The Broadway, West End And International Sensation Stomp Celebrates Its 20th Birthday – And Enters Its 10th Year In The West End!
July 28, 2011
STOMP – the multi-award winning, international hit show – celebrates its 20th birthday this autumn with special events throughout London on Monday 14th November, culminating in a thrilling and unique performance of the show. For one night only, a number of high-profile comedian friends of STOMP will take part in a special routine, joining co-creator Luke Cresswell on stage to celebrate this milestone.
STOMP is also turning 10 in the West End – and to mark the occasion on November 14th there will be a series of special events at each of the venues it has played in London, before returning to its current home, The Ambassadors Theatre, for this 20th Birthday Gala Special. Names and further details to be announced.
Since its premiere at the Edinburgh Festival in 1991, Stomp has become a global phenomenon, showcasing a universal language of rhythm, theatre, comedy and dance that has resonated with audiences throughout the world. Eight performers use everything from Zippo lighters and plastic bags to bin lids and even the kitchen sink to hammer out an explosively feel-good rhythm.
STOMP has toured the globe almost continuously for 20 years, setting feet stamping, fingers drumming and adrenalin rushing for over 15 million people in 48 countries across 5 continents. It is currently playing in the UK, US, throughout Europe and South America.
From a single drum hanging around Luke Cresswell’s neck back in 1991, STOMP has taken on a life of its own. Creators and co-directors Cresswell and Steve McNicholas developed a pulsating, witty, utterly irresistible theatrical event that has become a worldwide phenomenon.
At its heart is a show that continues to evolve – inspired by the large-scale Las Vegas version, Stomp Out Loud, new music and choreography now join a fresh array of ordinarily mundane objects, onto which the cast work their musical magic. Huge ribbed tubes, previously used for recycling fluorescent lights, are themselves recycled into outsized Guiros, a Latin American percussion instrument, played by scraping the ridged sides with a stick. Stomp is fresher, faster and funnier than ever before.
Together they received an Oscar nomination for the film BROOMS, performing at the 1996 ceremony, and an Emmy nomination for the HBO special Stomp Out Loud. Their work in Imax films is extensive: they co-directed the award winning giant-screen films, Pulse: a Stomp Odyssey and Wild Ocean 3D as well as the Stomp inspired feature Vacuums. Cresswell has also received a special achievement award from the Chicago Human Rhythm Project.
Luke and Steve created and composed the Lost and Found Orchestra, which explores found sound on an orchestral level. They recently purchased The Old Market in Brighton, which they have transformed into a thriving venue for the use of fellow artists and to support emerging local talent as a performance, workshop, recording and exhibition space, in the heart of Brighton and Hove’s Brunswick town.
Over the last 20 years, Stomp has garnered truly diverse recognition; from an Olivier Award and the headline-grabbing performance at the 1996 Oscars to the City of New York celebrating its 10th birthday at the Orpheum Theatre by renaming 2nd Avenue at 8th Street ‘Stomp Avenue’! Now, in 2011, with an
international community of performers totaling more than 100 over five companies, the ‘dustbin dance’ marks its new milestone in its characteristic show of joyous explosion!
Release issued by: Target Live
LINKS
SPECIAL OFFER: Book tickets to STOMP at the Ambassadors Theatre in London
Free Hotel Rooms in London
January 10, 2011
Celebrate winter with our great new hotel and theatre promotion, with blockbuster shows including Love Never Dies, Legally Blonde, Priscilla, Jersey Boys and Billy Elliot.
Westendtheatre.com has partnered with 18 top London shows and a range of Central London hotels to offers visitors to the city a fabulous winter treat.
Running until the end of March 2011, you can book a free room in a central London hotel when buying a top-price theatre ticket to one of a selection of shows.
Prices start at just £45 ($70 USD / €55 Euros) per person for a three star hotel, continental breakfast and a best seat to a major West End show, based on two people sharing.
An amazing selection of big-budget West End musicals are featured in the promotion including: Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to the Phantom of the Opera – Love Never Dies; Legally Blonde, based on the smash-hit movie; Tony award-winning Elton John musical Billy Elliot; a new musical adaptation of Love Story; fabulous, spectacular show Priscilla Queen of the Desert; Jersey Boys featuring the music of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons; Dirty Dancing; sexy, sassy Kander and Ebb show Chicago; joyous 1960s musical Dreamboats and Petticoats; Grease The Musical; Willy Russell’s powerful musical Blood Brothers; theatre, dance and percussion show Stomp; and Michael Jackson tribute show Thriller Live.
