SARAH LANCASHIRE in Betty Blue Eyes
January 31, 2011
Sarah Lancashire takes on Maggie Smith’s role in the new stage musical Betty Blue Eyes.
Cameron Mackintosh’s latest stage musical, Betty Blue Eyes, is based on Alan Bennett and Malcolm Mowbray’s acclaimed screenplay A Private Function. In the film Maggie Smith played the formidable Joyce Chilvers, a role that accomplished TV star Sarah Lancashire will take on in the new stage production when it opens at the Novello Theatre from 19 March 2011.
Sarah trained at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama and is best known for her TV work, including playing Raquel in Coronation Street, All The Small Things, Dr Who, Clocking Off, Cherished, Fiver Daughters, Murder Most Horrid, Where The Heart Is, Rose and Maloney, Wurthering Heights, Seeing Red and The Cry.
Her stage work includes playing Miss Adelaide in the Donmar’s production of Guys and Dolls at the Piccadilly theatre, Audrey in Little Shop of Horrors at the Oldham Coliseum and Linda in Blood Brothers at the Albery (now the Noel Coward) Theatre.
Produced by Cameron Mackintosh, Betty Blue Eyes is directed by Richard Eyre and penned by George Stiles (music) and Anthony Drewe (lyrics), with a book by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman. The show also stars Reece Shearsmith (The League of Gentlemen) as Gilbert, Adrian Scarborough (After the Dance, Gavin & Stacey) as Wormold, David Bamber (My Night With Reg) as Swaby, Ann Emery (Billy Elliot) as Mother Dear, Jack Edwards as Allardyce and Mark Meadows as Lockwood.
The story is set in a small Yorkshire village just after the Second World War. When the locals want to celebrate the forthcoming Royal wedding, post-war rationing prompts them to illegally raise a pig for the event. But social climber Joyce (Lancashire) and her down-trodden husband Gilbert (Shearsmith) plot a scheme of their own that throws the village into chaos.
LINKS
Book tickets to Betty Blue Eyes at the Novello Theatre in London
Interview with Betty Blue Eyes composers Stiles & Drewe
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre 2011 Season
January 26, 2011
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre is the only permanent professional outdoor theatre in Britain. Their new 2011 season promises something for everyone with classic plays, Shakespeare and a great big Broadway musical set to break new box-office records at this magical venue.
What’s on at the Open Air Theatre in 2011
Lord of The Flies
19 May – 18 June
William Golding’s classic novel is brought to the stage by the same team as last season’s The Crucible. After a group of schoolboys survive a massive plane crash, what starts as a classic desert island adventure quickly becomes a struggle for survival as superstition and immorality sees the community slide into a darkly sinister world. This production promises to rediscover this gripping drama in the unconfined and atmospheric setting of the open air. Recommended for ages 11+.
Book tickets to Lord of the Flies at the Open Air Theatre
The Beggar’s Opera
23 June – 23 July
Director Lucy Bailey injects her trademark visual dynamism into John Gay’s original text and The City Waites, led by Roddy and Lucy Skeaping, use authentic instruments to recreate the popular ballads and folk tunes of the time. In The Beggar’s Opera a tangled web of lies and deceit blissfully unravels between innocent but feisty heroine Polly Peachum, her wronged rival Lucy Lockit and Macheath, their irrepressible highwayman lover. Set deep in London’s underworld, this comedy of highwaymen, hangmen and harlots is an uncompromising exposure of moral and financial corruption.
Book tickets to The Beggar’s Opera at the Open Air Theatre
Pericles
Re-imagined for everyone ages six and over
02 July – 23 July
Continuing the successful series of Shakespeare plays for younger audiences, and making its first appearance at the Open Air Theatre since 1939, Pericles is re-imagined for everyone aged six and over. The young prince, Pericles, takes to the high seas on a quest to discover the world. An odyssey adventure of shipwrecks, tournaments and of love lost, and found, this is a journey into adulthood and a celebration of family to enjoy together.
Book tickets to Pericles at the Open Air Theatre
Crazy For You
28 July – 10 September
George and Ira Gershwin’s hit musical comedy is packed full of classic songs including “I Got Rhythm”, “Someone To Watch Over Me”, “Embraceable You” and “Nice Work If You Can Get It”. The original 1992 production won both the Tony and Olivier Award for Best New Musical, and the creative team from the Open Air’s multi-award winning production of Hello, Dolly! reunite to bring you a joyous musical treat. The production is led by director Timothy Sheader, choreographer Stephen Mear and designer Peter McKintosh, plus Into the Woods musical supervisor, Gareth Valentine.
