Singin' in the Rain postpones Sadlers Wells run to 2021

The upcoming revival of Singin' in the Rain has announced new dates for its postponed run at Sadler's Wells.

Directed by Jonathan Church, choreographed by Andrew Wright, designed by Simon Higlett and lit by Tim Mitchell, the piece now runs at Sadler's Wells from 30 July to 5 September 2021  with tickets now on sale.

The cast will be led by Adam Cooper, who returns to the role of Don Lockwood after starring in the show when it first ran in Chicester in 2011. Further casting is to be announced.

Hello, Dolly! starring Imelda Staunton postponed to 2022

Hello, Dolly! starring Imelda Staunton was set to begin performances this summer at the Adelphi Theatre, but producers of the show have today announced that the production has been postponed to 2022. The long delay is due to the fact that  Imelda Staunton is committed to shoot the 5th season of the Netlfix drama The Crown in 2021.

Ticket holders to the original dates will be contacted and issued a refund. New dates for the production to follow.

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat now due to open at Palladium in 2021.

The West End return of the new  production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat which was due to open his summer has been rescheduled to 2021.

Stars Jason Donovan and Jac Yarrow will return for the run, which is set to begin performances July 1st , 2021 at the London Palladium. Booking  reopens on 19th June 2020. Ticket holders for the original dates will be contacted to move their tickets to the new run.

New UK and Ireland Tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera” not reopening

Due to the current state of complete shutdown of the British theatre by the Government because of Covid-19, Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Group must announce that their new UK and Ireland Tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s “The Phantom of the Opera”, which only played its opening date prior to a 14 month tour, will not re-open.


The great uncertainty around the duration of social distancing requirements and the perilous financial situation in which many regional theatres find themselves have conspired to make re-routing an entire major tour like Phantom impossible for some time as so many existing tours are needing to reschedule.


The production opened at Curve, Leicester at the beginning of March. Subsequent runs in Manchester and Dublin have already been cancelled. Following these dates, the tour was due to play Birmingham, Edinburgh, Sunderland, Cardiff, Plymouth, Southampton and Bradford.


Whilst it is heart breaking for us as producers as well as for our wonderful cast, orchestra and crew who had all worked so hard to create this truly spectacular but tragically short-lived reinvented staging of the original production, we are determined that the disappearance of the “Phantom” from the British regional stage will not be forever and that when theatre is back thrilling audiences  again the “Music of the Night” will soar once more from the orchestra pit.


Ticket holders will be contacted directly by their venue/point of sale in due course and we appreciate their patience in this unprecedented time.

Bring It On, Footloose and 9 to 5 musical tours delayed until 2021

Selladoor productions have announced today that a number of their UK tours have been postponed until next year. 

Footloose The Musical, We Will Rock You, 9 to 5  and Bring It On The Musical, will now open in 2021.
 

Footloose, which was originally meant to open last April, will now begin UK tour dates in January 2021.

9 to 5, which was due to open this month, will now begin in spring 2021.

Bring It On (which was meant to open in Birmingham in June) will now begin its tour in the autumn of 2021. It is unknown if Bring It On will complete its 2020 winter season at the Southbank Centre, with tickets currently still on sale.

International productions of We Will Rock You and Madagascar have also been moved to next year. Full dates for the 2021 tours are to be confirmed, with producers working with venues to  release new dates  over the coming weeks.

Sarah Brightman: In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall to be streamed via YouTube from Saturday May 9th for 72 hours

Sarah Brightman: In Concert at the Royal Albert Hall, full performance will be streamed via YouTube from Saturday, May 9th for 72 hours   The critically acclaimed performance, not commercially available, features Andrea Bocelli and Andrew Lloyd Webber and will be streamed to raise funds for COVID-19 relief charities.

