Sweeney Todd at the Adelphi Theatre starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton
November 18, 2011
Following a sell-out run in Chichester, Jonathan Kent’s critically acclaimed production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd transfers to London’s Adelphi Theatre for a limited season starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton.
Sweeney Todd starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton to play West End in March
November 4, 2011
The acclaimed production of Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd, which has been playing in Chichester to packed houses, will transfer into the West End in March 2012.
Starring Michael Ball as Sweeney Todd and Imelda Staunton as Mrs Lovett, the show will play at the Adelphi Theatre from 10 March 2012.
The show is directed by Jonathan Kent and designed by Anthony Ward.
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STAGE SPY CHECK-LIST
- Show: Sweeney Todd
- Author: Stephen Sondheim, Hugh Wheeler
- Theatre: Adelphi Theatre
- Director: Jonathan Kent
- Stars: Michael Ball, Imelda Staunton
- Opens: 10 March 2012
- Original production: Chichester Festival Theatre, 24 September 2011
Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball in Sweeney Todd. Photo: Roy Tan
Production photos: Sweeney Todd starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton
October 11, 2011
Production photos of Sweeney Todd at the Chichester Festival Theatre starring Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton
Imelda Staunton and Michael Ball in Sweeney Todd. Photo: Roy Tan
Chichester’s 2011 festival closes this year with a new production of Stephen Sondheim’s classic musical Sweeney Todd.
Leading the cast are two of British Theatre’s biggest names, with distinguished musical performer Michael Ball and Oscar-nominated actress Imelda Staunton starring in the show.
The deliciously dark musical depicts Sweeney Todd’s savage quest for justice and retribution after years of false imprisonment. Aided and abetted by the pie-shop owner, Mrs Lovett, he sets out to avenge the wrongs done to him and his family. Combining a gory sensibility with elements of English music hall, the production offers a fascinating portrait of a man driven to madness by injustice and grief.
Michael Ball plays Sweeney Todd in the show, joined by Imelda Staunton as Mrs Lovett.
The show is directed by Jonathan Kent and designed by Anthony Ward, and runs at Chichester until 5 November 2011.
Photos by Roy Tan.
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Michael Ball And Imelda Staunton In Sweeney Todd – The Demon Barber Of Fleet Street
August 12, 2011
Chichester’s Festival 2011 closes with Sweeney Todd, the musical commonly acknowledged to be Stephen Sondheim’s masterpiece, in a cast led by distinguished musical performer Michael Ball and Oscar-nominated actress Imelda Staunton.
Set in nineteenth century London and laced with Sondheim’s characteristically brilliant wit and dark humour, the musical depicts Sweeney Todd’s savage quest for justice and retribution after years of false imprisonment. Aided and abetted by the pie-shop owner, Mrs Lovett, he sets out to avenge the wrongs done to him and his family. Combining a gory sensibility with elements of English music hall, the production offers a fascinating portrait of a man driven to madness by injustice and grief.
Michael Ball plays Sweeney Todd. His theatre credits include Hairspray, Les Misérables, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, Passion, Aspects of Love, The Woman in White and The Phantom of the Opera. He made his English National Opera debut as Hajj/Poet in Kismet and in 2005 he made his debut with the New York City Opera as Reginald Bunthrone in Gilbert and Sullivan’s Patience. Ball co-produced Chichester Festival 2010’s West End transfer of Love Story. He also has a successful recording career, and released his eighteenth album, Heroes, and completed a nationwide tour earlier this year.
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Imelda Staunton plays Mrs Lovett. Her theatre credits include A Delicate Balance at the Almeida Theatre, the West End production of Entertaining Mr Sloane, Life x 3 (National Theatre and The Old Vic) and Guys and Dolls (National Theatre). Film credits include the Harry Potter series, Taking Woodstock, and the title role in Vera Drake, for which she received BAFTA, European Film and Venice Film Festival Awards, as well as an Oscar nomination. Television credits include Psychoville and Cranford.
John Bowe plays Judge Turpin. His credits include the West End production of Priscilla Queen of the Desert, The Lady from the Sea and Heartbreak House (Almeida Theatre), Edward Bond’s Lear (RSC and European tour) and Saint Joan (The Old Vic).
Peter Polycarpou plays Beadle Bamford. He was last seen at Chichester in Festival 2010’s Love Story, which later transferred to the West End. His other credits include the West End productions of Les Misérables, Miss Saigon and The Secret Garden, Oklahoma! for the National Theatre, and the popular BBC sitcom, Birds of a Feather.
The cast also features Robert Burt, Luke Brady, Lucy May Barker, Daniel Graham, Gillian Kirkpatrick, James McConville and Simeon Truby. The ensemble includes Valda Aviks, Will Barratt, Josie Benson, Emily Bull, John Coates, Robine Landi, Brian McCann, Tim Morgan, Aoife Nally, Adam Pearce, Vincent Pirillo, Wendy Somerville, Anton Stephans, Kerry Washington and Annabelle Williams.
Stephen Sondheim’s credits as composer/lyricist include Road Show, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sunday in the Park with George, Company, A Funny Thing Happened On the Way to the Forum, Into The Woods and Assassins. He also wrote the lyrics for West Side Story and Gypsy. His film credits include Reds and Dick Tracy, for which he won an Oscar. He has also received numerous Tony and Grammy Awards and a Pulitzer Prize.
Jonathan Kent’s credits include Chichester Festival 2010’s A Month in the Country. His recent work includes the National Theatre production of Oedipus starring Ralph Fiennes, and The Fairy Queen at Glyndebourne. Kent was joint Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre where his work included When We Dead Awaken, All For Love, Medea, The School For Wives and Gangster No.1. Other theatre credits include Le Cid, Mother Courage and Her Children and The False Servant, all for the National Theatre.
