Bridget Jones’s Diary The Musical

Helen Fielding’s best-selling book Bridget Jones’s Diary set for blockbuster musical remake.

Directed by Stephen Daldry (The Hours, Billy Elliot) and choreographed by Peter Darling (Billy Elliot), the show will feature numbers by Lily Allen and Greg Kurstin, and a script by the author of the original books, Helen Fielding.

Sheridan Smith, recent star of Trevor Nunn’s Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre, is tipped to play Bridget.

The musical is being developed by Working Title, who are currently in development on a third Bridget Jones movie.

2012 will be a big year for Daldry, who is producing the London Olympics opening ceremony with Danny Boyle, and directing Disney’s Dumbo on Broadway.

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Evening Standard Theatre Award winners announced

The 57th annual Evening Standard Theatre Awards were announced last night at a glittering ceremony at the Savoy Hotel in London.

Sheridan Smith, who played Elle Woods in Legally Blonde and is rumoured to be starring in the new Bridget Jones musical, took home the Best Actress award for her performance in Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. She beat actresses including Kristin Scott Thomas and Samantha Spiro for the award, although Scott Thomas did not go home empty handed, winning the Lebedev Special Award for her contribution to theatre.

The Best Actor gong was awarded jointly to the stars of Danny Boyle’s production of Frankenstein at the National Theatre, in which Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller shared the roles of the scientist and the creature.

In a successful night for the National Theatre, the Best Director award went to movie veteran Mike Leigh, winning his very his first theatre directing award for his play Grief at the National.

The National also saw the Best Play award go to Richard Bean for his National Theatre production of One Man, Two Guvnors, currently playing at the Adelphi Theatre before heading to Broadway, along with recognition of his new play The Heretic at the Royal Court.

Other awards went to out-goiong Donmar Warehouse artistic director Michael Grandage, who won the editor’s award. This Spring Grandage will open a Broadway revival of his London production of Evita, starring Elena Roger and Ricky Martin.

LINKS

Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2011 – Winners

Evening Standard Theatre Awards 2011 – Shortlist

Closing Time: End of the Rainbow, Ghost Stories, Dirty Dancing depart the West End

It’s all change in the West End over the next few weeks as a number of high-profile West End shows bring down their curtains for the final time, including Tracie Bennett in End of the Rainbow, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg, In A Forest, Dark And Deep, Flare Path and Dirty Dancing.

Tracie Bennett may have missed out on an Olivier award this year for her stellar performance as Judy Garland in Peter Quilter’s End of the Rainbow at the Trafalgar Studios, but audiences and critics have hailed the show a massive hit. With a UK tour planned and rumours that the show may now go on to Broadway, Bennett won’t be putting down the whiskey bottle just yet. But her bravura performance in London will come to an end on 21 May.

Also on the 21 May, The Umbrellas of Cherbourg will depart the Gielgud Theatre starring Joanna Riding and Meow Meow. There was much anticipation for Kneehigh’s return to the West End following its smash-hit production of Brief Encounter, but the show didn’t click with critics and swiftly announced its closing notices. However, Joanna Riding will be spared having to pack up her knick-knacks from her dressing room as she is remaining at the Gielgud to star in Lend Me A Tenor, from 2 June.

Trevor Nunn’s bullet-proof production of Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path closes on 11 June at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. The play, which stars Sienna Miller, Sheridan Smith and James Purefoy, will make way for another Nunn production, this time his Chichester Festival Theatre revival of Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead from 16 June featuring Tim Curry, Samuel Barnett and Jamie Parker.

The West End has been doubly terrified over the past year with both The Woman in Black and Ghost Stories scaring audiences senseless. The Woman in Black is still going strong, and is promised a boost from a forthcoming movie adaptation of the classic ghost story starring Daniel Radcliffe. But the Lyric Hammersmith transfer of Andy Nyman and Jeremy Dyson’s spine-tingling Ghost Stories is ending its run, finishing up at the Duke of York’s Theatre on 19 June.

