Former Atomic Kitten star Natasha Hamilton has followed follow Spice Girl Melanie C into the West End playing the lead role in Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre.

Hamilton, 28, is the youngest actress to play the lead role of Mrs Johnstone at the Phoenix Theatre in London. She told the Liverpool Echo that by the end of the show “I’ve been sobbing, crying my eyes out when my sons are dead on the floor. It’s just hard not to feel that emotion. The play’s so powerful and it tugs at those heart strings so much.”

Natasha joins a roll call of famous theatrical ladies who have played the part of Mrs Johnstone including Mel C, Barbara Dickson, Petula Clark, Kiki Dee, X-Factor runner-up Nikki Evans and most recently Maureen Noaln.

Photos by Roy Tan

LINKS

SPECIAL OFFER: Enjoy Half Price tickets to see Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre

Natasha Hamilton in Blood Brothers

Natasha Hamilton to star in Blood Brothers

Former Atomic Kitten star Natasha Hamilton is to follow Spice Girl Melanie C into the West End tonight playing the lead role in Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre.

Mel C scored a huge hit with the show, making the transition from pop star to stage star, and Hamilton will be hoping for more of the same.

Natasha said on her Twitter page last week that she “can’t begin to describe how tired I am” but that she had been loving every minute of the rehearsals and preparation for tonight’s first show.

Hamilton, 28, is the youngest actress to play the lead role of Mrs Johnstone at the Phoenix Theatre in London. She told the Liverpool Echo today that by the end of the show “I’ve been sobbing, crying my eyes out when my sons are dead on the floor. It’s just hard not to feel that emotion. The play’s so powerful and it tugs at those heart strings so much.”

Her husband Riad and sons Josh, Harry and baby Alfie will all be there tonight to support her in her first big acting role in the West End.

Natasha joins a roll call of famous theatrical ladies who have played the part of Mrs Johnstone including Mel C, Barbara Dickson, Petula Clark, Kiki Dee, X-Factor runner-up Nikki Evans and most recently Maureen Noaln.

SPECIAL OFFER: Half-price tickets to Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre

Carina Gillespie in Grease

Carina Gillespie and Matthew Goodgame in Grease. Photo: Paul Coltas.

Another West End debut is also made tonight by another Liverpudlian actress: Carina Gillespie will replace Over The Rainbow finalist Lauren Samuels this evening as Sandy in Grease. She will be joined by Matthew Goodgame as Danny.

Carina Gillespie trained at the Liverpool Theatre School and has appeared in Buddy- The Buddy Holly Story, Bloodbath- The Musical and Jack in the Beanstalk.

Also joining the cast will be Michael Pickering as Doody, who recently starred in All The Fun of the Fair at the Garrick Theatre.

SPECIAL OFFER: Save £23.50 on tickets to Grease at the Piccadilly Theatre

Celebrate winter with our great new hotel and theatre promotion, with blockbuster shows including Love Never Dies, Legally Blonde, Priscilla, Jersey Boys and Billy Elliot.

Westendtheatre.com has partnered with 18 top London shows and a range of Central London hotels to offers visitors to the city a fabulous winter treat.

Running until the end of March 2011, you can book a free room in a central London hotel when buying a top-price theatre ticket to one of a selection of shows.

Prices start at just £45 ($70 USD / €55 Euros) per person for a three star hotel, continental breakfast and a best seat to a major West End show, based on two people sharing.

An amazing selection of big-budget West End musicals are featured in the promotion including: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to the Phantom of the Opera – Love Never Dies; Legally Blonde, based on the smash-hit movie; Tony award-winning Elton John musical Billy Elliot; a new musical adaptation of Love Story; fabulous, spectacular show Priscilla Queen of the Desert; Jersey Boys featuring the music of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons; Dirty Dancing; sexy, sassy Kander and Ebb show Chicago; joyous 1960s musical Dreamboats and Petticoats; Grease The Musical; Willy Russell’s powerful musical Blood Brothers; theatre, dance and percussion show Stomp; and Michael Jackson tribute show Thriller Live.

Comedy and drama included in the promotion ranges from a riotously funny adaptation of The 39 Steps, to Samantha Bond in Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, terrifying thriller The Woman in Black, and classic comedy When We Are Married.

BOOK NOW

See all shows in the promotion and book now

Terms and conditions of the promotion:

Prices are per person and based on two people sharing a twin or double room in one of our chosen Central London 3* hotels. Valid for select performances and subject to availability. Once booked, the package is non transferable and cannot be exchanged or refunded. All prices include VAT and all other transaction and booking fees. Selected shows are subject to a £5 supplement. For full terms and conditions visit www.westendtheatre.com/theatre-breaks

The Evening Standard has published their Theatre Awards shortlist ahead of a glitzy ceremony at the newly reopened Savoy Hotel this Sunday, 28 November.

