Applause Magazine – March 1997

Published between1996 and 1997, Applause was a newsstand and subscription magazine devoted to UK theatre.

Edited by Clive Hirschhorn, it was published by ticket agency Applause and aimed to provide theatregoers with informed comment, interviews, features, reviews, and gossip about the plays and players making news in both London and New York. It also provided special offers and discounts on West End shows and event.

CONTENTS

Issue 6, March 1997

Read Applause magazine, issue 6, March 1997

OFFSTAGE – News and gossip from around the West End

LADY IN THE DARK – Dick Vosburgh on a musical that gets its West End premiere 56 years after it was first written

MARIA FRIEDMAN – David Nathan interviews the actress, and talks about her starring role in Lady in the Dark

ONSTAGE – Clive Hirschhorn reviews the West End’s latest offerings

DIARY – New productions in and around the West End

MATT WOLF – Questions the wisdom behind this year’s awards nominations

APPLAUSE THEATRE CLUB – Christopher Biggins brings you more great money saving offers on top West End shows

NED SHERRIN

PEOPLE WHO MAKE A DIFFERENCE – David Nathan talks to producer Bill Kenwright

RICHARD NELSON – Sheridan Morley assesses the work of an American playwright who does very well over here

REMARKABLE CAREERS – A look at the work of actress Constance Cummings, with Michael Arditti

BOOK REVIEW – Sam Ingleby on Neil Simon’s memoirs

QUIET AT THE BACK, PLEASE! – The theatre nuisance according to Ronald Bergan

NEW FACES – Ruaidhri Conroy, currently making his mark in The Cripple of Inishmaan

SPECTRUM – Opera, Dance, TV and Art reviews and previews by Max Loppen, Jeffery Taylor, Ronald Bergan and John Russell-Taylor

OFFSTAGE BROADWAY – Michael Riedel with news and gossip from the Big Apple

QUIZ

SHOWS THAT MAKE A DIFFERENCE – Gerald Kaufman, MP

READ

LINKS

PDF: Read Applause magazine, issue 6, March 1997

ISSUU: Read Applause magazine, issue 6, March 1997

OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Play Winners

OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Play Winners

Best New Play

2012 Collaborators by John Hodge
2011 Clybourne Park by Bruce Norris
2010 The Mountaintop
2009 Black Watch by Gregory Burke
2008 A Disappearing Number
2007 Blackbird by David Harrower
2006 On The Shore Of The Wide World by Simon Stephens
2005 The History Boys by Alan Bennett
2004 The Pillowman by Martin McDonagh

The BBC Award for Best New Play

2003 Vincent In Brixton by Nicholas Wright
2002 Jitney by August Wilson
2001 Blue/Orange by Joe Penhall
2000 Goodnight Children Everywhere by Richard Nelson
1999 The Weir by Conor McPherson
1998 Closer by Patrick Marber
1997 Stanley by Pam Gems
1996 Skylight by David Hare
1995 Broken Glass by Arthur Miller
1994 Arcadia by Tom Stoppard
1993 Six Degrees Of Separation by John Guare
1992 Death And The Maiden by Ariel Dorfman
1991 Dancing At Lughnasa by Brian Friel
1989/90 Racing Demon by David Hare
1988 Our Country’s Good by Timberlake Wertenbaker
1987 Serious Money by Caryl Churchill
1986 Les Liaisons Dangereuses by Christopher Hampton
1985 Red Noses by Peter Barnes
1984 Benefactors by Michael Frayn
1983 Glengarry Glen Ross by David Mamet
1982 Another Country by Julian Mitchell
1981 Children Of A Lesser God by Mark Medoff
1980 The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens, adapted by David Edgar
1979 Betrayal by Harold Pinter
1978 Whose Life Is It Anyway? by Brian Clark
1977 The Fire That Consumes by Henry de Montherlant, English version by Vivian Cox with Bernard Miles
1976 Dear Daddy by Denis Cannan

Best Revival

2012 Anna Christie by Eugene O’Neill
2011 After the Dance directed by Terence Rattigan
2010 Cat On A Hot Tin Roof
2009 The Histories
2007 The Crucible by Arthur Miller
2006 Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen in a new version by Richard Eyre
2005 Hamlet by William Shakespeare
2004 Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene O’Neill
2003 Twelfth Night by William Shakespeare and Uncle Vanya by Anton Chekov
1995 As You Like It by William Shakespeare
1994 Machinal by Sophie Treadwell
1993 An Inspector Calls by J.B. Priestley
1992 Hedda Gabler by Henrik Ibsen
1991 Pericles by William Shakespeare

Hal Prince to stage new show

New Menier Chocolate Factory season announced. Hal Prince to return to London to direct Mandy Patinkin musical

The new Menier Chocolate Factory season will see a strong line-up of new shows, many of which promise West End and Broadway transfers.

Most high-profile will be a jointly directed Hal Prince and Susan Stroman musical starring Broadway legend Mandy Patinkin, a major coup for the small theatre that has built up a sizeable reputation: its successful production of La Cage Aux Folles starring Douglas Hodge will open on Broadway in 2010.

The musical, Paradise Found, will run at the theatre from 19 May to 26 June before a possible Broadway transfer. Based on Joseph Roth’s novel The Tale Of The 1002nd Night, the show is about a visit the Shah of Persia made to Europe in 1873. Patinkin will play the Shah’s eunuch.

The show features music by Austrian waltz maestro Johann Strauss II and Jonathan Tunick, lyrics by Ellen Fitzhugh and a libretto by Richard Nelson. Composer Tunick is widely known for orchestrating many Broadway musicals, including the works of Stephen Sondheim.

Legendary director Hal Prince was responsible for the premiere productions of Cabaret, Sweeney Todd, A Little Night Music, The Phantom of the Opera, She Loves Me, Company, Follies, Candide, Pacific Overtures, Evita, Parade and Bounce.

Tony-winning director and choreographer Susan Stroman has created shows including The Producers and Young Frankenstein, and last collaborated with Prince on the Broadway revival of Show Boat.

Trevor Nunn directs Aspects of Love

Also in the new season Trevor Nunn follows his successful production of Sondheim’s A Little Night Music, which transferred to the West End and is now playing on Broadway starring Catherine Zeta Jones, by directing a new production of Aspects of Love.

The first major London revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical since Nunn’s original production, the show is based on David Garnett’s novel and originally starred Michael Ball. It tells the story of passion, love and loss across three generations of a family and their companions set against the background of 1940’s France and Italy.

The show will preview from 3 July.

Willy Russell double-bill

Also showcasing at the Menier Chocolate Factory will be a double-bill of Willy Russell plays Shirley Valentine and Educating Rita.

Both award-winning movies, the plays will provide a long overdue London tribute to Willy Russell’s work.  Willy Russell’s most famous stage work is Blood Brothers, which has played in the West End since 1988 and currently stars Spice Girl Melanie C.

Shirley Valentine will star Meera Syal, acclaimed comedienne and actress whose credits include Bombay Dreams and Goodness Gracious Me. The play will be directed by Glen Walford.

Larry Lamb and Laura Dos Santos will star in Educating Rita, directed by Jeremy Sams. Larry Lamb has recently enjoyed two high-profile TV roles in Gavin & Stacey and EastEnders. Relative newcomer Dos Santos appeared in Look Back in Anger at the Jermyn Street Theatre in 2008.

The productions run in rep from 26 March to 8 May.