Comedy and drama included in the promotion ranges from a riotously funny adaptation of The 39 Steps, to Samantha Bond in Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband, terrifying thriller The Woman in Black, and classic comedy When We Are Married.
BOOK NOW
See all shows in the promotion and book now
Terms and conditions of the promotion:
Prices are per person and based on two people sharing a twin or double room in one of our chosen Central London 3* hotels. Valid for select performances and subject to availability. Once booked, the package is non transferable and cannot be exchanged or refunded. All prices include VAT and all other transaction and booking fees. Selected shows are subject to a £5 supplement. For full terms and conditions visit www.westendtheatre.com/theatre-breaks
VIDEO: STOMP at the Ambassadors Theatre
November 2, 2010
The internationally renowned, explosive and energetic combination of theatre, dance, comedy and percussion.
Book tickets to STOMP
More information about the show
More information about the Ambassadors Theatre
VIDEO
STOMP at the Ambassadors Theatre
LINKS
Watch more videos on West End Theatre TV
Anniversaries: Phoenix, Wicked, Stomp
September 24, 2010
A number of West End anniversaries are celebrated in London this week, including the 80th birthday of the Phoenix Theatre.
Phoenix Theatre
Noel Coward and Gertrude Lawrence in Private Lives
Today, 24 September 2010, marks the 80th anniversary of London’s Phoenix Theatre. Commissioned by Sidney Bernstein, who started Granada television, the Charing Cross Road theatre opened in 1930 with Noel Coward’s classic play Private Lives, staring Coward, Gertrude Lawrence, Laurence Olivier and Adrianne Allen.
Other notable successes for the theatre included Noel Coward again, this time with his Tonight at 8.30 one-act plays in 1936, Canterbury Tales in 1968, Night and Day in 1978 and a long list of famous players including John Gielgud, Vivien Leigh, Paul Scofield and Vanessa Redgrave. The Phoenix Theatre currently hosts Willy Russell’s musical Blood Brothers, which opened at the venue in November 1991.
The Phoenix theatre was designed by Sir Giles Gilbert Scott, Bertie Crew and Cecil Masey with Theodore Komisarjevsky.
A number of West End venues are celebrating their 80th birthdays this year, following a boom in theatre building in the Art Deco 1930′s, including the Prince Edward, Cambridge, Trafalgar Studios, Apollo Victoria and Adelphi theatres.
Stomp and Wicked
Lee Mead in Wicked
Long-running West End shows Stomp at the Ambassadors Theatre and Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre also celebrate birthdays this month. Stomp celebrates its 8th birthday tomorrow, having opened at the Vaudeville Theatre on 25 September 2002. The high-energy show, which combines theatre, dance, comedy and percussion, moved to its current home at the Ambassadors in 2007.
On Monday 27 September big-budget Broadway musical Wicked celebrates its 4th birthday at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London. Currently starring Lee Mead, Rachel Tucker and Louise Dearman, Wicked remains one of the most successful shows on both sides of the Atlantic. The Stephen Schwartz and Winnie Holzman musical is based on the best-selling novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West by Gregory Maguire, a companion novel to L. Frank Baum’s classic story The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
PHOENIX THEATRE QUICK FACTS
Hard to now imagine but the original site had been a factory, before becoming a Music Hall called the Alcazar.
In 1969 the owners of the Phoenix, Gerald and Veronica Flint-Shipman, organised a midnight matinee for Noel Coward’s 70th birthday, attended by Princess Margaret. A few days before, he opened the Noel Coward bar in the theatre’s foyer.
In 1976 the Phoenix hosted a Hollywood season of four plays featuring particularly starry names: Rock Hudson and Juliet Prowse in I Do I Do, Glynis Johns and Louis Jordan in 13, Rue De L’Amour, Lee Remick in Bus Stop and Douglas Fairbanks Jr in The Pleasure of His Company.
On reviewing the theatre when it first opened, The Stage newspaper said that, “Each seat has sufficient body and leg room and is provided with its own hat rack”.
LINKS
News: Historic year for West End venues
ArthurLloyd.co.uk: Phoenix history
Stomp tickets at the Ambassadors Theatre
August 1, 2010
The internationally renowned, explosive and energetic combination of theatre, dance, comedy and percussion.
Big crowds for West End Live 2010
June 21, 2010
Over 250,000 people gather in Leicester Square for free West End theatre event.
View VIDEOS of West End Live 2010
West End Live, a free event held in the West End this weekend, showcased the best of London theatre and attracted over a quarter of a million people.
