West End Star Watch: Update
Our regular round-up of theatre names hitting town or making the news. This issue includes Alison Steadman, Jenny Galloway, Catherine Zeta-Jones, David Haid, Robert Lindsay and Anthony Sher.
ALISON STEADMAN
Director of the moment Thea Sharrock, who enjoyed rave notices last week for her new production of Terrence Rattigan’s After the Dance at the National Theatre, will turn to Noel Coward later this year.
A new production of Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit will materialise at the Theatre Royal Bath and then transfer to the Apollo Theatre from 2 March 2011 starring award-winning actress Alison Steadman (Gavin and Stacey) as Madame Arcati.
No stranger to Blithe Spirit, Sharrock directed a 2004 production of the play at the Savoy Theatre starring Penelope Keith. The Noel Coward classic has had numerous UK revivals in the last few years. The director told Baz in the Daily Mail that, “You cannot really mess with those old boys - the structure is so particular”. Indeed.
The only question is, will Rupert Everett reprise his recent Broadway performance as Charles Condomine for the production?
JENNY GALLOWAY
Amongst many standout performances in Thea Sharrock’s production of After the Dance is that of Jenny Galloway as Miss Potter, an actress who is s one of the most accomplished stars you’ve (probably) never heard of. She has recently been cast in Cameron Mackintosh’s enormous 25th anniversary concert version of Les Miserables at the O2 Arena on 3 October playing Madame Thénardier, a role she played in the London and New York productions.
Galloway’s career spans musicals and plays including two Olivier Award winning performances – as Rosie in Mamma Mia! (2000) and Luce in The Boys from Syracuse (1992). She also originated the role of Mrs Brill in Mackintosh’s production of Mary Poppins – in London and Broadway – and recently appeared in the Donmar in the West End’s production of Madame De Sade with Judi Dench.
DAVID HAIG
The great migration of classic TV shows to stage (see Porridge, Inspector Morse, Dad’s Army etc) shows no sign of abating. Jenny Galloway’s fellow Mary Poppins cast mate David Haig, who originated the role of Mr Banks in the show, will be back in London this Autumn in a stage production of TV classic Yes, Prime Minister.
Haig plays Prime Minister Jim Hacker in the Chichester production that will run at the Gielgud Theatre from 17 September, penned by the show’s original TV writers Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn. The comedy will also star Henry Goodman as Sir Humphrey Appleby.
ANTHONY SHER
A big name he may be, but Anthony Sher is not averse to playing the odd small venue: he will debut in Arthur Miller’s Broken Glass at the Tricycle Theatre from 30 September, directed by Iqbal Khan. Let’s hope it also transfers to the West End to follow the current Arthur Miller success in town – All My Sons at the Apollo Theatre starring David Suchet and Zoe Wanamaker.
CATHERINE ZETA-JONES
Anthony Sher’s cousin, Ronald Harwood, received a knighthood this week in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his enormous contribution to stage and screen writing, including classic theatrical play The Dresser. Congrats also go to Catherine Zeta-Jones who has been appointed a CBE. Currently wowing them on Broadway in A Little Night Music, here’s hoping this week proves a double-success for Mrs Michael Douglas and she wins a Tony award tonight for her performance in the show.
ROBERT LINDSAY
The Novello Theatre will see out Tap Dogs in September and follow with Onassis on 30 September starring Robert Lindsay. He will resurrect his performance as Aristotle Onassis in Martin Sherman’s play Onassis following a run in Derby. Based on the last years of the controversial Greek tycoon, the play was originally produced as Aristo at Chichester to mixed reviews but with glowing praise for Lindsay’s performance. Sherman and director Nancy Meckler have subsequently rewritten the piece.
The cast will also include Tom Austen, Liz Crowther, Ben Grove, Robert Hastie, John Hodgkinson, Sue Kelvin, Graeme Taylor and Gawn Grainger.
Donovan and Swenson bow out of West End
Two West End stars left their roles in major shows this weekend. On Saturday night (29 May) Jason Donovan left Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the Palace Theatre and Broadway star Will Swenson left Hair at the Gielgud Theatre.
JASON DONOVAN
Jason Donovan in Priscilla
Fans and cast members paid tribute to Jason Donovan on Saturday 29 May as he shimmied in his fabulous shoes and frocks for the final time in Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the Palace Theatre in London, after 14 months and over 450 performances.
