Shows closing in September
August 17, 2010 by admin
Filed under News, News - Featured, Shows closing
It’s all change in the West End next month as September sees a number of shows bid farewell.
La Bete
September marks a busy time for Theatreland as a slate of new shows open in town, which means a number of summer hits are closing to make way.
This month, Sam Mendes’ Bridge Project shows at the Old Vic, As You Like It and The Tempest, starring Stephen Dillane and Juliet Rylance, closes on 21 August. They are swiftly followed by La Bete at the Comedy Theatre, which closes on 28 August before heading off to Broadway. The Matthew Warchus-helmed show features a starry cast including David Hyde Pearce, Mark Rylance and Joanna Lumley.
In September, things start to get really shaken up and we lose some of the big summer shows. In a reversal of La Bete, HAIR made its debut on Broadway and then came to London – and you only have until 4 September to see what all the fuss was about and catch the New York cast, including Gavin Creel, before they head home.
Burn The Floor
Also on the 4th we lose David Essex penned musical All The Fun of the Fair, and dance spectacular Burn The Floor , which is clearing its tango shoes and sequins out of the Shaftesbury Theatre to make room for another big dance show, Flashdance The Musical. This will star Matt Willis and Victoria Hamilton-Barritt and is choreographed by Arlene Phillips.
And it’s never just one big dance show that goes: butch and blue-collar Tap Dogs starring Adam Garcia is also leaving the West End the day after Burn The Floor, on 5 September.
The short run of The Secret of Sherlock Holmes, riding high after the BBC’s Sherlock series, will end on 11 September at the Duchess Theatre to make way for Michael Gambon in Krapp’s Last Tape.
And we wave goodbye to Jeff Goldblum and Mercedes Ruehl on 25 September as Neil Simon’s The Prisoner of Second Avenue leaves the Vaudeville Theatre.
BOOKING AND OFFERS
Save £19 on tickets to see HAIR at the Gielgud Theatre
Save £30 on tickets to see All The Fun of the Fair at the Garrick Theatre
Save £21 on tickets to see Burn The Floor at the Shaftesbury Theatre
Save £11 on tickets to see Tap Dogs at the Novello Theatre
Half Price tickets to see The Secret of Sherlock Holmes at the Duchess Theatre
Save £14 on tickets to see The Prisoner of Second Avenue at the Vaudeville Theatre
La Bete – Save £13
July 30, 2010 by admin
Filed under Offers, Offers - Featured
La Bete at the Comedy Theatre – Save 13 on tickets
Balcony tickets reduced from £25 to £12
Enjoy a special offer on tickets to La Bete at the Comedy Theatre in London. The show, which opened recently to rave reviews, features an all-star cast including US theatre and TV star David Hyde Pierce (Frasier), recent Olivier Award winner Mark Rylance (Jerusalem), and Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous).
The play is directed by acclaimed, Tony award winning director Matthew Warchus and is running at the Comedy Theatre for a short season until 28 August before moving straight to Broadway.
American playwright David Hirson’s rollicking 1991 play, is a comic tour de force about Elomire (David Hyde Pierce), a high-minded classical dramatist who loves only the theatre, and Valere (Mark Rylance), a low-brow street clown who loves only himself. When the fickle princess (Joanna Lumley) decides she’s grown weary of Elomire’s royal theatre troupe, he and Valere are left fighting for survival as art squares off with ego in a literary showdown for the ages.
Other cast include Stephen Ouimette, Lisa Joyce, Greta Lee, Robert Lonsdale, Michael Milligan, Liza Sadovy and Sally Wingert.
Book tickets to La Bete at the Comedy Theatre in London
Balcony tickets reduced from £25 to £12
La Bete
July 29, 2010 by admin
Filed under Shows - Archive
Hilarious comedy directed by Matthew Warchus (Boeing, Boeing) and starring David Hyde Pierce, Joanna Lumley and Mark Rylance.
La Bete – Reviews Round-up
July 16, 2010 by admin
Filed under Reviews Round-up
Reviews have been largely positive but tinged with disappointment for Matthew Warchus’s new production of David Hirson’s 1991 play La Bete at the Comedy Theatre in London.
