VIDEO: Jonathan Groff in action

Here’s a sneaky peak of Jonathan Groff singing Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now at Joe’s Pub in New York this week. Here’s hoping that he decides to pop himself into We Will Rock You in London after he’s finished with his starring role in comedy thriller DEATHTRAP – which starts rehearsals soon for its 20 August opening in London at the Noel Coward Theatre.

We expect to hear about lots of JG sightings around town in the next few months, although will try and suppress an urge to stalk the poor lad!  We also hope that he will keep up his singing practice whilst performing in a play by doing a few nights at the Pigalle Club (we hear Gavin Creel from Hair was fabulous last Sunday at the Pigalle – the same night Jonathan sang in New York).

SIMON RUSSELL BEALE in Deathtrap

Acclaimed actor to lead cast in Deathtrap

Simon Russell Beale has had a long and accomplished career as an actor, performing a range of roles on stage.

His first London appearance was in William Gaskill’s Royal Court production of Women Beware Women, currently playing at the National Theatre. He has had a long association with the National including his current role in London Assurance alongside Fiona Shaw, which will be broadcast live on 28 June in selected cinemas across the UK and around the world as part of  National Theatre Live. Other National Theatre roles include Major Barbara, Much Ado About Nothing, The Life of Galileo, The Alchemist, Jumpers, for which he was nominated for a 2004 Tony Award for Best Actor, Humble Boy, Hamlet, Battle Royal, Candide (2000 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical), Summerfolk, Money, Othello, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead and Volpone (1996 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actor).

For the RSC, he has appeared in The Tempest, King Lear, Ghosts, the title roles in Richard III and Edward II, The Seagull, Troilus and Cressida, The Man of Mode and Restoration.

Other notable performances include Monty Python’s Spamalot, The Philanthropist, Uncle Vanya, Twelfth Night, Julius Caesar, Macbeth and The Duchess of Malfi.

In 2003 he was awarded a CBE in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for his services to the Arts.

He will return to the West End from 29 August in Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre, the 1978 Ira Levin thriller which was made into a film starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. Russell Beale will play the Michael Caine character, Sydney Bruhl.

He stars alongside musical theatre and Glee heartthrob Jonathan Groff, Claire Skinner (Outnumbered) and Estelle Parsons.

The play is directed by Matthew Warchus, who won a Tony award last year for his production of God of Carnage, and will direct La Bete at the Comedy Theatre this summer starring Mark Rylance (Jerusalem), David Hyde Pierce and Joanna Lumley.

Book tickets to Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre in London

JONATHAN GROFF in Deathtrap

Glee star joins Simon Russell Beale in Deathtrap

Heartthrob Jonathan Groff, who plays Jesse St John in smash-hit US series Glee, has appeared in a number of Broadway shows including Spring Awakening and an early version of Hair, now playing at the Gielgud Theatre in London.

And now he’s set to make his London theatre debut at the Noel Coward theatre from 20 August in Deathtrap, the 1978 Ira Levin thriller which was made into a film starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve. Groff will play the Christopher Reeve character, Clifford.

The thriller sees good-looking young author Clifford turn up at celebrated playwright Sydney Bruhl’s Connecticut home with a brilliant new stage thriller, at a time with Bruhl’s career has hit the skids. Much ingenious plot twisting and comic brilliance ensues.

The play is directed by Matthew Warchus, who won a Tony award last year for his production of God of Carnage, and will direct La Bete at the Comedy Theatre this summer starring Mark Rylance (Jerusalem), David Hyde Pierce and Joanna Lumley.

Book tickets to Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre in London

BROADWAY UPDATE: Spiderman

BROADWAY UPDATE: Reeve Carney, Daniel Radcliffe, Christina Ricci, Lee Aaron Rosen, Douglas Hodge, Jonathan Groff and more…

SPIDER-MAN:

The pain of mounting Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark continues apace. Financial problems have dogged pre-production of the enormous project but it seems that rehearsals will finally begin this summer for a November opening at the Hilton Theatre.

Directed by Julie Taymor (The Lion King) with music by Bono, Alan Cumming dropped out as the Green Goblin, with rumours that Patrick Page (Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas) will take the role.

The latest name attached to play Spidey himself is Reeve Carney, who’s just finished playing Ferdinand in Taymor’s new film version of Shakespeare’s The Tempest, alongside Helen Mirren, Alfred Molina, Alan Cumming, Chris Cooper and Ben Whishaw.

The investment in mounting Spider-Man is believed to huge, and the show is having to  rip apart the Hilton Theatre to accommodate the lavish and complex sets.

BROADWAY MONEY:

The Broadway League, Broadway’s trade body, released its biannual report this week on the economic impact of spending by Broadway production companies, theatre operators and visitors drawn to New York by Broadway. The figures come close to $10 billion in the 2008-09 season, which is a whole lot of money.

