Tyne Theatre  this week, with three shows in Bournemouth pulled at the end of last week. There are two more planned dates at Blackpool Grand next week from 10th-15th November and Billingham Forum on 17th-22nd November  which are in doubt.Blackpool Grand was unable to confirm that the run would be taking place.

The shows  producers are Antony Stuart-Hicks and Paul Leno, who were behind the failed tour of The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee in 2013 where the management for Darren Day, who starred in that production are starting legal proceedings to recoup money owed to him, with musicians threatening to do the same. Stuart-Hicks and Leno are producing Copacabana through Dancing Fool Theatrical. They also run Ash Productions Live, which produced Spelling Bee and is a co-producer of Copacabana, alongside the Harlow Playhouse.

A spokesman for Equity confirmed that it was involved in assisting members of the show following news of the cancellations.

The producers said that “circumstances beyond our reasonable control” had resulted in the Bournemouth run not being completed.

Thom Southerland  directed the show, but  his agent has requested the show’s producers remove his name from the credits, claiming sections of the musical were redirected without his consent and  a cast member was replaced without any consultation.

Rosalie Craig & Matthew Seadon-Young latest cast additions to ENO's Sweeney Todd

Updated 3rd March: Matthew Seadon-Young (Urinetown) and Rosalie Craig(The Light Princess, City of Angels) will join Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel are the latest additions to the cast of the ENO production of Sweeney Todd: which opens later this month.Due to popular demand an  extra matinee scheduled for 5th April has today been added.
Rosalie Craig will play the Beggar Woman and Seadon-Young will take on the role of Anthony Hope (the young sailor who helps Sweeney board his ship to London).


Updated 14th February:  It has just been announced that John Owen-Jones (Les Miserables.Phantom) will play Pirelli at this concert and Alex Gaumond (Legally Blonde, Matilda) will play Beadle Bamford)
Multi Olivier-award winning Philip Quast is confirmed to  play Judge Turpin in the strictly limited run of 13 performances of ENO's Sweeney Todd at London Coliseum which begins on 30th March 2015, with press night on 31 March and final performance on 12 April 2015.

He will be joining the previously announced Bryn Terfel as Sweeney and Emma Thompson as Mrs Lovett 

Quast's  UK musical theatre credits include Grahame Chandler in The Fix at the Donmar, Georges Seurat in Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in The Park with George and Emile de Becque in Rodgers and Hammerstein's South Pacific.  Juan Peron in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Evita and Georges in La Cage Aux Folles for the Menier.  Quast played Javert in the original Australian cast of Les Miserables  as well as in the West End. His concert engagements have included Sondheim's Follies at the London Palladium, Night of 1000 Voices at the Royal Albert Hall, Hey Mr Producer at the Lyceum Theatre, Sweeney Todd at Royal Festival Hall and Tsunami with the BBC Symphony Orchestra. The New York Philharmonic's semi-staged production of Sweeney Todd as Judge Turpin was Quast's New York stage debut.

The ENO orchestra, conducted by David Charles Abell, will appear on stage with the cast in this semi-staged production which was originally produced by the New York Philharmonic at Lincoln Center earlier this year, with orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick.

Book Tickets for Sweeney Todd , with 300 seats available at £10 for every performance.

Final casting announced for Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown

Seline Hizli has been announced as the final cast member to join the musical adaptation of Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown, which begins its run at the Playhouse Theatre next month .

The Land Girls star recent stage credits include Royal Court productions of In The Republic Of Happiness and Jumpy, The House Of Bernada Alba at the Almeida Theatre, she has also appeared on screen in Call The Midwife, Kerry and The Appropriate Adult.

Featuring a score by David Yazbek and Jeffrey Lane, Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown will open at the Playhouse Theatre on 12th January following previews from 16th December.

Set on the streets of Madrid, the musical charts the story of Pepa, played by Tamsin Greig, whose world begins to unravel when her lover leaves her. When she meets his wife, son and new girlfriend, and her best friend becomes tangled up in her own romantic crisis with a suspected criminal, she is left with only the taxi driver to help navigate the road ahead.

Women On The Verge Of A Nervous Breakdown first became a hit in the form of Pedro Almodóvar’s Oscar nominated film in 1988, when it was praised for capturing a liberated Spain and placing women at the centre of their own experience. The stage show was first seen on Broadway in 2010 and received a handful of Tony Award nominations.

The show sees the musical’s original director Bartlett Sher return to the production with  Tamsin Greig making  her musical theatre debut starring as Pepa  She will be joined by Anna Skellern/Candela and Haydn Gwynne/Lucia, Willemijn Verkaik/Paulina, Jerome Pradon/Ivan, Ricardo Afonso/taxi, Sarah Moyle/Pepa's Concierge and Haydn Oakley/Carlos with Willemijn Verkaik, Marianne Benedict and Seline Hizli, Rebecca McKinnis,Holly James, Michael Matus, Alastair Natkiel, Nuno Queimado and Dale Rapley

Miss Saigon and Alfie Boe performing at this year's Royal Variety Show

Comedian Michael McIntyre will host This year's  Royal Variety Performance which takes place on Thursday 13th November in the presence of Their Royal Highnesses The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge at  the London Palladium to be screened on ITV in December.

Performers include  Dame Shirley Bassey, Bette Midler, Demi Lovato and Ed Sheeran with  Demi Lovato, Britain’s Got Talent winners Collabro, the cast of  Miss Saigon,  Alfie Boe and Ladysmith Black Mambazo’s Inala.

Comedy comes from acclaimed stand-up Russell Kane,  Jack Whitehall, Sarah Millican and Trevor Noah, and the magical talents of Stephen Mulhern.