Sweeney Todd at the Adelphi Theatre starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton
November 18, 2011
Following a sell-out run in Chichester, Jonathan Kent’s critically acclaimed production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd transfers to London’s Adelphi Theatre for a limited season starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton.
Sweeney Todd starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton to play West End in March
November 4, 2011
The acclaimed production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, which has been playing in Chichester to packed houses, will transfer into the West End in March 2012.
Starring Michael Ball as Sweeney Todd and Imelda Staunton as Mrs Lovett, the show will play at the Adelphi Theatre from 10 March 2012.
The show is directed by Jonathan Kent and designed by Anthony Ward.
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STAGE SPY CHECK-LIST
- Show: Sweeney Todd
- Author: Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Wheeler
- Theatre: Adelphi Theatre
- Director: Jonathan Kent
- Stars: Michael Ball, Imelda Staunton
- Opens: 10 March 2012
- Original production: Chichester Festival Theatre, 24 September 2011
Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball in Sweeney Todd. Photo: Roy Tan
Production photos: Sweeney Todd starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton
October 11, 2011
Production photos of Sweeney Todd at the Chichester Festival Theatre starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton
Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball in Sweeney Todd. Photo: Roy Tan
Chichester’s 2011 festival closes this year with a new production of Stephen Sondheim’s classic musical Sweeney Todd.
Leading the cast are two of British Theatre’s biggest names, with distinguished musical performer Michael Ball and Oscar-nominated actress Imelda Staunton starring in the show.
The deliciously dark musical depicts Sweeney Todd’s savage quest for justice and retribution after years of false imprisonment. Aided and abetted by the pie-shop owner, Mrs Lovett, he sets out to avenge the wrongs done to him and his family. Combining a gory sensibility with elements of English music hall, the production offers a fascinating portrait of a man driven to madness by injustice and grief.
Michael Ball plays Sweeney Todd in the show, joined by Imelda Staunton as Mrs Lovett.
The show is directed by Jonathan Kent and designed by Anthony Ward, and runs at Chichester until 5 November 2011.
Photos by Roy Tan.
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Michael Ball And Imelda Staunton In Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
August 12, 2011
Chichester’s Festival 2011 closes with Sweeney Todd, the musical commonly acknowledged to be Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece, in a cast led by distinguished musical performer Michael Ball and Oscar-nominated actress Imelda Staunton.
Set in nineteenth century London and laced with Sondheim’s characteristically brilliant wit and dark humour, the musical depicts Sweeney Todd’s savage quest for justice and retribution after years of false imprisonment. Aided and abetted by the pie-shop owner, Mrs Lovett, he sets out to avenge the wrongs done to him and his family. Combining a gory sensibility with elements of English music hall, the production offers a fascinating portrait of a man driven to madness by injustice and grief.
Michael Ball plays Sweeney Todd. His theatre credits include Hairspray, Les Misérables, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Passion, Aspects of Love, The Woman in White and The Phantom of the Opera. He made his English National Opera debut as Hajj/Poet in Kismet and in 2005 he made his debut with the New York City Opera as Reginald Bunthrone in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience. Ball co-produced Chichester Festival 2010’s West End transfer of Love Story. He also has a successful recording career, and released his eighteenth album, Heroes, and completed a nationwide tour earlier this year.
More follows
Imelda Staunton plays Mrs Lovett. Her theatre credits include A Delicate Balance at the Almeida Theatre, the West End production of Entertaining Mr Sloane, Life x 3 (National Theatre and The Old Vic) and Guys and Dolls (National Theatre). Film credits include the Harry Potter series, Taking Woodstock, and the title role in Vera Drake, for which she received BAFTA, European Film and Venice Film Festival Awards, as well as an Oscar nomination. Television credits include Psychoville and Cranford.
John Bowe plays Judge Turpin. His credits include the West End production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, The Lady from the Sea and Heartbreak House (Almeida Theatre), Edward Bond’s Lear (RSC and European tour) and Saint Joan (The Old Vic).
Peter Polycarpou plays Beadle Bamford. He was last seen at Chichester in Festival 2010’s Love Story, which later transferred to the West End. His other credits include the West End productions of Les Misérables, Miss Saigon and The Secret Garden, Oklahoma! for the National Theatre, and the popular BBC sitcom, Birds of a Feather.
The cast also features Robert Burt, Luke Brady, Lucy May Barker, Daniel Graham, Gillian Kirkpatrick, James McConville and Simeon Truby. The ensemble includes Valda Aviks, Will Barratt, Josie Benson, Emily Bull, John Coates, Robine Landi, Brian McCann, Tim Morgan, Aoife Nally, Adam Pearce, Vincent Pirillo, Wendy Somerville, Anton Stephans, Kerry Washington and Annabelle Williams.
Stephen Sondheim’s credits as composer/lyricist include Road Show, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George, Company, A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, Into The Woods and Assassins. He also wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy. His film credits include Reds and Dick Tracy, for which he won an Oscar. He has also received numerous Tony and Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize.