Director-of-the-moment Thea Sharrock’s current West End productions, running at the Apollo Theatre and Old Vic, both come to an end in June. Her revival of Rattigan’s Cause Celebre starring Anne-Marie Duff ends at the Old Vic on 11 June, swiftly followed on 18 June by her production of Noel Coward’s comedy Blithe Spirit at the Apollo Theatre starring Alison Steadman and Ruthie Henshall.

The show that has done more than any other to shift the audience profile of the West End is leaving the Aldwych Theatre on 9 July after an impressive run of just under 4 years. Dirty Dancing, based on the hit 80′s movie, is off on a UK tour but the original London production, which has inspired a myriad of also-rans and shown them how its done, is still the one to see.

Also closing in the next few weeks are two high-profile plays: Mike Leigh’s Ecstasy at the Duchess Theatre, closing on 28 May, and Neil LaBute’s play In A Forest, Dark And Deep, which ends its run at the Vaudeville Theatre on 4 June, starring Matthew Fox and Olivia Williams as dysfunctional siblings in this dark comedy come psychological thriller.

AND OPENING SOON…

Shows closing in the West End means a raft of new productions opening in London this summer.

Plays and musicals opening shortly in London include soon-to-be artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse Josie Rourke’s new production of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at the Wyndham’s Theatre, starring David Tennant and Catherine Tate as the sparring Beatrice and Benedick (from 16 May); a new production of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies, which kicks off the 2011 season at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park (from 19 May); Eve Best in Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at Shakespeare’s Globe (from 21 May); Kristin Scott Thomas in Harold Pinter’s Betrayal at the Comedy Theatre (from 27 May); Dominic West in Simon Gray’s Butley at the Duchess Theatre (from 1 June); Broadway musical Lend Me A Tenor at the Gielgud Theatre starring Joanna Riding (from 2 June);  The Flying Karamazov Brothers come crashing into the Vaudeville Theatre with much kilt wearing, flame throwing and general madcap hysteria (from 9 June); Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead starring featuring Tim Curry, Samuel Barnett and Jamie Parker at the Theatre Royal Haymarket (from 16 June); Kevin Spacey as Richard III in Sam Mendes’s new production of Shakespeare’s play at the Old Vic (from 18 June); a big-budget new movie-to-stage musical comes to town as Ghost The Musical opens at the Piccadilly Theatre starring Caissie Levy, Richard Fleeshman and Sharon D Clarke, with music by Dave Stewart (from 22 June); and early July sees the return of classic TV comedy Yes, Prime Minister, at the Apollo Theatre (from 6 July).

LINKS

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A-Z listing of West End Shows

Last Chance To See The Critically Acclaimed Flare Path Directed By Trevor Nunn

The final performance of Trevor Nunn’s critically acclaimed production of Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path is on Saturday 11 June 2011. Flare Path, which opened on 14 March, recouped after 6 weeks, and was extended due to public demand, is the first production in Nunn’s role as Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal Haymarket. In Rattigan’s centenary year, Flare Path was the first of several major revivals of his plays in London and beyond, including Cause Célèbre at The Old Vic, a new film of The Deep Blue Sea, a season of his films at the BFI, a special display at the British Library, BBC radio productions and the publication of new editions of his work.

Set and costumes are by Stephen Brimson Lewis with lighting by Paul Pyant, sound by Paul Groothuis and projection design by Jack James. Flare Path is produced by Matthew Byam Shaw for Playful Productions, Theatre Royal Haymarket Company, Act Productions Ltd and Tom McKitterick.

The cast comprises Joe Armstrong (Dusty), Jim Creighton (Wiggy Jones), Sarah Crowden (Mrs.Oakes), Mark Dexter (Count Skriczevinsky), Harry Hadden-Paton (Teddy), Emma Handy (Maudie), Sienna Miller (Patricia), James Purefoy (Peter), Sheridan Smith (Doris), Matthew Tennyson (Percy) and Clive Wood (Swanson).

It is 1942. At the Falcon Hotel, on the edge of an airfield in Lincolnshire, Teddy, a young bomber pilot is celebrating a reunion with his actress wife Patricia. Events take an unexpected turn, when Peter a famous heartthrob film star arrives, and an urgent bombing mission over Germany is ordered. As the night gives way to dawn, Patricia finds herself at the centre of a passionate conflict of love and loyalty as unpredictable as the war in the skies.

