In other news, Michael Attenborough has announced he’ll step down as Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre in spring next year. Attenborough has been at the venue for 11 years, producing an eclectic programme from Shakespearean classics to new writing, including 32 premieres all tackling critical issues of our times. His tenure has also seen four Almeida Festivals and he established the Almeida Projects, a creative programme dedicated to involving young people with the theatre. I wonder who his replacement will be…

Dance news now, and anyone into Strictly Come Dancing will be as excited as I am to hear two of its stars are headed to the West End. Robin Windsor and Kristina Rihanoff will star in a new production of dance extravaganza Burn The Floor at the Shaftesbury Theatre from March next year. I can’t wait.

Finally, the National Theatre’s current sell-out show, This House is moving. After a critically acclaimed opening at the National Theatre’s Cottesloe space this week, I’ve been told that This House will move to the larger Olivier stage next year. James Graham’s acclaimed 1970s House of Commons-set play continues its run at the Cottesloe until 1 December; it will transfer to the Olivier in February. Casting is yet to be confirmed.

London Theatre Cast News

• Zubin Varla leads the cast of The Changeling which returns to the Young Vic later this year. He’ll be joined by Sinead Matthews and Harry Hadden-Paton.
• Kristin Scott Thomas, Rufus Sewell and Lia Williams will star in a new production of Harold Pinter’s Old Times next year. As well as a sparkling cast to look forward to, this will also be the first time a Pinter play is produced in the renamed Harold Pinter Theatre.
• Downton Abbey star Lily James (Lady Rose) joins Matthew Kelly in a new adaptation of Chekhov’s The Seagull at the Southwark Playhouse next month
• Finally, and most excitingly, Olivier Award winner Douglas Hodge (La Cage Aux Folles) is to play Willy Wonka in the much-anticipated (by me!) new musical Charlie And The Chocolate Factory at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. What a great choice!

Simon Callow is bringing his one-man show, Being Shakespeare, back to London in March, for a strictly limited run. He’ll be at the Trafalgar Studios from 7 to 31 March, bringing a multitude of the bard’s most famous creations to life. It’ll be the perfect warm-up for the World Shakespeare Festival which kicks off the following month.

Another March date for your diaries is Thursday 15, when Complicite and Simon McBurney return to the Barbican (following the success of Shun-Kin and A Disappearing Number) with a new English adaptation of Master and Margarita. It’s a stage adaptation of Mikhail Bulgakov’s rich magical realist novel about the struggle between evil and compassion. I’m a big fan of Complicite’s work, so I’m really looking forward to seeing this one.

Finally, the Reduced Shakespeare Company are back for in London in 2012, bringing The Complete World of Sports (abridged) to the Arts Theatre for a six-week run from 18 July to 25 August, to coincide with the London 2012 Olympic Games. The show’s described as “every sport even played on every continent in the entire history of the world in under two hours!”. It’s a clever idea from clever boys, and I wish them luck!

London Casting News

• One of my favourite actors, Jill Halfpenny, is returning to London, to play Beverly in Abigail’s Party at the Menier Chocolate Factory from 2 March
• Another great British star, Tara Fitzgerald, will appear opposite Ben Chaplin and Jemma Redgrave in Farewell To The Theatre at the Hampstead Theatre from 1 March
• Stand-up comic and actor Ardal O’Hanlon is playing the lead in a new production of Port Authority at the Southwark Playhouse from 24 January
• Finally, I’ve got details of the lucky ladies playing alongside Zach Braff in All New People at the Duke of York’s Theatre from February. Both Eve Myles and Susannah Fielding have previously worked with the RSC, and both have strong sci-fi links: Myles plays Gwen in Torchwood; Fielding has appeared in Doctor Who. I wish them both well with their return to theatre

More next week…

• Long runners extending their booking periods include:
  Wicked, Jersey Boys, Les Mis, Phantom, and We Will Rock You
• New blockbusters getting in on the forward planning include:
  The Wizard of Oz, Shrek, Ghost

For a full list of shows that have extended their booking into 2012, check out the Official London Theatre website.

