Curtains Musical Comedy at Landor

Curtains is a backstage musical comedy whodunnit from the creators of Cabaret and Chicago. It is playing at the Landor Theatre in South West London from 25th July – 1st September.

Curtains has a book by Rupert Holmes (The Mystery of Edwin Drood), lyrics by Fred Ebb and music by John Kander with additional lyrics by Kander and Holmes, based on the original book and concept by Peter Stone. It opened on Broadway in 2006 and was nominated for 8 Tony Awards and 9 Drama Desk Awards:  winning the Outstanding Book of a Musical.

Cast: Jeremy Legat (Lt Frank Cioffi), Bronwyn Andrews (Niki Harris), Fiona O’Carroll (Georgia Hendricks), Buster Skeggs (Carmen Bernstein), Leo Andrew (Aaron Fox), Bryan Kennedy (Christopher Belling), Daniella Bowen (Bambi Bernet), Tom Pepper (Daryl Grady), Dudley Rogers (Johnny Harmon), Martin Bishop (Oscar Shapiro), Thomas Sutcliffe (Bobby Pepper), Stephanie Parker (Jessica Cranshaw), Michael Webborn (Sasha Iljinsky), Josh Wilmott (Randy Dexter), Louise Gookey (Mona Paige), Zachary Morris (Harv Fremont), Julia Cave (Roberta Wooster), Alastair Knight (Detective O’Farrell) and Greg Herst (Russ Cochran).

Tickets from: www.landortheatre.co.uk

Opening of Lucky Stiff Musical Postponed at Landor Theatre

UPDATED FRIDAY 3RD FEBRUARY: The Landor Theatre and Almost Normal Ltd have had to cancel the first week of performances of  LUCKY STIFF which was due to open on Wednesday 1st February due to electrical difficulty.. Engineers are working on the problem and the production is now due to start previews  on Tuesday 7th February and open on the 9th.

Lucky Stiff is a musical with  Book & Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty which is based on “The Man Who Broke The Bank at Monte Carlo” by Michael Butterworth.  It will be on at the Landor Theatre from 7th-25th February.

The cast includes James Winter (Jersey Boys) as Harry Witherspoon, Abigail Jaye (Evita) as Annabel Glick, Lucy Williamson (End Of The Rainbow) as Rita La Porta, Miles Western (Pageant) as Vincent Di Ruzzio, with Mark Hayden (The Mousetrap) as Luigi Gaudi and Ryan Bernstein, Thomas Lloyd, Samantha Ridings and Jenna Ryder-Oliver.

The production is directed by Robert McWhir, with Musical Direction by Terence Penk and Choreography by James Houlbrooke.

Tony Award winners Lynn Ahrens and Stephen Flaherty’s Ragtime was performed at The Landor Theatre in September, and Lucky Stiff  is the show that started it all. In 1988 Ahrens and Flaherty exploded onto the musical theatre scene with Lucky Stiff, a classic musical farce, complete with slamming doors, mistaken identities, six million dollars in diamonds and a corpse in a wheelchair.

The story revolves around Harry Witherspoon, an unassuming English shoe salesman, who is forced to take the embalmed body of his recently murdered, Atlantic City casino managing, Uncle Tony on a vacation to Monte Carlo. Should he succeed in passing his uncle off as alive, he will inherit $6,000,000 but if he doesn’t the money goes to the Universal Dog Home of Brooklyn…or perhaps it will go to the gun-toting wife of the casino owner…? …but what’s the hen-pecked optometrist from New Jersey doing in the South of France… or the Arab…or the Italian? Definitely, Something Funny’s Going On!

Tickets at: www.landortheatre.co.uk

Stand Tall new Rock Musical

Stand Tall is a new rock/pop musical which is loosely based on the story of David & Goliath from the Bible, without the sling but with an electric guitar.   It has 17 songs ranging from rock to hip-hop and blues and is running at the Landor Theatre from Wednesday October 12th - Saturday 12th November.

