Wicked celebrates 5th birthday plus other anniversaries coming up
September 27, 2011
Mega-hit musical Wicked celebrates 5 years at the Apollo Victoria Theatre
When it opened at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London on 27 September 2006 the reviews for Broadway musical Wicked were decidedly lukewarm, with Paul Taylor of the Independent declaring that “I enjoyed very little…”
Rachel Tucker in Wicked
Fast-forward five years and the show’s reign as one of the most successful musicals in London theatre history continues unabated, having taken over £145m at the box office and about to welcome its four millionth visitor in the next couple of months.
The show premiered on Broadway in 2003, where it also continues to pack them in and appear week after week at the top of the box office charts. Stephen Schwartz’s musical is based on Gregory Maguire’s best-selling novel, which in turn is inspired by L Frank Baum’s classic story Wizard of Oz, which is also running in the West End at the Palladium Theatre.
The book and musical tell the “untold” story behind Baum’s classic, envisioning the Wicked Witch starting life as a good, green-skinned girl who turns evil due to the prejudice of those around her, notably her spoilt sister Glinda, who later becomes the Good Witch.
The show enjoys enormous levels of support from a loyal fanbase, many of whom have seen the musical countless times.
A new cast will join the show from 12 December this year, including Gina Beck as Glinda and and Matt Willis as Fiyero, plus Desmond Barrit returning to the show to play The Wizard, alongside current Wicked stars Rachel Tucker as Elphaba and Julie Legrand as Madame Morrible.
Wicked recently played its 2000th performance at the Apollo Victoria Theatre and has won numerous awards including the 2010 Olivier Award for Most Popular Show. Long may the success continue.
Book tickets to Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London
OTHER ANNIVERSARIES COMING UP
Autumn is always a big time for theatre anniversaries, being prime season for the opening of new shows. Already this month we’ve seen The 39 Steps celebrate its 5th birthday at the Criterion Theatre on 20 September and STOMP celebrate its 9th birthday on 25th September, having opened in the West End in 2002.
Coming up, Les Miserables at the Queen’s Theatre turns 26 on 8 October 1985 and is still riding on a massive high following its 25th anniversary celebrations last year and continuing news and gossip about the upcoming Hollywood movie version of the show.
Last year may have been all about Les Mis but this year it’s The Phantom of the Opera’s turn to bask in the spotlight as the show turns 25 on 9 October. The show, which has played continuously at Her Majesty’s Theatre since 1986, and subsequently all around the world, will celebrate with a special The Phantom of the Opera 25th anniversary concert at the Royal Albert Hall.
Also in October Disney’s The Lion King at the Lyceum Theatre turns 12 on 19 October.
LINKS
Book tickets to Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London
Gina Beck And Matt Willis To Join Cast of Wicked From Monday 12 December 2011. Desmond Barrit Returns To Play ‘The Wizard’
September 14, 2011
WICKED, the smash hit musical that tells the untold story of the Witches of Oz, is pleased to announce that Gina Beck and Matt Willis will join the cast on Monday 12 December 2011 to star as Glinda and Fiyero respectively. Desmond Barrit is returning to the show to play The Wizard. They will be joined by Lillie Flynn (Nessarose), Christopher Howell (Doctor Dillamond) and Adam Pettigrew (Boq).
Gina Beck (Glinda) recently finished a two-year season starring as ‘Christine Daaé’ in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera at London’s Her Majesty’s Theatre. She made her West End debut in 2006 as ‘Cosette’ in Les Misérables at the Queens Theatre and recently performed in the 25th Anniversary Concert at The O2. Gina is currently starring in The Belle’s Stratagem at the Southwark Playhouse.
Matt Willis (Fiyero) first shot to fame as a member of the chart-topping, BRIT award-winning band Busted. In 2006 he won the popular ITV show I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out of Here!. He has subsequently made countless TV appearances, many alongside his wife, presenter Emma Willis. Having originally trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School, Matt returned to his theatre roots in 2010, to make his West End debut as ‘Nick Hurley’ in Flashdance. He most recently starred as ‘Chuck’ in the UK national tour of Footloose.
Desmond Barrit (The Wizard) originally starred in WICKED in 2008/09. The Olivier award-winning RSC and National Theatre actor has just finished playing ‘Falstaff’, directed by Sir Peter Hall, to great acclaim.
