Abigail’s Party at the Menier Chocolate Factory
January 24, 2012
Mike Leigh’s classic comedy makes a welcome return to the stage in a brand new production directed by Lindsay Posner (Noises Off) and starring Jill Halfpenny (Eastenders) as Beverly.
Lee Mead to join Legally Blonde
March 17, 2011
West End star Lee Mead is to join the hit musical Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre in London.
Lee Mead to star in Legally Blonde
Mead will take over from Alex Gaumond in the role of Emmett Forrest from 20 June 2011, joining a cast that includes Susan McFadden as Elle Woods, Siobhan Dillon as Vivienne and Peter Davison as Professor Callahan. Lee Mead’s wife Denise Van Outen is currently playing Paulette in the show, although may have left the production before Lee starts in the role.
Alex Gaumond, who was up for a best supporting Olivier Award this year, has been in the show since it started at the Savoy in 2009 and will leave on 18 June.
Legally Blonde recently scooped three 2011 Olivier Awards including Best New Musical, Best Actress in a Musical for Sheridan Smith and Best Performance is a Supporting Role in a Musical for Jill Halfpenny.
Lee was last seen in the West End as Fiyero in Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. He rose to fame after winning the BBC talent show Any Dream Will Do leading to a starring role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Adelphi Theatre. Other roles include The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre and UK tours of Miss Saigon and Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime.
Legally Blonde is directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winning Jerry Mitchell, who is currently working on big new Broadway show Catch Me If You Can.
SPECIAL OFFER: Save £26 on tickets to Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre in London
LEGALLY BLONDE CAST LIST
Stephane Anelli (Padamadan, Nikos), Emma Bateman (Stenographer), Nicola Brazil (Serena), Thomas Camilleri (Carlos), Peter Davison (Professor Callahan) Siobhan Dillon (Vivienne Kensington), Chris Ellis-Stanton (Grandmaster Chad, Dewey, Kyle), Kimmy Edwards (Judge, Saleswoman), Alex Gaumond (Emmett), Ibinabo Jack (Pilar), Suzie McAdam (Enid), Susan McFadden (Elle Woods), Sorelle Marsh (Courtney, Mom, Whitney), Aoife Mulholland (Brooke), Sean Mulligan (Pforzheimer), Dawn Sievewright (Kate, Chutney), Carley Stenson (Margot), Lincoln Stone (Dad, Winthrop, Reporter), Simon Thomas (Warner), Robbie Towns (Aaron), Dominic Tribuzio (Kiki), Denise Van Outen (Paulette), Tamara Wall (District Attorney) and Stephen Webb (Lowell), as well as Jonathan Mawson, Jane McMurtrie, Lucy Miller, Ruthie Stephenson and Gregor Stewart as swings.
SPECIAL OFFER: Save £26 on tickets to Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre in London
Lee Mead To Join Legally Blonde The Musical As The Show Celebrates Recent Wins At The 2011 Laurence Olivier Awards
March 17, 2011
From mid-June Lee Mead will join the west end cast of the Olivier award-wining Legally Blonde The Musical to play Emmett Forrest. He joins Susan McFadden as Elle Woods, Carley Stenson as Margot, Nicola Brazil as Serena, Siobhan Dillon as Vivienne and Peter Davison as Professor Callahan. Alex Gaumond, who has played the role of Emmett since the UK premiere of the show, has now extended his run until mid-June when Mead will take over.
Legally Blonde The Musical opened at the Savoy Theatre in December 2009 and has been playing to packed audiences ever since. In addition to winning the 2011 Laurence Olivier Awards for Best New Musical, Best Actress in a Musical (Sheridan Smith) and Best Performance is a Supporting Role in a Musical (Jill Halfpenny), Legally Blonde The Musical is now booking until 31 March 2011.
College sweetheart and homecoming queen Elle Woods doesn’t take no for an answer. So when her boyfriend Warner dumps her for someone serious, Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and heads for Harvard Law! Along the way, Elle proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style.
