In the West End This Week: Wicked, Oliviers
February 7, 2011
What’s coming up in the West End this week, including The Wizard of Oz, Wicked, Shoes, the Olivier Awards and The Children’s Hour.
Monday 7 February 2011
Mark Evans in Wicked
A new cast joins Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. Lee Mead said farewell to the company on Saturday night, and a number of new cast members join the show tonight including Mark Evans as Fiyero, Zoë Rainey as Nessarose and Ben Stott as Boq, alongside current stars Rachel Tucker as Elphaba and Louise Dearman as Glinda.
The Olivier Award nominations will be announced today at 11am at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. This year’s awards – which will be presented on 13 March at Drury Lane – promise to have upped the star and glamour quotient and will be televised by the BBC.
The Wizard of Oz starts previews tonight. This mega new production at the London Palladium, rebooted by Jeremy Sams and produced by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Bill Kenwright, sees Over The Rainbow star Danielle Hope join Michael Crawford and Hannah Waddingham.
Tuesday 8 February 2011
A big theatre day! Shoes – the hugely successful Sadler’s Wells show – opens tonight at the Peacock Theatre to give the show a much deserved West End airing.
Million Dollar Quartet, the musical that recreates the historic day when Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis all made music together, starts previews at the Noel Coward Theatre on Tuesday.
Also much deserving is Clybourne Park, which gets its official opening at the Wyndhams Theatre starring Sophie Thompson and Stephen Campbell Moore. Bruce Norris’ satirical comedy, directed by Dominic Cooke for the Royal Court, has been sweeping the boards at various awards including the recent South Bank Sky Arts Awards and the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards.
Also on Tuesday, Showstopper the Improvised Musical begins at the Ambassadors Theatre in London with the the all-singing, all-dancing cast creating a brand new musical from scratch every night in this award-winning production. Plus, the Southwark Playhouse opens its new production of Sondheim’s Company directed by Joe Fredericks.
Wednesday 9 February 2011
Elisabeth Moss in The Children's Hour
The Children’s Hour gets its official opening night at the Comedy Theatre tonight, starring Elisabeth Moss (Mad Men), Keira Knightley and Ellen Burstyn in Lillian Hellman’s controversial play.
Friday 11 February 2011
The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee starts previews as the Donmar Warehouse.
And coming up
Next week sees The Woman in Black celebrate its 23rd birthday, having opened in the West End on 15 February 1989. 2011 promises to be a big year for the show, with a brand new movie version of Susan Hill’s classic horror story opening in cinemas starring Daniel Radcliffe.
JENNA RUSSELL in Into The Woods
August 16, 2010
Jenna Russell stars in the Open Air Theatre’s Into the Woods
This summer Jenna Russell will play the Baker’s Wife in a new production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park, timed to celebrate Sondheim’s 80th birthday year.
Directed by Timothy Sheader, the show adds a dark twist to famous fairytales such as Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel.
Jenna is no stranger to working outdoors having played the Open Air Theatre on a number of occasions, namely as Hermia in A Midsummer Nights Dream and Nellie in The Card.
She has also appeared in Into the Woods before – playing Cinderella in the Donmar’s 1998 production directed by John Crowley and Jonathan Butterell.
Jenna’s talent and versatility is demonstrated by her numerous stage roles, crossing both drama and musicals, and both classic and modern work.
Her credits include Amy in Amy’s View for Sir Peter Hall; Dot/Marie in the Menier Chocolate Factory production of Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park with George, for which she won an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical; Sarah in Guys and Dolls at the Donmar Warehouse directed by Michael Grandage; a number of RSC productions for directors including David Thacker, John Caird, Adrian Noble and Alan Ayckbourn; and West End roles in Les Miserables, Follies and Martin Guerre.
Jenna recently performed at Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday Prom at the Royal Albert Hall alongside Dame Judi Dench and Simon Russell Beale.
Other cast in Into The Woods include Hannah Waddingham, Valda Aviks, Billy Boyle, Gaye Brown, Helen Dallimore, Alice Fearn, Amy Griffiths, Mark Hadfield, Amy Ellen Richardson, Beverly Rudd, Ben Stott, Simon Thomas, Gemma Wardle and Michael Xavier.
Into the Woods will run from 5 August until 11 September at the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park.
Book tickets to Into The Woods at the Open Air Theatre in London
Into The Woods opens tonight
August 16, 2010
The Open Air Theatre’s new production of Into The Woods officially opens tonight, 16 August, at its Regent’s Park venue.
Jenna Russell in Into The Woods. Photo: Catherine Ashmore
Timed to celebrate Stephen Sondheim 80th birthday year, the musical features West End stars – and Sondheim aficionados – Hannah Waddingham (A Little Night Music) and Jenna Russell (Sunday in the Park with George).
Directed by Timothy Sheader, Into The Woods adds a dark twist to famous fairytales such as Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel.
