Cameron Mackintosh talks Betty Blue Eyes
August 25, 2010
Book tickets to Betty Blue Eyes at the Novello Theatre in London
Theatre impresario Cameron Mackintosh talked to Michael Ball today about his new musical project, Betty Blue Eyes.
Cameron Mackintosh on The Michael Ball Show
Speaking on The Michael Ball Show on ITV1, Mackintosh revealed that it will be his next musical. The new show, which is written by Mackintosh protégés George Stiles and Anthony Drewe (Mary Poppins, Just So), is based on Alan Bennett’s screenplay A Private Function.
The original 1984 film starred Michael Palin and Maggie Smith and is set in a small Northern town shortly after the war, when rations were still biting hard. A group of local businessmen plan to hold a patriotic party to celebrate the impending royal wedding of Princess Elizabeth to Prince Philip, and decide to illegally raise a pig for the occasion. But hen-pecked chiropodist Gilbert Chilvers (Michael Palin) and his wife Joyce (Maggie Smith) have other plans…
Late last year Mackintosh told the Daily Mail: “The title (of the show) is in honour of our lovely Queen. Well, they are both catalysts of the story. We have the marriage of Elizabeth and Philip – and our heroine, the pig, is Betty Blue Eyes. I haven’t checked the Queen’s eye colour recently, but they’re rumoured to be blue.”
The musical is slated to begin rehearsals early next year, trying out at the West Yorkshire Playhouse before coming to the West End at Easter. The Queen’s Diamond Jubilee begins the following year in 2012.
Gareth Gates sings on The Michael Ball Show
Mackintosh also talked about the 25th anniversary celebrations planned for Les Miserables, and said that the show is, “doing better than it has for 15 years”.
He was at pains to emphasise that the new touring production had “new costumes, new sets and new direction” following a recent public spat with original directors of the musical Trevor Nunn and John Caird, who were not invited to work on the 25th anniversary tour, which will play its original home at the Barbican Theatre in September. Gareth Gates, who is starring in the touring production, joined Mackintosh on the show, to sing Empty Chairs At Empty Tables from Les Mis.
Mackintosh also spoke to Michael Ball about the current resurgence in musical theatre: “Ten years ago if you said you were in the theatre you’d duck” he said, but now it’s trendy, with people “fed up with just sitting looking at a computer”. Despite popular TV talent shows, such as BBC1′s Over The Rainbow, finding new a new generation of musicals stars, Mackintosh said that “if you have a raw talent and you have a platform then you can make a career” but that few people have the staying power to make a career out of the theatre.
Cameron Mackintosh, producer of some of the world’s most successful shows including Miss Saigon, Cats, Mary Poppins and current West End musicals Oliver!, Les Miserables, The Phantom of the Opera, Avenue Q and Hair!, also revealed that his favourite musical of all time is My Fair Lady.
LINKS
Book tickets to Betty Blue Eyes at the Novello Theatre in London
Book tickets to Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre, the O2 Arena and the Barbican Theatre
Listen to a song from Betty Blue Eyes
Les Miserables – Half Price Tickets
August 25, 2010
Enjoy 50% off tickets to Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre in London
SPECIAL OFFER: Save £29.50 on tickets to Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre in London
Offer valid 2 October at 10.30am. Also save £18 on Mon-Thu evenings and Wed matinees.
Les Miserables in gearing up for its 25th anniversary with a series of special events and concerts – including a major concert at the O2 Arena in London and the 25th anniversary touring production starring Gareth Gates coming back to the Barbican Theatre – where it all began in 1985.
As the excitement mounts, a special 10.30am early matinee of the show will be performed on Saturday 2 October. Westendtheatre.com readers can now enjoy 50% off top price tickets to see this special performance.
Produced by Cameron Mackintosh and directed by Trevor Nunn and John Caird, Les Miserables is the world’s longest-running musical having played in 42 countries to over 55 million people worldwide.
SPECIAL OFFER: Save £29.50 on tickets to Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre in London
Offer valid 2 October at 10.30am. Also save £18 on Mon-Thu evenings and Wed matinees.