On Jason’s Facebook page, fan Laura Harvey said: “So sad that it’s your last Priscilla…. you will be greatly missed”. Cast mate Amy Edwards posted on Twitter that, “am going to miss him loads! He’s a fantastic performer and an amazing person”, and Oliver Thornton, who plays Adam in the show said: “So sad to lose my playmate and friend from the show”.
Ben Richards from ITV’s The Bill takes over Donovan’s role from 1 July. Richards is an accomplished musicals actor having played numerous roles in high-profile West End shows including Sky Masterson in Guys and Dolls, Danny Zuko in Grease, Tony Manero in Saturday Night Fever and Jerry Lukowski in The Full Monty.
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WILL SWENSON
Will Swenson in Hair
In a theatrical circle of life, Saturday also saw Broadway star Will Swenson leave Hair The Musical in the West End – in order to take on Jason Donovan’s role of Tick in a new Broadway production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.
Swenson, who was Tony Award-nominated for his performance as Berger in Hair, will open in Priscilla in Toronto in October for 12 weeks before moving the show to Broadway.
The Broadway production will also see Tony Sheldon, who played Bernadette in the Australian and London productions of Priscilla, reprise his role.
Steel Burkhardt, a company member in the original Broadway production and the West End transfer, has taken over Swenson’s role as Berger. Hair marked Burkhardt’s Broadway and West End debuts.
Hair will close at the Gielgud Theatre on 4 September 2010.
In other HAIR news, Gavin Creel, fellow Broadway and now London cast member of the show, will make his solo debut in London this summer. He will play one night only at the Pigalle Club in London’s West End on 20 July. See Facebook for further information.
Book tickets to see Hair starring Gavin Creel at the Gielgud Theatre in London
Hair The Musical – Save £27.50
Save £27.50 on tickets to see HAIR at the Gielgud Theatre in London
Book now and save £27.50 on tickets to see HAIR at the Gielgud Theatre in London
Valid Monday to Friday and Saturday matinees until the 16th July
Welcome to the curly, shaggy, gleaming, streaming, wonderful world of HAIR The Musical.
A celebration of life, love and freedom, and a passionate cry for hope and change, the tribal love-rock musical HAIR features some of the greatest songs ever written for the stage, including ‘Let The Sun Shine In’, ‘I Got Life’, ‘Hair’ and ‘Aquarius’.
HAIR is about a group of young New Yorkers in the 60’s struggling to balance their lives and loves, rejecting their lifestyles of their conservative parents, rebelling against the looming draft.
Infectious, outlandish and exuberant, Hair has gained iconic status since erupting onto the musical theatre in 1967, responsible for many era defining songs that have become part of the twentieth century pop landscape. And as critics and audiences have discovered, the messages of HAIR are as relevant today as they have ever been.
Cameron Mackintosh has brought the entire Broadway cast over to London to wow audiences and critics alike so don’t miss this Tony award winning company at the Gielgud Theatre in London.
“THRILLING” – Daily Telegraph
“A VIBRANT, JOYOUS piece of living theatre” – Guardian
“EXHILARATING AND POIGNANT – Its unstoppable energy raises the theatre’s roof” – The Times
“STUNNING – one of the great musicals of all time” – The Independent
“INFECTIOUS AND GLORIOUS” – Daily Express
“GLORIOUSLY EXUBERANT” – Time Out
“A FABULOUS CREATION” – Sunday Express
“VITAL AND ENERGETIC… Go see this” – Daily Mail
“A HIGH OCTANE EXUBERANT SENSATION” – FT
Book now and save £27.50 on tickets to see HAIR at the Gielgud Theatre in London
Valid Monday to Friday and Saturday matinees until the 16th July
Hair – Gielgud Theatre – Reviews Round-up
There was much reminiscing at the Gielgud Theatre last night for the opening of HAIR. The award-winning Broadway revival, which has moved lock, stock and smoking doobie to London courtesy of Cameron Mackintosh, prompted much nostalgia from the critics, many of whom remembered the original production (Charles Spencer in the Telegraph was particularly sweet: ”for old hippies like me, the show offers two and a half hours of theatrical bliss”. The critics were largely positive, with much praise heaped on Diane Paulus’s well-judged production and the enthusiasm and energy of the cast.