Other cast in the show include Valda Aviks, Billy Boyle, Gaye Brown, Helen Dallimore, Alice Fearn, Amy Griffiths, Mark Hadfield, Amy Ellen Richardson, Beverly Rudd, Ben Stott, Simon Thomas, Gemma Wardle and Michael Xavier.
Into the Woods will run from 5 August until 11 September at the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park.
Book tickets to Into The Woods at the Open Air Theatre in London
OTHER SHOWS STARTING IN AUGUST
Deathtrap, starring Simon Russell Beale and Jonathan Groff, starts previews at the Noel Coward Theatre on 21 August.
AND CLOSING:
As You Like It and The Tempest at the Old Vic Theatre, directed by Sam Mendes and starring Stephen Dillane and Juliet Rylance, closes 21 August.
La Bete at the Comedy Theatre, closes 28 August.
STARTING IN SEPTEMBER
Noel Coward’s Design for Living at the Old Vic Theatre, from3 September.
Passion at the Donmar Warehouse starring Elena Roger, from 10 September.
Complicite’s A Disappearing Number at the Novello Theatre, from 10 September.
Les Miserables 25th anniversary production at the Barbican Theatre, from 14 September.
Krapp’s Last Tape starring Michael Gambon at the Duchess Theatre, from 15 September.
Yes, Prime Minister at the Gielgud Theatre starring David Haig and Henry Goodman, from 17 September.
Birdsong starring Ben Barnes and directed by Trevor Nunn, at the Comedy Theatre from 18 September.
Flashdance The Musical at the Shaftesbury Theatre, from 24 September.
Onassis at the Novello Theatre starring Robert Lindsay, from 30 September.
AND CLOSING:
HAIR at the Gielgud Theatre, closes on 4 September.
All The Fun of the Fair at the Garrick Theatre, closes on 4 September.
Burn The Floor at the Shaftesbury Theatre, closes 4 September.
Tap Dogs at the Novello Theatre, closes 5 September.
The Secret of Sherlock Holmes at the Duchess Theatre, closes on 11 September.
The Prisoner of Second Avenue at the Vaudeville Theatre, closes 25 September.
HANNAH WADDINGHAM in Into The Woods
July 9, 2010
Beautiful Hannah returns to Sondheim and goes Into the Woods
West End star Hannah Waddingham, whose recent successes include Trevor Nunn’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, will return to Sondheim this summer in Into The Woods.
Part of this year’s Open Air Theatre season in Regent’s Park, the show helps celebrate Stephen Sondheim’s 80th year which also sees a revival of Passion this summer at the Donmar Warehouse starring Elena Roger.
Directed by Timothy Sheader, Hannah Waddingham plays the central role of the Witch, alongside Olivier award winner Jenna Russell (Sunday in the Park with George) as the Baker’s wife in the show that adds a dark twist to famous fairytales such as Cinderella, Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood and Rapunzel.
Hannah has enjoyed a successful stage career, including Olivier Award nominations for playing the Lady of the Lake in Spamalot and Desiree Armfelt in Trevor Nunn’s production of A Little Night Music at the Menier Choclate Factory and the Garrick Theatre. Other roles include Suzanne Valadon in Lautrec, Christine Warner in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Beautiful Game at the Cambridge Theatre) Satan in Rod Stewart’s Tonight’s The Night and Rizzo in Grease at the Victoria Palace Theatre.
The Menier Chocolate Factory production of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music continues to pack them in on Broadway, now starring Bernadette Peters and Elaine Stritch (from 13 July). Catherine Zeta-Jones won a Tony Award for her performance as Desiree in the show on Broadway.
Other cast in Into The Woods include Valda Aviks, Billy Boyle, Gaye Brown, Helen Dallimore, Alice Fearn, Amy Griffiths, Mark Hadfield, Amy Ellen Richardson, Beverly Rudd, Ben Stott, Simon Thomas, Gemma Wardle and Michael Xavier.
Into the Woods will run from 5 August until 11 September at the Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park.
Book tickets to Into The Woods at the Open Air Theatre in London
Summer Theatre in the West End
June 28, 2010
New shows opening in London this summer
Spring and autumn may be the busiest times for new shows in London, but this summer will still pack quite a punch with some big names, high-profile directors and a few surprises in store.
A range of musicals and plays will open in the capital over the next few months, including classic musicals from Stephen Sondheim (Into the Woods) and Rogers & Hammerstein (State Fair); starry comedy, including David Hyde Pearce and Joanna Lumley in La Bete, Jeff Goldblum in The Prisoner of Second Avenue and Simon Russell Beal and Jonathan Groff in Deathtrap); dance spectaculars (Burn the Floor), new musicals (Wolfboy), ambitious children’s drama (The Railway Children) and a terrifying new play (Ghost Stories).