Now in its sixth year and the largest free theatre festival in the world, the event featured the casts of some of London’s biggest shows including Thriller Live, Disney’s The Lion King, Legally Blonde, All The Fun Of The Fair, Tap Dogs, We Will Rock You, Billy Elliot, Wicked, Hair, Chicago, Love Never Dies, Avenue Q, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, Burn the Floor, Grease, Mamma Mia!, Stomp, Dirty Dancing and Jersey Boys.
An array of West End stars performed at the event including Ramin Karimloo (Love Never Dies), Sheridan Smith (Legally Blonde), Patina Miller (Sister Act), Daniel Boys (Wolfboy) and Ryan Molloy (Jersey Boys).
Councillor Robert Davis of Westminster City Council, who organised the event, said: “Without doubt, this has been our biggest and best West End LIVE. We’ve seen spectacular performances from some of the nation’s favourite shows.”
Nica Burns, President of the Society of London Theatre said: “London has the best theatre in the world and West End LIVE is a fantastic opportunity for people to sample some of the West End’s most popular shows for free.” The success of the past weekend suggests that a quarter of a million satisfied theatre fans agree.
View VIDEOS of West End Live 2010
West End Live this weekend
June 17, 2010
A free event will be held in London this weekend, showcasing the best of West End theatre.
West End Live will feature the casts of some of London’s biggest shows, performing at a free event this weekend in Leicester Square. On Saturday 19 and Sunday 20 June 2010, hundreds of West End performers will gather to showcase the best of London theatre. Careful juggling by the organisers has enabled the casts of over 25 shows to appear live on a stage in Leicester Square in between performing their matinee and evening performances.
Download and print the West End Live timetable of events.
The line-up for the celebration has now been confirmed, with Brazil! Brazil! launching the weekend at 11am on Saturday.
Shows which have agreed to participate in the family event include Thriller Live, Disney’s The Lion King, Legally Blonde, All The Fun Of The Fair, Tap Dogs, We Will Rock You, Billy Elliot, Wicked, Hair, Chicago, Love Never Dies, Avenue Q, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, Burn the Floor, Grease, Mamma Mia!, Stomp, Dirty Dancing and Jersey Boys.
West End stars will be out in force to entertain audiences at the event, including Daniel Boys (Wolfboy), who will be hosting proceedings from 12 noon to 6pm on Sunday 20 June, Sheridan Smith (Legally Blonde), Kerry Ellis (Oliver!), Patina Miller (Sister Act) and Hannah Waddingham (Into The Woods).
Saturday’s full line up* is as follows: 11.00am Brazil! Brazil!; 11.15am Dirty Dancing; 11.25am Burn the Floor; 11.35am Wicked; 11.45am We Will Rock You; 12.05pm Billy Elliot; 12.15pm Love Never Dies; 12.30pm Chicago; 12.45pm HAIR; 13.05pm Jersey Boys; 13.25pm Sweet Charity; 13.35pm Grease; 13.50pm Mamma Mia!; 14.00pm Sister Act; 14.10pm Thriller Live; 14.30pm Julie Atherton; 14.40pm Avenue Q; 15.00pm Into the Woods; 15.20pm Fireman Sam; 15.30pm Sylvia Young Theatre School; 15.50pm Burn the Floor; 16:00pm The Big Dance; 16:20pm London Gay Men’s Chorus; 16:35pm Burn The Floor; 16.45pm The Gleeks; 17.10pm Royal Albert Hall; 17.35pm All the Fun of the Fair; 17.45pm STOMP.
On Sunday* there’s more theatrical thrills and spills with: 12.00pm Tap Dogs; 12.15pm Stomp; 12.30pm Thriller Live; 12.55pm Jersey Boys; 13.10pm Priscilla Queen of the Deasert; 13.25pm Legally Blonde; 13.35pm Disney’s The Lion King; 13.50pm Mamma Mia!; 14.00pm West End Kids; 14.15pm Daniel Boys; 14.30pm National Youth Music Theatre; 14.45pm Into the Woods; 15.10pm Mark Jermin Stage School; 15.30pm Fireman Sam; 15.45pm Jack Day; 16.00pm T Mobile Big Dance; 16.20pm West End Gospel Choir; 16.40pm Burn the Floor; 16.50pm SOLT competition; 17.00pm 1916 the Musical; 17.15pm Burn the Floor; 17.25pm Dover Street.
* Timetable and acts subject to change – check West End Live site for details.
To get the party started early, the cast of Wicked will also be performing on Friday 18 June 2010 at Cardinal Place, Victoria between 12.30 and 1pm for a pre West End LIVE performance.