The much anticipated revival features an all-star cast including US theatre and TV star David Hyde Pierce (Frasier), and national treasure Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous). However, it was recent Olivier Award winner Mark Rylance (Jerusalem) who stole the show for the critics with his energetic and hilarious performance.
The play is directed by acclaimed, Tony award winning director Matthew Warchus and will run at the Comedy Theatre for a short season until 28 August before moving straight to Broadway.
Book tickets to La Bete at the Comedy Theatre in London
La Bete – Review
The protean Mark Rylance, surely Britain’s most versatile actor, sinks his comically protuberant prosthetic teeth into David Hirson’s muddle-headed Moliere pastiche La Bete. He plays a loquacious buffoon called Valere (the beast of the title) and single-handedly provides artificial respiration – and a great deal of mirth – to a play which, bereft of his extraordinary presence, wouldn’t stand a chance.
Mark Rylance in La Bete
First seen at the Lyric, Hammersmith eleven years ago with the less talented Alan Cumming as Valere, and here tweaked in preparation for its forthcoming Broadway run, the play, written in rhyming couplets, performed without an intermission, and slickly directed by Matthew Warchus, is an elaborate comic dissertation on pure art versus vulgar commercialism and the value of cultural sponsorship – topics as relevant in the mid 17th century as they are today.
A princess (Joanna Lumley) is throwing a lavish banquet at her Langedoc estate, her purpose being to persuade a distinguished actor-playwright called Elomire (an anagram of Moliere) to invite the egregious Valere to join his acting troupe.
The evening starts promisingly with Rylance delivering a 40-minute monologue in praise of his own brilliance, but in which he also condemns himself as a brainless idiot with every syllable he utters.
To call Rylance’s delivery a tour de force would be to understate the case, as it would be to say he all but chews up and spits out Mark Thompson’s impressive floor-to-ceiling book encrusted set. Whether stumbling over Latin quotations or making a quick excursion to an on-stage lavatory and doing his business, Rylance pummels Hirson’s witty rhyming couplets for every laugh he can possibly squeeze from them. It’s a joyous star turn and an impossibly hard act to follow.
And that, alas, is the problem. Valere’s solo histrionics are soon followed by an impromptu performance of one of his own plays about two brothers from Cadiz, and all the exhilaration felt in the first half drains alarmingly away. It’s replaced by boredom as the play-within-the-play grinds drearily on as Hirson attempts to underline his fuzzy premise about art and artifice.
Another problem is that none of the other characters in the play make any impact whatsoever. If the portrait of Valere is painted in a spectrum of colourful oils, the rest are little more than pencil sketches.
The most surprising casualty is David Hyde Pierce (Niles Crane in the sitcom Frasier), who, as the intellectual, almost smug Elomire, is required to react more than act. He has a couple of good moments hurling invective at Valere, and it is he who closes the play. But for the most part he is left playing the foil to Rylance’s fool.
In a gender-switch from the earlier production, Joanna Lumley doesn’t fare much better as The Princess simply because the part doesn’t allow her to.
Still, Rylance’s star turn is quite extraordinary and collectors of bravura performances will derfinitely want to add this one to their list.
Comedy Theatre
CLIVE HIRSCHHORN. Courtesy of This Is London.
Book tickets to La Bete at the Comedy Theatre in London
La Bete set for opening
July 7, 2010 by admin
Filed under News, News - Featured
Star-studded opening night set for La Bete
The much anticipated revival of comedy La Bete will have its premiere tonight at the Comedy Theatre in London.
An all-star cast features US theatre and TV star David Hyde Pierce (Frasier), recent Olivier Award winner Mark Rylance (Jerusalem), and veritable national treasure Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous). The play is directed by acclaimed, Tony award winning director Matthew Warchus and will run at the Comedy Theatre for a short season until 28 August before moving straight to Broadway.
American playwright David Hirson’s rollicking 1991 play, is a comic tour de force about Elomire (David Hyde Pierce), a high-minded classical dramatist who loves only the theatre, and Valere (Mark Rylance), a low-brow street clown who loves only himself. When the fickle princess (Joanna Lumley) decides she’s grown weary of Elomire’s royal theatre troupe, he and Valere are left fighting for survival as art squares off with ego in a literary showdown for the ages.
