Marguerite with Andrew C Wadsworth. March 13, 2008
Posted by Linda in : Musicals, marguerite , 2commentsTwo of our readers are very excited about Marguerite the musical 
1. Louise on March 12th, commenting on my post about Marguerite said:
This is also starring the fantastic Andrew C Wadsworth.
And only a few minutes later Nora piped up:
I know I’m so excited I think he is amazing!
Personally I prefer Alexander Hanson, who is playing Otto but they are all good. There’s quite a buzz working up for this show. I hope it lives up to it!
Update:
I made a bit of a hash of the next bit of this post and mixed Andrew up with, er, someone totally different! He was in Peak Practice but just the one episode, and it wasn’t any of these 
Ring round the moon - early close March 12, 2008
Posted by admin in : comedy, news, playhouse, ring round the moon , add a comment
Ring Round the Moon currently running at the Playhouse Theatre will close two months early due to poor ticket sales. The last performance will now be on on March 29.
The revival of Jean Anouilh’s 1947 comedy, Ring Round the Moon, opened on February 19, 2008 at the Playhouse Theatre Initially booking until May 24, 2008 the production will now close March 29th.
The story is set around a lavish ball at a chateau. It centres on twin brothers, an heiress who’s engaged to one twin but in love with the other, and a ballet dancer involved in a plot devised by the more devious brother.
Sean Mathias directs a cast that includes Angela Thorne, Belinda Lang, Peter Eyre, John Ramm, Elisabeth Dermot Walsh, Joanna David, Andrew Havill, Fiona Button and JJ Field. Design is by Colin Richmond.
Ring Round the Moon was translated from the French (L’Invitation au Chateau) by Christopher Fry. It received its West End premiere at the Globe Theatre (now the Gielgud) in 1950. The first UK production starred Paul Scofield, Claire Bloom and Margaret Rutherford.
Sound of Music offer March 12, 2008
Posted by admin in : Palladium, Sound of Music, offers , add a commentHere’s news of a great Sound of Music offer which can allow you to see the Sound of Music again or for the first time in London for as little as £80 per person including one night’s luxury hotel.
You can book to see the show at the London Palladium for dates right up to the 20th October 2008 but you have to make the booking before the end of April 2008
The offer amounts to a saving of £27.50 per person for Monday-Thursday evening performances and a bigger reduction of £37.50 per person for Friday evenings and the only excluded dates are 17th-30th March and 26-30th May.
** book Sound of Music theatre breaks **
1) price example shown is for the Sound of Music on Friday 4th April staying at Travelodge London Kings Cross Royal Scot
London culture ahead of Paris and New York March 12, 2008
Posted by admin in : news , 1 comment so farA new fund for Arts in London was launched yesterday with backing from Kevin Spacey, director of the Old Vic, and Bonnie Greer - author of Marilyn and Ella.
London Mayor Ken Livingstone explained the £1.4mn pot will be used to back events and projects particularly initiating from the smaller arts bodies in the period of the run-up to the 2012 World Olympic games in East London. Applications from arts groups are invited from this autumn, 2008. Administration is by the Arts Council and is intended to make up for some of the money used up by the Games from the National Lottery, which was originally intended only for ‘good causes’ that wouldn’t otherwise be funded.
The cash itself is coming from the London Development Agency which has released a cultural audit of London which showed that London is way ahead of rivals including Paris and New York when it comes to cultural matters in everything from theatre to light music.
The report is the first quantitative overview of London’s cultural environment, which it compares with that of four world cities - New York, Paris, Tokyo and Shanghai.
In the Foreward, Mayor Ken says
“In recent years London has risen to become what is almost certainly the world’s top business centre. London is justifiably proud of this achievement, and of the people, enterprises, investors and institutions which have helped to shape and govern London’s economy.
But a purely commercial focus risks losing sight of what has made London successful. The dramatic growth of its finance and business services industries in the last thirty years draws on wider resources. London is now, and has always been, the crossroads of world trade and world culture. Its financial success is built on this foundation.
London’s greatest strength is its people.
London is witnessing an expansion of cultural and artistic life not seen for decades. From the Tate Modern and its world-renowned South Bank, through to investments in art education down to its cutting-edge designer-maker studios, cultural investments are expanding and renewing London’s priceless cultural assets.
Showcasing and promoting these achievements through events such as London Fashion Week, Frieze Art Fair, London Film Festival and Design Week are a vital objective of my cultural strategy. A wide and expanding range of carnivals celebrate London’s world cultures, combining with its cultural attractions to bring twice as many visitors to London as New York and 50% more than Paris.”
Judith Woodward continues:
“We have to conclude that a strong contribution to London’s success is because it is home to a world of culture as distinctive and glamorous as the cafés of Paris or the skyscrapers of New York. Its art scene, skyline, festivals, music and theatres, museums, cinemas and galleries, filmmakers, scriptwriters, actors and broadcasters, and its vibrant artistic and literary community are unique, yet emphatically part of a world culture.
