Abigail’s Party at the Menier Chocolate Factory

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.

Pippin at the Menier Chocolate Factory

This Christmas the Menier Chocolate Factory revives Wicked and Godspell composer Stephen Schwartz’s musical Pippin in a completely re-conceived and directed by Mitch Sebastian, incorporating Bob Fosse’s original Tony Award-winning choreography. The show stars Harry Hepple as Pippin plus Ian Kelsey, Matt Rawle and Frances Ruffelle.

Terrible Advice tickets starring Scott Bakula and Caroline Quentin at the Menier Chocolate Factory

A sparkling new comedy by actor Saul Rubinek (Frasier, Wall Street) comes to the Menier Chocolate Factory this Autumn starring Scott Bakula (Quantum Leap), Caroline Quentin, Andy Nyman and Sharon Horgan, and directed by the legendary Frank Oz (Little Shop of Horrors, The Stepford Wives).

Stephen Sondheim’s Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory – Special Offer Save £10.50

SPECIAL OFFER: Save £10.50 on tickets to see Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Enjoy a special offer on the European premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s new musical Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Road Show stars American TV and stage actor David Bedella (Jerry Springer – The Opera), Michael Jibson (Our House), Jon Robyns (Avenue Q) and Gillian Bevan (Doctors).

Set in the early part of the twentieth-century, Road Show is based on the fascinating real-life story of two brothers, Addison and Wilson Mizner. Both are outrageous fortune seekers and their boom-and-bust story stretches from the Klondike and Alaskan Gold Rushes to managing boxers, holding up restaurants, running gambling dens, retailing on Fifth Avenue, owning New York hotels, writing Broadway plays and Hollywood screenplays and trying to capitalise on the great Florida land boom. Irving Berlin started, but did not finish, a musical based on Wilson Mizner’s life.

The show is directed and designed by the John Doyle, and features a book by John Weidman.

The Guardian

The Telegraph

The Evening Standard

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BOOK NOW: SPECIAL OFFER: Save £10.50 on tickets to see Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory – Round-up of Reviews

A round-up of reviews of Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

The Menier Chocolate Factory, long associated with Stephen Sondheim, gives us the European premiere of his new musical Road Show this summer.

Road Show stars American TV and stage actor David Bedella (Jerry Springer – The Opera), Michael Jibson (Our House), Jon Robyns (Avenue Q) and Gillian Bevan (Doctors).

The production is directed and designed by the John Doyle, who returns to the show after directing its world premiere at the Public Theatre in New York in 2008.

See a round-up of reviews for Road Show, below.

LINKS

Book tickets to Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Rehearsal photos of Stephen Sondheim’s Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Staring previews this Friday, 24 June 2011, is the European premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s new musical Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Road Show stars American TV and stage actor David Bedella (Jerry Springer – The Opera), Michael Jibson (Our House), Jon Robyns (Avenue Q) and Gillian Bevan (Doctors).

Set in the early part of the twentieth-century, Road Show is based on the fascinating real-life story of two brothers,  Addison and Wilson Mizner. Both are outrageous fortune seekers and their boom-and-bust story stretches from the Klondike and Alaskan Gold Rushes to managing boxers, holding up restaurants, running gambling dens, retailing on Fifth Avenue, owning New York hotels, writing Broadway plays and Hollywood screenplays and trying to capitalise on the great Florida land boom. Irving Berlin started, but did not finish, a musical based on Wilson Mizner’s life.

The production will be directed and designed by the John Doyle, who returns to the show after directing its world premiere at the Public Theatre in New York in 2008. Doyle’s other credits include a Tony award for his 2006 production of Sondheim’s Company, and Mack and Mabel in the West End with David Soul and Janie Dee.

Road Show features a book by John Weidman and the cast also include Adrian Der Gregorian, Fiona Dunn, Sarah Ingram, Julie Jupp, Glyn Kerslake, Elizabeth Marsh, Christopher Ragland and Robbie Scotcher.

LINKS

More news on Road Show

 

Road Show by Stephen Sondheim tickets at the Menier Chocolate Factory starring David Bedella

The Menier Chocolate Factory present the European premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s latest musical ROAD SHOW, starring David Bedella, Michael Jibson, Jon Robyns and Gillian Bevan, and directed by Tony award winner John Doyle.

