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Thursday Theatre News: The New St James Theatre, Let It Be Launch, Mamma Mia Moving and Loserville

Zoe Craig — Thu, 23 Aug 2012 18:30:22 +0000

This week’s top London theatre news stories:

Let It Be Rootfop Launch

One London rooftop echoed with the sounds of 1969 earlier today as the boys from the new Beatles musical, Let It Be, copied their heroes with a gig at Vista bar on top of the Trafalgar Hotel. In a nod to the famous 1969 concert on top of the Apple Corp building on Savile Row, Emanuelle Angeletti, Gordon Elsmore, Reuven Gershon and Stephen Hill, (who play Paul McCartney, Ringo Starr, John Lennon and George Harrison) entertained an audience of journalists and guests. I was lucky enough to get to the front of the busy scrum of people to hear songs including Hard Day’s Night, Twist And Shout and, of course, Let It Be.

A Sneak Preview of the St James Theatre
Yesterday I had a sneak preview of the new St James Theatre in Victoria. The new complex includes a state-of-the-art 312-seat theatre and an intimate 100-seat studio, perfect for comedy, cabaret and jazz nights. There’s also a swanky foyer bar and a lovely first-floor restaurant with space for 60 covers. Some of the space reminded me a little of the Trafalgar Studios, but with more luxurious touch (fitting for a venue so close to Buckingham Palace!). The first show, Bully Boy, opens on 18 September. Check out some more photos of the venue here.

Top Hat Cast Release Album
Great news for any fans of the lovely Top Hat musical, currently running at the Aldwych Theatre: they’re releasing a cast album recording of the acclaimed show. If you want a sneak preview, you can listen to some teaser clips on the production’s Facebook page: www.facebook.com/tophatonstage

Loserville Comes to London’s West End
Loserville, the new musical from Busted star James Bourne, is coming to London’s Garrick Theatre this October, following a successful regional run. The 1970s-based musical tells the story of a computer geek and his misfit friends, who are all set to change the course of historyâ€¦ but don’t know it yet! The good news? There will be 25,000 tickets available for £25 or less during the first booking period. Find out more here.

Mamma Mia Charity Show for Children in Need
Following last week’s news about the West End supporting Children in Need, there’s another gala performance taking place in aid of the charity, this time of Mamma Mia! on 12 September. Celebrating the musical’s move to the Novello Theatre, this special show will feature appearances by BBC Radio 2 presenters Vanessa Feltz, Anneka Rice and Penny Smith, alongside a celebrity-packed audience.

London Theatre Casting News:
Just one piece of casting news this week: The Royal Court’s much-anticipated new show, The River will star Dominic West, Laura Donnelly and Miranda Raison. The reason this new play is such a hot ticket? It’s by the same team as the Royal Court’s previous smash: Jerusalem. That’s writer Jez Butterworth, director Ian Rickson and designer Ultz. All I know about the story is that it’s about a man, a woman, and a remote cabin on some cliffs. It runs from 18 October to 17 November, and (unusually) there are no tickets available for advanced purchase – instead you can buy tickets on the day of the performance.

Check out London’s top theatre shows, musicals, watch videos, and book tickets here

Thursday Theatre News: Jumpy, Posh, The Sunshine Boys, Samantha Bond and Derren Brown

Zoe Craig — Thu, 22 Mar 2012 18:15:24 +0000

Firstly for this week, news of two Royal Court shows transferring to the West End. From May, the 2010 hit Posh will open at the Duke of York’s Theatre; it’s followed by Jumpy from last year’s hit season, starting on 16 August and running until November. Both plays tackle the subjects of class, gender and age. Laura Wade’s Posh is about a group of 10 elite Oxford university students, planning a night of debauchery. Jumpy stars Tamsin Greig as a 50-year-old wife and mother trying to find her place in the world, and tame her teenage daughter.

Second, following his Olivier Award nomination last week, Derren Brown is returning to the West End. His hit 2011 show, Svengali will play at the Novello Theatre from 12 July to 11 August only. Little is known, or talked about with this secretive show: I can tell you to expect psychological tricks, mind control, incredible stunts, and of course, lots of audience participation.