Charlotte St. Martin, Executive Director of The Broadway League, said that the figures, “remind us of how important Broadway is to tourism.” The majority of the money stemmed from visitors’ spending on hotels, restaurants, shopping and transport. Broadway also supported 84,400 jobs and generated $477.7 million in New York City taxes, according to the report. The increasingly lavish spending by producers on new productions (see above) also boosted the total.

We haven’t yet seen the Society of London Theatre’s recently published West End Theatre Audience Report 2010 to determine if a calculation on the West End Theatre’s economic impact on London has been made, but the last public figure was way back in 1997 in their  Wyndham Report. This tallied the impact at just over £1 billion. Given that box office revenue was over half a billion pounds in 2009 we imagine the economic impact has gone up somewhat since then.

TALENT UPDATE:

Ricci Time: She didn’t have the good sense to get a part in The Addams Family on Broadway (!) so Christina Ricci is making do by joining the Tony nominated play Time Stands Still in September, replacing Alicia Silverstone in the play that also stars Laura Linney. Linney is currently filming her new Showtime TV series The Big C.

Hunk-with-talent Alert: Lee Aaron Rosen has just wowed critics in the Atlantic Theater Company’s new production of English playwright Moira Buffini’s Gabriel at the Linda Gross Theater in New York. The play first premiered at the Soho Theatre in London in 1997. Needless-to-say that Mr Rosen is being pitched as “one to watch” for multiple reasons.

Dan Does Dance: Daniel Radcliffe is putting in the practice for his Broadway role in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying, working with a vocal and dance coach in London ahead of rehearsals beginning February 2011. Now that’s forward-planning! The show will be directed by Rob Ashford and co-star Rose Hemingway.

The Mask of Zorba: Antonio Banderas has told WENN that he plans to go back to Broadway next year in a revival of the 1968 Kander and Ebb musical Zorba  – based on Nikos Kazantzakis’ novel Zorba The Greek.

OTHER NEWS:

Hodge Honour: Awards guru Tom O’Neil in the LA Times thinks that Douglas Hodge is a shoo-in for the Best Actor in a Musical Tony award, to be announced in June. Hodge received fabulous notices for his performance as Albin in the Broadway transfer of the Menier Chocolate Factory’s production of La Cage Aux Folles. 

Glad to be Glee: It seems that the spitting and fury over Newsweek’s recent article by arts critic Ramin Setoodeh, arguing that gay actors can’t be taken seriously in straight roles, has finally subsided. Much of Broadway has been up in arms over the article – in which Setoodeh refers to Sean Hayes’ performance in Broadway’s Promises, Promises as “weird seeing Hayes play straight,” and also references Glee’s Jonathan Groff. Glee creator Ryan Murphy waged in calling for an all-out boycott of the magazine for its homophobic opinion. It now seems that Ramin and Ryan have made up. Groff, who is openly gay, will be winging his way to London in the summer to appear alongside Simon Russell-Beale in Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre.

REVIEWS:

Popular theatre blog West End Whingers made a Broadway sojourn recently and posted a great round-up of what to see – and what not.

Deathtrap to return to West End

Simon Russell Beale and Glee hunk Jonathan Groff to star in London revival of Deathtrap

David Pugh and Dafydd Rogers, producers of Brief Encounter, Equus and recent success Calendar Girls, have achieved another theatrical coup. Their planned revival of long-running Broadway and London play Deathtrap is set to be a huge hit all over again after attracting a heavy-hitting production team and cast for the project.

Deathtrap, the 1978 thriller which was made into a film starring Michael Caine and Christopher Reeve, is making a West End reappearance at the Noel Coward Theatre this summer, from 21 August.

Acclaimed actor Simon Russell-Beale, currently starring in London Assurance at the National Theatre, will lead the new production directed by Matthew Warchus.

Russell-Beale will play best-selling author Sidney Bruhl in Ira Levin’s comic murder thriller, and will be joined by an all-star cast that includes Anna Massey as nosey psychic neighbour Helga Ten Dorpe, Claire Skinner (Outnumbered) as his wife, and star of Glee, Jonathan Groff, as Clifford, a talented young writer who befriends Sidney.

The thriller sees good-looking young author Clifford turn up at Bruhl’s Connecticut home with a brilliant new stage thriller, at a time with Bruhl’s career has hit the skids. Much twisting and turning ensues.

Warchus, who won a Tony award last year for his production of God of Carnage, is set for a busy year with his next project, La Bete at the Comedy Theatre, starring Mark Rylance (Jerusalem), David Hyde Pierce and Joanna Lumley. It will opens on 28 June before transferring to Broadway.

Heartthrob Groff will appear in the new series of Glee in the UK from Monday 19 April on E4 . He made his US debut in Glee on Tuesday and in the series plays Jesse St John, a student from a rival school who dates Glee diva Rachel. He has appeared in a number of Broadway shows including Spring Awakening and an early version of Hair, now playing at the Gielgud Theatre in London.

Book tickets to Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre in London

LINKS:

IMDB: Deathtrap

GLEE on E4

GLEE on Fox (US)

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