Sister Act tickets at the Broadway Theatre in New York

Patina Miller revives her show-stopping London performance as Deloris Van Cartier in the joyous new musical based on the hit movie.

London shows hit Broadway

From London to New York: Priscilla, Sister Act, War Horse and Jerusalem to open on Broadway

Four big West End shows are opening on Broadway in the coming weeks. Priscilla Queen of the Desert is currently in previews at the Palace Theatre on Broadway (and the Palace Theatre, London!), starring Will Swenson as Tick. Swenson appeared in the recent Broadway and London productions of Hair, and is joined in Priscilla by Tony Sheldon, who revisits the role of Bernadette after wowing audiences in Australia and London, and Nick Adams (La Cage Aux Folles) as Adam.

Over at the Broadway Theatre previews start on 24 March for Sister Act, which wings its way to America following a decent run at the London Palladium. The star of the London show, Patina Miller, will reprise her role as nightclub singer Deloris Van Cartier, joined by Victoria Clark (The Light in the Piazza) as Mother Superior.

Also transferring to Broadway, the National Theatre’s production of War Horse will start previews at the Lincoln Center in New York from 15 March, and the Royal Court’s smash-hit production of Jez Butterworth’s play Jerusalem will play the Music Box theatre from 2 April. The play will feature its Olivier Award-winning London star Mark Rylance, who is sure become a major Tony Awards contender for his tour de force performance as Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron.

Book tickets to Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the Palace Theatre, New York

Book tickets to Sister Act at the Broadway Theatre, New York

Book tickets to War Horse at the Lincoln Center in New York

Book tickets to Jerusalem at the Music Box theatre, New York

 

Broadway Theatre Spring Round-up

Our USA round-up of what’s hot on Broadway and beyond, including Daniel Radcliffe in How To Succeed…, transfers of Priscilla and Sister Act, Elaine Paige in Follies and much more.

Catch Me If You Can

Previews begin this week for major new Broadway musical Catch Me If You Can at the Neil Simon Theatre (opens 10 April), based on the Stephen Spielberg movie and the true story that inspired it. The show is led by rising new Broadway star Aaron Tveit (Next to Normal, Wicked) as con-man Frank Abagnale, and also stars Kerry Butler and Norbert Leo Butz. Aaron is featured in this month’s issue of Vanity Fair and there is a real buzz about him. The musical comes from the Hairspray and Love Never Dies creative team of Jack O’Brien (director) and Jerry Mitchell (Choreography), with a book by Terence McNally (The Full Monty), and score by Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman.

Spider-Man: Julie out?

The New York Times is reporting that Spider-Man: Turn off the Dark director Julie ‘The Lion King’ Taymor may have to fall on her sword and depart the production if she doesn’t seek help. Apparently the producers of the troubled, multi-million dollar show would like her to work with an expanded creative team to try and bring work on the production to a close – or she may have to leave the show. Other current decisions being made on the show include to what extent the script and music should be overhauled. The five-times rearranged opening night of 15 March now seems almost certain to be… rearranged!

London to Broadway: Priscilla, Sister Act, War Horse, Jerusalem

Four big West End shows are opening on Broadway in the coming weeks. Priscilla Queen of the Desert is currently in previews at the Palace Theatre on Broadway (and the Palace Theatre, London!), starring Will Swenson as Tick. Swenson appeared in the recent Broadway and London productions of Hair, and is joined in Priscilla by Tony Sheldon, who revisits the role of Bernadette after wowing audiences in Australia and London, and Nick Adams (La Cage Aux Folles) as Adam.
Over at the Broadway Theatre previews start on 24 March for Sister Act, which wings its way to America following a decent run at the London Palladium. The star of the London show, Patina Miller, will reprise her role as nightclub singer Deloris Van Cartier, joined by Victoria Clark (The Light in the Piazza) as Mother Superior.
Also transferring to Broadway, the National Theatre’s production of War Horse will start previews at the Lincoln Center in New York from 15 March, and the Royal Court’s smash-hit production of Jez Butterworth’s play Jerusalem will play the Music Box theatre from 2 April. The play will feature its Olivier Award-winning London star Mark Rylance, who is sure become a major Tony Awards contender for his tour de force performance as Johnny ‘Rooster’ Byron.

Daniel Radcliffe in How To Succeed in Business…

Life after Harry Potter is going to be particularly glamorous for Daniel Radcliffe as he is currently starring in How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying at the Al Hirschfeld Theatre (now in previews, opens 27 March). The show has hit the press recently over rumours that Warner Bros. are furious with the show’s producers for not letting Radcliffe out of performances to promote the final Harry Potter film later in the year.

