Madame Tussauds

One of the world’s great tourist attractions continues to delight millions of people every year.

At the heart of the enduring success of Madame Tussauds is good, old-fashioned curiosity. Enjoy a truly unique, emotionally-charged journey through the worlds of the powerful, rich and famous. Get up close and personal with A-list celebrities, sporting legends, political heavyweights and historical icons, reliving the times, events and moments that made the world talk about them.

Madame Tussauds Studios London has been making wax figures for over 150 years. Each masterpiece takes four months, and a team of 20 dedicated sculptors, to create. Over 500 precise body measurements are referenced, real head hairs are inserted one by one, and countless layers of paints and tints are applied to build up skin tones – all to achieve the kind of astonishing realism that has kept Madame Tussauds world renowned for over two centuries.

In Madame Tussauds London you can mingle with the stars by getting up close to incredibly lifelike replicas of 21st century stars such as Kate Moss, Lady Gaga, Robert Pattinson, Helen Mirren, Johnny Depp and Kylie Minogue, plus sports stars, royalty and infamous figures from the past. Also brave the scariest Chamber Of Horrors ever seen, complete with actors as bloodthirsty serial killers, take a time-travelling taxi ride through 400 years of amazing London history, and soak up the iconic Stardome, featuring out-of this world 360-degree animation by Oscar-winning movie-makers Aardman.

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Disabled Access:
Madame Tussauds welcomes everyone to their famous attraction regardless of their ability or disability. The majority of facilities and entertainment spaces are designed to be fully accessible to disabled guests. However one area, the themed ride ‘Spirit of London’ is unfortunately not accessible as it is a continuously moving ride which requires some physical endeavour to board and disembark. Madame Tussauds staff will ensure that all guests with disabilities are transported safely from floor to floor within the building by means of a specially designated lift.

Hours:
Open Daily 9.30am to 5.30pm
Closures:25th December
Modified Opening hours: 24th December 9am to last admission 2.30pm, 26th December 1030am to last admission at 6pm, 1st January 9.30am to last admission 6pm

Children:
Child ages: 5-15. Children aged 4 and below are free

Pickup:
Please take your voucher/confirmation to the Fast Track Ticket Holders entrance along with photo ID for fast track entrance to Madame Tussauds.

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FAB MADAME TUSSAUDS FACTS

• From initial sitting to press launch, a typical Madame Tussauds figure takes around four months to make, utilises a team of around 20 skilled artists and costs £150,000.
• 500 precise body and facial measurements are taken over two hours at a standard sitting session with the celebrity subject. This gives expert Madame Tussauds sculptors all the information they need to create a strikingly realistic figure.
• A staggering 2,400lbs of wax is used in nearly 400 figures currently on show in the London attraction. That’s roughly equivalent to 16,000 candles, even though the ‘Japan’ wax used to create figures is incapable of melting.
• Around 500 million people have visited Madame Tussauds London since it was first established – that’s more than the population of North America and Australia combined!
• ‘Sexyback’ pop singer Justin Timberlake gets more hugs than any other figure, and the dry cleaning bill for his super sharp white Savile Row suit proves it! That said, the yearly cost of maintaining the entire Madame Tussauds wardrobe would cover Justin’s bill for the next 30 years!
• A dedicated ‘clean up’ squad inspects every figure at 7.30am each morning to ensure that guests can get up, close and personal with stars looking their very, very best.
• The biggest figure ever created is that of Marvel comic book hero, The Hulk. 15ft tall and 8ft wide, this green giant has fingers thicker than a grown man’s arm! At the other end of the scale, Madame Tussauds’ smallest figure is Tinker Bell – the world’s most famous fairy stands less than 16cm tall!
• The oldest figure in the attraction also breathes. Sculpted in 1765, The Sleeping Beauty is Madame Tussauds’ earliest example of an interactive figure; capturing Louis XV’s mistress Madame Du Barry in peaceful slumber
• Most kissed female figure is pop princess Kylie Minogue, now in her fourth incarnation. ‘Showgirl’ Kylie, perched on a crescent moon mid-concert performance, is second only to The Queen in terms of wax re-creations. Her Majesty has had an incredible 22 figures made in her lifetime.
• A ‘colour’ by top celebrity coiffeur Daniel Galvin would set Nicole Kidman back around £300; compare that to a brand new hairdo for her Madame Tussauds figure, which comes in well over £1,000 – but at least that includes round-the-clock styling!
• Many A-list stars donate clothes for their figures to wear. Jean Paul Gaultier’s likeness is wearing one of his trademark kilts – boxer shorts were quickly added when he realised thousands of guests were peeking underneath it! Beyonce’s mum designed a dress for her daughter’s double to wear; Kylie’s latest figure shines in a CHANEL number from her global ‘Showgirl’ concert tour; and Madame Tussauds’ new eco-friendly Prince Of Wales proudly shows off an official suit, shirt and tie – bespoke collars, cufflinks and all!
• Madame Tussauds has escaped destruction in three major 20th century catastrophes. The world famous attraction survived a huge fire in 1925; earthquake in 1931 (the tremors of which topped the head off of Dr Crippen’s figure in Chamber Of Horrors); and devastating Blitz bombing during World War II in 1940 – ironically Hitler was one of the few figures to emerge unscathed.
• Madame Tussauds’ figures did their bit for the ‘War Effort’ – they, too, were subject to strict clothes rationing during the early 1940s , and even had coupon books!