The full performance will premiere exclusively via Sarah's YouTube channel beginning Saturday, May 9th, 2020 @ 12:00 pm PT/3:00 pm ET/8:00 pm UK/9:00 pm Europe and will be globally available for everyone to enjoy for 72 hours. (youtube.com/SarahBrightmanMusic)

Recorded in September 1997 at the Royal Albert Hall in London, Sarah together with the English National Orchestra, perform an unforgettable concert of well-known Classical and Broadway pieces by composers such as Puccini, Gershwin, Delibes, Bernstein and Andrew Lloyd Webber. Included are memorable special guests: Andrea Bocelli, performing “Time to Say Goodbye” with Sarah, Andrew Lloyd Webber on piano while Sarah sings the title song from his musical 'Whistle Down the Wind' and a special duet performance of “Pie Jesu” with Adam Clarke.

Sarah said “For many of us during lockdown these are reflective and introspective times, so I thought viewing a concert chosen from my performing past would be appropriate and bring you back to a special comforting moment in time,” s. “For me then, it was a pivotal period of transition, after which I experienced 20 years of an incredible life and career journey which I wasn’t expecting. Hopefully my performance of many hits and favorite pieces, along with special guests Andrea Bocelli and Andrew Lloyd Webber, will inspire many of you to contribute to one of these fine charities, who are both doing so much for people all over the world at this time. I hope you enjoy and remember it’s still a beautiful world out there and we have so much to look forward to.”

In efforts to raise money and support the Spotify COVID-19 Music Relief and COVID-19 Solidarity Response Funds, donations are encouraged to these music and health care industry professionals impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic.

THE SHOWS MUST GO ON next in series is Andrew Lloyd Webber 50th Birthday Royal Albert Hall Celebration .

The next in the  series of THE SHOWS MUST GO ON is the Andrew Lloyd Webber Royal Albert Hall Celebration  which will be streamed at 7.00pm GMT on Friday 1st  May

Performers including Sarah Brightman, Michael Ball, Glenn Close, Antonio Banderas, Elaine Paige and Kiri Te Kanawa pay musical tribute to Andrew Lloyd Webber on the occasion of his 50th birthday in this concert, recorded live at the Royal Albert Hall on 7th April 1998.

It is the next in a new series of Lloyd Webber's works that are being streamed for free online while a lockdown of UK households continues, which has seen theatres closed up and down the country. You can tune in here on Friday.

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SISTER ACT THE MUSICAL Announces Rescheduled Performances

Due to current government guidelines resulting in a delay to the production, the producers of SISTER ACT have announced today that performances in London and on tour have now been rescheduled. It was due to open at Curve, Leicester this month with a London run at the Eventim Apollo from 21 July- 30 August 2020.
  
The London run at the Eventim Apollo is now rescheduled to open 20 July 2021 where it will play until 29 August 2021, with a press night on 27 July .  In London, the show will star the previously announced Whoopi Goldberg as ‘Deloris Van Cartier’ and Jennifer Saunders as ‘Mother Superior’. Further casting for the London run will be announced soon.

Current ticketholders for the London run have been moved into the same seats for equivalent performances by day of week for the 2021 run. Patrons will be able to use their current ticket for performances next year. Performance times remain unchanged. The Eventim Apollo Box Office and tickets agents will be in touch with patrons in the next 14 days. If you are a ticketholder you do not need to do anything. Your point of purchase will be in touch with you to confirm the new date for your booking.

All the latest tour news, along with full details of future productions, will be announced in the coming weeks and ticketholders for the tour will be contacted by the venue they purchased tickets from. Casting for the tour will be announced soon. 

Whoopi Goldberg, who is also one of the producers of Sister Act, said today, “We are thrilled with the overwhelming support from people all over the world who have been buying tickets for Sister Act. We are all disappointed not to be able to do the show this summer, but Jennifer and I can’t wait to see you all next year”.

Breaking: Movie version of Take That musical The Band

Take That have confirmed a film version of their new musical The Band is in the works. 

Gary Barlow confirmed on ITV's Lorraine that a movie based on their musical will start shooting later this year.   He said"Yes, it's happening,The script is being written by Tim Firth and it will be shooting next year.Gary then quipped: Think they're getting Brad Pitt to play me.".  Tim also wrote The Band musical, which opened in September 2017 went on an extensive two year UK tour and ran in London at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. 