ITV’s This Morning – Musicals week
August 25, 2010
Whilst we desperately try to avoid turning on the TV before cocktail hour, sometimes the search for art and beauty (and a good show tune) prevails.
All this week, ITV’s This Morning has been celebrating the West End Musical, with Monday’s show featuring the cast of Mamma Mia! and Tuesday shaking things up with Sister Act.
Today, at 11am, Noel Sullivan, Lauren Samuels and the cast of Grease sang Summer Nights on the show.
And coming up next is the cast of Dirty Dancing tomorrow, Thursday 26 August, and the cast of We Will Rock You on Friday.
THE MICHAEL BALL SHOW
ITV’s The Michael Ball Show, on ITV1 weekdays from 3pm, will feature Cameron Mackintosh today. The theatre impresario will discuss celebrations for the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables, and will be joined by Gareth Gates who is playing Marius in the touring production – soon to come to the Barbican in London.
Lauren Samuels on This Morning
Grease's Noel Sullivan and Lauren Samuels interviewed on This Morning
Barricades at dawn
June 30, 2010
Controversy surrounding Les Mis 25th anniversary celebrations
I could be wrong, but I don’t think Cameron Mackintosh will be linking arms with Trev and the two Johns in October and singing a rousing final chorus of One Day More, as I had previously imagined.
In a rare breach of luvvie protocal, original Les Miserables director Trevor Nunn has had a good old-fashioned “go” at Cameron Mackintosh in today’s Telegraph (Trevor Nunn: I feel betrayed by the new Les Mis).
Speaking on behalf of the original creative team behind the show – Nunn, co-director John Caird and designer John Napier – Nunn reveals that they are apparently “profoundly unhappy… profoundly betrayed” at not being included in staging the “new” 25th Anniversary production, which has been “reimagined” (a bit) by James Powell and Laurence Connor.
Mark Shenton’s excellent commentary in today’s The Stage is really all you need to know on the subject, so I won’t go on.
Suffice to say that this could be one Les Mis story too many for us as we reach dangerous levels of Les Mis exhaustion (although not as tired as Nick Jonas), given Nick’s London presence at the Queen’s, the special O2 Arena concert in October AND your chance to compare and contrast as the current UK touring production starring Gareth Gates comes to the Barbican this summer.
Please God can Cameron’s right-hand man Nick Allott use some of his expert mediating and healing powers to clear this one up before celebrations are well and truly soured.
Book tickets to Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre in London
Book tickets to see Nick Jonas in Les Miserables 25th Anniversary concert at the O2
Book tickets to Les Miserables 25th Anniversary production at the Barbican Theatre
Nick Jonas to star in London Les Mis
May 28, 2010
US teen heart-throb Nick Jonas to star in Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre and O2 in London.
Heart-throb Nicholas Jonas
In a major coup for theatre impresario and Les Miserables producer Cameron Mackintosh, major pop star Nick Jonas will join the cast of the hit London show for three weeks, from 21 June. He will also join the cast of special one-off concert of the show at the o2 in London.
Member of globally successful boyband Jonas Brothers, Nick will play Marius in the London production of Les Mis.
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Book tickets to see Nick Jonas in Les Miserables 25th Anniversary concert at the O2
17 year old Nick is no stranger to performing on stage, having played the role of Gavroche in Les Miserables on Broadway in 2003. He has also appeared in a number of other Broadway shows from the age of 7 years old onwards, including A Christmas Carol, Annie Get Your Gun, Beauty and the Beast and The Sound of Music.
Cameron Mackintosh, producer of Les Miserables, told the Daily Mail today that, “He and his father and I agreed that it would be great if he came and played Marius here in London.”
Nick and his brothers are currently performing a major series of concerts across the US.
Nick Jonas (right) in the Broadway production of Les Mis (2003)
Nick said today, “The amazing Cameron Macintosh reached out to me last year about portraying the role of Marius in London at the West End. When I was ten years old I was in Les Miserables as Gavroche. On my closing night in 2003 I told my parents that I would come back to be Marius one day. It is truly a dream come true. “I Dreamed a Dream” and they seem to be coming true”.
