David Bedella and Michael Jibson in Road Show

Enjoy a special offer on the European premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s new musical Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Road Show stars American TV and stage actor David Bedella (Jerry Springer – The Opera), Michael Jibson (Our House), Jon Robyns (Avenue Q) and Gillian Bevan (Doctors).

Set in the early part of the twentieth-century, Road Show is based on the fascinating real-life story of two brothers, Addison and Wilson Mizner. Both are outrageous fortune seekers and their boom-and-bust story stretches from the Klondike and Alaskan Gold Rushes to managing boxers, holding up restaurants, running gambling dens, retailing on Fifth Avenue, owning New York hotels, writing Broadway plays and Hollywood screenplays and trying to capitalise on the great Florida land boom. Irving Berlin started, but did not finish, a musical based on Wilson Mizner’s life.

The show is directed and designed by the John Doyle, and features a book by John Weidman.

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BOOK NOW: SPECIAL OFFER: Save £10.50 on tickets to see Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory

George Stiles and Anthony Drewe. Photo: Roy Tan

George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, whose recent work includes Betty Blue Eyes at the Novello Theatre in London, are set to premiere a brand new work at the venue.

Soho Cinders will get its world premiere in a one-off charity concert at the Novello Theatre on Sunday 9 October 2011, in aid of Teenage Cancer Trust.

An all-star cast of West End big-hitters has been announced to star in the show including Kerry Ellis, Hannah Waddingham, Beverly Rudd, David Bedella and Sandi Toksvig, and the concert will be directed by Jonathan Butterell.

Soho Cinders, which is billed as “Cinderella remixed”, is a modern musical satirical comedy about the love life of prospective Mayoral candidate James Prince, his fiancée and his law-student lover, Robbie.

LINKS

Book tickets for Soho Sinders

Book tickets to Betty Blue Eyes at the Novello Theatre

Sondheim's Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory

The Menier Chocolate Factory, long associated with Stephen Sondheim, gives us the European premiere of his new musical Road Show this summer.

Road Show stars American TV and stage actor David Bedella (Jerry Springer – The Opera), Michael Jibson (Our House), Jon Robyns (Avenue Q) and Gillian Bevan (Doctors).

The production is directed and designed by the John Doyle, who returns to the show after directing its world premiere at the Public Theatre in New York in 2008.

See a round-up of reviews for Road Show, below.

LINKS

Book tickets to Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Road Show stars American TV and stage actor David Bedella (Jerry Springer – The Opera), Michael Jibson (Our House), Jon Robyns (Avenue Q) and Gillian Bevan (Doctors).

Set in the early part of the twentieth-century, Road Show is based on the fascinating real-life story of two brothers,  Addison and Wilson Mizner. Both are outrageous fortune seekers and their boom-and-bust story stretches from the Klondike and Alaskan Gold Rushes to managing boxers, holding up restaurants, running gambling dens, retailing on Fifth Avenue, owning New York hotels, writing Broadway plays and Hollywood screenplays and trying to capitalise on the great Florida land boom. Irving Berlin started, but did not finish, a musical based on Wilson Mizner’s life.

The production will be directed and designed by the John Doyle, who returns to the show after directing its world premiere at the Public Theatre in New York in 2008. Doyle’s other credits include a Tony award for his 2006 production of Sondheim’s Company, and Mack and Mabel in the West End with David Soul and Janie Dee.

Road Show features a book by John Weidman and the cast also include Adrian Der Gregorian, Fiona Dunn, Sarah Ingram, Julie Jupp, Glyn Kerslake, Elizabeth Marsh, Christopher Ragland and Robbie Scotcher.

LINKS

More news on Road Show

Road Show to premiere at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Running from 24 June to 17 September 2011, with an opening night on 6 July, the show will star American TV and stage actor David Bedella (Jerry Springer – The Opera), Michael Jibson (Our House), Jon Robyns (Avenue Q) and Gillian Bevan (Doctors).