Sophie Thompson up for Best Actress for Clybourne Park

Hosted by Stephen Fry, the 56th annual awards will see stars of stage and screen join an impressive list of nominees for this year’s event.

In the Best Actress category, in honour of Natasha Richardson, two musicals stars are pitted against each other: Sheridan Smith, in Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre, and Elena Roger, star of Passion at the Donmar Warehouse and soon to be Ricky Martin co-star on Broadway in Evita. They are shortlisted against Nancy Carroll for the National’s After the Dance and Sophie Thompson for the Royal Court’s Clybourne Park – a part which she will revive in the New Year for the West End transfer of the show at the Wyndham’s Theatre.

The National Theatre and the Royal Court are the producing houses to benefit most from this year’s shortlist, with 10 and 11 nods respectively. The National Theatre is celebrated for a range of productions, with Thea Sharrock (After the Dance), Nicholas Hytner (The Habit Of Art, London Assurance, Hamlet), Howard Davies for The White Guard (plus All My Sons at the Apollo) and Laurie Sansom for Beyond The Horizon and Spring Storm all vying for the Best Director award.

The Royal Court’s reputation for writing has won out again over its competitors this year, earning the venue complete dominance over both Best Play category, with nominations for Cock, Clybourne Park and Sucker Punch, and Most Promising Playwright category, with DC Moore for The Empire, Nick Payne for Wanderlust (plus If There Is I Haven’t Found It Yet at the Bush) and Anya Reiss for Spur Of The Moment.

Performances of Shakespeare is the theme of this year’s Best Actor category, with Roger Allam singled out for his performance in Henry IV Parts One and Two at Shakespeare’s Globe and Rory Kinnear for two Shakespeare roles, the National Theatre’s Hamlet and the Almeida’s Measure For Measure. David Suchet also gets nod for All My Sons at the Apollo Theatre.

Best Musicals, in honour of Ned Sherrin, cover all tastes, with Legally Blonde at the Savoy, Stephen Sondheim’s Passion at the Donmar Warehouse and – despite Trevor Nunn and John Caird’s sniping over Cameron Mackintosh’s new touring production – the 2010 reinvention of Les Miserables at the Barbican Theatre.

Finally Outstanding Newcomers include a well-deserved nod to Spice Girl Mel C for Blood Brothers.

See the Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2010 shortlist here

You know that the West End has become a trendy place to be when pop stars are queuing up to tread the boards in a London show.

Duncan James and Simon Webb from Blue in Legally Blonde and Sister Act respectively, Jason Donovan in Priscilla, the Spice Girls’ Melanie C in Blood Brothers, Destiny’s Child’s Michelle Williams in Chicago, Matt Willis from Busted in Flashdance, Gareth Gates in Les Miserables, Noel from Hear’Say in Grease… the list goes on and on.

And now it’s the turn of sexy Atomic Kitten Natasha Hamilton to make her way to the backstage door of the Phoenix Theatre to star in Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers.

Natasha will be making her West End debut in the show, starring as lead character Mrs Johnstone, from 24 January 2011. She joins a roll call of famous theatrical ladies who have played the part of Mrs Johnstone including Mel C, Barbara Dickson, Petula Clark, Kiki Dee, X-Factor runner-up Nikki Evans and currently 70′s pop star Lyn Paul. Maureen Nolan will play the part from 22 November to 22 January.

Willy Russell’s dramatic musical about a pair of twins from Liverpool who are separated at birth only to cross paths later in life, has run successfully at the Phoenix Theatre since 1991 and remains one of London’s most popular and successful shows.

Hamilton is a relative newcomer to the stage, having only had one other big show under her belt: Peter Pan last year at the Liverpool Empire alongside Les Denis and Henry Winkler. Here’s hoping she follows Mel C’s success, and makes Blood Brothers the start of the next exciting chapter in her career.

Special Offer: Enjoy half-price tickets to Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre in London

Natasha Hamilton

Hot on the heels of Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm, another former girl band star is to join the cast of Willy Russell’s Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre in London.

Natasha Hamilton of Liverpool girl band Atomic Kitten will be making her West End debut in the show, starring as lead character Mrs Johnstone, from 24 January 2011.

Natasha joins a roll call of famous theatrical ladies who have played the part of Mrs Johnstone including Mel C, Barbara Dickson, Petula Clark, Kiki Dee, X-Factor runner-up Nikki Evans and currently 70′s pop star Lyn Paul.

Willy Russell’s dramatic musical about a pair of twins from Liverpool who are separated at birth only to cross paths later in life, has run successfully at the Phoenix Theatre since 1991 and remains one of London’s most popular and successful shows.

