Storify: Watch out Broadway, the Brits are coming!

British Theatre is on a roll over in New York as a number of high-profile West End transfers make their way to Broadway this Spring.

London shows hitting the Great White Way include Michael Grandage’s production of Evita starring Elena Roger and Ricky Martin, Nicholas Hytner’s One Man, Two Guvnors starring James Corden, End of the Rainbow with Tracie Bennett as Judy Garland and Ghost The Musical starring its London cast of Richard Fleeshman and Caissie Levy.

LINKS

Broadway Tickets section
Book tickets to Evita on Broadway
Book tickets to One man, Two Guvnors on Broadway
Book tickets to End of the Rainbow on Broadway
Book tickets to Ghost the Musical on Broadway
Book tickets to Jesus Christ Superstar on Broadway

Jesus Christ Superstar TV talent show

It’s no secret that Andrew Lloyd Webber was pretty excited about the new production of Jesus Christ Superstar mounted by the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada last year. The show then transferred to the La Jolla Playhouse in California and is now slated for Broadway, opening at the Neil Simon Theatre on 22 March starring Paul Nolan as Jesus and Josh Young as Judas.

But the Great Lord has other plans for the show.

Rumours of a London revival of this Des McAuff production have been circulating for a while, but The Sun has now broken the story that Lloyd Webber is defecting from the BBC to ITV to run another TV talent search, this time to find a Jesus and Judas for his new London production of Superstar.

Lloyd Webber’s TV talent searches have all been for the Beeb, most recently Over The Rainbow which resulted in Danielle Hope being cast in his multi-million pound production of The Wizard of Oz, still playing at the London Palladium.

But ITV is keen to poach Lloyd Webber for its own channel. ITV ran Grease talent search Grease Is The Word in 2007 to cast Danny in Sandy in David Ian’s Grease revival but it was a ratings flop. ITV’s head of programmes Peter Fincham is believed to consider a Lloyd Webber-fronted show would fare much better.

Rumours are also circulating that a UK tour of Lloyd Webb’er s1984 musical Starlight Express, which kicks off at the New Wimbledon Theatre on 10 May 2012 produced by Bill Kenwright, may also come into town at some point.

In other ALW news, excitement is mounting on Broadway for the Michael Grandage helmed production of Evita at the Marquis Theatre starring Ricky Martin and Elena Roger, which starts previews on 12 March 2012.

LINKS

Book tickets to Jesus Christ Superstar at the Neil Simon Theatre in New York
Book tickets to EVITA at the Marquis Theatre in New York
Book tickets to The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium in London

VIDEO: Promo for Evita on Broadway starring Ricky Martin and Elena Roger

Tickets are now on sale for the Broadway production of Evita, which starts previews on 12 March 2012 at the Marquis Theatre in New York.

Produced by  Hal Luftig and Scott Sanders, the classic musical by Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber will star world renowned music artist Ricky Martin as Che, Olivier Award-winning Argentinean actress Elena Roger as Eva Perón and Tony Award-winner Michael Cerveris as Juan Perón.

Michael Grandage will direct the show, joined by  Tony Award-winner Rob Ashford who will choreograph the musical. Grandage will shortly step down as artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse in London and returns to Evita after directing an acclaimed production in London in 2006, also starring Elena Roger.

VIDEO

Evita on Broadway – promotional video

PHOTOS

LINKS

Evita website

Love never dies but does take rests

Are Andrew Lloyd Webber and Bill Kenwright best buddies or what? It’s like a true West End bro-mance.

Bill and Andy have been commercial partners for a while now, with Bill producing national tours of Andrew’s shows, notably Evita and Joseph – which has made millions for the two men.

Plus Bill is helping Andrew out producing his next biggie, The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium next February, starring Danielle Hope. Their announcement that Sophie Evans will be Dorothy First Reserve for the show at Wales Millennium Centre in Cardiff in July, was a nice two-hander that demonstrated how close the two rivals have become (see photo).

And now we hear that Bill is assisting the Lord in doing a bit of light tinkering with Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre. Most who’ve seen the show seem to enjoy it, but Andrew has been unhappy since the opening and his creative team – Hairspray’s Jack O’Brien and Jerry Mitchell – have fled back to Broadway to work on Catch Me If You Can (quite apt!)

So ALW has pressed on with some changes of his own – including some revised lyrics by Phantom lyricist Charles Hart, Ben Elton has been involved in adding his thoughts, and Bill is going to have a stab at making the ending more satisfying.