Jonathan Kent’s credits include Chichester Festival 2010’s A Month in the Country. His recent work includes the National Theatre production of Oedipus starring Ralph Fiennes, and The Fairy Queen at Glyndebourne. Kent was joint Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre where his work included When We Dead Awaken, All For Love, Medea, The School For Wives and Gangster No.1. Other theatre credits include Le Cid, Mother Courage and Her Children and The False Servant, all for the National Theatre.
Design is by Anthony Ward whose credits include Festival 2011’s She Loves Me, ENRON (Festival 2010 and 09), Macbeth (Festival 07), Posh at the Royal Court, as well as West End productions of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Oliver! and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He has won a Tony Award for Costume Design for Mary Stuart, and Olivier Awards for the Set Design of Oklahoma! and the Costume Design of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, La Grande Magia and The Way of the World.
Choreographer is Denni Sayers whose credits include Don Giovanni (Glyndebourne), Ibsen’s Emperor and Galilean and Oedipus (National Theatre), Parsifal and The Flying Dutchman (ENO), Cyrano de Bergerac, Carmen, Paul Bunyan and The Bartered Bride (all for ROH).
Lighting Design is by Mark Henderson whose credits include A Month in the Country (Festival 2010), ENRON (Festival 2010 and 09, the Royal Court Theatre, West End, Broadway and tour), West End productions of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Iceman Cometh, Copenhagen, Hamlet and The Real Thing (all also on Broadway), All My Sons, Mourning Becomes Electra, The History Boys and The Habit of Art (National Theatre).
The musical director is Nicholas Skilbeck whose credits include West End productions of Sister Act, Hairspray, Billy Elliott – The Musical, Mamma Mia! and Cats.
Orchestration is by Jonathan Tunick whose credits include Road Show, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, Passion, A Chorus Line, The Color Purple and Nine.
Sound design is by Paul Groothuis whose credits include Festival 2011’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; His Dark Materials, Edmond, Henry V and A Streetcar Named Desire (all for the National Theatre), Anything Goes, My Fair Lady and All My Sons (National Theatre and West End), as well as the West End productions of Children’s Hour and Flare Path.
Sweeney Todd is at Chichester Festival Theatre from 24 September – 5 November, 7.30pm (except Press Night Thursday 6 October, 7.00pm), matinees 2.15pm. Tickets £10 – £28 (University of Chichester Previews), £13 – £33 (Previews/Press Night) and £14 – £38 (Evenings/Matinees) are available online at www.cft.org.uk or from the Box Office on 01243 781312.
Age guideline: 12+
Join Jonathan Kent in conversation on how his production of Sweeney Todd has been staged at Chichester. This free pre-show talk is on Tuesday 4 October at 6.00pm in the Steven Pimlott Building.
After Words – join some of the Sweeney Todd cast and creative team for a post-show discussion on Thursday 13 October.
Release issued by: Chichester Theatre
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Olivier Awards: National, Legally Blonde
March 14, 2011
In a star-studded awards ceremony last night, Sunday 13 March, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London, the Society of London Theatre held their 35th annual theatre awards ceremony.
Best actress in a musical winner Sheridan Smith
Hosted by musicals star Michael Ball and actress Imelda Staunton, the awards celebrate the best of the year’s London theatre.
Big winners last night included the National Theatre, which swept up seven awards for two of its productions: Thea Sharrock’s revival of Terence Rattigan’s After the Dance, which won awards including best revival, best actress for Nancy Carroll and best actor in a supporting role for Adrian Scarborough; and its production of Mikhail Bulgakov’s The White Guard, including best director for Howard Davies and best set design for Bunny Christie.
In other subsidised venues the Royal Court picked up three awards, including best new play for Bruce Norris’s comedy Clybourne Park, which is now playing at the Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End, and two awards for the Donmar Warehouse, including David Thaxton picking up best actor in a musical for Passion.
Roger Allam won best actor for his performance as Falstaff in Shakespeare’s Globe’s production of Henry IV Parts 1 & 2, beating stiff competition from Rory Kinnear, Derek Jacobi, David Suchet and Mark Rylance.
The Olivier Awards were held at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane
The most successful musical of the night was Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre, which picked up three major awards: best new musical, best actress in a musical for Sheridan Smith and best performance in a supporting role in a Musical for Jill Halfpenny.
Other musicals rewarded at the event included We Will Rock You, which won the Olivier Audience Award voted for by members of the theatregoing public, and the Open Air Theatre’s summer production of Stephen Sondheim’s Into the Woods.
Stephen Sondheim was presented with an Olivier Special Award for his enormous contribution to theatre, with the award presented by Sir Cameron Mackintosh and legendary actress Angela Lansbury.
Big shows to miss out on awards this year included Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, Love Never Dies, which failed to pick up any awards despite seven nominations, and End of the Rainbow at the Trafalgar Studios, which was nominated for four awards including best actress for Tracie Bennett in her performance as Judy Garland.