Following Flare Path, a further two productions will be directed by Trevor Nunn at the Theatre Royal Haymarket. After a three week run at the Chichester Festival Theatre, Nunn’s production of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead starring Samuel Barnett, Jamie Parker and Tim Curry will run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 16 June – 20 August, with press night on 21 June 2011, followed by William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, starring Ralph Fiennes, which will run from 27 August to 29 October, with press night on 06 September 2011.

Release issued by: Premier PR

LINKS

Book tickets to Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London

Backstage at the 2011 Olivier Awards

Acclaimed photographer Charlie Gray went behind the scenes at this year’s Olivier Awards at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane to capture the stars of West End Theatre.

Charlie Gray is a prominent London photographer, well known for his film and TV work and his coverage of the BAFTA film awards.

He started his career shooting reportage for magazines and this style of capturing the glamour of the entertainment industry, combined with the drama of normal life, has stood him in good stead. He has become well-known for getting beautiful shots of beautiful people outside of their on-camera, on-stage lives.

Last year he completed a “Year Behind The Scenes of British Film” project for The Sunday Times, requiring him to visit 20 film sets. Projects like this, and his work as the official photographer for BAFTA for the last four years, means that he has built up an impressive portfolio packed full of famous faces.

In recognition of the Olivier Award’s step-change this year, to become an altogether more glamorous face of the West End theatre industry, the Sunday Times commissioned Gray to go behind the scenes at the Olivier Awards for a Spectrum feature that ran in the Sunday Times magazine on 3 April. The beautiful colour and black and white shots feature a who’s who of London theatre including Amanda Holden, Stephen Sondheim, Barry Manilow, Elisabeth Moss, Angela Lansbury, Michael Ball, Sheridan Smith and Anne-Marie Duff.

A book and exhibition are the next the logical next steps for Gray, but for the time being he’s happy to be busy out there, getting the work done. “Perhaps next year after my 5th BAFTA”, he said.

LINKS

Charlie Gray’s website

The Sunday Times website

GALLERY

SUNDAY TIMES MAGAZINE SPREAD

Theatre Royal Haymarket Company Artistic Director Trevor Nunn To Direct Samuel Barnett, Jamie Parker And Tim Curry In Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, And Ralph Fiennes In William Shakespeare’s The Tempest

AS CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED PRODUCTION FLARE PATH IS EXTENDED UNTIL 11 JUNE

Following the opening of Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path, the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company today (1 April 2011) announce a further two productions to be directed by Trevor Nunn in his role as Artistic Director. After a three week run at the Chichester Festival Theatre, Nunn’s production of Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead comes to the Theatre Royal Haymarket in June, followed in September by William Shakespeare’s The Tempest. Further productions in the season will be announced shortly.

Trevor Nunn said: “For my first season as Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal Haymarket, I have chosen three very different projects. Having begun with one of Rattigan’s first plays, the semi-autobiographical Flare Path – last performed in the West End in 1943, I am then realizing a forty year old dream by at last directing Tom Stoppard’s first masterpiece Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead with Samuel Barnett as Rosencrantz, Jamie Parker as Guildenstern and Tim Curry as The Player. This will be followed by my first production of Shakespeare’s last play The Tempest, which will give me also my first opportunity to work with Ralph Fiennes, who will play Prospero.”

Rosencrantzand Guildenstern Are Dead

Following a three week run at the Chichester Festival Theatre, Trevor Nunn will direct a company led by Samuel Barnett, Jamie Parker and Tim Curry in Tom Stoppard’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead which will run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from 16 June – 20 August, with press night on 21 June 2011. Set design is by Simon Higlett, with costumes by Fotini Dimou, lighting by Tim Mitchell, sound by Paul Groothuis and music by Steven Edis. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead is produced by the Chichester Festival Theatre, the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Triumph Entertainment Limited.

