Shows closing in September
August 17, 2010
It’s all change in the West End next month as September sees a number of shows bid farewell.
La Bete
September marks a busy time for Theatreland as a slate of new shows open in town, which means a number of summer hits are closing to make way.
This month, Sam Mendes’ Bridge Project shows at the Old Vic, As You Like It and The Tempest, starring Stephen Dillane and Juliet Rylance, closes on 21 August. They are swiftly followed by La Bete at the Comedy Theatre, which closes on 28 August before heading off to Broadway. The Matthew Warchus-helmed show features a starry cast including David Hyde Pearce, Mark Rylance and Joanna Lumley.
In September, things start to get really shaken up and we lose some of the big summer shows. In a reversal of La Bete, HAIR made its debut on Broadway and then came to London – and you only have until 4 September to see what all the fuss was about and catch the New York cast, including Gavin Creel, before they head home.
Burn The Floor
Also on the 4th we lose David Essex penned musical All The Fun of the Fair, and dance spectacular Burn The Floor , which is clearing its tango shoes and sequins out of the Shaftesbury Theatre to make room for another big dance show, Flashdance The Musical. This will star Matt Willis and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt and is choreographed by Arlene Phillips.
And it’s never just one big dance show that goes: butch and blue-collar Tap Dogs starring Adam Garcia is also leaving the West End the day after Burn The Floor, on 5 September.
The short run of The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, riding high after the BBC’s Sherlock series, will end on 11 September at the Duchess Theatre to make way for Michael Gambon in Krapp’s Last Tape.
And we wave goodbye to Jeff Goldblum and Mercedes Ruehl on 25 September as Neil Simon’s The Prisoner of Second Avenue leaves the Vaudeville Theatre.
BOOKING AND OFFERS
Save £19 on tickets to see HAIR at the Gielgud Theatre
Save £30 on tickets to see All The Fun of the Fair at the Garrick Theatre
Save £21 on tickets to see Burn The Floor at the Shaftesbury Theatre
Save £11 on tickets to see Tap Dogs at the Novello Theatre
Half Price tickets to see The Secret of Sherlock Holmes at the Duchess Theatre
Save £14 on tickets to see The Prisoner of Second Avenue at the Vaudeville Theatre
All the Fun of the Fair
August 1, 2010
Pop star David Essex writes and stars in a roller coaster ride of a musical set in a fun fair.
Big crowds for West End Live 2010
June 21, 2010
Over 250,000 people gather in Leicester Square for free West End theatre event.
View VIDEOS of West End Live 2010
West End Live, a free event held in the West End this weekend, showcased the best of London theatre and attracted over a quarter of a million people.
Now in its sixth year and the largest free theatre festival in the world, the event featured the casts of some of London’s biggest shows including Thriller Live, Disney’s The Lion King, Legally Blonde, All The Fun Of The Fair, Tap Dogs, We Will Rock You, Billy Elliot, Wicked, Hair, Chicago, Love Never Dies, Avenue Q, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, Burn the Floor, Grease, Mamma Mia!, Stomp, Dirty Dancing and Jersey Boys.
An array of West End stars performed at the event including Ramin Karimloo (Love Never Dies), Sheridan Smith (Legally Blonde), Patina Miller (Sister Act), Daniel Boys (Wolfboy) and Ryan Molloy (Jersey Boys).
Councillor Robert Davis of Westminster City Council, who organised the event, said: “Without doubt, this has been our biggest and best West End LIVE. We’ve seen spectacular performances from some of the nation’s favourite shows.”
Nica Burns, President of the Society of London Theatre said: “London has the best theatre in the world and West End LIVE is a fantastic opportunity for people to sample some of the West End’s most popular shows for free.” The success of the past weekend suggests that a quarter of a million satisfied theatre fans agree.
View VIDEOS of West End Live 2010
West End Live this weekend
June 17, 2010
A free event will be held in London this weekend, showcasing the best of West End theatre.
West End Live will feature the casts of some of London’s biggest shows, performing at a free event this weekend in Leicester Square. On Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 June 2010, hundreds of West End performers will gather to showcase the best of London theatre. Careful juggling by the organisers has enabled the casts of over 25 shows to appear live on a stage in Leicester Square in between performing their matinee and evening performances.
Download and print the West End Live timetable of events.
The line-up for the celebration has now been confirmed, with Brazil! Brazil! launching the weekend at 11am on Saturday.
