Broadway Tickets
August 5, 2009
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Book here for a number of top Broadway shows including A Little Night Music, The Addams Family, La Cage Aux Folles, Chicago, The Lion King, The Phantom of the Opera, Memphis, Billy Elliot and Mamma Mia!
News Round-up: John Barrowman, La Clique, Breakfast at Tiffany’s
May 21, 2009
La Clique to move to the Roundhouse; Breakfast at Tiffany’s to star Anna Friel; John Barrowman to join the cast of La Cage Aux Folles
La Clique to move to Roundhouse
The hugely successful, Olivier Award winning burlesque show La Clique will reappear at the Roundhouse Theatre in Camden this Christmas after closing at the London Hippodrome on 27 June.
Despite repeatedly extending its run at the London Hippodrome, La Clique is closing to allow the venue to be converted into a new £15 million casino complex. La Clique will begin in its new home – in what many consider to be the perfect venue for the show – from 19 November.
See La Clique at the Hippodrome and save £7
West End Breakfast At Tiffany’s
Classic Hollywood film Breakfast At Tiffany’s is to get the musical treatment in a major new stage production to open at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in September.
Anna Friel (Pushing Daisies) will make her West End debut as Holly Golightly in the part immortalised by Audrey Hepburn on screen.
Sean Mathias will direct the musical play and Oscar-winning song Moon River, penned by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer for the original film, will be included alongside three new tunes.
Playwright Samuel Adamson has adapted the Truman Capote story and the production will also star American actor Joseph Cross as Holly’s friend William.
Sean Mathias, whose current production of Waiting for Godot staring Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart is also playing at the Haymaket, is expected to oversee a whole season at the theatre. Possible future productions could include Gwyneth Paltrow starring in Chekhov’s The Three Sisters.
Book tickets to Breakfast At Tiffany’s at the Theatre Royal Haymarket
Barrowman to star in La Cage
TV and stage actor John Barrowman will join the cast of La Cage aux Folles at the Playhouse Theatre in London from 14 September.
The Torchwood star will follow in Graham Norton’s footsteps to play the central role of Albin, a glamorous drag queen on the Cote d’Azur.
Winner of best revival at this year’s Olivier Awards, Roger Allam currently starring in the role, with press reviews this week heralding his performance as “sensational” (Charles Spencer – The Telegraph) and “a joy to watch” (Time Out).
Book tickets to La Cage Aux Folles and save £20
Special offer on La Cage Aux Folles
May 12, 2009
Save up to £25.50 on tickets to see La Cage Aux Folles at the Playhouse Theatre in London.
Enjoy a very special offer on tickets to see La Cage Aux Folles at the Playhouse Theatre in London – the Menier Chocolate Factory production now starring Olivier Award Winners, Roger Allam (Privates on Parade, Les Miserables, City of Angels) and Philip Quast (Sunday in the Park with George, Evita, A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum).
Winner of the Olivier Award for Best Musical, La Cage aux Folles is a timeless and deliciously funny tale of family values, unconditional love, and above all, the need to celebrate who we are. The idyllic existence of Georges and the dazzling drag artiste Albin, star of the La Cage aux Folles club, is threatened when Georges’ son announces his engagement to the daughter of a right-wing politician, who wants to close down the local colourful nightlife! With a visit from the prospective in-laws imminent, they all decide to take drastic action to hide their lifestyle…but can they keep it up?
Jerry Herman’s (Hello, Dolly!, Mack and Mabel and Mame) fabulous score includes I Am What I Am, The Best of Times and Song on the Sand.
Roger Allam and Phillip Quast are contracted to perform until 12th September.
John Barrowman will play the role of Albin from the 14th September until the 28th November. Barrowman created the role of Captain Jack Harkness in the BBC series Doctor Who and Torchwood and has been a judge on talent search shows “I’d Do Anything”,”Any Dream Will Do” and “How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria”. He has also starred in numerous theatrical productions worldwide, including the London productions of Anything Goes, Phantom Of The Opera and Sunset Boulevard.