The weekend event will feature exhibits and activities including the London Film Museum, Science Museum, V&A Museum, Little Angel Puppet theatre and Forbidden Planet.
Over a quarter of a million people attended last year’s event in Leicester Square. Running in a variety of formats for a number of years, including the Society of London Theatre’s Fair in the Square events in the 1990s, this year’s two-day event is organised by Westminster City Council.
Saturday 19 June, 11am-6pm and Sunday 20 June, 12noon to 6pm in Leicester Square.
Download and print the West End Live timetable of events.
LINKS: West End Live website
OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Choreographer Winners
June 8, 2010
OLIVIER AWARDS – Best Choreographer Winners
Best Theatre Choreographer
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
Free West End event scheduled
May 13, 2010
The casts of London’s biggest shows are being allowed out of their theatres again this year to perform at the West End’s annual live event in Leicester Square.
West End Live is a weekend of free entertainment on 19 and 20 June that promises to showcase the best of London’s Theatreland.
Running in a variety of formats for a number of years, including the Society of London Theatre’s Fair in the Square events in the 1990s, this year’s two-day event initiated by Westminster City Council will see 23 shows perform on a stage in Leicester Square.
Shows which have agreed to participate in the family event include Thriller Live, The Lion King, Legally Blonde, All The Fun Of The Fair, Tap Dogs, We Will Rock You, Billy Elliot, Wicked, Hair, Chicago, Love Never Dies, Avenue Q, Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, Burn the Floor, Grease, Mamma Mia!, Stomp, Dirty Dancing, The Fantasticks and Jersey Boys.
West End stars will be out in force to entertain audiences at the event, including Sheridan Smith (Legally Blonde), Kerry Ellis (Oliver!), Patina Miller (Sister Act) and Hannah Waddingham (Into The Woods). More stars are expected to be announced shortly.
Last year’s event attracted around 250,000 people.
Saturday 19 June, 11am-6pm and Sunday 20 June, 12noon to 6pm in Leicester Square.
LINKS: West End Live website
Fantastic Fridays Hotel & Theatre Breaks
April 12, 2010
Westendtheatre.com presents a brand new promotion offering special deals on West End hotels and theatres when staying on a Friday evening in London.
Our “Fantastic Fridays” promotion runs until the end of October 2010 and offers a Top Price Seat to a hit show and a Friday night stay in a central London 4 Star hotel for only £79* per person.
Shows included in the special theatre and hotel package range from smash-hit musicals such as Wicked, Chicago, Grease, Blood Brothers, Dreamboats and Petticoats and Stomp, to hilarious comedy The 39 Steps and thriller The Woman in Black.
More information and booking > > >
SHOWS INCLUDED IN THE PROMOTION
WICKED
Friday Night 4* Theatre Break OfferMUSICAL: Winner of this years audience award at the Olivier awards, Wicked is one of the biggest and most successful shows in London (Apollo Victoria Theatre)
CHICAGO
Friday Night 4* Theatre Break OfferMUSICAL: The sexy tale of murderous showgirls, featuring hit songs and plenty of razzle dazzle (Cambridge Theatre)
THE 39 STEPS
Friday Night 4* Theatre Break OfferCOMEDY: A fast-paced, high-energy and hilarious adaptation of Hitchcocks classic movie (Criterion Theatre)
BLOOD BROTHERS
Friday Night 4* Theatre Break OfferMUSICAL: Willy Russells award-winning musical about twins separated at birth, currently starring The Spice Girls Melanie C (Phoenix Theatre)
GREASE
Friday Night 4* Theatre Break OfferMUSICAL: Fun and fabulous high school musical now starring Robin Cousins (Piccadilly Theatre)
STOMP
Friday Night 4* Theatre Break OfferENTERTAINMENT: Theatre, dance, comedy and percussion all combine in this infectious and ingenious show (Ambassadors Theatre)
THE WOMAN IN BLACK
Friday Night 4* Theatre Break OfferTHRILLER: Terrifying ghost story now in its 21st year in the West End, starring Orlando Wells (Fortune Theatre).
DREAMBOATS & PETTICOATS
Friday Night 4* Theatre Break OfferMUSICAL: A love story set in 1961 against a backdrop of fabulous Sixties songs (Playhouse Theatre)
More information and booking > > >
Terms and conditions of the Hotel and Theatre promotion:
• Exact Shows and hotels offered may be subject to change and vary according to availability
• Package Price based on 2 persons sharing standard Twin / Double room
• Package Valid for Friday Arrivals only between 17/03/2010 – 29/10/2010