Finally, congratulations to Gregory Doran who, it’s been announced today, will succeed Michael Boyd as Artistic Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company in 2014.

London Casting News

Adam Levy is joining Danny DeVito and Richard Griffiths in Neil Simon’s comedy The Sunshine Boys at the Savoy Theatre from 27 April
Samantha Bond, Tim McInnerny and Georgia Moffett will be playing alongside Omid Djalili in this summer’s production of Joe Orton’s What The Butler Saw at the Vaudeville Theatre from May
Claire Foy, who you’ll recognise from BBC dramas White Heat and Upstairs Downstairs is appearing in Mike Bartlett’s Love, Love, Love at the Royal Court from April

Thursday Theatre News: Mamma Mia, Noel Coward, Young Vic, Billy Elliot & Simon Callow

Zoe Craig — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 17:00:18 +0000

Firstly, news of an early closure. Cool Hand Luke was booking until 7 January, but it’s now closing on 19 November: bad luck guysâ€¦

On a more positive note, after 12 years, long-running musical Mamma Mia! is moving. I’ve yet to confirm the exact dates, but the hit ABBA show is moving from the Prince of Wales theatre to the Novello on Aldwych, following the excellent Crazy For You. More details when I have them!

The Young Vic has announced a new show: theatre company Sound&Fury are bringing Going Dark to the venue next March. It’s going to be an immersive show with interesting lighting, projections and sound, about a narrator in a planetarium.

Finally, the Evening Standard Theatre Awards longlist has been announced. Congratulations to the National Theatre, Matilda The Musical, Shakespeare’s Globe, Crazy for You and more who’ve all been nominated. I wouldn’t like to be the judge choosing between Benedict Cumberbatch, Jonny Lee Miller, James Corden, Ralph Fiennes, Kevin Spacey and Jude Law for the Best Actor categoryâ€¦

This Week’s London Cast News:

Lindsay Duncan, Jeremy Northam, Kevin McNally and Olivia Colman will star in Noël Coward’s Hay Fever at, appropriately, the Noël Coward Theatre from 10 February next year
Ann Emery, the original Grandma in Billy Elliot is returning to the show at the Victoria Palace from November
Exciting news from the Menier: Frances Ruffelle (Eponine to you and me!) and Matt Rawle (who was so wonderful in Zorro) are to star in Pippin, the venue’s Christmas show.
More Christmas news: Simon Callow will star in a new version of Charles Dickens’ festive classic, A Christmas Carol at the Arts Theatre from 8 Dec

Betty Blue Eyes at The Novello Theatre

Milly Kenny-Ryder — Sat, 23 Apr 2011 10:15:06 +0000

Betty Blue Eyes is set in a Yorkshire town and is based around a plot to “pignap” an animal illegally raised by businessmen who hope to serve her up at a special party to celebrate the marriage of Princess Elizabeth and Prince Philip. It is a witty adaptation of 1984 film A Private Function, a bizarre and unlikely subject for a musical, but one that works surprisingly well. Thanks to talented writers, Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, the original story is kept intact with some hilarious additions.

It is no secret that I appreciate an enthusiastic feel-good production, but even I am a little tired of dreamworld musicals that envelop you in absurd utopian escapism. Betty Blue Eyes delights through a more realistic narrative; an ordinary couple and the struggles of frugal 1940s Britain, amidst ration hell.

The characters are endearing and here we see an impressively strong cast. The lead couple are both naturally brilliant on stage; Sarah Lancashire as social climbing Joyce Chilvers has a superbly strong voice and charming presence; her kind-hearted husband Gilbert is played by Reece Shearsmith, who pulls at the heartstrings with his optimism and has fantastic comic timing.

The villainous meat inspector was a caricature who reminded me of dastardly baddies from children’s literature. He is a strange character who has a penchant for painting; every confiscated piece of meat is passionately brushed with bright green paint. Though Adrian Scarborough was suitably vile, I found the role a little odd in comparison with the rest of the cast, and it occasionally broke my belief in the situation.