Other cast include Stephen Ouimette, Lisa Joyce, Greta Lee, Robert Lonsdale, Michael Milligan, Liza Sadovy and Sally Wingert.
Book tickets to La Bete at the Comedy Theatre in London
ALSO OPENING THIS WEEK:
Thursday 8 July sees the opening of WOLFBOY at the Trafalgar Studios. This psycho-sexual musical thriller stars Daniel Boys (Avenue Q), Emma Rigby (Hollyoaks), Paul Holowaty and Gregg Lowe.
Wolfboy is a dark and disturbing tale of two troubled teenage boys locked in an asylum for their own good. Bernie has attempted suicide; David may or may not have the powers of a wolf. For them the outside world is a frightening place of abuse and violence. Bernie’s brother Christian and Cherry the young nurse on the unit, also hide secrets that surface in the night, when the moon is full.
This new musical premiered at the Edinburgh Festival fringe last year and has a book by Russell Labey, music and lyrics by Leon Parris and is based on a play by Brad Fraser. Labey previously directed New Boy at Trafalgar Studios in 2009, while Parris has won the Vivian Ellis Award for Best Musical, Really Useful Group Award for Most Promising Writer and the Cameron Mackintosh Bursary.
Book tickets to Wolfboy at the Trafalgar Studios in London
Summer Theatre in the West End
June 28, 2010 by admin
Filed under Features, News, Shows opening
New shows opening in London this summer
Spring and autumn may be the busiest times for new shows in London, but this summer will still pack quite a punch with some big names, high-profile directors and a few surprises in store.
A range of musicals and plays will open in the capital over the next few months, including classic musicals from Stephen Sondheim (Into the Woods) and Rogers & Hammerstein (State Fair); starry comedy, including David Hyde Pearce and Joanna Lumley in La Bete, Jeff Goldblum in The Prisoner of Second Avenue and Simon Russell Beal and Jonathan Groff in Deathtrap); dance spectaculars (Burn the Floor), new musicals (Wolfboy), ambitious children’s drama (The Railway Children) and a terrifying new play (Ghost Stories).
Hot new shows in June
May 28, 2010 by admin
Filed under Features, News, Shows opening
June is proving to be a busy month for West End Theatre with a number of high-profile openings, including work from big name directors such as Sam Mendes, Richard Eyre and Matthew Warchus.
Tap Dogs at the Novello Theatre
At the National Theatre, a revival of Terence Rattigan’s After The Dance starts previews from 1 June 2010 featuring Benedict Cumberbatch, and Richard Eye directs Moira Buffini’s new play Welcome to Thebes from 15 June. Also starting on the 15th is Tap Dogs at the Novello Theatre, which returns to London starring hot song and dance man Adam Garcia.
Wartime land girls play Lilies on the Land begins previews at the Arts Theatre from 8 June, and at the Almeida Ruth Wilson stars in a stage version of Ingmar Bergman’s Through a Glass Darkly from 10 June.
The Old Vic sees the next of its Bridge Project plays start on 12 June, in a new Sam Mendes production of As You Like It starring Stephen Dillane and Juliet Rylance.
Sticking with the Shakespeare theme, the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park starts previews of Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors on 24 June, and the following day the Lyric Hammersmith transfers its sell-out fright-night chiller Ghost Stories to the Duke of York’s Theatre.
Finally, all-star, Broadway-bound comedy La Bete opens at the Comedy Theatre from 26 June starring Joanna Lumley, Mark Rylance and David Hyde Pierce.
MORE INFORMATION AND BOOKING
National Theatre, from 1 June 2010
With next year’s centenary of playwright Terence Rattigan fast approaching, expect to see a number of high-profile revivals of his work – both on stage and screen.
This new production of his 1939 play After the Dance is directed for the National by Thea Sharrock (The Misanthrope, Equus) and is a subtle expose of the hedonistic 1920s generation, dealing with themes of repression and love.
As the world races towards catastrophe, a crowd of Mayfair socialites party their way to oblivion. At its centre is David, who idles away his sober moments researching a futile book until the beautiful Helen decides to save him, shattering his marriage and learning too late the depth of both David’s indolence and his wife’s undeclared love. But with finances about to crash and humanity on the brink of global conflict, the drink keeps flowing and the revellers dance on.