Elaine Paige in Follies

Not long to go until the Eric Schaeffer revival of Sondheim’s Follies at the Kennedy Center in Washington (7 May – 19 June) starring Bernadette Peters as Sally, Jan Maxwell as Phyllis, Danny Burstein as Buddy, Ron Raines as Benjamin Stone – and our very own Elaine Paige as Carlotta. The casting of Paige caught many off guard (she’s TOO YOUNG you cry!) and it will be interesting to see if Paige turns up in Trevor Nunn’s mooted revival of the show at the Theatre Royal Haymarket later this year.

Hot tip: Gavin Creel in Prometheus Bound

Whilst Hair alumni Will Swenson is camping it up in Priscilla, fellow co-worker Gavin Creel, who also starred with Swenson in the London transfer of Hair, is currently wowing audiences in Prometheus Bound at the American Repertory Theater in Cambridge, Mass. Rumour mills are buzzing over whether the show might transfer to Broadway. Written by Tony and Grammy Award-winning playwright and lyricist Steven Sater, who scored a huge hit with Spring Awakening on Broadway and less so in London, and with music composed by Grammy Award-winning System of a Down lead singer Serj Tankian, the show is inspired by Aeschylus’s Ancient Greek tragedy.

Stars on Broadway

There’s no shortage of stars turning up on Broadway over the next few weeks, with Frances McDormand having just opened in Good People at the Manhattan Theatre Club, Brian Cox, Chris Noth, Jason Patric and Kiefer Sutherland starring in That Championship Season at the Bernard Jacobs Theatre, Billy Crudup in Arcadia at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre (opens 17 March), Robin Williams in Bengal Tiger In The Baghdad Zoo at the Richard Rodgers Theatre from 11 March, Chris Rock in Motherf**Ker With The Hat at the Gerald Schoenfeld Theatre from 15 March, Kathleen Turner in High at the Booth Theatre from 25 March, Edie Falco, Ben Stiller and Jennifer Jason Leigh in The House of Blue Leaves at the Walter Kerr Theatre from 25 April, and Tyne Daly and Sierra Boggess in Master Class at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre from 24 May. Phew!

LINKS

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Broadway news and gossip

Avenue Q, Sister Act close tonight

The West End bids farewell to long-running shows Avenue Q and Sister Act tonight, 30 October 2010.

Patina Miller, Simon Webbe and Sally Dexter will perform for the last time tonight, Saturday 30 October, at the London Palladium as a packed house will cheer out Sister Act after 17 months in town.

The hit musical, based on the movie starring Whoopi Goldberg, opened on 2 June 2009 with Patina Miller as nightclub singer Deloris van Cartier and Sheila Hancock as Mother Superior. Whoopi Goldberg also played the role of Mother Superior for short stints in August and October this year, alongside regular Superior – Sally Dexter.

The show will vacate the Palladium leaving a three month gap before The Wizard of Oz opens at the theatre in February 2011.

Sister Act will move to Broadway following its London closure, with Broadway veteran Jerry Zaks (The Addams Family) taking the director helm. The show will open at the Broadway Theatre on 20 April 2011.

And over at the Wyndham’s Theatre, cult Broadway show Avenue Q will also bow out of London today, after opening on 1 June 2006 at the Noel Coward Theatre.

The musical had been scheduled to close at the Noel Coward in March 2009 but a surprise surge in bookings led producer Cameron Mackintosh to keep it going, transferring the show to the Gielgud Theatre. It made a further move to the Wyndham’s Theatre, its current home, in March this year.

The show won three Tony Awards on Broadway and continues to run off-Broadway in New York. The London cast saying farewell tonight include Delroy Atkinson, Cassidy Janson, Rachel Jerram, Sion Lloyd, Tom Parsons, Paul Spicer, Jacqueline Tate, Irene Alano-Rhodes, Alan Pearson, Amanda Posener, Jaygann Ayeh, Sam Harrison and Maria Lawson.

LINKS

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Sister Act: big changes for Broadway

West End musical Sister Act to move to Broadway; Jerry Zaks to make changes to the show.

Sister Act, based on the hit film, is moving to Broadway following its closure at the London Palladium on 30 October.

The Broadway version will get a new director, with Broadway veteran Jerry Zaks (The Addams Family) taking the helm. He is set to make substantial changes to the show and has immediately brought in Douglas Carter van Beane (Xanadu) to write a new book (and new jokes!) for the musical.

