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 category…

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

New play The Riots will open the season on 17 November, written by Tricycle theatre regular Gillian Slovo. Slovo worked with Kent on the hugely acclaimed Guantanamo – Honor Bound To Defend Freedom. The Riots uses accounts from police, victims, onlookers, politicians, teachers, lawyers and community victims to explore what happened in London this summer and why.

The Bomb – A Partial History closes the season, running from 9 February to 1 April, and features a number of playwrights creating short pieces inspired by a central theme. Sandwiched in between is the Olivier Award-winning comedy Stones In His Pockets, directed by another regular at the Tricycle, Indhu Rubasingham.

Second, news of a new musical at the fantastic Menier Chocolate Factory. Pippin is a Tony Award-winning show by Stephen Schwartz with a coming-of-age storyline. It was first staged on Broadway in 1972, featuring Bob “Chicago” Fosse choreography. This new production is directed by Mitch Sebastian who promises to incorporate Fosse’s original choreography into his “high-concept” show. It all sounds very exciting, and I can’t wait to bring you some cast news!

Talking of casting, here’s the latest:

• TV Costume drama regular Warren Clarke plays Winston Churchill in Ben Brown’s Three Days in May at the Trafalgar Studios from the end of October
• Younger readers will recognise Ben Hanson as Bouncer from the CBBC show Tracey Beaker. This Christmas he’ll be leading the cast of Lazy Elf at the Arts Theatre from 10 to 22 December
• Two Legally Blonde stars, Simon Thomas and Siobhan Dillon, are to appear in Ex at the Soho Theatre from 10 November. They’re joined by Amy Booth-Steel and Gabriel Vick
• Finally, Craig Warnock is the new Perks in The Railway Children at the Waterloo Station Theatre, following a turn as the famous station master in the Toronto production of the show

More next week…