Thea Sharrock picks up the Best Revival award for her production of After the Dance at the National Theatre
Notable performances during the ceremony included a star turn by legendary American singer Barry Manilow, who also sang a duet with Wicked and Oliver! star Kerry Ellis; current and former stars of The Phantom of the Opera and Love Never Dies – Ramin Karimloo, John Owen-Jones and Sierra Boggess; Emma Williams and Michael Xavier singing Everything We Know from Love Story; Alfie Boe, who is soon to star in Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre, singing Some Enchanted Evening from South Pacific; Susan McFadden and the current cast of Legally Blonde; and Adrian Lester paying tribute to Stephen Sondheim by singing Being Alive from Company, along with Angela Lansbury singing a moving rendition of Liaisons from A Little Night Music and 400 students from national drama schools singing Our Time from Merrily We Roll Along.
LISTEN & WATCH AGAIN
BBC iPlayer – Radio 2 coverage
LINKS
Olivier Awards – list of winners
Olivier Awards – Binkie Blog’s Picks and Pans
Olivier Awards tonight
March 13, 2011
The 35th annual Laurence Olivier Awards are to be held tonight, Sunday 13 March 2011, at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in London.
Organised by the Society of London Theatre, the awards are the most popular and important in the British theatre calendar. This year they are set for an overhaul, with MasterCard sponsoring the event, and a glitzy ceremony planned for the Theatre Royal Drury Lane.
The awards will feature full red carpet arrivals and star-studded ceremony that will be hosted by musical theatre star and TV and radio presenter Michael Ball, and award-winning actress Imelda Staunton.
Star presenters handing out Olivier gongs will include Lost star Matthew Fox, opera tenor Alfie Boe, stars of Frankenstein Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller, Mad Men’s Elisabeth Moss, Rupert Everett, Amanda Holden and Elaine Paige. Musical performances will include Barry Manilow and Kerry Ellis.
The awards will be covered extensively by the BBC on television, radio and online – including full red carpet coverage of stars arriving for the awards. A live broadcast of the ceremony will be played out via the BBC’s red button service (digital, cable or satellite viewers only), and also Paul Gambaccini will host Radio 2’s live coverage of the night, along with Jodie Prenger who will cover the red carpet arrivals. Plus BBC News will have special live coverage of the red carpet arrivals, and a post-awards reaction programme presented by Jane Hill and BBC Arts Editor Will Gompertz. Also highlights of the awards will be available on BBC iplayer the following week.
This year’s Olivier Awards nominations are lead by Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Love Never Dies with 7 nominations and Thea Sharrock’s National Theatre production of Terence Rattigan’s After The Dance with 6 nominations, including best director for Sharrock and best actress for Nancy Carroll.
The National Theatre has 17 nominations in total, including nods for Fela!, Hamlet, Beauty And The Beast, The White Guard, Earthquakes In London and London Assurance. The Royal Court and the Donmar Warehouse have nine nominations each. The Royal Court’s Clybourne Park has 4 nominations including best play, and has recently enjoyed success at a number of awards including the South Bank Sky Arts Awards.
Also tipped for awards are End Of The Rainbow, with 4 nominations including best actress for Tracie Bennett, and Legally Blonde The Musical, with 5 nominations including best actress in a musical for Sheridan Smith. Other nominees for best actress in the musical category include Sierra Boggess for Love Never Dies, Love Story’s Emma Williams and Elena Roger for Passion at the Donmar.
Mark Rylance is nominated for a best actor award for his performance in La Bete, alongside Derek Jacobi, David Suchet, Rory Kinnear and Roger Allam. And in the musical category, Ramin Karimloo has a nod for Love Never Dies, joined by Legally Blonde’s Alex Gaumond, David Thaxton for Passion, Sahr Ngaujah for Fela! and Love Story’s Michael Xavier.
In the Olivier Audience Award category, four shows have been up for public vote: Billy Elliot the Musical, Jersey Boy, Les Misérables and We Will Rock You. Also at the awards, Stephen Sondheim will receive the Society of London Theatre’s Special Award for his outstanding contribution to theatre.
The UK’s most prestigious theatre awards started in 1976 as The Society of West End Theatre Awards, becoming the Laurence Olivier Awards in 1984.
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Michael Ball, Imelda Staunton host Oliviers
March 3, 2011
As previously tipped, Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton will host this year’s Olivier Awards, to be held at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on 13 March 2011
Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton to host this year's Olivier Awards
Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton are both past Olivier winners, Michael for Best Actor in a Musical in 2008 for Hairspray and Imelda in 1985 for A Chorus Of Disapproval and The Corn Is Green and 1991 for Into The Woods.
The pair are also set to appear together at the Chichester Festival Theatre this summer in a new production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd (from 24 September), directed by Jonathan Kent and starring Michael Ball in the title role and Imelda Staunton as Mrs Lovett.
This year’s Awards are being covered by BBC Radio 2, which Michael Ball is also hosting, and on the BBC’s red button service.
MORE NEWS
- Stephen Sondheim to receive Special Olivier Award
- More presenters announced for Olivier Awards, including Benedict Cumberbatch, Elaine Paige, Danielle Hope
LINKS
LISTEN: Elaine Paige announces the Olivier Audience Award short list
VIDEO: Michael Ball interviews Imelda Staunton on The Michael Ball Show
Lucy Cohu, Diana Hardcastle, Ian Mcelhinney, Imelda Staunton & Tim Pigott-Smith Join Penelope Wilton In Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance
February 18, 2011
Lucy Cohu (Julia), Diana Hardcastle (Edna), Ian McElhinney (Harry), Imelda Staunton (Claire) and Tim Pigott-Smith (Tobias) will join the previously announced Penelope Wilton (Agnes) in Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance, directed by James Macdonald which will run at the Almeida Theatre from 5 May – 2 July, with press night on 12 May 2011. A Delicate Balance will be designed by Laura Hopkins with lighting by Guy Hoare and sound by Ian Dickinson.