Hamilton’s past stage roles include Peter Pan last year at the Liverpool Empire alongside Les Denis and Henry Winkler.

Special Offer: Enjoy half-price tickets to Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre in London

Phoenix Theatre

Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence in Private Lives

Today, 24 September 2010, marks the 80th anniversary of London’s Phoenix Theatre. Commissioned by Sidney Bernstein, who started Granada television, the Charing Cross Road theatre opened in 1930 with Noel Coward’s classic play Private Lives, staring Coward, Gertrude Lawrence, Laurence Olivier and Adrianne Allen.

Other notable successes for the theatre included Noel Coward again, this time with his Tonight at 8.30 one-act plays in 1936, Canterbury Tales in 1968, Night and Day in 1978 and a long list of famous players including John Gielgud, Vivien Leigh, Paul Scofield and Vanessa Redgrave. The Phoenix Theatre currently hosts Willy Russell’s musical Blood Brothers, which opened at the venue in November 1991.

The Phoenix theatre was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Bertie Crew and Cecil Masey with Theodore Komisarjevsky.

A number of West End venues are celebrating their 80th birthdays this year,  following a boom in theatre building in the Art Deco 1930′s, including the Prince Edward, Cambridge, Trafalgar Studios, Apollo Victoria and Adelphi theatres.

Stomp and Wicked

Lee Mead in Wicked

Long-running West End shows Stomp at the Ambassadors Theatre and Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre also celebrate birthdays this month. Stomp celebrates its 8th birthday tomorrow, having opened at the Vaudeville Theatre on 25 September 2002. The high-energy show, which combines theatre, dance, comedy and percussion, moved to its current home at the Ambassadors in 2007.

On Monday 27 September big-budget Broadway musical Wicked celebrates its 4th birthday at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London. Currently starring Lee Mead, Rachel Tucker and Louise Dearman, Wicked remains one of the most successful shows on both sides of the Atlantic. The Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman musical is based on the best-selling novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, a companion novel to L. Frank Baum’s classic story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

PHOENIX THEATRE QUICK FACTS

Hard to now imagine but the original site had been a factory, before becoming a Music Hall called the Alcazar.

In 1969 the owners of the Phoenix, Gerald and Veronica Flint-Shipman, organised a midnight matinee for Noel Coward’s 70th birthday, attended by Princess Margaret. A few days before, he opened the Noel Coward bar in the theatre’s foyer.

In 1976 the Phoenix hosted a Hollywood season of four plays featuring particularly starry names: Rock Hudson and Juliet Prowse in I Do I Do, Glynis Johns and Louis Jordan in 13, Rue De L’Amour, Lee Remick in Bus Stop and Douglas Fairbanks Jr in The Pleasure of His Company.

On reviewing the theatre when it first opened, The Stage newspaper said that, “Each seat has sufficient body and leg room and is provided with its own hat rack”.

LINKS

News: Historic year for West End venues

ArthurLloyd.co.uk: Phoenix history

Blood Brothers – book tickets

Stomp – book tickets

Wicked – book tickets

SPECIAL OFFER: Save £41.50 on tickets to Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre in London

Valid Monday to Friday evenings until 30 September 2010

Niki Evans in Blood Brothers

Willy Russell’s award-winning musical Blood Brothers celebrates its 22nd birthday this month, and to celebrate we have a very special offer.

Enjoy top price tickets for only £13.50 (usually £55) to see this powerful show about twins separated at birth.

The show currently features Niki Evans as Mrs Johnstone, Philip Stewart as the Narrator, Stephen Palfreman as Mickey, Simon Willmont as Eddie and Vivienne Carlyle as Mrs Lyons.

Liverpudlian playwright Willy Russell is currently enjoying a revival, with two of his plays, Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, running at the Trafalgar Studios in London.

SPECIAL OFFER: Save £41.50 on tickets to Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre in London

Valid Monday to Friday evenings until 30 September 2010

Niki Evans in Blood Brothers

The powerful show, about twins separated at birth, opened at the Albery Theatre (now the Noel Coward Theatre) on 27 August 1988. It transferred from the Albery to its current home at the Phoenix Theatre in 1991.

The starring role of the mother, Mrs. Johnstone, has been played by countless actresses over the last 22 years in the West End, including Barbara Dickson, Stephanie Lawrence, Clodagh Rodgers, Kiki Dee, Lyn Paul, Siobhan McCarthy, Katie Scott, four of the Nolan sisters (Linda, Bernie, Denise and Maureen), Spice Girl Melanie Chisholm and current star Niki Evans.

Blood Brothers originally ran at the Lyric Theatre in 1983 before its  revival in 1988, and won the Olivier Award for Best Musical and a Best Actress in a Musical gong for the show’s star Barbara Dickson. Also Con O’Neill won Best Actor in a Musical in 1988 and Mel C was nominated this year for Best Actress in a Musical.