Stage Entertainment, owned by Dutch entertainment billionaire Joop van den Ende, will produce the show on the Great White Way, alongside the original star of the film Whoopi Goldberg.

Sister Act will open at the Broadway Theatre on 20 April 2011. Casting is yet to be announced. The New York theatre is currently home to Promises, Promises starring Sean Hayes and Kristin Chenoweth.

In London the show currently stars Patina Miller, Simon Webbe and Sally Dexter. It will vacate the Palladium in October, leaving a three month gap before The Wizard of Oz opens at the theatre in February 2011.

Book tickets to Sister Act at the London Palladium

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ITV’s This Morning – Musicals week

Whilst we desperately try to avoid turning on the TV before cocktail hour, sometimes the search for art and beauty (and a good show tune) prevails.

All this week, ITV’s This Morning has been celebrating the West End Musical, with Monday’s show featuring the cast of Mamma Mia! and Tuesday shaking things up with Sister Act.

Today, at 11am, Noel Sullivan, Lauren Samuels and the cast of Grease sang Summer Nights on the show.

And coming up next is the cast of Dirty Dancing tomorrow, Thursday 26 August, and the cast of We Will Rock You on Friday.

THE MICHAEL BALL SHOW

ITV’s The Michael Ball Show, on ITV1 weekdays from 3pm, will feature Cameron Mackintosh today. The theatre impresario will discuss celebrations for the 25th anniversary of Les Miserables, and will be joined by Gareth Gates who is playing Marius in the touring production – soon to come to the Barbican in London.

Dexter acts superior in Sister Act

Sally Dexter will join the cast of Sister Act next month at the London Palladium when she becomes the third actress to play Mother Superior in the hit musical.

The multi-talented actress will join the cast of the show following Whoopi Goldberg’s current run in the role.

Dexter, who has appeared in numerous plays and musicals including Billy Elliot and Bad Girls, was last at the Palladium playing Nancy in Cameron Mackintosh’s 1994 production of Oliver!

The show is slated to end at the London Palladium on 30 October 2010, earlier than its original 1 January closing date. It will make way for Andrew Lloyd Webber’s big-budget new production of The Wizard of Oz. Sister Act is expected to go on to Broadway.

The part of Mother Superior was originated by Sheila Hancock in the musical, which is based on the hit movie.

Special offer: Save £24 on tickets to Sister Act at the London Palladium

Historic year for West End theatres

An historic number of West End theatres celebrate important anniversaries this year, including 80th birthdays for three theatres in September.

A boom in theatre building in the Art Deco 1930′s has resulted in six West End theatres celebrating their 80th anniversaries in 2010.

September proves a particularly important month, with three theatres celebrating their 80th: the Cambridge Theatre on Earlham Street on 4 September; Charing Cross Road’s Phoenix Theatre on 24 September; and the Trafalgar Studios on Whitehall, formerly known as the Whitehall Theatre, on 29 September.

Already this year the Prince Edward Theatre has celebrated its 80th birthday on 3 April, and later in the year the Apollo Victoria Theatre will mark its 80th on 15 October and the Adelphi Theatre on 3 December.

Celebrations will include a charity gala for the Apollo Victoria on 10 October featuring the cast of the venue’s current show, Wicked, and past productions including Starlight Express.

Advisory Body, The Theatres Trust, commented on the anniversaries: “The West End theatres that celebrate their 80th anniversaries this year are among the UK’s best examples of art deco and moderne style venues. Each is distinctive and unique, built to appeal to a public eager for entertainment, plays, films, variety and musicals. It is a mark of their quality that they continue to do so to this day.”

2010 also marks theatrical milestones for a number of other venues, notably the 100th anniversary of the famous London Palladium on 26 December. A special Facebook page has been set up for the London Palladium’s centenary allowing theatregoers and theatre professionals to remember the historic venue. Also, on Radio 2 this autumn a two-part documentary series, The London Palladium Story, will tell the story of the theatre, narrated by Michael Grade.

Also this year the Peacock Theatre, originally called the Royalty Theatre, will celebrate its 40th birthday in June, and the former Leicester Square Theatre, now the Odeon West End cinema, will turn 80.