Urban socialites Agnes and Tobias appear to inhabit a glamorous world of drinks parties and social clubs. The return home of their recently divorced daughter, the constant presence of Agnes’ alcoholic sister and the impromptu late-night arrival of some close friends, begin to peel away this veneer. As their lives become increasingly claustrophobic, the characters battle with their fear of stepping into the real world, opting instead for the undemanding familiarity of their own drawing room.
Lucy Cohu’s most recent stage performance was as Sylvia Gellburg in Arthur Miller’s Broken Glass at the Tricycle Theatre. Her other stage credits include An Enemy of the People at the Sheffield Crucible, Speaking in Tongues at the Duke of York’s Theatre, Macbeth and Way of the World for Birmingham Rep, Blood Wedding for the Lyric Hammersmith and Mad Forest for the Royal Court Theatre. On television she is best known for her roles including Alice Carter in Torchwood, Evelyn in Cape Wrath, Margaret in The Queen’s Sister and Liz in Forgiven – for which she won an International Emmy Award for Best Actress. On film her notable credits include Eliza in Becoming Jane and Lottie in Gosford Park.
Diana Hardcastle was last seen at the Almeida in Jonathan Miller’s production of Camera Obscura. Previously her theatre credits include An English Tragedy and The Glass Menagerie for Watford Palace Theatre, A Kind of Alaska and A Slight Ache for the Gate, Remembrance of Things of the Past for the National Theatre, A Woman of No Importance for the Royal Exchange Theatre as well a many productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company including New England, Les Liaisons Dangereuses and A Doll’s House. She has recently completed filming The Best Exotic Marigold. Her other film credits include Chromophobia and A Good Woman. On television her credits include Rose Kennedy inThe Kennedy’s, Fortunes of War, Doctors, Rosemary and Thyme, First Among Equals and That’s Love.
Ian McElhinney has previously been seen at the Almeida in Michael Attenborough’s productions Through A Glass Darkly and There Came a Gypsy Riding. His extensive theatre work in Ireland includes many performances at the Gate and the Abbey Theatres in Dublin and the Lyric in Belfast. His London theatre work includes Amphibians for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Observe The Sons of Ulster Marching Towards the Somme for Hampstead Theatre, Pygmies in the Ruins for the Royal Court and The Cure at Troy for the Tricycle. His film credits include Three Wise Men, Cup Cake, Closing the Ring, The Front Line, Omagh, The Boxer and The Michael Collins Story. On television his more recent credits include Game of Thrones, New Tricks, Scapegoat, The Tudors, Little Dorritt and Murphy’s Law.
Imelda Staunton was also last at the Almeida in There Came A Gypsy Riding. Her other more recent stage credits include Entertaining Mr Sloane at the Trafalgar Studios, Life x 3 for the National Theatre, The Corn Is Green for the Old Vic – for which she won the Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress, The Wizard of Oz for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Uncle Vanya at the Vaudeville Theatre and Into The Woods at the Phoenix Theatre. Staunton’s film credits include Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Taking Woodstock, A Bunch of Amateurs, Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix, Shakespeare in Love. For playing the title role in Mike Leigh’s Vera Drake Staunton won many accolades including the BAFTA, Evening Standard and Venice Film Festival Best Actress Awards. On television her many credits include Psychoville, Cranford Chronicles, My Family and Other Animals and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Tim Pigott-Smith has most recently been seen on stage as Frank in Educating Rita at the Trafalgar Studios and Ken Lay in Enron at the Noel Coward Theatre. In 1999 he played opposite Kevin Spacey in the Almeida’s production of The Iceman Cometh. His extensive theatre credits include Pygmalion at the Old Vic, Little Nell for the Bath Theatre Royal, Hecuba for the Donmar Warehouse and Mourning Becomes Electra for the National Theatre as well as many productions for the Royal Shakespeare Company, the National Theatre and Bristol Old Vic. On film his credits include My Piece of the Pie, Alice in Wonderland, Quantum of Solace, V for Vendetta and Bloody Sunday. His more recent television credits include The Suspicions of Mr Whicher, The Queen, Midsomer Murders, On Expenses and The Last Flight to Kuwait as well The Jewel in the Crown for which he won the BAFTA for Best Actor.