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Is televising theatre a good thing?

With the announcement that David Tennant’s Hamlet is to be televised for BBC2 we ponder the question: is televising theatre a good thing?

Tennant enjoyed enormous critical and audience acclaim for his performance of the Danish Prince for the RSC, both in Stratford and, briefly, in the West End until a serious back problem caused him to pull out.

Gregory Doran, who directed the RSC version, wants to reunite the cast and create a film version of the production.

This comes alongside the National Theatre’s NT Live programme, which sees live theatre broadcast to cinemas in the UK and around the world. It kicks off with a biggie – Phedre starring Helen Mirren, broadcast to over 50 cinemas on 25 June.

Given that few people actually had an opportunity to see David Tennant in Hamlet, and that Phedre completely sold out in a few days, the idea of taking live performance outside the confines of a theatre has the opportunity to vastly widen its audience. Theatre is intrinsically elitist – it costs a lot to attend and is very location specific. By turning to cinema and TV, you reduce the expense and vastly expand potential audiences.

But is something lost? The magic of seeing live theatre cannot be recreated on screen. And it’s a vastly different medium. Some of the most boring TV and cinema happens when you simply take a static theatre piece and point some cameras at it. Far from inspiring new generations of theatregoers it could actually confirm their worst suspicions – that theatre is slow and uneventful and nothing compared to the breadth and scope of the best movies and tele.

Bringing TV and film stars such as Tennant and Mirren into theatre has to be a good thing for everyone. But doing a neat back-flip and putting the TV star in a play on TV could backfire. Here’s a wild, off-the-wall idea: maybe these stars could tour their plays to other places than Stratford and London? For centuries stage stars spent the majority of their time performing in front of audiences across the UK – feeling a strong sense of loyalty to the millions of people who wanted to see them perform live. What happened to that?

London theatre – summer preview

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London theatre is pulling out all of the stops this summer to ensure that the capital’s theatre scene remains a chief attraction for millions of UK and overseas visitors.

A host of big hitting stars and large scale musicals are lined up to showcase a range of new productions, including performances by Jude Law, Helen Mirren, Ethan Hawke, Gillian Anderson and Ian McKellen.

The death of drama in the West End has been greatly exaggerated given the wide ranging slate of classic and contemporary plays premiering this summer. One of the most high profile will be Jude Law, taking to the stage in Shakespeare’s most famous play, Hamlet, directed by Michael Grandage as part of his Donmar in the West End season. A strong supporting cast includes Penelope Wilton as Gertrude and Kevin McNally as Claudius, from 29 May at the Wyndham’s Theatre.

From Danes to Dames and Helen Mirren returns to London and the National Theatre from 4 June in Racine’s tragic play Phedre. The play concerns a woman (Mirren) consumed by passion for her stepson, which is highly plausible given that the stepson is played by hot young thing and Mamma Mia! The Movie star Dominic Cooper.

Helen Mirren starred in successful British movie Calendar Girls – which is now coming to the stage in a brand new production starring Patricia Hodge and Sian Phillips. Written by Tim Firth, the story of a group of middle-aged Women’s Institute members who pose for a calendar with a difference is playing at the Noel Coward Theatre.

Stage legends Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart are reuniting after their onscreen antics in the X-Men movies to give us Waiting for Godot at the Haymarket Theatre from 20 April, in what promises to be a standout production of Samuel Beckett’s classic.