Sondheim’s Road Show to premiere at the Menier Chocolate Factory starring David Bedella

The European premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s latest musical, Road Show, will open at the Menier Chocolate Factory this Summer.

Running from 24 June to 17 September 2011, with an opening night on 6 July, the show will star American TV and stage actor David Bedella (Jerry Springer – The Opera), Michael Jibson (Our House), Jon Robyns (Avenue Q) and Gillian Bevan (Doctors).

Set in the early part of the twentieth-century, Road Show is based on the fascinating real-life story of two brothers,  Addison and Wilson Mizner. Both are outrageous fortune seekers and their boom-and-bust story stretches from the Klondike and Alaskan Gold Rushes to managing boxers, holding up restaurants, running gambling dens, retailing on Fifth Avenue, owning New York hotels, writing Broadway plays and Hollywood screenplays and trying to capitalise on the great Florida land boom. Irving Berlin started, but did not finish, a musical based on Wilson Mizner’s life.

The production will be directed and designed by the John Doyle, who returns to the show after directing its world premiere at the Public Theatre in New York in 2008. Doyle’s other credits include a Tony award for his 2006 production of Sondheim’s Company, and Mack and Mabel in the West End with David Soul and Janie Dee.

The show has had a complicated past: Sondheim originally called the show Wise Guys, which premiered at the New York Theatre Workshop in 1999 directed by Sam Mendes and starring Nathan Lane and Victor Garber. It was then rewritten and called Bounce, opening in 2003 in Chicago directed by Hal Prince but was not a critical success. Finally Sondheim reworked to show again, and renamed it Road Show. It opened at the Public Theatre’s Newman Theater in New York in 2008 starring Michael Cerveris and Alexander Gemignani, and won positive reviews including the New York Times’s Ben Brantley writing that, “the greatest living master of the American musical has returned artistically to a place where he has always felt most at home” and David Rooney of Variety saying that, “anybody who cares about musical theater should not miss this.”

The Menier has a solid track record of producing Sondheim, with both Sunday in the Park with George and A Little Night Music transferring to the West End and Broadway and winning a number of awards.

Road Show features a book by John Weidman and the cast also include Adrian Der Gregorian, Fiona Dunn, Sarah Ingram, Julie Jupp, Glyn Kerslake, Elizabeth Marsh, Christopher Ragland and Robbie Scotcher.

CAST

David Bedella

Michael Jibson

Gillian Bevan

Jon Robyns

 

LINKS

Menier Chocolate Factory website

Your theatre week, 21 to 27 March 2011

This week sees a number of birthday celebrations, including two American theatre greats: Stephen Sondheim turns 81 after a riotous year of 80th birthday tributes culminating in his Olivier Special Award, and this week marks the centenary of the great Tennessee Williams.

Also Priscilla makes it to two years old this week as the Broadway production starts camping it up on the other side of the Atlantic, and Kneehigh Theatre Company follow their acclaimed production of Brief Encounter with another reimagining of a cinema classic, this time French movie The Umbrellas of Cherbourg.

Tuesday 22 March

Kneehigh’s new production of French film classic The Umbrellas of Cherbourg opens tonight at the Gielgud Theatre starring Joanna Riding and Meow Meow.

Happy birthday Stephen Sondheim, who is 81 today.

Wednesday 23 March

Priscilla Queen of the Desert is 2 today, having opened on 23 March 2009.

Thursday 24 March

Dreamboats and Petticoats: Your last chance to enter the Dreamboats and Petticoats talent search, which ends at 9am on 31 March 2011.

Watch Frankenstein tonight in UK cinemas, starring Jonny Lee Miller as the Creature and Benedict Cumberbatch as Victor.

Saturday 26 March

SMASH! starts at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London starring Tom Conti, written by award-winning playwright Jack Rosenthal (Yentl).

The Centenary of internationally acclaimed playwright Tennessee Williams is today. He was born on 26 March 1911.

 

Smash! tickets at the Menier Chocolate Factory starring Tom Conti

Tom Conti stars in Smash! – an hilarious and scathing look at the journey to get a musical off the page and on to the stage, written by award-winning playwright Jack Rosenthal (Yentl).

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