Design is by Anthony Ward whose credits include Festival 2011’s She Loves Me, ENRON (Festival 2010 and 09), Macbeth (Festival 07), Posh at the Royal Court, as well as West End productions of Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Oliver! and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He has won a Tony Award for Costume Design for Mary Stuart, and Olivier Awards for the Set Design of Oklahoma! and the Costume Design of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, La Grande Magia and The Way of the World.
Choreographer is Denni Sayers whose credits include Don Giovanni (Glyndebourne), Ibsen’s Emperor and Galilean and Oedipus (National Theatre), Parsifal and The Flying Dutchman (ENO), Cyrano de Bergerac, Carmen, Paul Bunyan and The Bartered Bride (all for ROH).
Lighting Design is by Mark Henderson whose credits include A Month in the Country (Festival 2010), ENRON (Festival 2010 and 09, the Royal Court Theatre, West End, Broadway and tour), West End productions of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, The Iceman Cometh, Copenhagen, Hamlet and The Real Thing (all also on Broadway), All My Sons, Mourning Becomes Electra, The History Boys and The Habit of Art (National Theatre).
The musical director is Nicholas Skilbeck whose credits include West End productions of Sister Act, Hairspray, Billy Elliott – The Musical, Mamma Mia! and Cats.
Orchestration is by Jonathan Tunick whose credits include Road Show, Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Into the Woods, Passion, A Chorus Line, The Color Purple and Nine.
Sound design is by Paul Groothuis whose credits include Festival 2011’s Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead; His Dark Materials, Edmond, Henry V and A Streetcar Named Desire (all for the National Theatre), Anything Goes, My Fair Lady and All My Sons (National Theatre and West End), as well as the West End productions of Children’s Hour and Flare Path.
Sweeney Todd is at Chichester Festival Theatre from 24 September – 5 November, 7.30pm (except Press Night Thursday 6 October, 7.00pm), matinees 2.15pm. Tickets £10 – £28 (University of Chichester Previews), £13 – £33 (Previews/Press Night) and £14 – £38 (Evenings/Matinees) are available online at www.cft.org.uk or from the Box Office on 01243 781312.
Age guideline: 12+
Join Jonathan Kent in conversation on how his production of Sweeney Todd has been staged at Chichester. This free pre-show talk is on Tuesday 4 October at 6.00pm in the Steven Pimlott Building.
After Words – join some of the Sweeney Todd cast and creative team for a post-show discussion on Thursday 13 October.
Release issued by: Chichester Theatre
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Stephen Sondheim’s Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory – Special Offer Save £10.50
August 8, 2011
SPECIAL OFFER: Save £10.50 on tickets to see Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory
David Bedella and Michael Jibson in Road Show
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.
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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
July 6, 2011
A round-up of reviews of Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory.
Sondheim's 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.
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Book tickets to Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory
Rehearsal photos of Stephen Sondheim’s Road Show at the Menier Chocolate Factory
June 23, 2011
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.
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.
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First-look Photos: Elaine Paige, Bernadette Peters in Follies at the Kennedy Center
May 18, 2011
Production photos for Stephen Sondheim’s Follies at the Kennedy Center in Washington starring Bernadette Peters and Elaine Paige
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is currently presenting the Kennedy Center revival production of Follies. The musical runs from 7 May to 19 June 2011 in the Kennedy Center Eisenhower Theater. The production features a book by James Goldman and music and lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and is directed by Eric Schaeffer with choreography by Warren Carlyle and musical direction by James Moore.
Principal casting includes Bernadette Peters as Sally Durant Plummer, Jan Maxwell as Phyllis Rogers Stone, Danny Burstein as Buddy Plummer, Ron Raines as Benjamin Stone, and Elaine Paige as Carlotta Campion.
The production also stars Terrence Currier as Theodore Whitman, Christian Delcroix as Young Buddy, Rosalind Elias as Heidi Schiller, Colleen Fitzpatrick as Dee Dee West, Lora Lee Gayer as Young Sally, Michael Hayes as Roscoe, Florence Lacey as Sandra Crane, Linda Lavin as Hattie Walker, Régine as Solange LaFitte, David Sabin as Dimitri Weismann, Kirsten Scott as Young Phyllis, Frederick Strother as Max Deems, Nick Verina as Young Ben, Susan Watson as Emily Whitman and Terri White as Stella Deems. Rounding out the ensemble is Lawrence Alexander, Brandon Bieber, John Carroll, Sara Edwards, Leslie Flesner, Jenifer Foote, Leah Horowitz, Suzanne Hylenski, Danielle Jordan, Joseph Kolinski, Amanda Larsen, Brittany Marcin, Edrie Means, Erin Moore, Pamela Otterson, Clifton Samuels, Kiira Schmidt, Brian Shepard, Sam Strasfeld, Amos Wolff and Ashley Yeater.
Originally produced on Broadway by Harold Prince with orchestrations by Jonathan Tunick, Follies opened on April 4, 1971 starring Dorothy Collins, John McMartin, Gene Nelson, and Alexis Smith. It ran for 522 performances in the Winter Garden Theatre and received seven Tony Awards®, including Best Original Score.
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Road Show by Stephen Sondheim tickets at the Menier Chocolate Factory starring David Bedella
May 12, 2011
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
May 9, 2011
The European premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s latest musical, Road Show, will open at the Menier Chocolate Factory this Summer.
Road Show to premiere at the Menier Chocolate Factory
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.
Alexander Gemignani and Michael Cerveris in the New York production of Road Show
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