Book tickets to After the Dance at the National Theatre in London
Arts Theatre, from 8 June 2010
Lilies On The Land is moving and funny portrait of some of Britain’s pluckiest, unsung heroes. This charming, gripping tale celebrates the Women’s Land Army during World War II – an extraordinary episode in Britain’s history. This play charts the personal journeys of four women who sign up to become Land Girls, determined to work backbreaking hours on the land in a bid to do their bit for the war effort.
Based on letters and interviews with the original Land Girls, these women, who are all from different backgrounds and torn from their families, must survive the hardships of farming and the pressures of war. The cast of this compelling play features Rosalind Cressy, Sarah Finch, Dorothy Lawrence and Kali Peacock.
Book tickets to Lilies on the Land at the Arts Theatre in London
The Old Vic, from 12 June
Part of the successful Bridge Project – a transatlantic collaboration between the Old Vic in London and the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York – this year sees Oscar winning director Sam Mendes direct Shakespeare’s As You Like It and The Tempest.
The company is led by Stephan Dillane, Christian Camargo, Ron Cephas Jones and Juliet Rylance.
As You Like It is Shakespeare’s pastoral romantic comedy that features Juliet Rylance and Michelle Beck as the heroines Rosalind and Celia, and Christian Camargo and Thomas Sadoski as Orlando and Touchstone.
Young British actress Rylance, the daughter of acclaimed actor Mark Rylance, has appeared on stage both in New York and London, including Shakespeare’s Globe. Dillane, who plays Jacques in As You Like It, returns to the stage for the first time since winning a Tony Award for Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing.
Books tickets to As You Like It at the Old Vic Theatre in London
Novello Theatre, from 15 June 2010
Adam Garcia will return to the London stage this June in the Australian dance show Tap Dogs.
Tap Dogs is a worldwide hit that combines the strength and power of workmen with the precision and talent of tap dancing. The adrenalin-pumped cast of this award-winning show inject raw passion and power into the ultimate visual dance spectacular.
Adam Garcia started his career in 1992 in the Australian tour of Hot Shoe Shuffle – which transferred to the West End – and went on to perform in Grease, Saturday Night Fever, Wicked and as a judge on Sky 1 entertainment show Got To Dance.
Book tickets to Tap Dogs at the Novello Theatre in London
Duke of York’s Theatre, from 25 June 2010
A truly terrifying theatrical experience written and directed by The League of Gentlemen’s master of the macabre, Jeremy Dyson, and Andy Nyman, co-creator and director of Derren Brown’s television and stage shows and star of Dead Set and Severance.
As three men gather together, each has an uncanny, chilling tale to tell. Ghost Stories played a hugely successful run at the Lyric Hammersmith before transferring to the Duke of York’s theatre in the West End. The show stars Nicholas Burns, David Cardy, Ryan Gage and Andy Nyman.
Strictly for theatregoers aged 16 and older.
“Brilliant and deeply unsettling” The Telegraph
“A pant-wetter of a night. It’s terrifying” Daily Mail
“Yes, I gulped and others screeched” The Times
“Hugely entertaining piece of theatre” The Stage
Book tickets to Ghost Stories at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London
Comedy Theatre, from 26 June 2010
American playwright David Hirson’s rollicking 1991 play, La Bete is a comic tour de force about Elomire (David Hyde Pierce – “Frasier”), a high-minded classical dramatist who loves only the theatre, and Valere (Mark Rylance – “Jerusalem”), a low-brow street clown who loves only himself. When the fickle princess (Joanna Lumley – “Absolutely Fabulous”) decides she’s grown weary of Elomire’s royal theatre troupe, he and Valere are left fighting for survival as art squares off with ego in a literary showdown for the ages.
Other cast include Stephen Ouimette, Lisa Joyce, Greta Lee, Robert Lonsdale, Michael Milligan, Liza Sadovy and Sally Wingert. The play will be directed by Matthew Warchus and run for a limited season at the Comedy Theatre before heading to Broadway.