Joining Samuel Barnett (Rosencrantz), Jamie Parker (Guildenstern) and Tim Curry (The Player) are
Chris Andrew Mellon (The Player King), Michael Benz (Horatio), Fiona Gillies (Gertrude), Tom Golding (Fortinbras), Charles Hamblett (Alfred), Jack Hawkins (Hamlet), Andrew Jarvis (Polonius/Ambassador), Katherine Press (Ophelia) and James Simmons (Claudius) as well as Trevor Allan Davies, Tomm Coles, Jody Elin Machin, Zac Fox, Elisabeth Hopper, Greg Last, James Northcote and Stephen Pallister.

In Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, a verbally scintillating and richly inventive play, Stoppard retells Hamlet through the eyes of two of its minor characters. Vaguely conscious that they are bit parts in a much bigger story of which they have no direct knowledge, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern hilariously and poignantly inhabit a world completely beyond their grasp.

Samuel Barnett, who will play Rosencrantz, was last on stage as Leantio in Women Beware Women at the National Theatre. He played Posner in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys at the National Theatre, on Broadway, on film and on the radio. His other theatre credits include His Dark Materials for the National Theatre, The Whisky Taster and When You Cure Me for the Bush Theatre, Dealers Choice for the Menier Chocolate Factory, The Marriage of Figaro for the Royal Exchange Theatre, Accrington Pals for Chichester Festival Theatre and Frankenstein for the Open Air Theatre Regents Park. On television his credits include Two Pints of Larger and a Packet of Crisps, Miss Marple, Beautiful People, Desperate Romantics, Crooked House, John Adams and the title role in Wilfred Owen: A Tale of Remembrance. His other film credits include Bright Star, Mrs Henderson Presents and Love tomorrow.

Jamie Parker, who will play Guildenstern, has recently completed a run at Sheffield Theatre’s as Tony Ferris in David Hare’s Racing Demon. Previously he has been seen as Prince Hal in Henry IV Parts I and II; A New World-The Life of Thomas Payne and As You Like It at Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre as well as in roles in My Zinc Bed at the Theatre Royal Northampton, Singer at the Tricycle Theatre and The Revenger’s Tragedy for the National Theatre. Parker also played Scripps in Alan Bennett’s The History Boys at the National Theatre, on Broadway and on film. His other film credits include Valkyrie. His television credits include The Hour, Horne and Cordon, Silent Witness, Maxwell, Wire in the Blood and Foyles War.

Tim Curry returns to the London stage to play The Player. He was last in the West End in 2006 playing King Arthur in Monty Python’s Spamalot, a role he created on Broadway. For the National Theatre his credits include The Threepenny Opera, Love for Love and The Rivals. He played Frank-N-Furter in The Rocky Horror Show both in the West End and on Broadway. On Broadway his theatre work includes Amadeus, My Favourite Year and Travesties. His many film credits include Burke and Hare, Kinsey, Addams Family Reunion, Congo, The Hunt for Red October, Legend, Annie and The Rocky Horror Picture Show. In addition to appearing extensively on various television series, his credits include Cranford, The Colour of Magic, Poirot, Criminal Minds, Will and Grace, Stephen King’s It, Wiseguy and Oliver Twist. Curry’s voice can be heard in countless animated films and television programmes, numerous audio books and several albums.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead was first staged at the Edinburgh Festival in 1966 and at the National Theatre the following year. Since then, it has been performed in many languages. In 1990, the play was made into a film directed by the author.
Tom Stoppard’s plays include The Real Inspector Hound, Jumpers, Travesties, Night and Day, The Real Thing, Hapgood, Indian Ink, Arcadia, The Invention of Love, The Coast of Utopia and Rock ’n’ Roll. The later two, and Arcadia and Every Good Boy Deserves Favour (1977) were directed by Trevor Nunn. His translations and adaptations include works by Lorca, Nestroy, Schnitzler, Molnar, Pirandello and Chekhov. Among his television credits are Professional Foul and Squaring the Circle. Stoppard’s film work includes Billy Bathgate, Empire of the Sun, Enigma and Shakespeare in Love for which he was awarded an Oscar for Best Screenplay, together with co-writer Marc Norman. Radio plays include If You’re Glad, I’ll Be Frank, Albert’s Bridge, In the Native State and On Dover Beach (2007).