Set in the early part of the twentieth-century, Road Show is based on the fascinating real-life story of two brothers,  Addison and Wilson Mizner. Both are outrageous fortune seekers and their boom-and-bust story stretches from the Klondike and Alaskan Gold Rushes to managing boxers, holding up restaurants, running gambling dens, retailing on Fifth Avenue, owning New York hotels, writing Broadway plays and Hollywood screenplays and trying to capitalise on the great Florida land boom. Irving Berlin started, but did not finish, a musical based on Wilson Mizner’s life.

The production will be directed and designed by the John Doyle, who returns to the show after directing its world premiere at the Public Theatre in New York in 2008. Doyle’s other credits include a Tony award for his 2006 production of Sondheim’s Company, and Mack and Mabel in the West End with David Soul and Janie Dee.

Alexander Gemignani and Michael Cerveris in the New York production of Road Show

The show has had a complicated past: Sondheim originally called the show Wise Guys, which premiered at the New York Theatre Workshop in 1999 directed by Sam Mendes and starring Nathan Lane and Victor Garber. It was then rewritten and called Bounce, opening in 2003 in Chicago directed by Hal Prince but was not a critical success. Finally Sondheim reworked to show again, and renamed it Road Show. It opened at the Public Theatre’s Newman Theater in New York in 2008 starring Michael Cerveris and Alexander Gemignani, and won positive reviews including the New York Times’s Ben Brantley writing that, “the greatest living master of the American musical has returned artistically to a place where he has always felt most at home” and David Rooney of Variety saying that, “anybody who cares about musical theater should not miss this.”

The Menier has a solid track record of producing Sondheim, with both Sunday in the Park with George and A Little Night Music transferring to the West End and Broadway and winning a number of awards.

Road Show features a book by John Weidman and the cast also include Adrian Der Gregorian, Fiona Dunn, Sarah Ingram, Julie Jupp, Glyn Kerslake, Elizabeth Marsh, Christopher Ragland and Robbie Scotcher.

CAST

David Bedella

Michael Jibson

Gillian Bevan

Jon Robyns

LINKS

Menier Chocolate Factory website

OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Actor Winners

Best Actor

2011 Roger Allam for Henry IV Parts 1 & 2
2010 Mark Rylance for Jerusalem
2009 Derek Jacobi for Twelfth Night
2008 Chiwetel Ejiofor in Othello
2007 Rufus Sewell for Rock ‘N’ Roll
2006 Brian Dennehy for Death Of A Salesman
2005 Richard Griffiths for The History Boys
2004 Matthew Kelly for Of Mice And Men
2003 Simon Russell Beale for Uncle Vanya
2002 Roger Allam for Privates On Parade
2001 Conleth Hill for Stones In His Pockets
2000 Henry Goodman for The Merchant Of Venice
1999 Kevin Spacey for The Iceman Cometh
1998 Ian Holm for King Lear
1997 Antony Sher for Stanley
1996 Alex Jennings for Peer Gynt
1995 David Bamber for My Night With Reg
1994 Mark Rylance for Much Ado About Nothing
1993 Robert Stephens for Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2)
1992 Nigel Hawthorne for The Madness Of George III
1991 Ian McKellen for Richard III
1989/90 Oliver Ford Davies for Racing Demon
1987 Michael Gambon for A View From The Bridge
1986 Albert Finney for Orphans
1985 Antony Sher for Richard III and Torch Song Trilogy

Actor of the Year in a New Play

1988 David Haig for Our Country’s Good
1984 Brian Cox for Rat In The Skull
1983 Jack Shepherd for Glengarry Glen Ross
1982 Ian McDiarmid for lnsignificance
1981 Trevor Eve for Children Of A Lesser God
1980 Roger Rees for Nicholas Nickleby
1979 Ian McKellen for Bent
1978 Tom Conti for Whose Life Is It Anyway?
1977 Michael Bryant for State Of Revolution
1976 Paul Copley for King And Country