Gina Beck (Glinda), Matt Willis (Fiyero), Desmond Barrit (The Wizard), Lillie Flynn (Nessarose), Christopher Howell (Doctor Dillamond) and Adam Pettigrew (Boq) will join current WICKED stars Rachel Tucker (Elphaba) and Julie Legrand (Madame Morrible) from Monday 12 December 2011.
WICKED recently played its 2000th performance and will celebrate its landmark 5th birthday on Tuesday 27 September 2011. The “hugely popular musical” (The Times) has now been seen by almost 4 million people since its West End premiere in 2006.
Acclaimed as “the hit musical with brains, heart and courage” (The Sunday Telegraph), WICKED has won multiple awards including the 2010 Olivier Award for Most Popular Show and the Whatsonstage.com Award for Best West End Show in both 2011 and 2010.
Release issued by: Wicked Press Office
LINKS
Book tickets to Wicked at the Apollo Victoria in London
Music: Wicked’s Mark Evans launches new single
August 10, 2011
West End star Mark Evans, who is currently playing Fiyero in Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, has released a brand new single – The Journey Home/Adre’n Ol.
This double A side single is taken from his forthcoming debut album of the same name, The Journey Home, which will be released in October 2011.
The Journey Home is originally from A. R. Rahman’s musical Bombay Dreams, and Adre’n Ol (Homeward Bound) was written for Mark by brother and sister, Ynyr and Angharad Llwyd, from Prion in Wales.
LINKS
MUSIC SHOP
Buy a copy of Mark’s new single
West End Live 2011: Ghost The Musical, Wicked, Jersey Boys
June 22, 2011
West End Live 2011 photos including Sharon D Clarke in Ghost The Musical, Ryan Molloy in Jersey Boys and Rachel Tucker in Wicked
LINKS
View West End Live photos of Rock of Ages and Betty Blue Eyes
View West End Live photos of The Wizard of Oz and Crazy For You
Book tickets to Ghost The Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre
Book tickets to Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre
Book tickets to Jersey Boys at the Prince Edward Theatre
Wicked and Billy Elliot perform at free Summer launch event
June 13, 2011
It’s a big week to catch free performances of your favourite musicals. Ahead of this weekend’s annual West End Live event in Trafalgar Square, this Wednesday sees an opportunity to catch a free lunchtime concert featuring Victoria-based musicals Wicked and Billy Elliot.
Wicked to perform at Cardinal Place in Victoria
The occasion is the launch of this year’s Great British Summer promotion, held this Wednesday 15 June 2011 at 12.30pm at Cardinal Place roof garden in Victoria, London.
Great British Summer runs big outdoor screens in three London locations, showing key Wimbledon tennis matches and a number of Hollywood movies over the summer. Screens will be placed at Cardinal Place in Victoria, Bankside on the Southbank and New Street Square in Holborn.
The free performance on Wednesday will feature the casts of Wicked and Billy Elliot, supported by The Gleeks and the West End Gospel Choir.
West End Live this weekend (Saturday 18 and Sunday 19 June) will see a host of musicals perform a free concert in Trafalgar Square in London.
LINKS
LEE MEAD in Legally Blonde The Musical
June 1, 2011
West End star Lee Mead joins the cast of Legally Blonde The Musical at the Savoy Theatre.
Lee Mead. Photo: © Roy Tan
Legally Blonde is on a roll!
The show has already scooped three 2011 Olivier Awards including Best New Musical. And now the multi-talented actor Lee Mead is joining the cast from 20 June 2011 in the role of Emmett.
Lee Mead’s story is a classic showbiz tale for the 21st Century: a chorus boy struggling to break into the big time enlists on a TV talent show and ends up a star.
Mead came to prominence by winning BBC One’s talent show Any Dream Will Do in 2007, and going on star in Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s major revival of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Adelphi Theatre. However, before winning the show he was a jobbing West End actor having played in a number of musicals including The Phantom of the Opera, Miss Saigon and Tommy.
He left Joseph in 2009 to release a successful solo album and then took the title role in the UK tour of Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime. He released a second album and has performed around the UK whilst also starring as Fiyero in Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre last year.