The Tempest

Ralph Fiennes will return to the Theatre Royal Haymarket to play Prospero in William Shakespeare’s The Tempest, directed by Trevor Nunn. The Tempest will run from 27 August – 29 October, with press night on 06 September 2011. The Tempest is produced by the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Triumph Entertainment Limited. Further casting will be announced shortly.

Almost certainly Shakespeare’s last play, The Tempest can lay claim to being the first ever work of magic realism. Marooned and left to die on a remote island, Prospero can command spirits, create apparitions and manipulate the elements. By using his magic, he assembles his enemies to take revenge on them, and in the process awakens in Miranda, his teenage daughter, her first experience of love. The theme of reconciliation gives immense emotional force to Shakespeare’s farewell to the stage.

Ralph Fiennes was last at the Theatre Royal Haymarket playing the title role in Brand. His extensive theatre credits include the title role in Oedipus and Jung in The Talking Cure for the National Theatre, Faith Healer at Dublin’s Gate Theatre and on Broadway, God of Carnage at the Gielgud Theatre, Julius Caesar at the Barbican and on tour as well as many productions for the Almeida Theatre including the title roles in Hamlet, Ivanov, Richard II and Coriolanus, and, for the Royal Shakespeare Company, Edmund in King Lear, Henry VI in The Plantagenets, and Troilus in Troilus and Cressida. His multi award-winning film career includes The Constant Gardner, Sunshine and Schindler’s List, as well as the English Patient, The Duchess, End of the Affair, Quiz Show and The Reader. More recently he made his mark as one of literature’s most terrifying villains, the evil Lord Voldemort in the Harry Potter series of films and was nominated for an Emmy and a Golden Globe for his performance in HBO’s bio-pic Bernard and Doris. In 2009 he filmed roles in Clash of the Titans, Cemetery Junction, Nanny McPhee 2 and the final instalments of the Harry Potter films. In 2010 he directed and starred in a feature film of Shakespeare’s tragedy, Coriolanus which he also produced. The film was invited to premiere In Competition at the 2011 Berlin Film Festival and will open at the end of 2011.

Extended Run For Critically Acclaimed Flare Path

Trevor Nunn’s production of Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path extends it critically acclaimed run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket with performances now on sale until 11 June 2011. Set and costumes are by Stephen Brimson Lewis with lighting by Paul Pyant, sound by Paul Groothuis and projection design by Jack James. Flare Path is produced by Matthew Byam Shaw for Playful Productions, Theatre Royal Haymarket Company, Act Productions Ltd and Tom McKitterick.

The cast comprises Joe Armstrong (Dusty), Jim Creighton (Wiggy Jones), Sarah Crowden (Mrs.Oakes), Mark Dexter (Count Skriczevinsky), Harry Hadden-Paton (Teddy), Emma Handy (Maudie), Sienna Miller (Patricia), James Purefoy (Peter), Sheridan Smith (Doris), Matthew Tennyson (Percy) and Clive Wood (Swanson).

It is 1942. At the Falcon Hotel, on the edge of an airfield in Lincolnshire, Teddy, a young bomber pilot is celebrating a reunion with his actress wife Patricia. Events take an unexpected turn, when Peter a famous heartthrob film star arrives, and an urgent bombing mission over Germany is ordered. As the night gives way to dawn, Patricia finds herself at the centre of a passionate conflict of love and loyalty as unpredictable as the war in the skies.