The show currently features Niki Evans as Mrs Johnstone, Philip Stewart as the Narrator, Stephen Palfreman as Mickey, Simon Willmont as Eddie and Vivienne Carlyle as Mrs Lyons.

Liverpudlian playwright Willy Russell is currently enjoying a revival, with two of his plays, Educating Rita and Shirley Valentine, running at the Trafalgar Studios in London.

SPECIAL OFFER: Save £31.50 on tickets to see Blood Brothers at the Phoenix Theatre in London

A boom in theatre building in the Art Deco 1930′s has resulted in six West End theatres celebrating their 80th anniversaries in 2010.

September proves a particularly important month, with three theatres celebrating their 80th: the Cambridge Theatre on Earlham Street on 4 September; Charing Cross Road’s Phoenix Theatre on 24 September; and the Trafalgar Studios on Whitehall, formerly known as the Whitehall Theatre, on 29 September.

Already this year the Prince Edward Theatre has celebrated its 80th birthday on 3 April, and later in the year the Apollo Victoria Theatre will mark its 80th on 15 October and the Adelphi Theatre on 3 December.

London Palladium in 1912, courtesy of The Theatres Trust

Celebrations will include a charity gala for the Apollo Victoria on 10 October featuring the cast of the venue’s current show, Wicked, and past productions including Starlight Express.

Advisory Body, The Theatres Trust, commented on the anniversaries: “The West End theatres that celebrate their 80th anniversaries this year are among the UK’s best examples of art deco and moderne style venues. Each is distinctive and unique, built to appeal to a public eager for entertainment, plays, films, variety and musicals. It is a mark of their quality that they continue to do so to this day.”

2010 also marks theatrical milestones for a number of other venues, notably the 100th anniversary of the famous London Palladium on 26 December. A special Facebook page has been set up for the London Palladium’s centenary allowing theatregoers and theatre professionals to remember the historic venue. Also, on Radio 2 this autumn a two-part documentary series, The London Palladium Story, will tell the story of the theatre, narrated by Michael Grade.

Also this year the Peacock Theatre, originally called the Royalty Theatre, will celebrate its 40th birthday in June, and the former Leicester Square Theatre, now the Odeon West End cinema, will turn 80.

QUICK THEATRE FACTS

Adelphi Theatre

Opened: 3 December 1930

Designed: Ernest Schaufelberg, incorporating parts of the former Sans Pareil theatre

Location: Strand, London, WC2E 7NA Adelphi Theatre Map

First production: Ever Green by Benn W. Levy and Lorenz Hart

Current production: Love Never Dies

Apollo Victoria Theatre

Opened: 15 October 1930

Designed: E. Wamsley Lewis and W E Trent

Location: 17 Wilton Road, London, SW1V 1LL Apollo Victoria Theatre Map

First production: originally opened as a cinema (film: George Arlis in Old English)

Current production: Wicked

Cambridge Theatre

Opened: 4 September 1930

Designed: Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie with Serge Chermayeff

Location: Earlham Street, London, WC2 9HU Cambridge Theatre Map

First production: Charlot’s Masquerade by Ronald Jeans

Current production: Chicago

London Palladium

Opened: 26 December 1910

Designed: Frank Matcham

Location: London Palladium, Argyll Street, London, W1F 7TF London Palladium Map

First production: A Variety Show and one act play called The Conspiracy.

Current production: Sister Act

Peacock Theatre

Opened: June 1960

Designed: Lewis Solomon and Kaye and Partners

Location: Portugal Street, London, WC2A 2HT Peacock Theatre Map

First production: opened as a cinema

Current productions: include La Boheme, Euridice

Phoenix Theatre

Opened: 24 September 1930

Designed: Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Bertie Crew, and Cecil Masey, with Theodore Komisarjevsky

Location: Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H 0JP Phoenix Theatre Map

First production: Noel Coward’s Private Lives

Current production: Blood Brothers

Prince Edward

Opened: 3 April 1930

Designed: Edward A. Stone with Marc-Henri and Laverdet and Gaston Laverdet

Location: Old Compton Street, London, W1D 4HS Prince Edward Theatre Map

First production: Rio Rita by Harry Tierney

Current production: Jersey Boys

Trafalgar Studios

Opened: 29 September 1930

Designed: Edward A. Stone with Marc-Henri and Laverdet and Gaston Laverdet

Location: Whitehall, London, SW1A 2DY Trafalgar Studios Map

First production: The Way To Treat A Woman by Walter Hackett

Current productions: include Shirley Valentine, Educating Rita, State Fair

LINKS:

The Theatres Trust

Arthur Lloyd website