Edward Hall’s all-male theatre company Propeller have also announced their 2012 plans. They’ll perform their Shakespearean pairing of Henry V and The Winter’s Tale at the Hampstead Theatre from 4 to 21 July.

Before we get to that all-important Olympic year, there’s still exciting casting news to think about. This week’s announcements include:

• Hollywood star Thandie Newton, who’ll appear in Ariel Dorfman’s Death And The Maiden at the Comedy Theatre from October
• Doctor Who star Karen Gillan (Amy Pond) is making her professional stage debut in Inadmissible Evidence at the Donmar, also in October
• Another debut, this time from Hannah Spearritt (who you’ll know from Primeval, or if you’re my age, S Club 7!) in The Belle’s Stratagem at the Southwark Playhouse from September
• And finally, a real favourite of mine, David Suchet’s going to be back on the London stage in Eugene O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night, at the Apollo Theatre. You’ll have to wait til next April for that one, I’m afraid.

Last of all if you’re a fan of London theatre: don’t forget Kids Week, next month!

This February some fabulous new musical theatre productions have come to London’s stages. Here are a few of the best I’ve seen recently that are worth checking out:

Company
A new staging of this Sondheim favourite is underway at the Southwark Playhouse. We meet single party guy Bobby as he quizzes his coupled up friends about the pros and cons of married life. On his 35th birthday should he really still be without a wife? This is a lively show, with numerous great songs, the cast are vocally extremely strong and make the best of the tricky music. A must see for Sondheim fans. Until 12 Mar

The Last Five Years
This rarely performed gem from talented American composer, Jason Robert Brown is one of the best contemporary musicals out there, in my opinion anyway. The dynamic score combines a variety of musical styles, with memorable melodies and funky creative harmonies. It tells the sad tale of Cathy and Jamie who have broken up after an epic five year relationship. We hear the journey from both characters. Lauren Samuels as Cathy and Christopher Pym as Jamie are both confident and witty in this thoughtful piece. Until 5 Mar, Tabard Theatre

Shoes
Transferring after a sucessful run at Sadler’s Wells, Shoes is now at The Peacock Theatre. With toe-tapping tunes and incredible costumes this is a brilliant night out for everyone and anyone. Hilarious shoe stories, entrancing singing and best of all, unbelievable dancing. Until 3 Apr

Forget the rain and grey skies and book yourself a jolly night out this February. Let us know which one you like best

What an exciting week for theatre fans!

First there’s the news that former Doctor Who co-stars, David Tennant and Catherine Tate will be reunited in London this summer, when they lead the cast of Shakespeare’s Much Ado About Nothing at Wyndham’s Theatre.

Plus the announcement that Cranford and Harry Potter star Imelda Staunton will join Penelope Wilton in Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance at the Almeida Theatre in May.

Then I learn that another TV star makes his debut at the Royal Court Theatre next month. Colin Morgan, who you’ll know from the BBC series Merlin, is appearing in Our Private Life, a “black comedy of twisted morality”, set in a Columbian village.

Anyone around my age will be interested to learn that former Blue Peter presenter Mark Curry will be starring in Company at the Southwark Playhouse from 2 February. This’ll be the Southwark Playhouse’s first musical since it opened in 1993: break a leg everyone!

And finally, Oliver Ford Davies (that’s Sio from the Star Wars prequels to me and you) will be playing Tom in a new adaptation of Goodnight Mister Tom. Just thinking about what was one of my favourite books as a kid makes me want to cry! Happily, this classic is in good hands: it’s being adapted by David Wood, the playwright renowned for his popular adaptations of Roald Dahl stories, including George’s Marvellous Medicine (currently getting great reviews at the Bloomsbury Theatre).

In other news, extensions have been announced for the following shows:

• End of the Rainbow – now playing until 16 April
• The Children’s Hour – now playing until 30 April

And I’d like to say congratulations to the Finborough Theatre in West London: they’ve won The Stage 100′s Fringe Theatre of the Year Award.

This tiny, 50-seat venue above a wine bar in Earl’s Court presents new writing and musical theatre, and has been gaining momentum in the last few years under the expert guidance of Artistic Director, Neil McPherson. If you’re in the area, be sure to check it out.