TREVOR NUNN
Trevor Nunn was the longest-serving Artistic Director and Chief Executive of the Royal Shakespeare Company (1968 to 1986). During that time he directed most of the Shakespeare canon, as well as Nicholas Nickleby and Les Misérables. He returned to the RSC to direct King Lear and The Seagull. From 1997 to 2003 he was Director of the National Theatre where his 21 productions included award-winning revivals of Troilus and Cressida, The Merchant of Venice, Summerfolk and The Cherry Orchard, as well as Oklahoma!, My Fair Lady and Anything Goes. He has directed the world premieres of Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia, Every Good Boy Deserves Favour, The Coast of Utopia and Rock ‘n’ Roll, and of Cats, Starlight Express, Aspects of Love, Sunset Boulevard and The Woman in White by Andrew Lloyd Webber. His more recent theatre work includes Hamlet and Richard II at The Old Vic, Timon of Athens and Skellig for the Young Vic, The Lady From the Sea for the Almeida, Scenes from a Marriage for the Belgrade, Coventry, A Little Night Music for the Menier Chocolate Factory, in the West End and on Broadway, Cyrano de Bergerac for Chichester Festival Theatre, Inherit the Wind for The Old Vic and Birdsong at the Comedy Theatre.

THE THEATRE ROYAL HAYMARKET COMPANY
In an initiative pioneered by the theatre’s producers, Arnold M. Crook and Nigel Everett, the newly created Theatre Royal Haymarket Company presented their first season of work in 2007/08 under the direction of Jonathan Kent. The season comprised The Country Wife, The Sea and Marguerite. This was followed by Waiting for Godot and Breakfast at Tiffany’s directed by Sean Mathias, Artistic Director of the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company in 2009. Now Trevor Nunn will direct a season of work throughout 2011.

The historic Theatre Royal Haymarket, a Grade 1 listed building built in 1821 by John Nash, was erected on The Haymarket a short distance from the original site which dates back to 1720. In 1994, under the direction of Chairman Arnold M. Crook and the Board of Directors, a £1.3 million investment saw a major overhaul and refurbishment of the theatre, restoring the building to its original glory as well as the modernisation of facilities for both theatregoers and theatre practitioners alike.

MASTERCLASS
Since Masterclass was created in 1998, it has established itself as the leading provider of free training for aspiring theatre makers. Masterclass runs a year round programme of talks, workshops, special projects, career advice sessions, showcases and professionally staged theatre productions. Its apprentice scheme gives anyone aged 14-30 unprecedented access to one of the West End’s most historic stages along with insight into all aspects of theatre from writing and acting to directing, producing or a career backstage, with masters of the craft. 2011 will see expansion of the programme with the addition of schools workshops led by skilled practitioners and the Haymarket Academy, presenting the opportunity for young people aged 14-18 to work with emerging theatre professionals in order to stage a youth production on the Theatre Royal Haymarket stage.

During the run of The Tempest, three apprentices from Masterclass will shadow members of the creative team.

Release issued by: Premier PR

LINKS

Book tickets to Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket in London

Book tickets to Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead

Book tickets to The Tempest starring Ralph Fiennes

 

SHERIDAN SMITH in Flare Path

Sheridan Smith joins Sienna Miller in Terence Rattigan’s Flare Path

Acclaimed actress Sheridan Smith is a true all-rounder, whether it’s turning her hand to TV or stage, to comedy or drama, to straight plays or musicals. Her last West End work only ended in January, having spent a year wowing critics and audiences with her portrayal of blonde bombshell Elle Woods in the movie-to-stage musical Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre – leading to a Whatsonstage best actress in a musical award, and an Olivier Award nomination.

Up next is a play, as Sheridan takes the role of Doris in Terence Rattigan’s 1942 drama Flare Path, from 4 March at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Set during the Second World War, the play is directed by Trevor Nunn and co-stars Sienna Miller and James Purefoy.

Sheridan Smith is best known for her TV roles including Two Pints of Lager & A Packet of Crisps, Grown Ups, Love Soup, Benidorm, The Royle Family and Gavin and Stacey. Her stage work includes Into the Woods at the Donmar Warehouse, The People are Friendly for the Royal Court, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and The Taming of the Shrew at the Open Air Theatre and Audrey in the Menier Chocolate Factory’s production of Little Shop of Horrors.

Also up next for Sheridan is a role in Tanya Wexler’s movie Hysteria starring Maggie Gyllenhaal and Jonathan Pryce.