Shows which have agreed to participate in the family event include Thriller Live, Disney’s The Lion King, Legally Blonde, All The Fun Of The Fair, Tap Dogs, We Will Rock You, Billy Elliot, Wicked, Hair, Chicago, Love Never Dies, Avenue Q, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, Burn the Floor, Grease, Mamma Mia!, Stomp, Dirty Dancing and Jersey Boys.
West End stars will be out in force to entertain audiences at the event, including Daniel Boys (Wolfboy), who will be hosting proceedings from 12 noon to 6pm on Sunday 20 June, Sheridan Smith (Legally Blonde), Kerry Ellis (Oliver!), Patina Miller (Sister Act) and Hannah Waddingham (Into The Woods).
Saturday’s full line up* is as follows: 11.00am Brazil! Brazil!; 11.15am Dirty Dancing; 11.25am Burn the Floor; 11.35am Wicked; 11.45am We Will Rock You; 12.05pm Billy Elliot; 12.15pm Love Never Dies; 12.30pm Chicago; 12.45pm HAIR; 13.05pm Jersey Boys; 13.25pm Sweet Charity; 13.35pm Grease; 13.50pm Mamma Mia!; 14.00pm Sister Act; 14.10pm Thriller Live; 14.30pm Julie Atherton; 14.40pm Avenue Q; 15.00pm Into the Woods; 15.20pm Fireman Sam; 15.30pm Sylvia Young Theatre School; 15.50pm Burn the Floor; 16:00pm The Big Dance; 16:20pm London Gay Men’s Chorus; 16:35pm Burn The Floor; 16.45pm The Gleeks; 17.10pm Royal Albert Hall; 17.35pm All the Fun of the Fair; 17.45pm STOMP.
On Sunday* there’s more theatrical thrills and spills with: 12.00pm Tap Dogs; 12.15pm Stomp; 12.30pm Thriller Live; 12.55pm Jersey Boys; 13.10pm Priscilla Queen of the Deasert; 13.25pm Legally Blonde; 13.35pm Disney’s The Lion King; 13.50pm Mamma Mia!; 14.00pm West End Kids; 14.15pm Daniel Boys; 14.30pm National Youth Music Theatre; 14.45pm Into the Woods; 15.10pm Mark Jermin Stage School; 15.30pm Fireman Sam; 15.45pm Jack Day; 16.00pm T Mobile Big Dance; 16.20pm West End Gospel Choir; 16.40pm Burn the Floor; 16.50pm SOLT competition; 17.00pm 1916 the Musical; 17.15pm Burn the Floor; 17.25pm Dover Street.
* Timetable and acts subject to change – check West End Live site for details.
To get the party started early, the cast of Wicked will also be performing on Friday 18 June 2010 at Cardinal Place, Victoria between 12.30 and 1pm for a pre West End LIVE performance.
The weekend event will feature exhibits and activities including the London Film Museum, Science Museum, V&A Museum, Little Angel Puppet theatre and Forbidden Planet.
Over a quarter of a million people attended last year’s event in Leicester Square. Running in a variety of formats for a number of years, including the Society of London Theatre’s Fair in the Square events in the 1990s, this year’s two-day event is organised by Westminster City Council.
Saturday 19 June, 11am-6pm and Sunday 20 June, 12noon to 6pm in Leicester Square.
Download and print the West End Live timetable of events.
LINKS: West End Live website
All the Fun of the Fair – Half Price
June 10, 2010
Save £30 on tickets to see All The Fun of the Fair at the Garrick Theatre in London
£55 tickets for only £25 on 7th July to 5th September (excludes Saturday evenings)
David Essex and Boogie Nights creator Jon Conway invite you to a roller coaster ride of a musical, underscored by a helter- skelter of David Essex hit songs.
Inspired by David’s debut album ‘All The Fun Of The Fair’, David plays fun fair owner Levi Lee, recently widowed and father of a rebellious teenage son. Danger and mysticism lurk in the future, as predicted by the gypsy fortune teller who is in love with Levi. This moving and contemporary story with a heartbreaking twist, reaches out to every parent and anyone who has ever been torn in love.
Dodgems and motorbikes, crafty cons and candy floss, fairground horses and fights, along with romance and rock and roll bring out the carnival atmosphere in this fun-loving show.
Fabulous songs in the show- all hits for David Essex – include A Winter’s Tale, Hold Me Close, Gonna Make You A Star and Silver Dream Machine.