Book tickets to Crazy for You at the Open Air Theatre
Me and My Girl to the Shaftesbury?
January 14, 2011
Anna Mackmin’s fun new production of Me and My Girl, which has been running over Christmas at the Sheffield Crucible (until 29 January) looks set to come to London.
Apparently the Shaftesbury Theatre is a potential home for the show, replacing Flashdance which closes this Saturday, 15 January.
Daniel Crossley and Jemima Rooper in Me and My Girl
Jemima Rooper stars as Sally and Daniel Crossley as Bill in a new version of Noel Gay’s classic show, alongside Miriam Margolyes as the Duchess. Mackim worked with scriptwriter Stephen Russell to give the book of the show, which was rewritten by Stephen Fry for the successful 1980s West End production, a bit more sparkle. And it seems like they have succeeded given the reviews, with the Sunday Times and Daily Mail both awarding the show 5 stars.
It has been 17 years since the Leicester Haymarket Theatre’s production left the Adelphi Theatre in London after 8 years, 3,303 performances and lots of Lambeth walking by the likes of Robert Lindsay and Emma Thompson. The production made a lot of money for all concerned so it’s a canny Daniel Evans, Sheffield’s artistic director, who has resurrected it.
RUMOUR CHECK-LIST
- Show: Me and My Girl
- Theatre: Shaftesbury Theatre
- Casting: Jemima Rooper and Daniel Crossley
- Director: Anna Mackmin
- Previously staged: Sheffield Crucible
- Opening: 2011
Note: all information is unconfirmed. Source: Daily Mail (14/01/11)
Betty Blue Eyes opens bookings
December 1, 2010
Booking has opened for new Cameron Mackintosh musical Betty Blue Eyes, coming into the West End this Spring.
Stars of Betty Blue Eyes Sarah Lancashire and Reece Shearsmith
The new show, which is based on Alan Bennett and Malcolm Mowbray’s acclaimed screenplay A Private Function, has been penned by Mackintosh protégées George Stiles (music) and Anthony Drewe (lyrics), with a book by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman.
Richard Eyre will direct the show, which previews from 19 March 2011 at the Novello Theatre.
The musical is a move back to new work for the Les Miserables producer, whose recent projects have been revivals of hit shows such as Mary Poppins and Oliver!, or transfers of Broadway shows Avenue Q and Hair. “Betty Blue Eyes is my first original musical in over ten years”, said Mackintosh. “As a long-time admirer of Alan Bennett’s wickedly funny screenplay for the film A Private Function, I immediately fell in love with this infectious and delicious musical treatment which has expanded on the original”.
The show will see Sarah Lancashire (Coronation Street, Seeing Red) as Joyce Chilvers, played in the 1984 movie by Maggie Smith. Lancashire will be returning to the West End after her brief appearance in Guys & Dolls in 2005. Her hen-pecked husband in the show, Gilbert, will be played by Reece Shearsmith (The League of Gentlemen).
The story is set in a small Yorkshire village just after the Second World War. When the locals want to celebrate the forthcoming Royal wedding of Elizabeth and Philip, post-war rationing prompts them to illegally raise a pig for the event. But social climber Joyce (Lancashire) and her down-trodden husband Gilbert (Shearsmith) plot a scheme of their own that throws the village into chaos.
The show’s opening will coincide with the forthcoming April marriage of Prince William and Kate Middleton.
Other casting includes Adrian Scarborough (After the Dance, Gavin & Stacey) as Wormold, David Bamber (My Night With Reg) as Swaby, Ann Emery (Billy Elliot) as Mother Dear, Jack Edwards as Allardyce and Mark Meadows as Lockwood.
The story is set in a small Yorkshire village just after the Second World War. When the locals want to celebrate the forthcoming Royal wedding, post-war rationing prompts them to illegally raise a pig for the event. But social climber Joyce (Lancashire) and her down-trodden husband Gilbert (Shearsmith) plot a scheme of their own that throws the village into chaos.
The show’s musical director is Richard Beadle, with musical staging by Stephen Mear, design by Tim Hatley, lighting by Neil Austin, sound by Mick Potter, musical supervision by Stephen Brooker and orchestrations by William David Brohn.
Ahead of Betty Blue Eyes, director Richard Eyre will direct Tom Hollander in a new production of Feydeau’s farce A Flea in her Ear at the Old Vic Theatre from 4 December.
Onassis is currently playing at the Novello Theatre starring Robert Lindsay, and is currently booking until 8 January 2011.