LINKS

Book tickets to Flare Path at the Theatre Royal Haymarket

Lee Mead to join Legally Blonde

West End star Lee Mead is to join the hit musical Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre in London.

Mead will take over from Alex Gaumond in the role of Emmett Forrest from 20 June 2011, joining a cast that includes Susan McFadden as Elle Woods, Siobhan Dillon as Vivienne and Peter Davison as Professor Callahan. Lee Mead’s wife Denise Van Outen is currently playing Paulette in the show, although may have left the production before Lee starts in the role.

Alex Gaumond, who was up for a best supporting Olivier Award this year, has been in the show since it started at the Savoy in 2009 and will leave on 18 June.

Legally Blonde recently scooped three 2011 Olivier Awards including Best New Musical, Best Actress in a Musical for Sheridan Smith and Best Performance is a Supporting Role in a Musical for Jill Halfpenny.

Lee was last seen in the West End as Fiyero in Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre. He rose to fame after winning the BBC talent show Any Dream Will Do leading to a starring role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Adelphi Theatre. Other roles include The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre and UK tours of Miss Saigon and Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime.

Legally Blonde is directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winning Jerry Mitchell, who is currently working on big new Broadway show Catch Me If You Can.

SPECIAL OFFER: Save £26 on tickets to Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre in London

 

LEGALLY BLONDE CAST LIST

Stephane Anelli (Padamadan, Nikos), Emma Bateman (Stenographer), Nicola Brazil (Serena), Thomas Camilleri (Carlos), Peter Davison (Professor Callahan) Siobhan Dillon (Vivienne Kensington), Chris Ellis-Stanton (Grandmaster Chad, Dewey, Kyle), Kimmy Edwards (Judge, Saleswoman), Alex Gaumond (Emmett), Ibinabo Jack (Pilar), Suzie McAdam (Enid), Susan McFadden (Elle Woods), Sorelle Marsh (Courtney, Mom, Whitney), Aoife Mulholland (Brooke), Sean Mulligan (Pforzheimer), Dawn Sievewright (Kate, Chutney), Carley Stenson (Margot), Lincoln Stone (Dad, Winthrop, Reporter), Simon Thomas (Warner), Robbie Towns (Aaron), Dominic Tribuzio (Kiki), Denise Van Outen (Paulette), Tamara Wall (District Attorney) and Stephen Webb (Lowell), as well as Jonathan Mawson, Jane McMurtrie, Lucy Miller, Ruthie Stephenson and Gregor Stewart as swings.

SPECIAL OFFER: Save £26 on tickets to Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre in London

Lee Mead To Join Legally Blonde The Musical As The Show Celebrates Recent Wins At The 2011 Laurence Olivier Awards

From mid-June Lee Mead will join the west end cast of the Olivier award-wining Legally Blonde The Musical to play Emmett Forrest. He joins Susan McFadden as Elle Woods, Carley Stenson as Margot, Nicola Brazil as Serena, Siobhan Dillon as Vivienne and Peter Davison as Professor Callahan. Alex Gaumond, who has played the role of Emmett since the UK premiere of the show, has now extended his run until mid-June when Mead will take over.

Legally Blonde The Musical opened at the Savoy Theatre in December 2009 and has been playing to packed audiences ever since. In addition to winning the 2011 Laurence Olivier Awards for Best New Musical, Best Actress in a Musical (Sheridan Smith) and Best Performance is a Supporting Role in a Musical (Jill Halfpenny), Legally Blonde The Musical is now booking until 31 March 2011.

College sweetheart and homecoming queen Elle Woods doesn’t take no for an answer. So when her boyfriend Warner dumps her for someone serious, Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and heads for Harvard Law! Along the way, Elle proves that being true to yourself never goes out of style.