The current full cast is Stephane Anelli (Padamadan, Nikos), Emma Bateman (Stenographer), Nicola Brazil (Serena), Thomas Camilleri (Carlos), Peter Davison (Professor Callahan) Siobhan Dillon (Vivienne Kensington), Chris Ellis-Stanton (Grandmaster Chad, Dewey, Kyle), Kimmy Edwards (Judge, Saleswoman), Alex Gaumond (Emmett), Ibinabo Jack (Pilar), Suzie McAdam (Enid), Susan McFadden (Elle Woods), Sorelle Marsh (Courtney, Mom, Whitney), Aoife Mulholland (Brooke), Sean Mulligan (Pforzheimer), Dawn Sievewright (Kate, Chutney), Carley Stenson (Margot), Lincoln Stone (Dad, Winthrop, Reporter), Simon Thomas (Warner), Robbie Towns (Aaron), Dominic Tribuzio (Kiki), Denise Van Outen (Paulette), Tamara Wall (District Attorney) and Stephen Webb (Lowell), as well as Jonathan Mawson, Jane McMurtrie, Lucy Miller, Ruthie Stephenson and Gregor Stewart as swings.
Lee Mead played the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Adelphi Theatre from 2007 to early 2009, after winning BBC One’s Any Dream Will Do. In 2007 he released his debut solo album, Lee Mead, followed in 2009 by Nothing Else Matters. Most recently he starred as Fiyero in the West End production of Wicked. His previous theatre credits include Lord Arthur Savile in Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime on tour in the UK; The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre; Miss Saigon on tour in the UK and Tommy.
Directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winning Jerry Mitchell, Legally Blonde The Musical has music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, book by Heather Hach, set design by David Rockwell, costume design by Gregg Barnes, lighting design by Kenneth Posner and Paul Miller, sound design by ACME Sound Partners and orchestrations by Christopher Jahnke.
Legally Blonde The Musical is produced in the West End by Sonia Friedman Productions, Robert G. Bartner, Ambassador Theatre Group, Bud Martin, Adam Zotovich, Jamie Hendry Productions, Matthew Byam Shaw and Act Productions.
Release issued by: Premier PR
LINKS
Book tickets to Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre in London
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
Catch Sheridan Smith in Legally Blonde
August 18, 2010
SPECIAL OFFER: Save £14 on tickets to Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre
Valid Sunday to Fridays from 1st September – 15th October
Sheridan Smith in Legally Blonde
See Sheridan Smith, the acclaimed star of hit musical Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre, and save.
To celebrate her stunning performance as Elle Woods, we present a special ticket offer to save £14 on top price seats to the show, valid Sunday to Fridays from 1 September to 15 October.
This fabulous, fun-filled musical also stars Richard Fleeshman (Coronation Street) and Jill Halfpenny (Chicago, Eastenders).
College sweetheart and homecoming queen Elle Woods doesn’t take no for an answer. So when her boyfriend, Warner, dumps her for someone serious, Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and heads for Harvard Law School!
Based on the hit movie of the same name, Legally Blonde the Musical is the Broadway sensation created by a top-of-their-class creative team, led by Tony Award-winning director and Olivier nominated choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Hairspray).
SPECIAL OFFER: Save £14 on tickets to Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre
Valid Sunday to Fridays from 1st September – 15th October
Legally Blonde – Free Dinner
July 30, 2010
Legally Blonde – Enjoy a free Dinner when booking tickets to the show
BOOK THIS THEATRE DINNER PACKAGE >
Pre or post theatre dinner at Thai Square and ticket to the show only £47.50 (ticket usually £50).
Sheridan Smith in Legally Blonde
Westendtheatre.com presents a great theatre dinner package to see Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre in London.
Catch Sheridan Smith (Gavin and Stacey) in her break-out performance in the lead role of Elle Woods only until 23 October (note: Sheridan is on holiday 8 – 14 September).
This fabulous, fun-filled musical also stars Richard Fleeshman (Coronation Street) and Jill Halfpenny (Chicago, Eastenders).