‘A Total Triumph’ Daily Mail.
‘Bravo! At last a musical to sweep away those credit-crunch blues. This joyous show deserves every hurrah and standing ovation it receives’ Daily Telegraph.
Also great theatre and dinner packages available
WOS Theatregoers Choice Awards – the results
February 16, 2009
It was a good night for Shakespeare yesterday at the Whatsonstage Theatregoers Choice awards, held at the Prince of Wales theatre in London.
There were a number of awards for the Donmar’s Othello, including Best Shakespearan production, best director for Michael Grandage and best supporting actor for Tom Hiddleston. Also the RSC’s Hamlet received gongs for best regional production and theatre event of the year – to celebrate David Tennant’s performance and return to the stage.
As is often the case with awards chosen by the public, the spread of shows and talent was very wide, ranging from awards for musicals La Cage Aux Folles, West Side Story and Jersey Boys, to plays Under the Blue Sky, Fat Pig and The Female of the Species.
Kenneth Branagh must also be particularly delighted to have received best actor for Ivanov after being passed over by the Olivier Awards panel.
Othello – Donmar West End. Photograph: Tristram Kenton
The winners
Best Actress in a Play – Katy Stephens – The Histories, RSC at the Roundhouse
Best Actor in a Play – Kenneth Branagh – Ivanov, Donmar West End at Wyndham’s
Best Supporting Actress in a Play – Sophie Thompson – The Female of the Speciesat the Vaudeville
Best Supporting Actor in a Play – Tom Hiddleston – Othello at the Donmar Warehouse & Ivanov, Donmar West End at Wyndham’s
Best Actress in a Musical – Sofia Escobar – West Side Story at Sadler’s Wells
Best Actor in a Musical – Ryan Molloy – Jersey Boys at the Prince Edward
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical – Tracie Bennett – La Cage aux Folles at the Playhouse
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical – Stephen Ashfield – Jersey Boys at the Prince Edward
Best Solo Performance – Eddie Izzard – Stripped at the Lyric
Best Ensemble Performance – Into the Hoods – at the Novello
Best Takeover in a Role – Daniel Boys – Avenue Q at the Noël Coward
Best New Play – Under the Blue Sky by David Eldridge – at the Duke of York’s
Best New Comedy – Fat Pig by Neil LaBute – at Trafalgar Studios & the Comedy
Best New Musical – Jersey Boys by Bob Gaudio, Bob Crewe, Rick Elice & Marshall Brickman – at the Prince Edward
Best Play Revival – Ivanov, Donmar West End – at Wyndham’s
Best Musical Revival – West Side Story – at Sadler’s Wells
The Best Shakespearean Production – Othello – at the Donmar Warehouse
Best Director – Michael Grandage – Othello & The Chalk Garden at the Donmar Warehouse & Ivanov, Donmar West End at Wyndham’s
Best Set Designer – Klara Zieglerova – Jersey Boys at the Prince Edward
Best Lighting Designer – Malcolm Rippeth – Brief Encounter at The Cinema, Haymarket & Six Characters in Search of an Author at the Gielgud
Best Choreographer – Lynne Page – La Cage aux Folles at the Menier Chocolate Factory & Playhouse
London Newcomer of the Year – Josh Hartnett – Rain Man at the Apollo
Best Off-West End Production – Come Dancing – at Theatre Royal Stratford East
Best Regional Production – Hamlet – RSC at the Courtyard Theatre, Stratford-upon-Avon
Theatre Event of the Year – David Tennant returning to the stage in Hamlet for the RSC
London Theatre – 2009 Preview
December 30, 2008
If theatre mirrors life then you would expect 2009 to be a bad year for the performing arts in London: economic downturns and credit crunches sound like gloomy news for our discretionary entertainment spending. But West End theatre box office figures have kept on going up in recent years, and the huge number of new productions sailing into town during 2009 could mean that Theatreland manages to buck the trend.