Penelope Wilton was most recently on stage as Gertrude opposite Jude Law in the Donmar Warehouse production of Hamlet. She was previously at the Almeida in Karel Reisz’s production of The Deep Blue Sea. Her extensive theatre credits include The Family Reunion, John Gabriel Borkman and Little Foxes all for the Donmar Warehouse, Women Beware Women, The Cherry Orchard and The Seagull for the Royal Shakespeare Company and The House of Bernarda Alba, Piano, The Secret Rapture, Major Barbara, Much Ado About Nothing, Man and Superman, Sisterly Feeling and Betrayal for the National Theatre. Her film credits includes The History Boys, Match Point, Pride and Prejudice, Calendar Girls and Shaun of the Dead, and on television Half Broken Things, Five Days, Celebration, Falling, Doctor Who, Talking Heads, Ever Decreasing Circles, Bob and Rose and The Deep Blue Sea. She has recently been seen on ITV in Julian Fellowes’ Downton Abbey.
James Macdonald returns to the Almeida where he has previously directed Judgment Day and The Triumph of Love. Recently he has directed John Gabriel Borkman at Dublin’s Abbey Theatre. For the Royal Court his credits include Cock, Drunk Enough to Say I Love You, A Number, Dying City and Blasted. For the National Theatre he has directed Dido Queen of Carthage, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other and Exiles and for the Royal Shakespeare Company The Tempest and Roberto Zucco. In the West End his productions include Glengarry Glen Ross and on Broadway The Book of Grace.
Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance received its world premiere on Broadway in 1966, directed by Alan Schneider with a cast led by Hume Cronin and Jessica Tandy. In 1973 it was released as a film, directed by Tony Richardson, with a cast including Katherine Hepburn, Paul Scofield, Lee Remick, Kate Reid, Joseph Cotton and Betsy Blair. The Almeida Theatre has previously presented Albee’s The Goat or Who is Sylvia?, The Play About The Baby and Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, which transferred to the West End after a sell-out Almeida run. As well as A Delicate Balance, Tony and Pulitzer prize-winning Albee’s other works include The Zoo Story, Seascape, The Lady From Dubuque, Finding the Sun, Three Tall Women, Fragments and Me, Myself & I. Albee was awarded the Gold Medal in Drama from the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters in 1980.
PRINCIPAL SPONSOR
The Almeida Theatre is grateful to its Principal Sponsor Coutts & Co., who is currently in their eighth consecutive year of support. The relationship between Coutts and the Almeida, first established when the newly refurbished theatre reopened in 2003, is a unique collaboration which has developed and flourished over the past eight years. www.coutts.com
ARTS COUNCIL ENGLAND
The Almeida Theatre is supported by Arts Council England
Release issued by: Premier PR
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Chichester Festival announces new season
February 17, 2011
The Chichester Festival Theatre has announced its new 2011 season, including a major celebration of the work of Terence Rattigan and three new productions of classic musicals.
High-profile directors include Trevor Nunn, Max Stafford-Clark, Jonathan Church, Philip Franks and Sean Mathias.
Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton to star in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd.
Sir Ian McKellen returns to Chichester to star alongside Michael Pennington in The Syndicate.
Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton to star in Sweeney Todd
Chichester Festival Theatre has announced its new 2011 season, starting on 9 May. Artistic Director Jonathan Church has put together an impressive slate of new productions, attracting major directors and stellar acting talent to cover both drama and musicals.
Three big musicals will be revived this year, following Chichester’s 2010 stage version of famous film weepy Love Story, which is currently playing at the Duchess Theatre in London. The season kicks off with Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick’s She Loves Me (from 9 May), starring Joe McFadden and Dianne Pilkington, and directed and choreographed by Stephen Mear. The show was last seen in the West End in 1994 starring Ruthie Henshall, John Gordon Sinclair and Tracie Bennett.
From 27 June, MGM musical Singin’ in the Rain gets a brand new production by Jonathan Church, starring Adam Cooper, Daniel Crossley and Scarlett Strallen. The musical trio is completed at the end of the season by the much talked-about and anticipated new production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd (from 24 September), directed by Jonathan Kent and starring Michael Ball in the title role and Imelda Staunton as Mrs Lovett.
Max Stafford Clark returns to Top Girls
The festival will also celebrate the work of Terence Rattigan with a mini season of productions, timed to coincide with the playwright’s centenary year in 2011. Shows include The Deep Blue Sea (from 13 July) directed by Philip Franks; and The Browning Version (from 2 September) directed by Angus Jackson, alongside the world premiere of a new one-act play by David Hare, South Downs, directed by Jeremy Herrin and commissioned by the Rattigan Trust as a response to The Browning Version. Also Nicholas Wright’s new play Rattigan’s Nijinsky, based on a screenplay by Rattigan, will get a world premiere from 19 July directed by Philip Franks; and from 31 July the festival will hold a series of rehearsed readings of some of Rattigan’s lesser-known plays, including First Episode, Adventure Story, Variation On A Theme, Heart To Heart and Harlequinade, plus In Praise Of Rattigan, devised by Jack Tinker and Martin Tickner and directed and featuring Penelope Keith.
Other new productions include Trevor Nunn following his spring production of Rattigan’s Flare Path in the West End, by directing Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead (from 20 May); Max Stafford-Clark and his Out of Joint theatre company join forces with Chichester to revisit Caryl Churchill’s 1982 play Top Girls (from 23 June); and Sir Ian McKellen stars in a new version of Eduardo De Filippo’s The Syndicate (from 21 July), also starring Michael Pennington and directed by Sean Mathias.