The show will take a four day break from 22 November for the changes to take place.

Will the critics be invited to review the show all over again we ask?

SPECIAL OFFER: Save on tickets to Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre in London

Goodbye Into The Woods, hello Passion

As one Sondheim door closes…

This Saturday we bid farewell to the Open Air Theatre’s excellent production of Into The Woods starring Hannah Waddingham and Jenna Russell (see reviews).

But all is not lost, as tomorrow, Friday 10 September, sees the start of Passion at the Donmar Warehouse starring the sexy, stellar Elena Roger (Evita, Piaf).

Given that the whole run (until 27 November) is largely sold out at the theatre, here’s hoping that the critics are kind and it gets a swift West End transfer. Time will be of the essence given that Elena has to pop to Broadway in 2011 and shake it about with Ricky Martin in the West End transfer of Donmar supremo Michael Grandage’s production of Evita.

LINKS

The Telegraph’s recent interview with Elena Roger, “I don’t play normal women”

BBC Radio 2 – The Musical

Don’t miss this excellent new series on BBC Radio 2 all about the musical.

The eight part series started on Monday, 6 September 2010, at 10pm UK time (listen again here) and each week will cover a different aspect of the world of musical theatre and its 80 year history.

The Musical is presented by a different name in musical theatre each week – with this Monday’s show voiced by award-winning actress Sian Phillips.

This first programme, “Stories with Songs”, revealed the importance of a good book – or story – in a musical, and the contradiction between this and why so few musicals choose to adapt existing stories rather than originate their own. Shows used to demonstrate include The Boy Friend, A Chorus Line, Chess, Starlight Express and Sunday In The Park With George, with lots of showbiz contributions from the likes of Stephen Sondheim, Patti Lupone, John Barrowman, Elaine Stritch, Maria Friedman, Sandy Wilson, Ruthie Henshall, Tim Rice, Elaine Paige, Marvin Hamlisch and Michael Grandage.

Episode two, “Drawn From Life” will be presented by musicals star, Sondheim aficionado and current artistic director of Sheffield Theatres, Daniel Evans, and covers some of the life-stories of real people used in musicals, from Gypsy and Evita to The King and I.

The Musical is produced by Malcolm Prince, who also produces Elaine Paige’s Sunday show on Radio 2.

A number of other theatrical documentaries will come to Radio 2 this autumn including a look at the history of the London Palladium in its centenary year.

LINKS

Listen to The Musical – Episode 1

BBC Radio 2 – The Musical

ELENA ROGER in Passion

Argentinean actress continues to forge acclaimed career

By the time 2012 is out, Elena Roger is going to be considerably more famous than she is now.

That’s because Michael Grandage’s 2006 production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Evita is to be revived on Broadway in Spring 2012 starring Roger as Eva Peron, and joined by Latino superstar Ricky Martin as Che.

The Argentinean actress won an Olivier award for her role in the show – and if the reaction to her London performance in that role is anything to go by, America is going to fall in love with her.

She followed Evita in London with a 2009 Olivier Award win for her performance as Edith Piaf  in the Jamie Lloyd directed Piaf at the Donmar Warehouse and in the West End.

And she is about to return to the Donmar to star in a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Passion alongside Scarlett Strallen and David Thaxton, again directed by Jamie Lloyd.

The show is part of the Donmar’s celebration of Stephen Sondheim’s 80th birthday, that will also include concert performances of Merrily We Roll Along and Company at the Queen’s Theatre, featuring members of the original Donmar productions including Anna Francolini, Adrian Lester, Clive Rowe, Michael Simkins and Sophie Thompson in Company and Daniel Evans, Julian Ovenden and Samantha Spiro in Merrily We Roll Along.

Elena Roger’s other credits include Matthew Warchus’s Boeing Boeing, and in her native Buenos Aires she played Nine, Beauty and the Beast, Les Misérables, Saturday Night Fever and Mina, che cosa sei, with director Valeria Ambrosio.