Lee Mead is married to TV and stage performer Denise Van Outen, who was on the judging panel for Any Dream Will Do. They married in April 2009 and have recently had a baby daughter, Betsy.
And in a bid to keep it in the family Denise is currently starring as beautician Paulette in the show – although there may not be a cross-over between the two performers. Other cast include Susan McFadden as Elle Woods, Siobhan Dillon as Vivienne and Peter Davison as Professor Callahan.
SPECIAL OFFER: Save on tickets to Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre in London
Alan Titchmarch celebrates West End musicals
May 5, 2011
All week on ITV1 in the UK, TV host Alan Titchmarsh has been celebrating West End musicals on his daytime show.
Alan Titchmarsh
His weekday The Alan Titchmarsh Show, running Mondays to Fridays at 3pm on ITV1, has seen the cast of Wicked (Monday 2 May), Grease (Tuesday), Les Miserables with Gareth Gates (Wednesday), Legally Blonde (today, Thursday 5 May at 3pm) and Billy Elliot (Friday) perform in front of a live studio audience.
LINKS
Watch Wicked perform on the Alan Titchmarsh Show
Olivier Audience Award short list announced
February 27, 2011
The short list for this year’s Olivier Audience Award was announced today by Elaine Paige on her BBC Radio 2 show.
Gareth Gates in Les Miserables - on the short list for the Olivier Audience Award
The short list of shows are Billy Elliot the Musical, Jersey Boy, Les Misérables and We Will Rock You. They received more votes than the 14 other eligible shows in the Audience Award category, and were voted for by members of the theatregoing public.
Voting has now reopened to choose the winner, until 9 March 2011. The winner will be announced at the Olivier Awards at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on Sunday 13 March.
Queen musical We Will Rock You and Billy Elliot both made it on to the short list last year but were beaten by Wicked as the Audience Award winner 2010. Wicked was not included in the awards line-up this year. The nomination of Les Misérables follows the show’s recent win at the Whatsonstage Awards for its 25th anniversary O2 concert and UK touring production. Jersey Boys is the biographical musical telling the story and featuring the music of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons, which opened at the Prince Edward theatre in 2008.
Also on Elaine Paige’s show this Sunday, a new song written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice for the new London Palladium production of The Wizard of Oz was given its world premiere. Red Shoes Blues was sung by Hannah Waddingham, who plays the Wicked Witch of the West in the show alongside Danielle Hope as Dorothy and Michael Crawford as the Wizard.
LINKS
LISTEN: Red Shoes Blues from The Wizard of Oz, sung by Hannah Waddingham
LISTEN: Elaine Paige announces the Olivier Audience Award short list
Whatsonstage Awards announced
February 21, 2011
Legally Blonde picks up four awards; Shakespeare’s Globe wins best new play for Anne Boleyn
Anthony Howell and Miranda Raison in the 2010 production of Anne Boleyn
The Whatsonstage Awards were announced last night, 20 February 2011, at the Prince of Wales Theatre in London. Musical Legally Blonde at the Savoy Theatre won four awards including best new musical and best actress in a musical for Sheridan Smith, who played leading lady Elle Woods in the show until last month.
It was also a good night for outdoor London venues as best new play went to Howard Brenton’s Anne Boleyn at Shakespeare’s Globe, which is returning to the venue this summer, and best director went to the Open Air Theatre’s artistic director Timothy Sheader for his 2010 summer productions of Into the Woods and The Crucible.
Other big winners included Les Miserables, which grabbed best ensemble performance and best theatre event of the year for its 25th anniversary concert at the O2, and best musical revival for the national touring production which ended its run at the Barbican theatre last autumn; and best West End show went to Wicked at the Apollo Victoria, with the show’s current star Rachel Tucker winning best takeover in a role.
Best actress was awarded to Zoe Wanamaker for her performance in All My Sons at the Apollo Theatre, alongside her co-star David Suchet, who picked up best actor. Love Never Dies, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s sequel to The Phantom of the Opera, also won two awards, with Ramin Karimloo taking home best actor in a musical, joined by Joseph Millson as best supporting actor in a musical.