LINKS
Chichester Festival Theatre website
Video: Sweeney Todd – Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton on The Michael Ball Show
Chichester Festival Theatre Announces Festival 2011
February 17, 2011
At the heart of the sixth season from Artistic Director Jonathan Church and Executive Director Alan Finch will be ‘a Festival within a Festival’ celebrating the achievements of playwright Terence Rattigan in the centenary year of his birth. There will be productions of two of his finest plays, The Deep Blue Sea and The Browning Version, both of which will play in conjunction with the world premiere of a connected piece, Rattigan’s Nijinsky by Nicholas Wright and South Downs by David Hare. There will also be a series of Rattigan-themed rehearsed readings, discussions and talks. For the first time, the season also features three musicals, She Loves Me, Singin’ in the Rain and Sweeney Todd, which will form the beginning, middle and end of the Festival. Vastly different in style and content, these three productions reflect the diversity and range of musical theatre itself.
SHE LOVES ME
Book by Joe Masteroff
Music by Jerry Bock
Lyrics by Sheldon Harnick
9 May – 18 June, Minerva Theatre (Press Night: Monday 16 May 7.00pm)
Director & Choreographer: Stephen Mear
Designer: Anthony Ward
Lighting Designer: Chris Davey
Musical Director: Phil Bateman
Sound Designer: Matt McKenzie
Orchestrator: Steven Edis
A witty and warm-hearted musical gem – later reworked for the big screen as The Shop Around the Corner and You’ve Got Mail – this is the delightful story of Georg and Amalia, two lovelorn assistants in a 1930s parfumerie. They squabble by day but at night write anonymous love letters, both unaware that they are each other’s secret correspondent.
The cast features Joe McFadden. Last at Chichester in Festival 05’s How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, his other credits include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Rent on stage and Heartbeat, Casualty and Cranford on television.
Dianne Pilkington plays Amalia. Her stage credits include The 39 Steps, Wicked, The Wolf Man, Taboo, Tonight’s The Night, The Beautiful Game and Les Misérables.
The musical will be directed and choreographed by Chichester Festival Theatre Associate Stephen Mear.
His productions for Chichester include The Music Man and Funny Girl. Other credits include the forthcoming West End production of Betty Blue Eyes, Shoes, Mary Poppins, for which he received the Olivier Award for Best Choreography, together with Matthew Bourne, and Hello, Dolly! for which he received the Olivier Award for Best Theatre Choreographer.
TOM STOPPARD’S ROSENCRANTZ AND GUILDENSTERN ARE DEAD
20 May – 11 June, Festival Theatre (Press Night: Tuesday 31 May 7.00pm)
Director: Trevor Nunn
Lighting Designer: Tim Mitchell
This richly inventive play retells Hamlet through the eyes of two of its minor characters, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who inhabit a world completely beyond their grasp and control.
Tom Stoppard’s plays include The Real Inspector Hound, Jumpers, Travesties, The Real Thing, Arcadia and Rock ‘n’ Roll, while his screenplays include Shakespeare in Love for which he was awarded an Oscar for Best Screenplay, together with co-writer Marc Norman.
Trevor Nunn directed Cyrano de Bergerac for Festival 09. He has been Artistic Director of both the Royal Shakespeare Company and the National Theatre, and his credits include the forthcoming West End production of Flare Path, as well as Birdsong, A Little Night Music, Rock ‘n’ Roll, Hamlet, King Lear, The Seagull and Porgy and Bess.
TOP GIRLS by Caryl Churchill
23 June – 16 July, Minerva Theatre (Press Night: Thursday 30 June 7.00pm)
Director: Max Stafford-Clark
Designer: Tim Shortall
Lighting Designer: Jason Taylor
One of the boldest and most original plays of the 1980s, Top Girls remains equally relevant today. A provocative study of powerful women in Thatcher’s Britain, the play examines the compromises made by women in the quest for success, and what happens to those left behind.
Caryl Churchill’s plays include Cloud Nine, Serious Money, for which she received the Evening Standard Award for Best New Comedy and the Olivier Award for Best New Play, Far Away and A Number.
Max Stafford-Clark returns to Top Girls, having directed its premiere at the Royal Court in 1982. He was Artistic Director of the Royal Court from 1979 – 1993 and of the Traverse Theatre Edinburgh from 1968 – 1970. He co-founded the Joint Stock Theatre Group in 1974 and Out of Joint in 1993. Among his directing credits are regular collaborations with writer Caryl Churchill, including Light Shining in Buckinghamshire, Cloud Nine and Serious Money.
Top Girls is a co-production with Out of Joint.
Contains adult themes and strong language.
SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN
Based on the MGM film
Screenplay and adaptation by Betty Comden and Adolph Green
Songs by Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed
27 June – 10 September, Festival Theatre (Press Night: Tuesday 5 July 7.00pm)
Director: Jonathan Church
Designer: Simon Higlett
Choreographer: Andrew Wright
Lighting Designer: Tim Mitchell
Musical Director: Robert Scott
Sound Designer: Matt McKenzie
This classic musical evokes the era when the silver screen was changed forever by the emergence of talking pictures. The glorious score features Make ‘em Laugh, Good Morning, Moses Supposes and Singin’ in the Rain.