STAR RATINGS
The Telegraph 
The Guardian 
Bloomberg
The Independent
The Times
OPENING THOUGHTS
TI: It can’t and doesn’t have the freshness of the moment when Hair first hit a London that had just binned the theatrical censor. But it’s exhilarating, as well as oddly poignant… This is a production whose unstoppable energy and ebullient choreography more than compensate for what could, I suppose, still be considered flaws.
TE: More than 40 years since its premiere, this greatest of all rock musicals can still inspire violent antipathy among the straitlaced. That strikes me as being one of its strengths.
IN: The great thing about this joyous production of the mother of all rock musicals, a total transplant of the recent Broadway revival, is that it makes a bad book look better and the already good music sound great.
GU: Hair is more than just a musical: it is a social and cultural phenomenon, a jubilant assertion of life and freedom and a cry of protest against politicians who, in the late 1960s, sent a generation of young Americans to war.
DM: Big and fuzzy, that’s Hair. An energetic revival of the 1960s anti-war musical has just reached London and the striking thing, apart from the noise and spectacle, is that the Vietnam era’s youth were so much bolder than recent Western youngsters in their reaction to American warfare.
ON THE CAST
TI: With the marvellously febrile Will Swenson to the fore, shaking his long black locks at zombie America, I was time-warped to the turbulent, anarchic feel of 1968.
TE: The verve and energy of the company, who frequently make forays into the audience, ruffling the spectators’ hair and kissing them on the cheek, is irresistible… Will Swenson’s comic but deliberately un-endearing performance in the leading role of Berger… Caissie Levy is tender and touching as the girlfriend he treats so cruelly, Gavin Creel deeply moving as the confused Claude
IN: Will Swenson’s bestial Berger – you couldn’t say he was a ham Berger – exudes a rugged charm even when mooning bare-bottomed at the audience. He has the dark good looks of Oliver Tobias, who played the role here, and doesn’t seem to be “acting” at all. There are some great voices as well as his, notably Sasha Allen’s gorgeous Dionne, who take us back to the Age of Aquarius and Darius Nichols’s Afro-wigged Hud with a big creamy bass.
GU: I can only salute the cascading energy of her cast led by Gavin Creel as Claude, Caissie Levy as the demonstrating Sheila, Will Swenson as the shaggily stoned, self-consciously hammy Berger and Sasha Allen as the brass-lunged Dionne.
DM: [But] the lack of narrative is balanced by the panache of the actors. Only the most reactionary grump could fail to applaud their professionalism. The sheer stamina needed to keep that wall of noise going all evening is remarkable.
BOOK AND MUSIC
TI: Gerome Ragni and James Rado’s book might often have been improvised by stoned beatniks, but Galt MacDermot’s songs, with their tributes to sodomy, onanism and (weirdly) “Manchester, England”, still zing.
IN: …the score by Galt MacDermot, with a handful of chart-topping numbers and a bountiful mix of great jazz ballads, raw blues and choric anthems, remains as irresistible as ever: the “Hare Krishna” chorus elides into the “Where Do I Go?” Act I finale in which the cast’s nudity is now delivered as a graceful and moving statement of helplessness and vulnerability.
DM: That hits you, as does the paucity of plot. The first 40 minutes are almost entirely unexplained – it’s just one high-pulse introductory solo after another – and the second half suffers a long, heinously dull hallucination scene.
ON THE DIRECTOR
TE: Diane Paulus’s production brilliantly succeeds in letting the audience imagine it is present at a Sixties happening where sex and drugs and rock and roll (not to mention full-frontal nudity) combine to create a world of bleary bonhomie, naive idealism and political radicalism.
IN: Diane Paulus’s production pulls the clever stunt of turning the protest into a lament for Claude as the tribe “let the sunshine in” and disperse through the stalls, leaving a corpse in uniform out in the snow. It’s a stunning conclusion, managing to avoid both glutinous sentiment and mawkish piety.
GU: The great thing about Diane Paulus’s revival, which imports an entire Broadway company to London, is that it sees the show in two ways. It recognises that Hair was a product of its time, yet it also presents it as a vibrant, joyous piece of living theatre.