Sheridan Smith in Legally Blonde
Other highlights included Yes, Prime Minister, which beat current best play award winner and Olivier Award best play favourite Clybourne Park in the best comedy category, Meera Syal named best solo performance for Shirley Valentine, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof winning best play revival, Joanna Scotcher winning best set design for The Railway Children at Waterloo Station and American actor Jonathan Groff taking home London newcomer of the year for his role alongside Simon Russell Beale in Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre.
Finally, in the only category to celebrate National theatre, Craig Revel Horwood’s new production of Chess won best regional production.
The annual awards, which are voted for by members of the public, saw 45,000 votes registered this year. See a full list of winners here.
OLIVIER AWARDS
Public voting is now under way for the Olivier Awards Audience Award, to be announced on 13 March. See WestEndTheatre.com’s new Olivier Awards microsite for further information.
Shows get the movie treatment
February 8, 2011
A buoyant West End is leading to some big-screen remakes of West End hits.
Daniel Radcliffe in The Woman in Black
Twenty-three years after Susan Hill’s terrifying novel The Woman in Black first opened on the London stage, a new movie version is to be distributed in cinemas later this year starring Daniel Radcliffe.
It marks a growing interest in developing big screen projects based on successful stage shows, with movie producers realising the potential of some theatre brands that have built up large and loyal international audiences over long periods of time.
In the last few years successful movie versions of stage hits have proved popular at the box-office including Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, Broadway musicals Chicago and Hairspray, and Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd.
The forthcoming The Woman in Black movie version is produced by Hammer Films, the cult British film studio that made stars out of Christopher Lee and Peter Cushing with its horror movies such as Dracula and The Curse of Frankenstein. Now in post-production, the film has been adapted by Jane Goldman (Kick-Ass), directed by James Watkins (Eden Lake) and also stars a heavy-weight British cast including Daniel Radcliffe, Ciaran Hinds, Janet McTeer and Roger Allam.
Inspired by the creative and box-office success of War Horse, Steven Spielberg has also started work on a big screen adaptation of First World War story. Already an enormous hit for the National Theatre – first at their South Bank home and currently at the New London Theatre – the movie goes back to Michael Morpurgo’s novel and features a screenplay by Billy Elliot writer Lee Hall and Love Actually’s Richard Curtis. Dreamworks, which now sits within Disney, has moved forward the planned release date of the film to 28 December 2011 such is the excitement surrounding the project.
The War Horse movie cast features rising young star Jeremy Irvine as Albert, Benedict Cumberbatch, who is currently starring in Frankenstein at the National Theatre, as Major Stewart, David Thewlis as Lyons and Emily Watson as Albert’s mother. Plus man of the moment Tom Hiddleston – who is also starring in the movie of Terence Rattigan’s The Deep Blue Sea.
A number of new stage-to-screen projects are also in development, including Will Smith’s new movie version of Annie with his daughter Willow, and two Cameron Mackintosh film adaptations: Les Miserables – the world’s longest-running musical, in association with Working Title and Universal, and My Fair Lady. The later is being worked on with Sony and current stars tipped for leads of Eliza and Professor Higgins are Cary Mulligan and Colin Firth.
Also Glee creator Ryan Murphy is rumoured to be working on a remake of the 1975 film The Rocky Horror Picture Show – based on the cult stage musical - following his Rocky Horror homage in the latest series of Glee.
Finally, and perhaps most exciting of all for theatre fans, smash-hit musical Wicked is set for a movie version, with Universal currently scouting for directors to take it on. The musical movie version is not to be confused with the mini-series planned for ABC in the US produced by Salma Hayek and based on the original Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West.
It is safe to say that stage to screen adaptations will never over shadow the reverse trend of screen-to-stage shows, with a enormous number of current West End and Broadway hits based on movies, including Legally Blonde, Priscilla Queen of the Desert, Billy Elliot, Dirty Dancing – and forthcoming shows The Wizard of Oz, Ghost and Shrek.
But new movie adaptations of hit shows, alongside initiatives such as the National Theatre’s live cinema programme and recent cinema screening of the Les Miserables 25th Anniversary concert at the O2, continue to widen the audience and appeal of West End theatre around the world.
LINKS
Book tickets to The Woman in Black at the Fortune Theatre and SAVE £20
Book tickets to War Horse at the New London Theatre
The Woman in Black movie Facebook page