College sweetheart and homecoming queen Elle Woods doesn’t take no for an answer. So when her boyfriend, Warner, dumps her for someone serious, Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and heads for Harvard Law School!
Based on the hit movie of the same name, Legally Blonde the Musical is the Broadway sensation created by a top-of-their-class creative team, led by Tony Award-winning director and Olivier nominated choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Hairspray).
Legally Blonde the Musical will take you from the social whirl of California Campus life to Harvard’s Halls of Justice with the West End’s brightest new heroine (and of course, her Chihuahua, Bruiser).
SPECIAL OFFER: Legally Blonde – Enjoy a free Dinner when booking tickets to the show
BOOK THIS THEATRE DINNER PACKAGE >
Legally Blonde – Savoy Theatre – Reviews round-up
January 15, 2010
Round-up of reviews of LEGALLY BLONDE at the Savoy Theatre in London
The reviews of Legally Blonde, which opened on Wednesday at the Savoy Theatre in London, were largely positive. Cleverly the producers allowed critics to review preview performances as well as the official First Night – which meant they were exposed to some of the hard-core fans that have alreday started to gather around this show. This was a smart move as the infectious enthusiasm of the audience won over many of the critics – all of whom seemed to come to the show with misgivings.
Whilst nearly all the reviews had reservations about the plot, they couldn’t resist being taken by the tongue-in-cheek humour of the show, and particuarly the strong central performce of Sheridan Smith as Elle Woods (see a summary of the plot here). All apart from Quentin Letts of the Daily Mail…
STAR RATINGS
The Guardian 
The Telegraph
The Times
The Independent
Daily Mail
Evening Standard
OPENING THOUGHTS
DM: Legally Blonde is so pink it is as though the IRA planted a bomb in the late Dame Barbara Cartland’s laundry basket. It is pink not just in the colour of many of the clothes and stage effects. It is pink to the core of its little, tiny soul.
ES: It’s not often that a West End musical references Simon Cowell, case law and the science of getting a perm. But this is Legally Blonde, in which gags about spring break rub up against throw-aways about Gloria Steinem and Thomas Hobbes, and with its mix of daftness and knowingness this sugary yet far from stupid romp will surely be a palpable hit.
VA: Size, as they say, matters. That idea is not lost on Sonia Friedman and her raft of U.K. producers on “Legally Blonde,” who have put the show in a smallish house more accustomed to plays than lavish tuners. Their financial gamble pays off big time thanks to a heap of reasons, chief among them being casting. This guilty pleasure of a show remains precision-engineered candy-floss, but as Elle, pint-sized knockout Sheridan Smith gives it heart and helium levels of happiness.
TI: Omygod, as a jazzily dressed set of sorority sisters keep squealing at the start of the delightful, annoying, supremely wishful musical that’s just come frolicking into Blighty from Broadway. Omygod, a girl can make it in a male-dominated world without sacrificing a dab of pink lipstick.
IN: I had thought snootily that the stage show of Legally Blonde might put the “ugh” in “euuuugh!” But omigod was I like totally blown away.
GU: It is, of course, preposterous: an LA fashion student conquers Harvard law school and becomes a courtroom star. But, for all its absurdity, I found this Broadway musical infinitely more enjoyable than the 2001 Hollywood movie on which it is based.
TE: OMIGOD! I tried, I really tried to hate this show, but resistance is futile. It’s going to be a huge hit and if you’re a chap, your wife or girlfriend is almost certain to drag you along. You might as well give in gracefully now.
ON SHERIDAN SMITH
ES: Sheridan Smith is emphatically the star of the show… It’s a performance of great warmth and enthusiasm.
IN: With her brilliantly warm, winning, witty and all-round adorable performance as Elle, Sheridan Smith achieves stage stardom like some jaw-dropping hole-in-one in golf… This girl can twirl on a dime and take you from elating silliness to genuine sadness in less time than it takes to say “Delta Nu”.