Read an interview with George Stiles and Anthony Drewe
Book tickets to Betty Blue Eyes at the Novello Theatre in London
Sadler’s Wells record year; Nude dance
October 27, 2010
Sadler’s Wells, the dance venue in North London, has posted record audiences figures for its 2009 to 2010 financial year.
The craze for dance in the UK, fuelled by shows such as Strictly Come Dancing, has boosted audiences at Sadler’s Wells, with dance now ranking second to football as the nation’s favourite activity.
Over 600,000 people visited Sadler’s Wells last year, seeing 136 productions at the popular dance venue, and bringing in £19.8 million of revenue. In line with Arts Council cuts, it was also announced that Sadler’s Wells’ annual subsidy for the next financial year will be cut by 6.9%.
The chairman of Sadler’s Wells, David Bell, said: “We have no illusions about the challenges ahead as the government makes cuts in every area including, of course, the arts. But our finances are strong, our support is excellent and our team superb, which gives us huge confidence for the future.”
Un Peu deTendresse Bordel de Merde
Sadler’s Wells also revealed their forthcoming programme for 2010/2011, featuring a wide and eclectic mix of productions including:
- Controversial choreographer Dave St Pierre’s 2007 show, Un Peu de Tendresse Bordel de Merde, which features 20 nude male and female dancers. The show will debut in June and is described as “leading the audience on a journey through their emotions as the performers leap with primal urgency, or lie crumpled and defeated on the ground, before climaxing in a moving finale”. Dave St Pierre, who is a self-styled ”enfant terrible” of the dance world, will be bringing his work to the UK for the first time, and guarantees the Wells plenty of press coverage. Some of St Pierre’s previous work includes La Pornographie des âmes, which included scenes of masturbation.
- In March Bartabas, the famous French horse trainer, impresario and film producer, will make his British debut by bringing his new show The Centaur and The Animal to Sadler’s Wells, featuring dancers on live horses. The show will be co-choreographed by Japanese butoh master Ko Murobushi.
- Also in March The Pet Shop Boys will team up with Venezuelan dancer and choreographer Javier de Frutos for a new dance piece based on the Hans Christian Andersen story, The Most Incredible Thing. The show will star former Royal Ballet principal and dance poster boy Ivan Putrov along with a cast of 15. Neil Tennant of the Pet Shop Boys said, “we wanted to do something unfashionable, like a Tchaikovsky ballet, but with pop music”. Ivan Putrov also commented that “I am so excited that my friendship with Neil and Chris has led to the development of The Most Incredible Thing. I am happy to be working with this great team and very much looking forward to the new creation.”
- Other highlights include Anne Teresa De Keersmaker and her Rosas company; transvestite ballet with les ballet C de la B; Rosalba Torres Guerrero; Dutch National Ballet; Sol Pico and American Ballet Theatre; Balletboyz; and the return of Stephen Mear’s Shoes and breakdance festival Breakin’ Convention.
Ivan Putrov
Coming up at Sadler’s Wells this Christmas is the return of Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella, whilst at Sadler’s Wells’ West End venue – the Peacock Theatre – seasonal favourite The Snowman comes back to London.
LINKS
Tickets to Matthew Bourne’s Cinderella
Information about Sadler’s Wells (map, seating plan, journey planner)
Casting News: Me and My Girl
September 6, 2010
Anna Mackmin has announced her cast for the Christmas revival of Me and My Girl at the Sheffield Crucible, opening on 2 December.
Jemima Rooper
Jemima Rooper will star as Sally and Daniel Crossley as Bill in the new version of Noel Gay’s classic show, alongside Miriam Margolyes as the Duchess.
Anna Mackmin, who recently directed Tom Stoppard’s The Real Thing at the Old Vic, will be directing her first musical. She is working with scriptwriter Stephen Russell to give the book of the show, which was rewritten by Stephen Fry for the successful 1980s West End production, a bit more sparkle. Choreography will be by Stephen Mear and design by Peter McKintosh.
Jemima Rooper came to prominence in Channel Four drama As If and has had numerous screen and stage roles including her current performance in All My Sons at the Apollo Theatre alongside Zoe Wanamaker and David Suchet.
Daniel Crossley in Hello Dolly!
Daniel Crossley, who is the partner of Sheffield artistic director Daniel Evans, is an accomplished musicals actor having appeared in high-profile shows including Mary Poppins, Chicago, Fosse and last summer’s Hello Dolly! at the Open Air Theatre in Regent’s Park.