The Jonas Brothers, Kevin, Joe and Nick, released their first album, It’s About Time, in 2006, which spawned the TRL hit “Mandy”. Their next album, 2007′s Jonas Brothers, went platinum, as did their 2008 release A Little Bit Longer and 2009′s Lines, Vines and Trying Times. They found fame through the Disney Channel movie Camp Rock.
Les Miserables, which celebrates its 25th anniversary this year, is currently playing at the Queens Theatre in London as well as touring the UK. The tour will be coming to the Barbican Theatre in September starring Gareth Gates.
There will also be a special concert performance of Les Mis on Sunday 3 October at the O2 in London, featuring more than 300 actors and musicians, including Alfie Boe as Jean Valjean, Nick Jonas as Marius, Norm Lewis as Javert, Little Britain star Matt Lucas as Thenardier, Miss Saigon star Lea Salonga as Fantine, Jenny Galloway as Madame Thenardier, Camilla Kerslake as Cosette and the casts of the original production at the Queen’s Theatre, the UK touring production, including Gareth Gates, and members of the original 1985 London cast.
The three productions of the same show will make history as the shows play simultaneously in London for the first time . There will also be a Radio Two tribute to the show.
The news comes in the week that Mackintosh announced that his Broadway transfer of Hair would close early at the Gielgud Theatre in London. Originally booking until January 2011, the show will now end when the Broadway cast, who have all been brought over for the UK production, end their run in the show on 4 September.
Special Offer: Save up to £19 on tickets to see HAIR at the Gielgud Theatre in London
Book tickets to see Nick Jonas in Les Miserables 25th Anniversary concert at the O2
Joseph at the Adelphi Theatre
May 17, 2010
Joseph at the Adelphi Theatre in London
SORRY THIS SHOW HAS NOW CLOSED
Other shows you might enjoy:
Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre – BOOK TICKETS
Grease at the Piccadilly Theatre – BOOK TICKETS
Oliver! at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane – BOOK TICKETS
Mamma Mia! at the Prince of Wales Theatre – BOOK TICKETS
Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the Palace Theatre – BOOK TICKETS
Sister Act at the London Palladium – BOOK TICKETS
Wicked at the Apollo Victoria – BOOK TICKETS
The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium – BOOK TICKETS
MORE ABOUT JOSEPH IN LONDON
Adelphi Theatre, London
Opened: 17 July 2007
Closed: 30 May 2009
Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s musical Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat returned to the West End in 2007. This colourful retelling of the famous biblical story about Joseph, his uncanny dream-deciphering abilities and his flashy jacket, is filled with popular songs, including Close Every Door and Any Dream Will Do.
Andrew Lloyd Webber cast the lead role through BBC talent show Any Dream Will Do, with Lee Mead winning the role of Joseph. Lee Mead is currently starring in Wicked at the Apollo Victoria in London.
Lee was followed by Gareth Gates, who found fame by finishing second to Will Young in the first series of Pop Idol in 2002. He made his West End debut in Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, and is currently in the UK tour of Les Miserables.
Jenna Lee James played the Narrator, was the runner up in the Voice Of Musical Theatre 2005 and has previously appeared in We Will Rock You in the West End, playing the roles of Meatloaf and Scaramouche.
Les Mis to make world history
March 15, 2010
West End – and world – history will be made this autumn as two productions of Les Miserables will run simultaneously in London.
Poster for the 25th anniversary touring production of Les Mis
As part of the show’s 25th anniversary celebrations, the current touring production of the world’s longest running musical will return home to the Barbican Theatre from 14 September to 2 October, the venue where the show originally premiered in 1985.
At the same time the show will continue to run at the Queen’s Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue where it opened in 2004 after moving from the Palace Theatre.
The new touring production, which premiered in Cardiff in December 2009, is currently touring starring Gareth Gates and directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell.