Adam Cooper, whose credits include On Your Toes and Guys and Dolls, plays silent movies star Don Lockwood. The cast also features Daniel Crossley, whose credits include Hello Dolly!, Chicago, Fosse and Mary Poppins, and Scarlett Strallen, who has appeared in The Music Man (Festival 08), Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Jonathan Church is Chichester’s Festival Theatre’s Artistic Director. His credits for Chichester include The Critic and The Real Inspector Hound, The Grapes of Wrath, Pravda, Hobson’s Choice, The Circle and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. His credits also include Master Class and the Olivier Award-nominated Of Mice and Men.
THE DEEP BLUE SEA by Terence Rattigan
13 July – 3 September, Festival Theatre (Press Night: Monday 25 July 2.15pm)
Director: Philip Franks
Music: Matthew Scott
With his trademark empathy and sensitivity, Rattigan explores the driving force of desire and its devastating consequences through his depiction of Hester Collyer, torn between her love for a callow younger man, and the security of a lifeless marriage.
Terence Rattigan’s plays include Separate Tables, In Praise of Love, The Winslow Boy and The Browning Version which will also be staged during Festival 2011. The Deep Blue Sea will be partnered by the world premiere of Rattigan’s Nijinsky (see below) which will be performed by the same company of actors. Both productions form part of the ‘festival within a Festival’ taking place to mark the centenary of Rattigan’s birth.
RATTIGAN’S NIJINSKY by Nicholas Wright WORLD PREMIERE
Based on a screenplay by Terence Rattigan
19 July – 3 September, Festival Theatre (Press Night: Monday 25 July, 7.00pm)
Director: Philip Franks
Music: Matthew Scott
This production marks the staging of two world premieres in one. In 1974 Terence Rattigan wrote a television script for the BBC about Diaghilev, the impresario behind the Ballet Russes and Nijinsky, the most renowned dancer of all time. The screenplay was later withdrawn in mysterious circumstances by Rattigan himself and neither produced nor published.
Now, in his new play, Nicholas Wright imagines why. The dying Rattigan meets Nijinsky’s elderly widow, Romola, to fight over his play. Meanwhile, in the same room, Diaghilev and the young Romola fight over the tormented Nijinsky.
Nicholas Wright’s work includes Mrs Klein, Vincent in Brixton, the adaptation of Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy, and The Reporter.
Philip Franks directs both The Deep Blue Sea and Rattigan’s Nijinsky. His productions for Chichester include The Master Builder, Separate Tables, Twelfth Night and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.
THE SYNDICATE (Il Sindaco Del Rione Sanità) by Eduardo De Filippo
In a new version by Mike Poulton
WORLD PREMIERE
21 July – 20 August, Minerva Theatre (Press Night: Tuesday 2 August 7.00pm)
Director: Sean Mathias
Ian McKellen returns to Chichester for the first time in several decades to play Don Antonio, the Godfather making someone an offer they can’t refuse in this witty dark comedy set in 1960s Naples. McKellen’s distinguished career includes theatre credits for Macbeth, Waiting for Godot and King Lear. His film credits include The Lord of the Rings, Gods and Monsters, Richard III, Dance of Death and X Men.
The cast also features Michael Pennington as Dr Fabio. His credits include The Master Builder (Festival 2010), Collaboration and Taking Sides (Festivals 08 and 09), The Iron Lady and Love is My Sin, as well as extensive work with the RSC and his English Shakespeare Company.
Eduardo De Filippo’s plays include Napoli Milionaria, Filumena and Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Mike Poulton’s adaptations include Wallenstein (Festival 09), The Cherry Orchard, The Father, Fortune’s Fool and Uncle Vanya.
Sean Mathias’ stage credits include Waiting for Godot with Ian McKellen, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, A Little Night Music and the award-winning film Bent.
SOUTH DOWNS by David Hare WORLD PREMIERE
THE BROWNING VERSION by Terence Rattigan
2 September – 8 October, Minerva Theatre (Press Night: Wednesday 14 September 7pm)
South Downs
Director: Jeremy Herrin
David Hare’s new one-act play, written at the invitation of the Rattigan Trust as a response to The Browning Version, concerns a lonely boy at a public school on the South Downs. It is a meditation on learning, faith and teenage friendship set against the backdrop of a Britain still striving to maintain the established order.
David Hare’s plays include The Power of Yes, Stuff Happens, Gethsemane, The Vertical Hour, Amy’s View, Racing Demons, which received an Olivier Award for Best New Play, Murmuring Judges, The Absence of War, Pravda (with Howard Brenton) which received an Evening Standard Award for Best Play and Skylight; his screenplays include The Reader and The Hours.
Jeremy Herrin is Deputy Artistic Director of the Royal Court where he has directed David Hare’s The Vertical Hour, That Face and The Heretic. He has also directed The Family Reunion at the Donmar and Statement of Regret at the National Theatre.
The Browning Version
Director: Angus Jackson
Classics master Andrew Crocker-Harris, brilliant scholar turned unpopular teacher is retiring from a public school to teach in a crammer. His years of self-loathing, buttoned-up disappointment and humiliation are released by a small gesture of unexpected kindness from one of his pupils in this poignant one-act play.