GU: Without attempting to emulate the pyrotechnic, strobe-lit dazzle of Tom O’Horgan’s original production, Paulus also makes this a genuinely tribal show in which the spirit of the ensemble is greater than any individual. Above all, Paulus and her music director, Richard Beadle, give full value to Galt MacDermot’s 40 songs
FINAL THOUGHTS
TI: And, boy, can these performers sing. It doesn’t wholly matter that the show needs a less traditional playhouse than the Gielgud when they celebrate freedom by sprawling into the aisles and the stalls. They do something better. They raise the old theatre’s roof.
TE: …this is essentially an ensemble show in which the whole company shines, while also suggesting the dark shadows of the hippie dream.
IN: It is, sui generis, one of the great musicals of all time, and a phenomenon that, I’m relieved to discover, stands up as a period piece with as much vitality and appeal as, in their own way, do No, No Nanette and The Boy Friend.
GU: But what matters is that it celebrates a period when the joy of life was pitted against the forces of intolerance and the death-dealing might of the military-industrial complex. As Shakespeare once said: “There’s sap in’t yet.”
DM: Forty years on, we are wiser about the sapping, ruinous effects of hallucinogenic drugs. We have also started to realise that the baby-boomer generation was spoilt and, in numerous ways, destructive and fake. When you consider that the draft-dodgers included later warmongers such as Bill Clinton and George W Bush, it doesn’t do much for the brand. And yet here, albeit with great gusto, albeit to shrieking acclaim, such creeps are being romanticised as enlightened and somehow brave. Despite the admirable production values, that stinks.
KEY TO CRITICS:
TE: The Telegraph – Charles Spencer
DM: Daily Mail – Quentin Letts
GU: The Guardian – Michael Billington
BL: Bloomberg – Warwick Thompson
IN: The Independent – Michael Coveney
TI: The Times – Benedict Nightingale
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Hair starts London previews
April 1, 2010 by admin
Filed under News, Shows opening
Hair, the acclaimed Broadway musical revival, starts previews tonight at the Gielgud Theatre in London.
Cameron Mackintosh has brought over the entire New York cast of James Rado and Gerome Ragni’s 1967 tribal rock musical, starring the sexy and charismatic Gavin Creel as Claude.
The show, set against the backdrop of the Vietnam war draft during the 1960s, centres on a group of hippies who champion peace, love and freedom and features a famous score including songs Aquarius, Good Morning Starshine, Let The Sunshine In and, of course, Hair.
The current Broadway production by the Public Theater, which won a 2009 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Musical, celebrated its one-year anniversary yesterday, 31 March, at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in New York.
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GAVIN CREEL in Hair
February 7, 2010 by admin
Filed under People To Watch, Star Watch, Star watch - New stars on the rise
Broadway star Gavin Creel comes to London in Hair
Gavin Creel
Following its hugely successful run at Central Park’s Delacorte Theater, Hair returned to Broadway last year for the first time in more than 30 years. Galt MacDermot, Gerome Ragni and James Rado’s 1967 tribal love-rock musical opened at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre to stunning reviews and legions of new fans.
So much so that theatre impresario Cameron Mackintosh has persuaded New York producers to let him uproot the entire cast lock, stock and barrel and bring them over to the Gielgud Theatre this Spring.
Whilst the show features a strong ensemble cast, GAVIN CREEL, who plays a particularly conflicted member of Hair’s tribe of Vietnam-era, naked-loving bohemians, has stood out as being a particularly powerful presence in the musical.
Creel, 33, who was born in Ohio, was already Tony-nominated for his 2002 Broadway debut in Thoroughly Modern Millie when he claimed another nomination last year for his performance as Claude, this time for best performance by a leading actor in a musical. He was piped to the post by those dancing boys from Billy Elliot, but something tells us that he is sure to get another shot at this – and many other awards – sometime soon.
Gavin Creel in Hair at the Gielgud Theatre
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Broadway Hair to London
November 13, 2009 by admin
Filed under Broadway, News, Shows opening
The Tony award-winning Broadway production of Hair will transfer to London next year.
Plans are afoot for New York’s Public Theatre production of the show to move to the Gielgud Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue in April. Cameron Macktintosh, owner of the Gielgud, is involved in helping the creative team transfer the show.