David is a shepherd by day and rock star by night.  His life becomes complicated when he is proclaimed to be The Chosen One by the mystical Black Sheep and is given the honour of becoming King … but he’s not sure as it could get in the way of his music!

Goliath is a bully with a gang of hoods causing mayhem and chaos across town.  He’s very angry that David is to become his King and sets out to harm him.

An early version of Stand Tall - A Rock Musical was written specifically for schools to help tackle the issue of bullying.

The cast includes Jack Shalloo, Ryan O'Donnell, Keisha Amponsa Banson, Natasha J Barnes and  Martin Pirong.

The production is directed by Simon Greiff whoe previous credits include the premiere of “The Pork Crunch” (Pleasance), “Spring Awakening” (Wilde Theatre), the British premiere of “Striking 12” (Waterloo East), “Home: The Scott Alan Song Cycle” workshop (Her Majesty’s) which he also co-created. He was the resident director on the No1 tour of “We Will Rock You” and is currently creating “Stories From The Lighthouse” with the award-winning British musical writer Laurence Mark Wythe, whose musical “Tomorrow Morning” was produced at the Landor earlier this year.

Nearest Rail/Tube to the Landor: Clapham North (Northern Line) Clapham High Street (BR)

Tickets at: www.landortheatre.co.uk

Ragtime Musical at Landor Theatre

Ragtime the Musical has its West-End premiere in 2003 when Maria Friedman was named Best Actress in the Olivier Awards.It is now playing at the Landor Theatre from September 1st - 8th October.

Ragtime takes place at the turn of the twentieth century in New York. An era is exploding. A century is spinning. And the people are moving in rhythm and rhyme to the music of Ragtime.

Ragtime tells the story of three groups in America: Coalhouse Walker Jr (a Harlem musician): a mother and her family in New Rochelle and Tateh, a Jewish immigrant who has come to America with his daughter seeking a new life. It features many historical figures, including Harry Houdini, Booker T. Washington, JP Morgan and Henry Ford.

The cast includes Louisa Lydell/Mother (Love Never Dies, Mamma Mia, Fame and Blood  Brothers): Rosalind James/Sarah (Hair, Les Miserables,Gone With the Wind, Jesus Christ Superstar): Kurt Kansley/Coalhouse (The Lion King,  Hair,  Grand Hotel, Rent and Show Boat).

They will be joined by Lauren Alexandra, Craig Rhys Barlow, John Barr, Emma Beckford, Jamie Birkett , Patsy Blower, Alexander Evans , Graham Hoadly, Michaela Cartmell-Hull, Daniel Jacob, Ashleigh Jones, David McMullan, Leo Miles, Aston New, Hollie O'Donoghue and Judith Paris

Ragtime the Musical has a book by Terrence McNally, lyrics by Lynn Ahrens and music by Stephen Flaherty. It will be directed by Robert McWhir with Musical Direction by  George Dyer.

Tickets at: www.landortheatre.co.uk

Carousel at Landor Theatre next month

Rodgers and Hammerstein's 1945 classic musical Carousel is being performed at the Landor Theatre in Clapham from 8th-30th July.

The cast includes: Georgia Bevis, Ebony Buckle, Chelsea Corfield, Lee Dillon-Stuart, John Fleming, James Houlbrooke, Chloe Jane, Sean-Paul Jenkinson, Iddon Jones, Sue Kennett, Leonie Macaslin, Ross MacLeod, Charlotte Moore, Jill Patterson and Richard Vorster

Director: Jeremy Lloyd Thomas: Musical Director: Huw Evans, assisted by Nick House & Tom Turner: Additional Arrangements: Ben Costello: Choreographers: Lainie Baird & Jodie-Lee Wilde: Designer: Rachel Stone: Lighting Designer: Natashka Brown

Tickets at: www.landortheatre.co.uk

Little Shop of Horrors replaces Moby Dick at Landor

A show which is currently running at the White Bear in Kennington will part fill the slot left by the last minute cancellation of Moby Dick at the Landor Theatre next month.

Little Shop of Horrors ends it run at the White Bear on Saturday and run at the Landor from 5th-21st May.