The move is a courageous act by producer Cameron Mackintosh as it will be the first time that the same musical will run in the same city anywhere in the world.
Les Miserables has been seen by an impressive 56 million people around the world, and became the world’s longest running musical in October 2006.
Major shows to close on 30 May
May 19, 2009
Sunset Boulevard, Spring Awakening, Shout and Joseph to all close on 30 May.
A number of major West End shows are closing this month – with only days left for theatregoers to catch them.
Despite astonishing critical acclaim, Spring Awakening at the Novello Theatre is to close early on 30 May. Spring Awakening had its European premiere at Lyric Hammersmith earlier this year, where the mix of Frank Wedekind’s classic story about teenage sexual discovery fused with teen rock garnered numerous five star reviews. Stephen Daldry’s 1992 National Theatre production of JB Priestley’s An Inspector Calls will go into the Novello from 22 September.
Also on 30 May, the successful production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sunset Boulevard at the Comedy theatre will close. Directed by Strictly Come Dancing’s Craig Revel Horwood, the Watermill Theatre’s production stars Kathryn Evans and Dave Willetts.
Another Andrew Lloyd Webber show, Joseph, starring Gareth Gates at the Adelphi Theatre, will also close on 30 May. The production originally starred Lee Mead, winner of the BBC talent show Any Dream Will Do.
A day after these three shows close, Shout – the musical set in the swinging 60s starring Su Pollard – is closing at the Arts Theatre a month early on 31 May.
And finally, The Last Cigarette starring Felicity Kendal, Jasper Britton and Nicholas Le Prevost is to close early, with its final performance on 23 May. The show transferred from the Chichester Minerva theatre last month into the Trafalgar Studios.
Save £20 on discount tickets to Spring Awakening
Save £24.50 on discount tickets to Sunset Bouelvard
Save £15.25 on discount tickets to Joseph
Save £13 on discount tickets to Shout!
Save £20 on discount tickets to The Last Cigarette
Theatre pieces: Hunter Parrish, August:Osage County, Chichester
February 20, 2009
After Gareth Gates, do we have a new Joseph?
Gareth Gates seems to be doing a fine job in Joseph at the Adelphi Theatre – at least if comments on the westendtheatre blog are anything to go by. Whilst musing on Spring Awakening’s demise on Broadway, we turn our attention to Hunter Parrish – pot smoking star of TV’s Weeds – who recently played the lead role of Melchior on Broadway.
Well known for his love of all things theatrical, in a recent interview he said: “I want them to bring back Joseph [and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat]. If anyone has that idea, I’m your man!” Could he be prize casting post-Gareth – or in any future Andrew Lloyd Webber Broadway plans?
August the Movie?
Apparently a film version of August: Osage County, the play by Tracy Letts that wowed critics and audiences alike at the National Theatre recently, is on the cards. Written by Letts herself, the Weinstein Company is backing the adaptation and aiming for a 2011 release. There are some potential dream casting scenarios for this one.
Starry Chichester
There is much oo-ing and ahh-ing over this year’s Chichester Festival Theatre season, with lots of big name stars. Chief amongst them is Joseph Fiennes who is to headline Trevor Nunn‘s staging of Cyrano de Bergerac; also Rupert Goold directs Enron before it makes it’s way to the Royal Court; Oklahoma! gets a revival from Sweeney Todd stage director John Doyle, Iain Glen stars in a new adaptation of Friedrich Schiller play Wallenstein, and Diana Rigg stars as Judith Bliss in a revival of Noel Coward’s Hay Fever.
DISCOUNT THEATRE TICKETS – AT WESTENDTHEATRE.COM
Special ticket offers
January 5, 2009
January means a host of special offers on London theatre tickets. This month westendtheatre.com features a range of discounted shows including £20 off Dirty Dancing, £16 off Joseph – featuring Gareth Gates, £20 off Sunset Boulevard, £26 off Carousel, £20 off Billy Elliot £26 off Woman in Mind starring Janie Dee – plus offers from the National Theatre.
For the latest special offers visit: www.westendtheatre.com/offers