The Broadway production of Hair
Currently playing at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre in New York, the musical has proved a big hit on Broadway, directed by Diane Paulus and created by James Rado and Galt MacDermot.
With a score including songs such as”Let the Sun Shine In”, “Aquarius”, “Hair” and “Good Morning Starshine”, the show depicts the birth of a cultural movement in the ’60s as told through a tribe of hopeful hippies living in New York City while war rages in Vietnam. The young cast of 26 brings the show an energy and exuberance that promises to shake up the West End.
Negotiations are under way to bring the entire US cast to London for the show, with the aim of then introducing UK actors as the run progresses.
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Avenue Q extends
Avenue Q, now in it’s fourth year in the West End after transferring from the Noel Coward Theatre, has extended its run at its present home, the Gielgud Theatre, until January 2010.
Cameron Mackintosh was originally due to close the show but a sudden surge of bookings led him to transfer the musical instead to make way for Calendar Girls at the Noel Coward.
Described as “Pant Wettingly Funny” Avenue Q ingeniously combines a cast of humans and puppets who tackle subjects such as dating, racism, internet porn, being gay and finding your purpose in life. The show has enjoyed enormous success, both in London and on Broadway, where the show closes this week but follows the West End trend by transferring to an off-Broadway theatre.
Avenue Q has music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, book by Jeff Whitty, based on an original concept by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx and directed by Jason Moore.
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Related articles
Hold Final Curtain: ‘Avenue Q’ Moves to off-B’way (abcnews.go.com)
Avenue Q at the Gielgud Theatre review (telegraph.co.uk)
Transfer News: Juliet Stevenson, Avenue Q, Prunella Scales and War Horse
March 17, 2009 by admin
Filed under News, Show transfers
It’s all change in the West End as a number of shows close to make way for transfers from other theatres. In an increasingly risk-averse climate for producers, a hit in a small venue or success in a limited run could mean money if it transfers into the West End. The subsidised National Theatre and Almeida are bringing in War Horse and Duet for One respectively, Cameron Mackintosh decides to keep Avenue Q running and Carrie’s War and Saturday Night transfer from smaller venues.
Duet For One
The Almeida’s recently acclaimed production Duet for One will transfer to the West End in May.
Tom Kempinski’s two-hander stars Juliet Stevenson and Henry Goodman and centres on a concert violinist (Stevenson) who goes to a psychiatrist (Goodman) in the wake of a tragedy.
Directed by Matthew Lloyd, it will transfer to the Vaudeville Theatre from 7th May.
Avenue Q
There’s nothing like the threat of missing out to boost a show. Avenue Q - which has already run for 3 years at the Noel Coward Theatre, had announced its closure to make way for Calendar Girls.
But a new demand for tickets to catch the show before it exits London has promoted Cameron Mackintosh to transfer it to another one of his theatres – this time the Gielgud. It will reside there from 1 June.
Avenue Q will replace Enjoy starring Alison Steadman and David Troughton.
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Carrie’s War
Heart-warming family drama Carrie’s War – about two young evacuees during the Second World War and based on the classic kid’s novel by Nina Bawden is transferring from Sadler’s Wells into the West End.
Much loved actress Prunella Scales stars in the play, which will begin on 18 June at the Apollo Theatre. The show also stars Sarah Edwardson, who reprises the role of Carrie, and Amanda Symonds and James Beddard.
Carrie’s War will replace Three Days of Rain at the Apollo, currently starring James McAvoy.
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War Horse
From World War II to the First World War – and the opening this month in the West End of the National Theatre’s critically smash-hit War Horse – galloping across the river from the National to the New London Theatre from next week – 28th March.
The award-winning adaptation of Michael Morpurgo’s novel, set during World War I,is directed by Marianne Elliott and Tom Morris, and is told using the puppetry of the South African Handspring Puppet Company – including life-size horses and a tank!
Sondheim’s Saturday Night
Stephen Sondheim’s first Broadway musical Saturday Night will at long last enjoy a West End premiere, despite being penned by Sondheim in the 1950s.
After selling out run the Jermyn Street Theatre, it will come to the Arts Theatre for a short run from 25 March. Set it New York just before the Wall Street crash of 1929, the show stars Helena Blackman, who was runner up in the BBC1 talent show “How Do You Solve a Problem like Maria?”