The current full cast is Stephane Anelli (Padamadan, Nikos), Emma Bateman (Stenographer), Nicola Brazil (Serena), Thomas Camilleri (Carlos), Peter Davison (Professor Callahan) Siobhan Dillon (Vivienne Kensington), Chris Ellis-Stanton (Grandmaster Chad, Dewey, Kyle), Kimmy Edwards (Judge, Saleswoman), Alex Gaumond (Emmett), Ibinabo Jack (Pilar), Suzie McAdam (Enid), Susan McFadden (Elle Woods), Sorelle Marsh (Courtney, Mom, Whitney), Aoife Mulholland (Brooke), Sean Mulligan (Pforzheimer), Dawn Sievewright (Kate, Chutney), Carley Stenson (Margot), Lincoln Stone (Dad, Winthrop, Reporter), Simon Thomas (Warner), Robbie Towns (Aaron), Dominic Tribuzio (Kiki), Denise Van Outen (Paulette), Tamara Wall (District Attorney) and Stephen Webb (Lowell), as well as Jonathan Mawson, Jane McMurtrie, Lucy Miller, Ruthie Stephenson and Gregor Stewart as swings.

Lee Mead played the title role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Adelphi Theatre from 2007 to early 2009, after winning BBC One’s Any Dream Will Do. In 2007 he released his debut solo album, Lee Mead, followed in 2009 by Nothing Else Matters. Most recently he starred as Fiyero in the West End production of Wicked. His previous theatre credits include Lord Arthur Savile in Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime on tour in the UK; The Phantom of the Opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre; Miss Saigon on tour in the UK and Tommy.

Directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winning Jerry Mitchell, Legally Blonde The Musical has music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin, book by Heather Hach, set design by David Rockwell, costume design by Gregg Barnes, lighting design by Kenneth Posner and Paul Miller, sound design by ACME Sound Partners and orchestrations by Christopher Jahnke.

Legally Blonde The Musical is produced in the West End by Sonia Friedman Productions, Robert G. Bartner, Ambassador Theatre Group, Bud Martin, Adam Zotovich, Jamie Hendry Productions, Matthew Byam Shaw and Act Productions.

Release issued by: Premier PR

LINKS

Book tickets to Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre in London

Olivier Awards – Picks and Pans

What we loved and loathed about this year’s newly reinvigorated Olivier Awards

That is was actually held in a theatre again (who knew that a London theatre would make a great venue for a London awards ceremony!)

How pregnant was Nancy Carroll? “Awards shock induces labour” headlines were thankfully (sadly) unnecessary.

Elaine Paige claiming all thanks for bringing the Olivier Awards back to the telly (well, kind of back to the telly, so long as you had a red button). Do you think Julian Bird of the Society of London Theatre felt that he might have  also helped to get the Beeb back on board?

Note to the BBC: Aren’t the Olivier Awards what BBC4 was created for? Why not shove it on there and be done with it?

No expense was spared on the television coverage of the BBC Radio 2 coverage… including Paul Gambaccini and Matt Wolf’s plastic punnets of grapes on display during the televised Radio 2 segments, and just enough microphones for about ONE GUEST.  That said, we did love Paul and Matt’s chattettes, but also resented the disastrous cutting away from the awards action, in particular missing the Railway Children receiving Best Entertainment was a crime. Isn’t the red button all about skipping about and being in lots of places at the same time, split screens, viewers deciding what to see and listen to?…

Barry Manilow’s face: scary, and clearly inspiration for Rupert Everett (and tell me again, other than Cobacabana The Musical playing in the West End in 1994, why was Barry there?)

The Stage’s Mark Shenton: please God have a holiday and don’t get up at 4.30am to listen to the Olivier Awards (although we are always pleased that you do make the effort).

I don’t care what they say, Jodie Prenger was a trouper doing the live Red Carpet coverage. You need someone who can just TALK INCESSENTLY whilst thrusting a microphone in the faces on posing celebrities – and she did the Larry’s proud.

Sheridan Smith’s heartfelt, natural speech when picking up best actress in a musical made us love her even more and we have a sneaky feeling she may be back next year for her part in Flare Path (and who wouldn’t swear on camera when you find out you’ve won a MAJOR AWARD?!)

LISTEN & WATCH AGAIN

BBC iPlayer – Radio 2 coverage

BBC iPlayer – BBC News

LINKS

Olivier Awards – list of winners

Olivier Awards microsite

Olivier Awards – news

 

 

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