Alongside David Essex, the cast includes Christopher Timothy, Louise English and the leading role of the son, Jack, will be played by Michael Pickering.
The show is directed by David Gilmore with set and costume designs by Ian Westbrook.
BOOK NOW: Save £30 on tickets to see All The Fun of the Fair at the Garrick Theatre in London
£55 tickets for only £25 on 7th July to 5th September (excludes Saturday evenings)
Free West End event scheduled
May 13, 2010
The casts of London’s biggest shows are being allowed out of their theatres again this year to perform at the West End’s annual live event in Leicester Square.
West End Live is a weekend of free entertainment on 19 and 20 June that promises to showcase the best of London’s Theatreland.
Running in a variety of formats for a number of years, including the Society of London Theatre’s Fair in the Square events in the 1990s, this year’s two-day event initiated by Westminster City Council will see 23 shows perform on a stage in Leicester Square.
Shows which have agreed to participate in the family event include Thriller Live, The Lion King, Legally Blonde, All The Fun Of The Fair, Tap Dogs, We Will Rock You, Billy Elliot, Wicked, Hair, Chicago, Love Never Dies, Avenue Q, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, Burn the Floor, Grease, Mamma Mia!, Stomp, Dirty Dancing, The Fantasticks and Jersey Boys.
West End stars will be out in force to entertain audiences at the event, including Sheridan Smith (Legally Blonde), Kerry Ellis (Oliver!), Patina Miller (Sister Act) and Hannah Waddingham (Into The Woods). More stars are expected to be announced shortly.
Last year’s event attracted around 250,000 people.
Saturday 19 June, 11am-6pm and Sunday 20 June, 12noon to 6pm in Leicester Square.
LINKS: West End Live website
MICHAEL PICKERING in All The Fun of The Fair
May 7, 2010
Michael Pickering stars in All The Fun of The Fair.
Michael Pickering
A central role in David Essex’s new musical All The Fun of The Fair at the Garrick Theatre is that of Jack, the son of David Essex’s character Levi.
This role has gone to relative newcomer Michael Pickering. He’s no novice though, having made his West End debut in Wicked at the Apollo Victoria and swiftly followed this by taking the lead role High School Musical at the Apollo Hammersmith.
He then toured the world in Mamma Mia! before heading back to the UK and showcasing his talent at the Garrick Theatre. And with critics such as the Telegraph’s Charles Spencer hailing him as “”a fresh young talent to watch”, we expect much from Michael Pickering’s career.
Following All The Fun of the Fair, Michael will star as D’Artagnan in a new musical based on Alexandre Dumas’s classic tale The Three Musketeers, at the Rose Theatre, Kingston, Surrey from November 27. The show will also star Clive Rowe, Paul Thornley and Matt Rawle as the three Musketeers, and has a score by George Stiles, lyrics by Paul Leigh and book by Peter Raby and Francis Matthews.
One to watch.
Book tickets to All The Fun of The Fair at the Garrick Theatre in London
All the Fun of the Fair – Reviews Round-up
May 3, 2010
There was much critical “compare and contrasting” going on last week between David Essex’s musical All The Fun of the Fair, which opened at the Garrick Theatre, and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Coney Island-set Love Never Dies over at the Adelphi. All The Fun came off better, perhaps as just another opportunity for the critics to put the boot into ALW, but also as a pleasurable way to hear some good old pop tunes from Essex’s back catalogue, woven into a not-overly-bad plot.
STAR RATINGS
The Times 
Daily Express
The Independent
The Telegraph
DAILY EXPRESS
Critic: Paul Callan
ON DAVID ESSEX: “Not quite the rocking luminary of the Seventies we remember but he still has that roguish appeal and can belt out such memorable numbers as Hold Me Close and my old favourite Silver Dream Machine… Essex still has that great, gravelly voice and plays the old-time boss with smooth style.”
IN A NUTSHELL: “A slender framework for 23 of Essex’s best songs but, as jukebox musicals go, it has some dramatic and edgy moments”.
KEY PERFORMANCES: “Michael Pickering is a powerfully voiced Jack, particularly in his solo Lamplight, and Tim Newman as Slow Jonny was highly comical, apart from his “Ooooh Betty” Michael Crawford voice”.
CREATIVE TEAM: “Director David Gilmore keeps the energy moving along and Ian Westbrook’s set catches perfectly the faded charm of old fairgrounds”.