London Theatre – 2009 Preview
December 30, 2008 by admin
Filed under News, Shows opening
If theatre mirrors life then you would expect 2009 to be a bad year for the performing arts in London: economic downturns and credit crunches sound like gloomy news for our discretionary entertainment spending. But West End theatre box office figures have kept on going up in recent years, and the huge number of new productions sailing into town during 2009 could mean that Theatreland manages to buck the trend.
THE GREAT REVIVAL
The RSC, National Theatre, Donmar and Old Vic dominated straight drama in the West End in 2008, and they haven’t finished yet. Big hitters coming to town include Judi Dench and Rosamund Pike in the Donmar in the West End’s Madame de Sade at the Wyndhams; Jude Law offering us his, hopefully fighting fit, Hamlet; Gillian Anderson in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Rachel Weisz in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar Warehouse; Helen Mirren making her return to the London stage in Phaedra at the National Theatre; and a number of crowd-pleasing revivals at the Old Vic, no more so than Dancing at Lughnasa, Brian Friel’s hugely successful play starring Andrea Corr, and Sam Mendes directing Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale, both featuring Ethan Hawke, Simon Russell Beale and Sinead Cusack.
STAR POWER
Other stars shimmying into town include Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot at the Haymarket, Ken Stott and Hayley Atwell in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge at the Duke of York’s, heavy-hitter Pete Postlethwaite as King Lear at the Young Vic, and Antony Sher giving us his Prospero in the RSC’s The Tempest. The Gavin and Stacey phenomenon continues to roll on, as we see Joe Orton’s delicious romp Entertaining Mr Sloane at the Trafalgar Studios starring Gavin himself, Matthew Horne, alongside Imelda Staunton; whilst Gavin’s onscreen Mum Alison Steadman plays a barking Leeds housewife in Alan Bennett’s Enjoy at the Gielgud Theatre.
NEW PLAYS
The sharp eyed amongst you will notice that all of these plays are revivals rather than new work, keeping audiences firmly in their comfort zones. That said, new plays may be thin on the ground but not absent all together, with the National offering up Richard Bean’s England People Very Nice, following two lovers across four centuries, and Samuel Adamson’s Mrs Affleck set in the 1950s. Jez Butterworth has two new plays in pre-production, with comedy Parlour Song at the Almeida and Jerusalem at the Royal Court. Also at the Royal Court, Mark Ravenhill will bring his new play Over There. Plus Hollywood man of the moment James McAvoy is to star in Richard Greenberg’s acclaimed play Three Days of Rain at the Apollo, and at The Old Vic Richard Dreyfuss headlines the world premiere of American playwright Joe Sutton’s new play Complicit, directed by Kevin Spacey.
“BASED ON A FILM”
In musical theatre, 2009 promises to be a year of great big fabulous and familiar shows, surely enough to see us through the dark times? And it’s no coincidence that many of them are based on hugely successful films.
Oliver! will be well and truly steaming ahead through 2009 at the Drury Lane Theatre Royal with Rowan Atkinson and Jodie Prenger; La Cage Aux Folles will continue camping it up at the Playhouse but with Graham Norton taking over from Douglas Hodge; and at the Adelphi Theatre Lee Mead will bow out of Joseph to be replaced by Gareth Gates.
Jason Donovan will be donning the wigs and lip gloss to take us on an Australian power-mince in Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the Palace Theatre. And Sister Act at the London Palladium will be doing its best to recreate the fun of the film, helped along by Whoopi Goldberg as co-producer. And not quite a musical but as good as, Calendar Girls the stage play will up the naked flesh quotient in the West End, starring Patricia Hodge and Lynda Bellingham at the Noel Coward Theatre.
Also in musicals-land the power of reality TV continues to wield its power, with Gareth Gates going into Joseph at the Adelphi Theatre, the X-factor’s Niki Evans continuing in Blood Brothers at the Phoenix, Jodie Prenger in Oliver at the Drury Lane, and Ray Quinn and Danny Bayne in Grease – joined for a limited time by the legendary Jimmy Osmond.
KIDS RULE
Kids should also see a good year in 2009 with an enormous live theatrical production of Walking with Dinosaurs coming to a stadium near you, and War Horse transfers from its successful run at the National Theatre to the New London Theatre.