Home to speakers of 300 languages, the city is linked by ties of trade and travel to their communities of origin. Seat of a world language of literature which is now the unchallenged world language of science and business, its culture distils and transforms ideas and influences that span the globe.
This makes London’s culture an asset beyond imitation. Its importance stretches beyond the enjoyment it provides, work it offers, or money it earns. With the city’s people and its institutions, it makes London what it is. This report aims to simply to provide a measurable record of the main activities that comprise it. But the story it reveals should give food for thought to policy-makers in many fields.”
Here is the section from the report which concerns theatre:
Theatre
Looking at the consumption of theatre across the cities, a familiar pattern emerges. London and New York’s predominantly commercial theatre scenes are broadly comparable, with a difference of only 100,000 admissions separating them. As noted previously, although London has a slight edge in terms of the number of consumers, these are spread across a greater number of venues. As table 6.3 shows, the total value of theatre admissions, in Purchasing Power Parity (PPP) dollars, gives Broadway the edge when compared with London’s theatreland. This is perhaps unsurprising given the lack of public investment in theatre in New York. Ticket receipts therefore play a correspondingly larger role in financing theatre in New York than in the other cities.
Although London appears to generate less revenue from theatre admissions than Tokyo, it should be noted that the figures for Tokyo and Shanghai unavoidably include revenues for admissions to live music events. Even here, when the value of theatre sales is scaled against population, London has the second highest per capita figure at $89 PPP. The real surprise is the figures for Paris, which are very low. Further research would be necessary to understand why this might be, as the figures for Paris were sourced from the Ministère de la Culture et de la Communication, and have been checked again for accuracy.
Table 6.3 consumption of the theatre in the five comparator cities
Laurence Olivier Awards March 10, 2008
Posted by admin in : awards, pygmalion , add a commentFull list of winners and nominees (winners in bold)
The FRANCO’S Best Actress in a Play
Anne-Marie Duff – Saint Joan (National Olivier)
Janie Dee – Shadowlands (Wyndham’s)
Kate Fleetwood – Macbeth (Gielgud)
Kristin Scott Thomas – The Seagull (Royal Court Downstairs)
Maggie Smith – The Lady From Dubuque (Theatre Royal Haymarket)
Tamsin Greig – Much Ado About Nothing (Novello)
Best Actor in a Play
Charles Dance – Shadowlands (Wyndham’s)
Ian McKellen – King Lear, RSC (New London)
John Simm – Elling (Bush & Trafalgar Studios)
Paterson Joseph – The Emperor Jones (National Olivier)
Patrick Stewart – Macbeth (Gielgud), The Tempest & Antony And Cleopatra (Novello)
Robert Lindsay – The Entertainer (Old Vic)
Best Supporting Actress in a Play
Amanda Hale – The Glass Menagerie (Apollo)
Andrea Riseborough – The Pain & The Itch (Royal Court Downstairs)
Diana Rigg – All About My Mother (Old Vic)
Frances de la Tour – Boeing-Boeing (Comedy)
Pam Ferris – The Entertainer (Old Vic)
Ruth Wilson – Philistines (National Lyttelton)
Best Supporting Actor in a Play
David Haig – The Country Wife (Theatre Royal Haymarket)
Lee Evans – The Dumb Waiter (Trafalgar Studios)
Mark Gatiss – All About My Mother (Old Vic)
Nigel Lindsay – Awake And Sing (Almeida)
Paul Ritter – The Hothouse (National Lyttelton)
Rory Kinnear – The Man Of Mode (National Olivier)
The FIRST MAGAZINE Best Actress in a Musical
Denise Van Outen – Rent Remixed (Duke of York’s)
Lara Pulver – Parade (Donmar Warehouse)
Leanne Jones – Hairspray (Shaftesbury)
Sheridan Smith – Little Shop Of Horrors (Duke of York’s & Ambassadors)
Summer Strallen – The Drowsy Chaperone (Novello)
Susan McFadden – Grease (Piccadilly)
The SEE TICKETS Best Actor in a Musical
Bertie Carvel – Parade (Donmar Warehouse)
Henry Goodman – Fiddler On The Roof (Savoy)
James Loye – The Lord Of The Rings (Theatre Royal Drury Lane)
Lee Mead – Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Adelphi)
Michael Ball – Hairspray (Shaftesbury)
Paul Keating – Little Shop Of Horrors (Duke of York’s & Ambassadors)