Actor of the Year in a Revival

1988 Brian Cox for Titus Andronicus
1984 Ian McKellen for Wild Honey
1983 Derek Jacobi for Cyrano De Bergerac
1982 Stephen Moore for A Doll’s House
1981 Daniel Massey for Man And Superman
1980 Jonathan Pryce for Hamlet
1979 Warren Mitchell for Death Of A Salesman
1978 Alan Howard for Coriolanus
1977 Ian McKellen for Pillars Of The Community
1976 Alan Howard for Henry IV (Parts 1 and 2) and Henry V

Best Actor in a Musical

2011 David Thaxton for Passion
2010 Aneurin Barnard for Spring Awakening
2009 Douglas Hodge for La Cage aux Folles
2008 Michael Ball for Hairspray
2007 Daniel Evans for Sunday In The Park With George
2006 James Lomas, George Maguire and Liam Mower for Billy Elliot – The Musical
2005 Nathan Lane for The Producers
2004 David Bedella for Jerry Springer – The Opera
2003 Alex Jennings for My Fair Lady
2002 Philip Quast for South Pacific
2001 Daniel Evans for Merrily We Roll Along
2000 Simon Russell Beale for Candide
1999 The cast of Kat and The Kings
1998 Philip Quast for The Fix
1997 Robert Lindsay for Oliver!
1996 Adrian Lester for Company
1995 John Gordon Sinclair for She Loves Me
1994 Alun Armstrong for Sweeney Todd
1993 Henry Goodman for Assassins
1992 Alan Bennett for Talking Heads
1991 Philip Quast for Sunday In The Park With George
1989/90 Jonathan Pryce for Miss Saigon
1988 Con O’Neill for Blood Brothers
1987 John Bardon and Emil Wolk for Kiss Me Kate
1986 Michael Crawford for The Phantom Of The Opera
1985 Robert Lindsay for Me And My Girl
1984 Paul Clarkson for The Hired Man
1983 Denis Lawson for Mr. Cinders
1982 Roy Hudd for Underneath The Arches
1981 Michael Crawford for Barnum
1980 Denis Quilley for Sweeney Todd
1979 Anton Rodgers for Songbook

Exciting news for fans of the musical Chess. Following the cult musical’s brief concert revival at the Royal Albert Hall in London in December 2008, the show will be released on DVD and CD by Warner Music (16 June in USA and Canada, 15 June rest of world).

The concert version of the hit 80s show will also be broadcast by public TV station PBS in the USA from 17 June.

Written by Tim Rice and ABBA’s Benny Anderson and Björn Ulvaeus, the recording will air as part of PBS’ Great Performances strand.  Chess originally played at the Prince of Edward Theatre in London in the late 1980s and also enjoyed a brief run on Broadway.

Chess in Concert was a star-studded two nighter at London’s prestigious venue, starring an acclaimed list of music talent including Idina Menzel as Florence, Adam Pascal as Frederick Trumper, Josh Groban as Anatoly Sergievsky, Kerry Ellis as Svetlana, David Bedella as Molokov, Marti Pellow as The Arbiter and Clarke Peters as Walter.

Music was provided by the City of London Philharmonic and the 100-voice West End Chorus and songs from the musical include “One Night in Bangkok,” and “I Know Him So Well”, the later proving a recording hit for Elaine Paige and Barbara Dickson.

On the Chess in Concert website Tim Rice writes that “I hope that the work I was fortunate enough to create with them [Anderson and Ulvaeus] will one day be recognised as a full part of their brilliant legacy.”

The Chess in Concert Director and Concert Adapter was Hugh Wooldridge, with Musical Direction by Mark Warman and Conductor and Musical Supervisor David Firman. The show was directed for TV by David Horn and produced by Austin Shaw.

• Official site for Chess in Concert at the Royal Albert Hal

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Editor’s comment:

Elaine Paige starred in the original London production of Chess, and recently said on the US show Entertainment Tonight that she’d love to sing with Britain’s Got Talent megastar Susan Boyle. Watching the clip of the original video for I Know Him So Well, below, you can see how that would work.

BUY Chess In concert – CD and DVD