QUICK THEATRE FACTS

Adelphi Theatre

Opened: 3 December 1930

Designed: Ernest Schaufelberg, incorporating parts of the former Sans Pareil theatre

Location: Strand, London, WC2E 7NA Adelphi Theatre Map

First production: Ever Green by Benn W. Levy and Lorenz Hart

Current production: Love Never Dies

Apollo Victoria Theatre

Opened: 15 October 1930

Designed: E. Wamsley Lewis and W E Trent

Location: 17 Wilton Road, London, SW1V 1LL Apollo Victoria Theatre Map

First production: originally opened as a cinema (film: George Arlis in Old English)

Current production: Wicked

Cambridge Theatre

Opened: 4 September 1930

Designed: Wimperis, Simpson and Guthrie with Serge Chermayeff

Location: Earlham Street, London, WC2 9HU Cambridge Theatre Map

First production: Charlot’s Masquerade by Ronald Jeans

Current production: Chicago

London Palladium

Opened: 26 December 1910

Designed: Frank Matcham

Location: London Palladium, Argyll Street, London, W1F 7TF London Palladium Map

First production: A Variety Show and one act play called The Conspiracy.

Current production: Sister Act

Peacock Theatre

Opened: June 1960

Designed: Lewis Solomon and Kaye and Partners

Location: Portugal Street, London, WC2A 2HT Peacock Theatre Map

First production: opened as a cinema

Current productions: include La Boheme, Euridice

Phoenix Theatre

Opened: 24 September 1930

Designed: Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Bertie Crew, and Cecil Masey, with Theodore Komisarjevsky

Location: Charing Cross Road, London, WC2H 0JP Phoenix Theatre Map

First production: Noel Coward’s Private Lives

Current production: Blood Brothers

Prince Edward

Opened: 3 April 1930

Designed: Edward A. Stone with Marc-Henri and Laverdet and Gaston Laverdet

Location: Old Compton Street, London, W1D 4HS Prince Edward Theatre Map

First production: Rio Rita by Harry Tierney

Current production: Jersey Boys

Trafalgar Studios

Opened: 29 September 1930

Designed: Edward A. Stone with Marc-Henri and Laverdet and Gaston Laverdet

Location: Whitehall, London, SW1A 2DY Trafalgar Studios Map

First production: The Way To Treat A Woman by Walter Hackett

Current productions: include Shirley Valentine, Educating Rita, State Fair

LINKS:

The Theatres Trust

Arthur Lloyd website

Apollo Victoria celebrates 80 years

A charity gala is being held at the Apollo Victoria this October to celebrate the West End theatre’s 80th birthday.

Opened on 15 October 1930, the Art Deco theatre was designed by E. Wamsley Lewis with W.E. Trent and originally built as a super cinema.

To celebrate its 80th birthday, a special gala concert will be held on 10 October 2010 featuring the cast of the venue’s current show, Wicked, alongside a number of musicals stars from shows including Saturday Night Fever, Bombay Dreams, Movin’ Out and Jersey Boys. Also a reunion of some of the cast of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express, which played at the theatre from 1984 for 18 years, is also promised. Celebrities to appear include Wicked’s Lee Mead and Oliver Thompsett, Sharon D Clarke and Patina Miller from Sister Act.

All proceeds from the evening will go to Cancer Research UK, plus a raffle will be held in aid of the Entertainment Artiste’s Benevolent Fund.

The gala is being put together by Wicked’s UK Associate Director Petra Siniawski and Dance Supervisor Adam Murray. Other events at the theatre on 10 October include talks, tours and a curated display of the theatre’s history.

Tickets are on sale from tomorrow, Friday 13 August 2010, on 0844 847 2288.

Whoopi a smash in Sister Act

Hollywood star Whoopi Goldberg was on great form last night, making her West End debut in Sister Act at the London Palladium.

Stars were out in force to support the performer, who starred in the original movie and has now taken over from Sheila Hancock as Mother Superior in the show.

Pop singer Mika said: “Sister Act was brilliant. Whoopi was excellent, so humble and at one with the rest of the cast. I could not stop smiling”.

Whoopi told the Daily Mail before the curtain went up last night that she was nervous about performing in the show: “It’s a big deal. It’s The Palladium and it’s London, and it’s my first stage production here that I’m in.”

Fellow co-star Patina Miller who plays Deloris van Cartier, the role that Whoopi originated in the hit movie, said that she was, “blessed to be onstage with her” last night. Simon Webbe, from boyband Blue and who plays Shank in the show called Goldberg a “true star”.

Whoopi stars in the show for only 23 performances from 10 to 31 August at the London Palladium.

Actress, singer-songwriter, political activist and talk show host, Whoopi Goldberg won an Oscar in 1990 for her part in Ghost, and has appeared in numerous films including The Color Purple, Jumpin’ Jack Flash, How Stella Got Her Groove Back and Soapdish, as well as her comedy stand-up work and appearance on US TV’s The View.

Book tickets to Sister Act at the London Palladium

PICTURES

Daily Mail – Sister Act

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