Links:

News: West End Evita to transfer to Broadway

Donmar Warehouse

OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Musicals Winners

OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Musicals Winners

Best New Musical

2012 Matilda The Musical by Dennis Kelly and Tim Minchin
2011 Legally Blonde – The Musical book by Heather Hach, music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin at the Savoy
2010 Spring Awakening, music by Duncan Sheik, book and lyrics by Steven Sater, based on the play by Frank Wedekind, at the Novello theatre
2009 Jersey Boys, book by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice, music by Bob Gaudio, lyrics by Bob Crewe at the Prince Edward theatre
2008 Hairspray, book by Mark O’Donnell and Thomas Meehan, music by Marc Shaiman, lyrics by Scott Wittman and Marc Shaiman, based on the John Waters film,
2007 Caroline, Or Change, book and lyrics by Tony Kushner, music by Jeanine Tesori
2006 Billy Elliot – The Musical, book and lyrics by Lee Hall, music by Elton John
2005 The Producers book by Mel Brooks & Thomas Meehan; music and lyrics by Mel Brooks and by special arrangement with StudioCanal
2004 Jerry Springer – The Opera music by Richard Thomas, book and lyrics by Stewart Lee & Richard Thomas
2003 Our House by Tim Firth, music and lyrics by Madness
2001 Merrily We Roll Along — music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by George Furth, suggested by a play by George S Kaufman and Moss Hart
2000 Honk! The Ugly Duckling – music by George Stiles, book and lyrics by Anthony Drewe, based on the story by Hans Christian Andersen
1999 Kat And The Kings by David Kramer and Taliep Petersen
1998 Beauty And The Beast – music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, book by Linda Woolverton
1997 Martin Guerre – book by Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg, music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Edward Hardy and Stephen Clark, original French text by Alain Boublil, additional lyrics by Herbert Kretzmer and Alain Boublil
1996 Jolson The Musical – written by Francis Essex and Rob Bettinson
1995 Once On This Island – book and lyrics by Lynn Ahrens, music by Stephen Flaherty, based upon the novel My Love My Love by Rosa Guy
1994 City Of Angels – book by Larry Gelbart, music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by David Zippel
1993 Crazy For You – music and lyrics by George Gershwin and Ira Gershwin, book by Ken Ludwig
1992 Carmen Jones by Oscar Hammerstein II, based on Meilhac and Halévy’s adaptation of Prosper Merimée’s Carmen with original music by Bizet
1991 Sunday In The Park with George – music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine
1989/90 Return To The Forbidden Planet by Bob Carlton
1988 Candide – book adapted from Voltaire by Hugh Wheeler, music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Richard Wilbur
1987 Follies – music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by John Goldman
1986 The Phantom Of The Opera – music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, lyrics by Charles Hart, additional lyrics by Richard Stilgoe
1985 Me And My Girl – book and lyrics by L. Arthur Rose and Douglas Furber, music by Noel Gay
1984 42nd Street – music by Harry Warren, lyrics by Al Dubin, book by Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble, based on a novel by Bradford Ropes
1983 Blood Brothers by Willy Russell
1982 Poppy – book and lyrics by Peter Nichols, music by Monty Norman
1981 Cats – music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, based on Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats by T.S. Eliot
1980 Sweeney Todd – music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler, based on the play by Christopher Bond
1979 Songbook – music by Monty Norman, lyrics by Julian More, book by Monty Norman and Julian More
1978 Evita – lyrics by Tim Rice, music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
1977 The Comedy Of Errors by William Shakespeare, music by Guy Woolfenden
1976 A Chorus Line – book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Dante, music by Marvin Hamlisch, lyrics by Edward Kleban

Outstanding Musical Production

2007 Sunday In The Park With George, music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by James Lapine
2006 Guys And Dolls, based on a story and characters of Damon Runyon, music and lyrics by Frank Loesser, book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows
2005 Grand Hotel book by Luther Davis; music & lyrics by Robert Wright and George Forrest; additional music and lyrics by Maury Yeston; based on Vicki Baum’s Grand Hotel
2004 Pacific Overtures music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by John Weidman, additional material by Hugh Wheeler
2003 Anything Goes music and lyrics by Cole Porter, original book by PG Wodehouse and Guy Bolton and Howard Lindsay & Russel Crouse, new book by Timothy Crouse & John Weidman
2002 My Fair Lady book and lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner, music by Frederick Loewe, adapted from Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion and Gabriel Pascal’s motion picture
2001 Singin’ In The Rain — based on the MGM film, original choreography by Gene Kelly and Stanley Donen, screenplay and adaptation by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed
2000 Candide – music by Leonard Bernstein, book adapted from Voltaire by Hugh Wheeler, in a new version by John Caird, lyrics by Richard Wilbur, additional lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, John Latouche, Lillian Hellman, Dorothy Parker and Leonard Bernstein
1999 Oklahoma! music by Richard Rodgers, book & lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
1998 Chicago – lyrics by Fred Ebb, music by John Kander, book by Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse
1997 Tommy – music and lyrics by Pete Townshend, book by Pete Townshend and Des McAnuff