THE GREAT REVIVAL
The RSC, National Theatre, Donmar and Old Vic dominated straight drama in the West End in 2008, and they haven’t finished yet. Big hitters coming to town include Judi Dench and Rosamund Pike in the Donmar in the West End’s Madame de Sade at the Wyndhams; Jude Law offering us his, hopefully fighting fit, Hamlet; Gillian Anderson in Ibsen’s A Doll’s House and Rachel Weisz in A Streetcar Named Desire at the Donmar Warehouse; Helen Mirren making her return to the London stage in Phaedra at the National Theatre; and a number of crowd-pleasing revivals at the Old Vic, no more so than Dancing at Lughnasa, Brian Friel’s hugely successful play starring Andrea Corr, and Sam Mendes directing Chekhov’s The Cherry Orchard and Shakespeare’s A Winter’s Tale, both featuring Ethan Hawke, Simon Russell Beale and Sinead Cusack.
STAR POWER
Other stars shimmying into town include Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in Samuel Beckett’s Waiting for Godot at the Haymarket, Ken Stott and Hayley Atwell in Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge at the Duke of York’s, heavy-hitter Pete Postlethwaite as King Lear at the Young Vic, and Antony Sher giving us his Prospero in the RSC’s The Tempest. The Gavin and Stacey phenomenon continues to roll on, as we see Joe Orton’s delicious romp Entertaining Mr Sloane at the Trafalgar Studios starring Gavin himself, Matthew Horne, alongside Imelda Staunton; whilst Gavin’s onscreen Mum Alison Steadman plays a barking Leeds housewife in Alan Bennett’s Enjoy at the Gielgud Theatre.
NEW PLAYS
The sharp eyed amongst you will notice that all of these plays are revivals rather than new work, keeping audiences firmly in their comfort zones. That said, new plays may be thin on the ground but not absent all together, with the National offering up Richard Bean’s England People Very Nice, following two lovers across four centuries, and Samuel Adamson’s Mrs Affleck set in the 1950s. Jez Butterworth has two new plays in pre-production, with comedy Parlour Song at the Almeida and Jerusalem at the Royal Court. Also at the Royal Court, Mark Ravenhill will bring his new play Over There. Plus Hollywood man of the moment James McAvoy is to star in Richard Greenberg’s acclaimed play Three Days of Rain at the Apollo, and at The Old Vic Richard Dreyfuss headlines the world premiere of American playwright Joe Sutton’s new play Complicit, directed by Kevin Spacey.
“BASED ON A FILM”
In musical theatre, 2009 promises to be a year of great big fabulous and familiar shows, surely enough to see us through the dark times? And it’s no coincidence that many of them are based on hugely successful films.
Oliver! will be well and truly steaming ahead through 2009 at the Drury Lane Theatre Royal with Rowan Atkinson and Jodie Prenger; La Cage Aux Folles will continue camping it up at the Playhouse but with Graham Norton taking over from Douglas Hodge; and at the Adelphi Theatre Lee Mead will bow out of Joseph to be replaced by Gareth Gates.
Jason Donovan will be donning the wigs and lip gloss to take us on an Australian power-mince in Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the Palace Theatre. And Sister Act at the London Palladium will be doing its best to recreate the fun of the film, helped along by Whoopi Goldberg as co-producer. And not quite a musical but as good as, Calendar Girls the stage play will up the naked flesh quotient in the West End, starring Patricia Hodge and Lynda Bellingham at the Noel Coward Theatre.
Also in musicals-land the power of reality TV continues to wield its power, with Gareth Gates going into Joseph at the Adelphi Theatre, the X-factor’s Niki Evans continuing in Blood Brothers at the Phoenix, Jodie Prenger in Oliver at the Drury Lane, and Ray Quinn and Danny Bayne in Grease – joined for a limited time by the legendary Jimmy Osmond.
KIDS RULE
Kids should also see a good year in 2009 with an enormous live theatrical production of Walking with Dinosaurs coming to a stadium near you, and War Horse transfers from its successful run at the National Theatre to the New London Theatre.