Book tickets to La Bete at the Comedy Theatre in London
MARK RYLANCE in La Bete
May 20, 2010 by admin
Filed under Cast, Star Watch Archive
Mark Rylance is on a roll and next up is a starring role in London and Broadway comedy La Bete
Mark Rylance
Life must feel pretty good for Mark Rylance. Over a long and distinguished career he has moved with some grace and lots of eccentric style from accomplished actor, writer, director and artistic director to veritable national treasure.
His performance as Johnny “Rooster” Byron in Jez Butterworth’s Jerusalem has proved nothing short of a theatrical revelation, with audiences and critics queuing up to praise him and awards ceremonies falling over themselves to hand over their honours (Olivier, Evening Standard and Critics’ Circle awards included).
Now that his stint in Jerusalem has finished – at least until he takes it to Broadway in the Spring – he is moving on to another small, low-profile project, this time starring alongside Frasier’s David Hyde Pierce and acting goddess Joanna Lumley in a glitering London and Broadway revival of David Hirson’s comedy La Bete.
Other recent acting success for Rylance includes Samuel Beckett’s Endgame at the Duchess Theatre and his Tony award-winning role in Boeing-Boeing in the West End and on Broadway. He was Artistic Director of Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre for ten years and his work as an actor included the title roles in Henry V and Hamlet as well as Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra and Olivia in Twelfth Night. Other work includes a number of RSC and the National Theatre productions as well as roles at the Donmar Warehouse and the Royal Court. In the West End he played Benedict in Much Ado about Nothing directed by Matthew Warchus, for which he won the Olivier Award for Best Actor. Film and TV work includes The Other Boleyn Girl, Prospero’s Books and The Government Inspector for which he won the BAFTA Best Actor Award for his role as David Kelly.
Ian Rickson, director of Jerusalem, said of Rylance that he is, “steeped in symbolism, imagination and ritual. There are very few actors who are able to be male and also have a poetic dimension.”
La Bete will be directed by Matthew Warchus and will preview from 26 June at the Comedy Theatre in the West End, playing until 4 September, and will then transfer to Broadway.
Book tickets to La Bete at the Comedy Theatre in London
Casting Update: La Bete and Aspects
News on West End Theatre casting for La Bete and Aspects of Love
ASPECTS OF LOVE
The first major London revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Aspects of Love will premiere at the Menier Chocolate Factory from 7 July. With book and lyrics by Don Black and Charles Hart, Aspects of Love will see the return of director Trevor Nunn to the Menier after his enormous success with A Little Night Music, currently starring Catherine Zeta-Jones and Angela Lansbury on Broadway. Nunn also directed the original West End production of the show in 1989 at the Prince of Wales Theatre.
The lead roles in the show will be taken by Michael Arden as Alex Dillingham and Katherine Kingsley as Rose Vibert.
Young American actor Michael Arden has appeared in Big River and The Times They Are A-Changing on Broadway, and off Broadway productions of Swimming in the Shallows, Bare, Ace, God of Vengeance, As You Like It, The Winter’s Tale and The Secret Garden. TV roles include Bones, Numbers and Grey’s Anatomy.
Katherine Kingsley
Michael Arden
UK actress Katherine Kingsley is currently starring in the UK tour of The 39 Steps, and other credits include Piaf (Olivier Award nomination), The Truth Will Out, The Black and White Ball, Hobson’s Choice, High Society and The Canterbury Tales. On-screen work includes The Bill, Hollyoaks and Casualty.
The musical will feature designs by David Farley, choreography by Lynne Page, lighting by Paul Pyant, musical supervision by Caroline Humphris, orchestrations by David Cullen and sound by Gareth Owen.
Book tickets to Aspects of Love at the Menier Chocolate Factory
LA BETE
The final casting for the high-profile revival of David Hirson’s comedy La Bête has been announced. Joining Mark Rylance, David Hyde Pierce and Joanna Lumley at the Comedy Theatre from 26 June will be Stephen Ouimette, Lisa Joyce, Greta Lee, Robert Lonsdale, Michael Milligan, Liza Sadovy and Sally Wingert. The play will be directed by Matthew Warchus and run for a limited season at the Comedy Theatre before heading to Broadway.