Best Musical Revival

2012 Crazy For You at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
2011 Into the Woods at the Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
2010 Hello Dolly!, book by Michael Stewart, music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, based on the play The Matchmaker by Thornton Wilder, at the Open Air theatre
2009 La Cage aux Folles, music and lyrics by Jerry Herman, book by Harvey Fierstein, based on the play “La Cage Aux Folles” by Jean Poiret, at the Playhouse theatre
2008 The Magic Flute – Impempe Yomlingo
1995 She Loves Me – book by Joe Masteroff, music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick and based on a play by Miklos Laszlo
1994 Sweeney Todd – music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Hugh Wheeler, from an adaptation by Christopher Bond
1993 Carousel – music by Richard Rodgers, book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the play Liliom by Ferenc Molnár as adapted by Benjamin F Glazer
1992 The Boys From Syracuse – music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Lorenz Hart, book by George Abbott
1991 Show Boat – book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, music by Jerome Kern

Performance of the Year in a Musical

1978 Elaine Paige for Evita
1977 Ann Sharkey for Maggie

Outstanding Achievement of the Year in Musicals

1984 Ned Sherrin for the conception of The Ratepayers’ Iolanthe
1982 Guys And Dolls
1981 Gillian Lynne, choreographer of Cats

West End Evita to transfer to Broadway

Ricky Martin and Elena Roger to star in EVITA on Broadway

The 2006 London production of Evita directed by Michael Grandage is to be revived on Broadway, opening at a Nederlander Theatre in Spring 2012.

The show will feature the London production’s star Elena Roger as Eva Peron, joined by Latino superstar Ricky Martin as Che.

The Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice musical will be produced by Hal Luftig and Scott Sanders.

Grandage, who directed the acclaimed 2006 London production of the show at the Adelphi Theatre, will be joined again by Tony Award winning choreographer Rob Ashford for the new production. It will be the first Broadway production of the Tony Award-winning show since its 1979 debut.

Ricky Martin said in a statement that, “I’m looking forward to playing such an essential part in Michael Grandage’s wonderful production and the chance to work with the tremendously talented Elena Roger.”

Michael Grandage said: “It is very exciting to bring this new production of Evita to Broadway with an Argentinean woman in the title role for the very first time”.

The Argentinian actress Elena Roger won an Olivier award for her role in the show. Most recently Roger won the 2009 Olivier Award for Best Actress for her performance as Edith Piaf  in the Jamie Lloyd directed Piaf at the Donmar Warehouse and in the West End. She is about to return to the Donmar to star in a revival of Stephen Sondheim’s Passion at the Donmar Warehouse alongside Scarlett Strallen and David Thaxton, again directed by Jamie Lloyd. The Donmar is about to launch a new West End season at the Trafalgar Studios showcasing the talents of the Donmar’s Resident Assistant Directors scheme. The plays are Lower Ninth, Novecento and Les Parents Terribles.

Ricky Martin is no stranger to Broadway having played Marius in the original production of Les Misérables – a role about to be taken by pop star Nick Jonas in the London production of Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre and at a Les Miserables 25th anniversary concert at the O2 in October. Martin has sold over 55 million albums during his two-decade solo career and is expected to undertake a worldwide tour throughout 2011 before making his Broadway return in Evita.

TONY AWARDS

The Tony Awards will be presented this Sunday 13 June 2010 at Radio City Music Hall in New York. Hosted by Sean Hayes, the annual Broadway event will feature performances from shows including American Idiot, Fela!, Memphis, Million Dollar Quartet, La Cage aux Folles, A Little Night Music and Ragtime. Star presenters will include Katie Holmes, Will & Jada Pinkett Smith, Angela Lansbury, Mark Sanchez, Daniel Radcliffe, Barbara Cook, Stanley Tucci, Idina Menzel and Laura Bell Bundy!

Other appearances will include Glee’s Lea Michele and Matthew Morrison, Paula Abdul, Antonio Banderas, Cate Blanchett, Kristin Chenoweth, Michael Douglas, Scarlett Johansson, Lucy Liu, Helen Mirren, Chris Noth, Bernadette Peters, Raquel Welch and David Hyde Pierce, who will appear in La Bete at the Comedy Theatre in London next month.

www.tonyawards.com