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical
Beverley Klein – Fiddler On The Roof (Savoy)
Elaine Paige – The Drowsy Chaperone (Novello)
Laura Michelle Kelly – The Lord Of The Rings (Theatre Royal Drury Lane)
Nicole Faraday – Bad Girls (Garrick)
Preeya Kalidas – Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Adelphi)
Tracie Bennett – Hairspray (Shaftesbury)
Best Supporting Actor in a Musical
Ben James-Ellis – Hairspray (Shaftesbury)
Dean Collinson – Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Adelphi)
Mel Smith – Hairspray (Shaftesbury)
Michael Jibson – Take Flight (Menier Chocolate Factory)
Michael Therriault – The Lord Of The Rings (Theatre Royal Drury Lane)
Shaun Escoffery – Parade (Donmar Warehouse)
Best Solo Performance
Fiona Shaw – Happy Days (National Lyttelton)
Lucy Briers – Some Kind Of Bliss (Trafalgar Studio 2)
Patrick Kielty – A Night In November (Trafalgar Studio 1)
Ralf Little – Stacy (Trafalgar Studio 2)
Richard Schiff – Underneath The Lintel (Duchess)
Robert Bathurst – Alex (Arts)
Best Ensemble Performance
Betrayal (Donmar Warehouse)
Dealer’s Choice (Menier Chocolate Factory)
Glengarry Glen Ross (Apollo)
Philistines (National Lyttelton)
The Taming Of The Shrew & Twelfth Night (Old Vic)
War Horse (National Olivier)
Best Takeover in a Role
Dianne Pilkington – Wicked (Apollo Victoria)
Kelly Osbourne – Chicago (Cambridge)
Kerry Ellis – Wicked (Apollo Victoria)
Leila Benn Harris & Robyn North – The Phantom Of The Opera (Her Majesty’s)
Peter Davison – Monty Python’s Spamalot (Palace)
Ramin Karimloo – The Phantom Of The Opera (Her Majesty’s)
The NICK HERN BOOKS Best New Play
A Disappearing Number by Complicite (Barbican)
All About My Mother by Samuel Adamson (Old Vic)
Joe Guy by Roy Williams (Soho)
Landscape With Weapon by Joe Penhall (National Cottesloe)
That Face by Polly Stenham (Royal Court Upstairs)
War Horse by Nick Stafford (National Olivier)
Best New Comedy
Elling by Simon Bent (Bush & Trafalgar Studio 1)
Moonlight And Magnolias by Ron Hutchinson (Tricycle)
Rafta Rafta by Ayub Khan-Din (National Lyttelton)
The Pain And The Itch by Bruce Norris (Royal Court Downstairs)
Vernon God Little by Tanya Ronder – (Young Vic)
Whipping It Up by Steve Thompson (Bush & Ambassadors)
The SUPERBREAK Best New Musical
Bad Girls The Musical by Kath Gotts, Maureen Chadwick & Ann McManus (Garrick)
Hairspray by Marc Shaiman, Scott Whitman, Mark O’Donnell & Thomas Meehan (Shaftesbury)
Parade by Jason Robert Brown & Alfred Uhry (Donmar Warehouse)
Take Flight by Richard Maltby Jr, David Shire & John Weidman (Menier Chocolate Factory)
The Drowsy Chaperone by Greg Morrison, Lisa Lambert, Don McKellar & Bob Martin (Novello)
The Lord Of The Rings by AR Rahman, Varttina, Christopher Nightingale, Shaun McKenna & Matthew Warchus (Theatre Royal Drury Lane)
Best Play Revival
Boeing-Boeing (Comedy)
Equus (Gielgud)
Saint Joan (National Olivier)
The Country Wife (Theatre Royal Haymarket)
The Dumb Waiter (Trafalgar Studio 1)
In Celebration (Duke of York’s)
The TICKETMASTER Best Musical Revival
Buddy (Duchess)
Fiddler On The Roof (Savoy)
Grease (Piccadilly)
Joseph And The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat (Adelphi)
Little Shop Of Horrors (Duke of York’s & Ambassadors)
Rent Remixed (Duke of York’s)
Best Shakespearean Production
Antony And Cleopatra (Novello)
A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Roundhouse)
King Lear (New London)
Macbeth (Gielgud)
Much Ado About Nothing (Novello)
The Merchant Of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe)
Best Director
Jack O’Brien – Hairspray (Shaftesbury)
Marianne Elliott – Much Ado About Nothing (Novello), Saint Joan & War Horse (National Olivier)
Matthew Warchus – Boeing-Boeing (Comedy), The Lord Of The Rings (Theatre Royal Drury Lane)
Roger Michell – Landscape With Weapon (National Cottesloe), Betrayal (Donmar Warehouse)
Rupert Goold – The Glass Menagerie (Apollo), The Tempest (Novello), Rough Crossings (Lyric Hammersmith), Macbeth (Gielgud)
Thea Sharrock – Equus (Gielgud), The Emperor Jones (National Olivier), Cloud Nine (Almeida)
Best Set Designer
Anthony Ward – Glengarry Glen Ross (Apollo), Macbeth (Gielgud), The Arsonists & Rhinoceros (Royal Court Downstairs)
Bunny Christie – Philistines & Women Of Troy (National Lyttelton)
David Rockwell – Hairspray (Shaftesbury)