In this new production which is directed by Paul Taylor-Mills three men and three women alternate between the roles of the Ronette’s and the man-eating plant.

Cast Announced for Moby Dick at Landor

I last saw the musical Moby Dick: A Whale of a Tale! when it was produced by Cameron Mackintosh at the Piccadilly Theatre in 1992 and have to say I loved it.

The cult musical with book by Robert Longden, and music and lyrics by Longden and Hereward Kaye is now about to play a five-week season at the Landor Theatre,  which is located on the first floor of The Landor Pub in Clapham, from Wednesday 27th April - Saturday 28th May.

Moby Dick is a mixture of high camp, music hall-style smut and outrageous double entendres. It is about the girls of St. Godley's Academy for Young Ladies and their headmistress who try to save their school from bankruptcy by staging Herman Melville's classic novel in the school's swimming pool.

Casting is now complete and includes "Dancing on Ice" contestant and "Loose Women" panelist Denise Welch as the first of five celebrities voicing the Whale.

The strong cast features Tony Timberlake in the twin roles of Headmistress and Captain Ahab. His  West End roles include Wilbur in "Hairspray", Sir Belvedere in "Spamalot", Harold in "The Full Monty" and Thenadier in "Les Miserables".

He is joined by Sarah Lark, who understudied Nancy and played the role many times in "Oliver!" after being a finalist on BBC1's "I'd Do Anything",  Her other West?End roles include Lucy in the 21st anniversary production of "Snoopy!", "The Witches of Eastwick", "Beautiful & Damned" and "Mamma Mia".  Debbie Kurup (Sister Act, Chicago, Tonight’s the Night and Rent), Michelle Bishop (Company at Southwark Playhouse, Jersey Boys,  Fame The Musical, Footloose, The Wedding Singer, Saturday Night Fever and Grease). 

Tickets at: www.landortheatre.co.uk

Spotlight On Sam Harrison at Landor

Following his recent appearance at The Riverside Studios in Salad Days, being in the final West End company of Avenue Q and playing Bobby Child in Crazy For You at The London Palladium, Sam Harrison is appearing at The Landor Theatre in one of their “A Spotlight On” shows.

A Spotlight On provides an opportunity for leading West End and Broadway performers to share music that is important to them while talking about their life and career.

Sam will be performing two 45 minute sets on Sunday 20th March at 7:30 pm.

Tickets £12.00 (£10 concessions) available from The Landor Theatre Box Office on 020 7737 7276 or online www.landortheatre.co.uk

Maltby & Shire’s Closer Than Ever at Landor

Closer Than Ever is an award-winning musical revue featuring 25 songs by composers Richard Maltby Jr and David Shire.  It is about lifes and loves, relationships and fantasies, wicked satire and the ache of  unrequited love.

It runs at the Landor Theatre in South West London from 14th September until 9th October 2010. Nearest tube is Clapham North Station which  is only a 3 minute walk away

Closer than Ever has a cast of West End stars including  Clare Burt, Michael Cahill, Ria Jones and Glyn Kerslake.

To buy tickets visit: www.landortheatre.co.uk

Closer Than Ever Revue at Landor Theatre

The tiny Landor Theatre in Clapham is presenting a revival of Richard Maltby Jr and David Shire’s award-winning revue Closer Than Ever which runs from 15th September to 9th October 2010 (preview on 14th September).

The revue premiered in New York premiere in 1989 winning the Outer Critics’ Circle Award for Best Off-Broadway Musical. It is a companion to their hit revue “Starting Here, Starting Now", following up their earlier “songs of innocence” with 24 wise and witty “songs of experience.”

“Closer Than Ever” is an intimate tale about love, security and  happiness: and trying to hold on to them in a world that pulls you in a hundred different directions.

The strong cast of Closer Than Ever is Clare Burt, Michael Cahill, Ria Jones and Glyn Kerslake. The show is directed by Robert McWhir and choreographed by Matthew Gould.

For more information visit www.landortheatre.co.uk