The project is currently in pre-production under the new title, Greatest Days, with the film being  about the fans and the power of songs.  The Band is a story for anyone who grew up with a boyband and how those songs became the soundtrack to their lives. For five 16 year old girls in 1993, the band is everything. 25 years on, we are reunited with this group of friends as they try once more to fulfil their dream of meeting their heroes. Featuring the music of Take That, Britain's most successful boyband of all time, whose songs include Never Forget, Back For Good, A Million Love Songs, Greatest Day, The Flood, Relight My Fire, Shine & Rule the World and starring the winners from the BBC's Let it Shine, Five to Five.

Gary Barlow and Take That will act as advisers on the project and are currently in talks to write at least one new song for the film. Coky Giedroyc is attached to direct with Drew McOnie signing on as choreographer. They  have already begun the search for five boys (who unlike their fans don’t age over the course of the tale) to play the pop stars. A number of ‘high calibre names’ have been approached to play the women. But because the pandemic has upended schedules  no contracts have been signed yet.

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Nicole Racquel Dennis to play Effie in new DREAMGIRLS UK Tour

Dreamgirls has just announced that Nicole Racquel Dennis will lead the cast as Effie White when it begins its  UK tour at Bristol in September before visiting  venues throughout 2021

In 2015, when Friedman and casting director Pippa Ailion held open auditions for the London production, Dennis was there. She didn't get the part. But Ailion put her up for other jobs — a stint at Disneyland, Paris, and parts in West End shows such as The Book Of Mormon.  Her real  break came when she was as a semi-finalist on BBC's The Voice.  A video of a duet she did with Jennifer Hudson of the Dreamgirls' show-stopper And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going has been viewed nearly five million times.

Dennis understudied the role as the Savoy and played the part a number of times when the lead was off during the latter part of the run. She most recently appeared in the  West End as tech-savvy student Alana Beck in Dear Evan Hansen. Her additional West End credits include Waitress, Dreamgirls, and The Book of Mormon.

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More casting news for Frozen Musical

Breaking news this morning is that Irish  actress Stephanie McKeon will co-lead the West End premiere of Disney's Musical Frozen playing Princess Anna,  joining Pretty Woman and Les Miserables star, Samantha Barks, who was recently announced as her sister ice Princess Elsa.

Stephanie most recently appeared as Cynthia Weil in Beautiful: The Carole King Musical (Aldwych Theatre, West End). She  made her West End debut as Natalie in the original cast of The Commitments, directed by Jamie Lloyd. Other theatre credits include Close To You: Bacharach Reimagined (Criterion Theatre); What's It All About?:Bacharach Reimagined (Menier Chocolate Factory); Jacques Brel Is Alive And Well And Living In Paris (Gate Theatre, Dublin), Improbable Frequency, Cinderella (Gaiety Theatre, Dublin); Anglo: The Musical (Bord Gais Theatre & Olympia Theatre, Dublin); The Life And Sort Of Death Of Eric Argyle (Edinburgh/Dublin Fringe Festival 2012); The Wizard Of Oz (The Helix, Dublin) and  A Midsummer Night's Dream (Trinity Rose Garden/Gawsworth Hall, UK)

The production has  music and lyrics by Kristen Anderson-Lopez and Robert Lopez, and book by Jennifer Lee, Frozen.  Directed by Michael Grandage it will reopen the newly refurbished Theatre Royal Drury Lane, with previews commencing   from 30th October to 10th November with an opening night on 11th November.

9 TO 5 West End cast album, recorded live at the Savoy Theatre, available for download

Following the news that the London run of 9 to 5 The Musical at the Savoy Theatre (where it had been scheduled to run until 23rd May) has been cut short due to the cancellation of all performances in the West End until 31st  May, Executive Producer Adam Speers celebrated the success of the show today by saying..

"On behalf of all the producers, we are so proud of the London cast and crew who have achieved so much. Co-writer Patricia Resnick, Director Jeff Calhoun and the team at ATG Productions worked with Dolly and I to create a show so full of humour, energy and of course great songs! It filled the audiences with joy, at a time we all really needed it and will do so again. Theatre is all about bringing people together and we are very excited to share the joy of 9 to 5 around the globe in 2021 and beyond".

The West End cast album, recorded live at the Savoy Theatre, is available for download 

There is a tour of the show planned for later this year.