Hildegard Bechtler – All About My Mother (Old Vic), The Hothouse (National Lyttelton)
Rae Smith & the Handspring Puppet Company – War Horse (National Olivier)
Rob Howell – The Lord Of The Rings (Theatre Royal Drury Lane)
Best Choreographer
Bill Deamer – Lady Be Good (Open Air)
Casey Nicholaw – The Drowsy Chaperone (Novello)
Jerry Mitchell – Hairspray (Shaftesbury)
Sammy Dallas Bayes (reproducing Jerome Robbins) & Kate Flatt – Fiddler On The Roof (Savoy)
Peter Darling – The Lord Of The Rings (Theatre Royal Drury Lane)
Rob Ashford – Parade (Donmar Warehouse)
The DEWYNTERS London Newcomer of the Year
Arthur Darvill – Terre Haute (Trafalgar Studio 2), Swimming With Sharks (Vaudeville)
Billie Piper – Treats (Garrick)
Colin Morgan – Vernon God Little (Young Vic) & All About My Mother (Old Vic)
Daniel Radcliffe – Equus (Gielgud)
Leanne Jones – Hairspray (Shaftesbury)
Orlando Bloom – In Celebration (Duke of York’s)
Best Off-West End Production
A Christmas Carol & The Magic Flute (Young Vic)
Dealer’s Choice (Menier Chocolate Factory)
I Love You Because (Landor)
tHe dYsFUnCKshOnalZ! (Bush)
The Masque Of The Red Death (BAC)
Vernon God Little –(Young Vic)
Best Regional Production
Angels In America (on tour)
Henry V (Royal Exchange, Manchester)
Never Forget (on tour)
Pygmalion (Theatre Royal Bath & on tour)
Sunshine On Leith (Dundee Rep)
The Big Secret Live: I Am Shakespeare (Chichester Festival & on tour)
The AKA Theatre Event of the Year
Daniel Radcliffe’s steamy publicity shots for Equus
Launch of the Theatre Royal Haymarket Company & its first season under Jonathan Kent
Nicholas Hytner’s “dead white males” comment about critics
Punchdrunk’s takeover of BAC for The Masque Of The Red Death
Reopening of the Royal Festival Hall
Reality TV head-to-head between Any Dream Will Do & Grease Is The Word
Honourable mentions:
The success of the Royal Court’s Young Writers’ Programme
Will Keen’s extraordinary performances in two roles for which he was not originally cast – Kiss Of The Spider Woman (Donmar Warehouse) and The Arsonists (Royal Court)
Michael Ball’s transformation as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray
The Wicker Man starts workshops tomorrow March 8, 2008
Posted by admin in : The Wicker Man, news , add a commentScotland on Sunday says pre-rehearsal workshops for a new musical of the cult film The Wicker Man start tomorrow in London. It seems likely that it will preview in a Scottish theatre early next year, before moving to the West End.
I loved the original film when I saw it on TV a few years ago. It’s great in a weird, eccentric and very British way. I’m intrigued to see how they stage it.
Shot in the west of Scotland in 1971 the film has become a cult favourite. Edward Woodward played a police sergeant who flew to the remote Summer Isle to investigate the disappearance of a local girl.
He finds a strange, pagan community and is shocked by their loose moral and sexual standards. Christopher Lee played the local lord. Britt Ekland was stunning even if, as she recently admitted on TV, the body in the infamous nude dancing scene, Willow’s Song, didn’t actually belong to her.
Andrew Steggall will direct. The burning of the huge wicker man in the film will be hard to recreate on stage but Steggall is keeping quiet about how he’ll do it.
I just hope it’s better than the dreadful Hollywood re-make with Nicholas Cage. I was tempted to make you watch some of the more amusing bits of that till I found this clip of the ending of the original film. It’s genuinely creepy!
Oliver! I’d Do Anything March 7, 2008
Posted by Linda in : I'd do anything, Musicals, Oliver, news , add a commentWell, March the 15th marks the start of the latest BBC search for musical talent. We are all about to spend our Saturday evenings helping Andrew Lloyd Webber find a Nancy and an Oliver for his new production.
You might remember from previous posts I have mixed feelings about the power of TV to influence casting for West End shows
Some of the videos of the auditions they’ve released so far are ghastly. How can people be so deluded about their abilities? Others are actually pretty impressive.
It will be interesting to see how they compare with the film :
I was interested to hear Bruce Forsyth saying how sad he was not to have played Fagin in the film the other week on Jonathan Ross. I wonder who they’ll get this time….