Associate Director Angus Jackson’s credits for Chichester include Goodnight Mister Tom (currently touring), Bingo, Wallenstein, Funny Girl, The Waltz of the Toreadors and Carousel. His other stage credits include Elmina’s Kitchen, Fix Up, Rocket to the Moon and David Hare’s The Power of Yes, all for the National Theatre.
SWEENEY TODD
The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
Music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim
Book by Hugh Wheeler
From an adaptation by Christopher Bond
24 September – 5 November, Festival Theatre (Press Night: Thursday 6 October 7pm)
Director: Jonathan Kent
Designer: Anthony Ward
Choreographer: Denni Sayers
Lighting Designer: Mark Henderson
Musical Director: Nicholas Skilbeck
Sound Designer: Paul Groothuis
Acclaimed musical theatre actor Michael Ball takes the title role in this dark and witty portrayal of corruption and revenge, generally acknowledged as Sondheim’s masterpiece. Combining elements of horror with English music hall, the musical depicts Sweeney Todd’s return to nineteenth century London following years of false imprisonment.
Stephen Sondheim’s musicals include Follies, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George and Passion.
Michael Ball’s stage credits include originating the role of Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, for which he won Laurence Olivier and Whatsonstage Awards for Best Actor in a Musical. He will be reprising the role on tour this Spring. Other stage credits include Les Misérables, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Phantom of the Opera, Passion and The Woman in White. Last year he co-produced the West End production of Love Story following its Chichester premiere during Festival 2010.
Award-winning actress Imelda Staunton plays Sweeney Todd’s accomplice, the pie-shop owner Mrs Lovett. Staunton’s film credits include Vera Drake for which she received the BAFTA Best Actress Award and an Oscar nomination, Another Year, the Harry Potter series and Shakespeare in Love. Her stage credits include Entertaining Mr Sloane, Guys and Dolls and Into The Woods. On television she has featured in Cranford and Psychoville.
Jonathan Kent directed A Month in the Country for Chichester’s Festival 2010. Other recent work includes the National Theatre production of Oepidus starring Ralph Fiennes and The Fairy Queen at Glyndebourne. He was Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre for 12 years where his work included When We Dead Awaken, All For Love, Medea, The School For Wives and Gangster No.1.
Age guideline: 12+
TERENCE RATTIGAN – A CELEBRATION
As part of this year’s celebration of the life and work of Terence Rattigan, there will be a series of rehearsed readings of some of his lesser-known plays with members of the Festival Company and special guests.
FIRST EPISODE (1933)
Sunday 31 July, Minerva Theatre 3.00pm
Directed by Philip Franks
Written with Philip Heimann while Rattigan was still at Oxford, this play depicts the devastating impact of a visiting actress upon a group of undergraduates.
IN PRAISE OF RATTIGAN
Sunday 7 August, Minerva Theatre 3.00pm
Directed by and featuring Penelope Keith
An entertainment devised by Jack Tinker and Martin Tickner.
ADVENTURE STORY (1949)
Sunday 14 August, Minerva Theatre 3.00pm
Directed by Tim Hoare
One of Rattigan’s own favourite plays – never been produced since its premiere – this sweeping historical drama is the story of Alexander the Great, who conquers the world and loses his soul.
VARIATION ON A THEME (1958)
Sunday 21 August, Minerva Theatre 3.00pm
Directed by Michael Oakley
Rattigan’s retelling of the story of Camille, in which Marguerite Gaultier falls hopelessly in love with a bisexual dancer much younger than herself.
HEART TO HEART (1962)
Sunday 4 September, Minerva Theatre 3.00pm
Directed by Philip Franks
During the course of a live interview, an eminent politician is forced to reveal the truth about his political and personal life. This prophetic play is based on the infamous television interview programme Face to Face hosted by John Freeman from 1959 – 1962.
HARLEQUINADE (1949)
Sunday 25 September, Minerva Theatre 6.00pm
Directed by Angus Jackson
This humourous caricature of post-war theatre life was originally performed in a double bill with The Browning Version, which plays this season in the Minerva Theatre.
There will also be various other events, pre- and post-show talks, Saturday shorts and workshops related to Festival 2011 productions. Full details are in the Festival brochure, pages 25 – 27, or online at www.cft.org.uk/takingpart
Priority Booking for Friends of Chichester Festival Theatre opens on Thursday 17 February at 10.00am. To become a Friend of the Theatre and benefit from priority booking and discounted tickets, call 01243 781312 or join online at www.cft.org.uk/friends.
Online public booking opens for everyone on Monday 28 February at 10.00am. Telephone and counter booking opens for everyone on Thursday 3 March. Tickets £10 – £38 available online at www.cft.org.uk or contact the Box Office on 01243 781312.
Chichester Festival Theatre is working in partnership with The University of Chichester to offer reduced price tickets for the first three performances of all productions in the Festival Theatre. To book for The University of Chichester Festival Theatre Previews, visit www.cft.org.uk or call the Box Office on 01243 781312.
Release issued by: Chichester Festival Theatre press office
LINKS
Chichester Festival Theatre website