FINAL THOUGHTS: “And I wasn’t the only critic who wanted to jump on the stage and drive a Dodgem…”
THE TIMES
Critic: Benedict Nightingale
IN A NUTSHELL: “This is still basically a sentimental, soft-centred show, one in which even Christopher Timothy’s Harvey, Alice’s possessive and supposedly dangerous father, seems happiest when he’s chatting about the good old days with laid-back Levi. But it’s hard to resist the result. If Essex’s book creaks his songs, many or most of them from his backlist, do come across tunefully enough.”
THE INDEPENDENT
Critic: Michael Coveney
IN A NUTSHELL: ““David Gilmore’s production may not have the sinister fairground glamour and technical pizzazz of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Coney Island melodrama across town, Love Never Dies but it does have its own quality of London pride, Essex (as in the place, and the star) nostalgia and delight in making pop music.”
ON DAVID ESSEX: “Essex himself is so laid back as to be virtually horizontal, but he always had something of the Gypsy about him, and the singing voice, though fading, retains enough of its distinctive cracked parchment properties. With librettist Jon Conway, he’s cleverly devised another way of touring his concert show without having to sing everything himself.”
THE TELEGRAPH
Critic: Charles Spencer
ON THE BOOK: “The inspiration for the plot, a book by Jon Conway in which vicious heavies threaten the funfair’s future and true love refuses to run smoothly, is workmanlike rather than inspired”.
ON THE SONGS: “I was amazed at just how many of Essex’s catchy songs —Gonna Make You a Star, Hold Me Close, A Winter’s Tale and Lamplight —had wormed their way into my consciousness, and how good it was to hear them again.”
IN A NUTSHELL: “The show has that essential but often elusive quality for any musical — heart… The plot line may be predictable, the jokes not quite as funny as one would wish, but there are moments when it becomes genuinely touching, and it is a pleasure to watch a West End production that puts its faith in its performers rather than hi-tech special effects”.
ON DAVID ESSEX: “His voice now has a touchingly vulnerable crack in it, lending an unexpected depth of feeling to even trite lyrics, and he moves with elegant, if now rather languid, aplomb during Rock On.”
Book tickets to All The Fun Of The Fair at the Garrick Theatre in London
OPENING TONIGHT: All The Fun of the Fair
April 28, 2010
David Essex’s new musical ALL THE FUN OF THE FAIR will have its London premiere tonight at the Garrick Theatre.
Best known as a recording artist who sold millions of albums in the 70s and 80s, David Essex is also an established writer and performer for theatre. He first came to prominence in musical theatre starring as Jesus in the original West End production of Godspell in 1972 and Che in Evita in 1978 and went on to co-write and star in Mutiny at the Piccadilly Theatre.
And now David returns to the London stage in All The Fun Of The Fair, a show he has co-written with Boogie Nights creator Jon Conway and that features a range of David Essex hits and album favourites – notably inspired by his debut album ‘All The Fun Of The Fair’.
Show show also stars Christopher Timothy and Louise English, with the leading role of David’s son Jack played by Michael Pickering.
Book tickets to All The Fun Of The Fair at the Garrick Theatre in London
DAVID ESSEX in All The Fun Of The Fair
April 13, 2010
70s and 80s pop supremo returns to the West End with new show
David Essex
He may be best known as a recording artist who sold millions of albums, but David Essex is also a theatre pro. He first came to prominence in musical theatre, starring as Jesus in the original West End production of Godspell in 1972 and Che in Evita in 1978. He also appeared in Sir Peter Hall’s She Stoops To Conquer at the Queen’s Theatre, Footloose The Musical at the Novello Theatre and most recently a national tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Aspects of Love. He has also written musicals – having co-wrote and starred in the original musical Mutiny! which played at the Piccadilly Theatre in 1985.
And now David returns to the London stage in All The Fun Of The Fair, a show he has co-written with Boogie Nights creator Jon Conway and that features a range of David Essex hits and album favourites.
The show is inspired by David’s debut album ‘All The Fun Of The Fair’, which he has re-writen and arranged especifically for this show, with songs including Winter’s Tale, Hold Me Close, Me And My Girl (Nightclubbing), Silver Dream Machine, Gonna Make You A Star, Rock On and the title track, All the Fun of the Fair.
The cast of the show also includes Christopher Timothy and Louise English, with the leading role of David’s son Jack played by Michael Pickering.
Book tickets to All The Fun Of The Fair at the Garrick Theatre in London