Talents from New York and London will converge at The Old Vic from 23 May for The Bridge Project – a three year partnership between The Old Vic, the Brooklyn Academy of Music and Neal Street Productions. Academy Award-winning director Sam Mendes will direct a new version of The Cherry Orchard plus Shakespeare’s The Winter’s Tale, in a cast that features Ethan Hawke, Simon Russell Beale, Sinead Cusack and recent star of Woody Allen’s Vicky Christina Barcelona, Rebecca Hall.

The Cherry Orchard is a new translation by Tom Stoppard, who will also see his 1993 play Arcadia revived in a new production at the Duke of York’s Theatre starring his son Ed Stoppard and Samantha Bond and Dan Stevens. In its first run at the National Theatre the play won a slew of awards including Critics’ Circle, Evening Standard and Olivier Awards.

Other notable players making their way into town include Prunella Scales (Fawlty Towers) in Carrie’s War at the Apollo Theatre, and Gillian Anderson, who will star in Henrik Ibsen’s A Doll’s House at the Donmar Warehouse, joining a stellar cast that includes Christopher Eccleston, Toby Stephens, Tara Fitzgerald and Anton Lesser.

Musical theatre is firmly “based on a film” this year as a blockbuster stage production of Sister Act joins a West End brimming with adaptations of movies, including recent addition Priscilla Queen of the Desert starring Jason Donovan and long-runners Hairspray with Michael Ball, Dirty Dancing, The Lion King, Billy Elliot, Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Sunset Boulevard – and Grease, which will star Dancing on Ice winner Ray Quinn as Danny from 11 May.

Sister Act, which runs from 7 May at the London Palladium, is produced by the film’s original star Whoopi Goldberg and features Sheila Hancock and rising star Patina Miller, with music courtesy of Alan Menken (Disney’s Beauty & The Beast).

Other movie-to-stage shows on the horizon include the Broadway production of Legally Blond opening at the Savoy Theatre at the end of the year and a stage adaptation of Oscar winning film Ghost, directed by Matthew Warchus, set for 2010.

Chief amongst the new musicals opening in London in the later part of 2009 will be Andrew Lloyd Webber’s world premiere of The Phantom of the Opera sequel Love Never Dies at the Adelphi Theatre in early November. The show is set to star current London Phantom Ramin Karimloo and will follow its London opening with productions in Toronto, Shanghai and then Broadway.

A number of shows that have run successfully in other venues are also making their way into the West End including Juliet Stevenson (Truly Madly Deeply) and Henry Goodman in Duet For One at the Vaudeville Theatre; the acclaimed production of Steven Sondheim’s A Little Night Music starring Maureen Lipman at the Garrick Theatre; the National Theatre’s War Horse, a family drama set during World War I about a boy’s adventures to find his beloved horse, at the New London theatre; and following its smash-hit run on Broadway – a new UK production of uber hip musical Spring Awakening at the Novello Theatre.

Other long running musicals that continue to extend their runs and pack them in include Avenue Q – now at the Gielgud Theatre, Blood Brothers, We Will Rock You, Chicago, Wicked, Jersey Boys, Stomp, Oliver!, Mamma Mia!, Les Miserables, Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s Joseph, Roger’s and Hammerstein’s Carousel, Thriller Live featuring the songs of Michael Jackson and an award-winning production of La Cage Aux Folles.

Long-running plays in London include scary thriller The Woman in Black, hilarious comedy The 39 Steps based on Alfred Hitchcock’s film and Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap.

Finally, the V&A Museum in London has opened its new Theatre and Performance galleries following the closure of the Theatre Museum in Covent Garden in 2007. The new galleries will celebrate the UK’s heritage in culture and performance with hundreds of exhibits including costumes, set models, stage props, original posters and playbills, theatrical prints, paintings and photographs from some of London’s most famous theatrical productions.

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Mirren Stateside

Helen Mirren will take her starring role in Phedre, premiering at the National Theatre in June, to the USA. She will perform at Washington, D.C.’s Shakespeare Theater Company. Directed by Nicholas Hytner and co-starring Dominic Cooper fresh from his Mamma Mia movie success, Jean Racine’s tragedy will also be broadcast in the UK on cinema screens in a new trial by the National to broaden its audience.

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Coming up in 2009: Phaedra at the National Theatre

Helen Mirren (The Queen) and Dominic Cooper (Mamma Mia!) star in a new National Theatre production of Jean Racine’s 1677 classic tragedy Phaedra, directed by Nicholas Hytner. The production will co-star Margaret Tyzack and open in June 2009.

In a version by Ted Hughes, the story centres on a Greek myth about a queen who falls passionately in love with her stepson in her husband’s absence.

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