The adorable pig, Betty, is cooed at on every entrance. Shipped from Australia specially, and with three understudies, she is quite the diva, flashing beautiful blue eyes and fluttering her eyelashes at every opportunity. Kylie Minogue‘s voice has a fleeting role at the curtain call, though apparently it is not Miss Minogue that provides the creature’s funny farting and burping noises!

It is not often a new musical succeeds; shows like Wicked are certainly in the minority… but with our own royal wedding just around the corner hopefully the British public will go and see Betty Blue Eyes even if just for the sake of a happy coincidence.

Betty Blue Eyes is on until 22 October 2011, book Betty Blue Eyes tickets here.

Onassis: A Greek Affair

Aly — Wed, 13 Oct 2010 09:00:27 +0000

Robert Lindsay gives an outstanding performance portraying Aristotle Onassis in Onassis at the Novello Theatre, giving an insight into one of the richest men of the last century.

Onassis explores the Greek shipping magnate’s relationships with two women and how he is torn between them. One was Maria Callas, the world famous opera singer and the other Jacqueline Kennedy, arguably one of the most iconic women of the 20th century.

Onassis’s smooth but brash charm won him the love of Callas but their passionate affair was over when he married Jacqueline Kennedy, the widow of JFK. The excellent Anna Francolini as a heartbroken Callas sends a shiver down the spine as she curses his new love and marriage.

The tragic lives of the Kennedy and Onassis families are well known. One such moment is highlighted in the play when Onassis hears that his young son has been killed in a plane crash. Lindsay’s Onassis conveys a powerful, commanding character with many insecurities and flaws. The audience observe as he turns into a paranoid and unsettled man unable to get over the death of his son. Many have said that it was this event that led to his death just two years later.

Based on Peter Evans’ book Nemesis the story speculates on some of the many conspiracies surrounding both families including connections with the Mafia, Hollywood and a theory that Onassis was behind the assassination of Bobby Kennedy. The play captures the wealth and glamour of the era, taking place on Onassis’s yacht and the Greek Islands.

Observing this portrayal of Onassis and his most intimate relationships which made headlines across the world is a real treat and is not to be missed.

Onassis plays at the Novello Theatre until 8 January 2011. Book tickets here

Thursday Theatre News: Steph Fearon, Robert Lindsay and Christmas at the Rose

Zoe Craig — Thu, 10 Jun 2010 17:33:22 +0000

Have you been missing the girls from Over The Rainbow since Andrew Lloyd Webber’s search to find a lead for his new production of The Wizard of Oz finished?

Well, news about semi-finalist Steph Fearon bounced into my inbox this week. Fearon will be starring in a summer revival of Smokey Joe’s Café at the brilliant Landor Theatre, one of South London’s best pub theatres from 13 July. Smokey Joe’s Café showcases the musical of Jerry Leiber and Mike Stoller who wrote On Broadway, Jailhouse Rock and Stand By Me: plenty for the lovely Steph to get her winning vocal cords around!

From newbies to oldies: My Family star Robert Lindsay is coming back to the West End later in the year. He’ll play Aristotle Onassis in Onassis, Martin Sherman’s play about the last five years in the life of the Greek shipping magnate, focussing on his relationships with Jackie Kennedy, Maria Callas and his son Alexandros. The show, which is a transfer from Chichester, opens in London on 12 October (previews from 30 September). I think Robert Lindsay’s great. He’s won two Laurence Olivier Awards, and his other stage credits include Oliver!, Me And My Girl and Richard III.

And there’s news of another favorite Olivier Award winner coming to London in the autumn. The ever-wonderful Celia Imrie will play in Noel Coward’s classic comedy of bad manners, Hay Fever, directed by Stephen Unwin at the Rose Theatre from 23 September to 23 October.

Finally, if you’re already bored of the World Cup and starting to think about Christmas(!), there’s news of the Rose Theatre’s Christmas show. The Three Musketeers will be the Rose’s first musical, running from 27 November to 2 January. It’ll feature music by George Stiles and lyrics by Paul Leigh, with a good dose of royal intrigue and sensational swordplay into the mix!

And the National are teasing us with their Christmas news: Catherine Tate is to star in a revival of Alan Ayckbourn’s Season’s Greetings this December… but they don’t have the exact dates finalised yet…