VA: Elle dreams of a bright and shiny life, a hope-filled demeanor Smith delivers in spades. It’s infectious and immensely winning because she deploys razor-sharp comic timing without ever sacrificing properly developed emotion. She’s deliciously knowing but never arch. Even when surrounded by silliness, she has an uncanny knack of making you lose sight of the performer, to empathize directly with the character’s hopes and dreams.
TE: The chief glory of the show is Sheridan Smith as Elle, blessed with vitality, warmth, great comic timing and sudden moments of touching vulnerability. She is infinitely more likeable than Reese Witherspoon in the film.
GU: Sheridan Smith as Elle is also far more vivacious than Reese Witherspoon. Smith is perky, trim, and sings and dances excellently. But her true star quality lies in her sense of mischief, which I first noticed when she was a teenager appearing with the National Youth Music Theatre. Blessed with the long upper lip of a natural comic, Smith sails buoyantly through the show with a radiant smile as if warning us not to take it too seriously.
DM: Miss Smith’s singing voice is not strong but she brings a likeable cheekiness to the part. A crueller critic might wonder if she is glamorous enough for the role.
IN A NUTSHELL
ES: Legally Blonde is a winner. It’s energetic and amusing, with a sprightly sense of pace, and all but the most flinty-hearted theatregoers will leave it flushed with delight.
IN: It may not be quite as good as Hairspray (it lacks that show’s lovely, double-bluffing libertarian dimension), but it’s ridiculously enjoyable from start to finish and camp peroxide-perfection in terms of its showbiz roots.
VA: this transfer looks set to thrive as long as Smith wants to stick around and steal hearts.
TI: Let’s overlook some forgettable tunes and welcome dance that embraces everything from skipping with ropes to spoof Riverdance. Let’s relish the support both of a fake-Greek chorus dressed as cheerleaders and of two cute, unnaturally obedient dogs. Let’s agree that Legally Blonde is, well, fun.
TE: This is rom-com with a welcome touch of irony.
GU: I can only report that the predominantly female audience with whom I saw the show seemed to be having a whale of a time and did not give a damn about the fact that the musical is little more than a nonsensical fairytale.
DM: The plot is pap, the musical unmemorable, the dancing often hefty except for one routine with skipping ropes.
KEY TO REVIEWS:
GU = Guardian: Michael Billington. Read review
TE = Telegraph: Charles Spencer. Read review
TI = The Times: Benedict Nightingale. Read review
VA = Variety: David Benedict. Read review
IN = The Independent: Paul Taylor. Read review
ES = Evening Standard: Henry Hitchings. Read review
DM = Dail Mail: Quentin Letts. Read review
Book tickets to see LEGALLY BLONDE at the Savoy Theatre in London
Eastenders reunion in Calendar Girls
May 29, 2009
New cast of Calendar Girls announced including Eastenders stars June Brown, Anita Dobson, Jill Halfpenny and Jack Ryder. Also Jerry Hall to join the cast of the hit comedy.
The huge success of Calendar Girls, the smash-hit West End play based on the movie, will see a brand new cast introduced from July 28.
June Brown (Dot Cotton in Eastenders) will be reunited with her on-screen pal Anita Dobson, who famously played Angie in the BBC soap, in the new cast at the Noel Coward Theatre in London. They will also be joined by former Eastenders Jill Halfpenny and Jack Ryder, who plays the photographer of the famous calendar.
Also in the new cast will be model and ex Mrs Jagger Jerry Hall, Jill Baker, Philadelphia lovely Sara Crowe and Gemma Atkinson from Hollyoaks.
Current stars including Lynda Bellingham, Patricia Hodge and Sian Phillips will all leave the show as part of the cast change.
Apparently Tim Firth will rewrite parts of the play for the new cast including making Jerry Hall’s part an American.
With glowing reviews and a hugely successful UK tour behind it, Calendar Girls is proving a runaway smash-hit in the West End. Based on the successful film, this is the uplifting and inspiring true story about a Women’s Institute group who spark a global phenomenon.
Save £14.50 on tickets to Calendar Girls at the Noel Coward Theatre