The show is widely tipped to head to the West End after its Sheffield run given that it has been 17 years since the Leicester Haymarket Theatre’s production left the Adelphi Theatre in London after 8 years, 3,303 performances and lots of Lambeth walking by the likes of Robert Lindsay and Emma Thompson. The production made a lot of money for all concerned so it’s a canny Daniel Evans, Sheffield’s artistic director, who’s resurrecting it.
LINKS
Me and My Girl – Sheffield Theatres
OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Choreographer Winners
June 8, 2010
OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Choreographer Winners
Best Theatre Choreographer
2012 Peter Darling for Matilda The Musical
2011 Leon Baugh for Sucker Punch
2010 Stephen Mear for Hello Dolly!
2009 Steven Hoggett for Black Watch
2008 Toby Sedgewick for War Horse
2007 Javier De Frutos for Cabaret
2006 Peter Darling for Billy Elliot – The Musical
2005 Matthew Bourne and Stephen Mear for Mary Poppins
2004 Karen Bruce for Pacific Overtures
2003 Matthew Bourne and Company for Play Without Words
2002 Matthew Bourne for My Fair Lady
2001 Bob Fosse and Ann Reinking for Fosse
2000 Garth Fagan for The Lion King
1999 Susan Stroman for Oklahoma!
1998 Simon McBurney for The Caucasian Chalk Circle
1997 Bob Avian for Martin Guerre
1996 Dein Perry for Tap Dogs
1995 David Atkins and Dein Perry for Hot Shoe Shuffle
1994 Luke Cresswell and Steve McNicholas for Stomp
1993 Susan Stroman for Crazy For You
1992 Rafael Aguilar for Matador
1991 Charles Augins for Five Guys Named Moe
OUT OF TOWN: Chichester, Sheffield
May 14, 2010
New productions at the Chichester Festival Theatre, Sheffield Theatres, and the Derby Theatre
CHICHESTER:
Much excitement at westendtheatre.com at the casting of Chichester’s new production of 42nd Street (21 June – 28 August, Festival Theatre). Directed by the Leicester Curve’s Paul Kerryson, the show will feature the fabulous Kathryn Evans (Sunset Boulevard), dishy leading man Steven Houghton and the uber-talented Tim Flavin (Crazy for You).
SHEFFIELD:
On a retro-musicals note, Me and My Girl will resurface in Sheffield this Christmas (from 9 December, Sheffield Crucible). It’s been a whopping 17 years since the Leicester Haymarket Theatre’s all new, Stephen Fry-revised production left the Adelphi Theatre in London after 8 years, 3,303 performances and lots of Lambeth walking by the likes of Robert Lindsay and Emma Thompson. The production made a lot of money for all concerned so it’s a canny Daniel Evans, Sheffield’s artistic director, who’s resurrecting it. The show will be directed by Anna Mackmin, who’s enjoying big success at the Old Vic at the moment with her production of The Real Thing starring Toby Stephens. Choreography will be by Stephen Mear and design by Peter McKintosh.
If we begged him, do you think Daniel Evans would take the lead?
DERBY:
Having mentioned Robert Lindsay, he will resurrect his performance as Aristotle Onassis in Martin Sherman’s play Onassis (Derby Theatre, from 10 September). Based on the last years of the controversial Greek tycoon, the play was originally produced as Aristo at Chichester to mixed reviews but with glowing praise for Lindsay’s performance. Sherman and director Nancy Meckler have subsequently rewritten the piece.
The production will then transfer to the Novello Theatre in London in late September.
Sweet Charity to transfer
February 21, 2010
Tamsin Outhwaite in Sweet Charity
The Menier Chocolate Factory’s sold out run of Sweet Charity is to transfer in to the West End.
Starring ex-EastEnders star Tamzin Outhwaite in the title role of Charity Hope Valentine, the show will open at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on 23 April.
Winner of a Tony Award, the musical has a book by Neil Simon, music by Cy Coleman and lyrics by Dorothy Fields and features a number of legendary musicals songs including Hey, Big Spender, If My Friends Could See Me Now and The Rhythm of Life.
Directed by Matthew White, with choreography by Stephen Mear and set design by Tim Shortall, the show is being brought in to town by David Ian and David Mirvish.
Sweet Charity follows the misadventures of the gullible and guileless Charity Hope Valentine, a woman who always gives her heart and her dreams to the wrong man.
Tamzin Outhwaite has proved a versatile actress across both stage and screen, having recently appeared in Matthew Warchus’ acclaimed production of Boeing-Boeing at the Comedy Theatre, and on television in Hustle, Hotel Babylon and new dramas The Fixer and Paradox.
Book tickets to Sweet Charity at the Theatre Royal Haymarket
