News
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*What might close and what has been extended
Just News from the world of London Theatre Breaks, extracted from the London Theatre Breaks blog. Subscribe to the LTB news RSS feed
We Will Rock You – 4 free tracks
We Will Rock You
We Will Rock You
We Will Rock You – Original Cast Recording
Next week’s Mail on Sunday is giving away a free CD. It has 10 classic Queen Tracks sung by the band, including Freddy Mercury. It also has 4 bonus tracks from the original London cast recording:
Bonus tracks from the London cast recording of We Will Rock You
- Somebody To Love (Live)
- I Want To Break Free (Live)
- A Kind Of Magic (Live)
- No-One But You (Only The Good Die Young) (Live)
Connie Fisher cancels UK Tour
Connie Fisher
Connie Fisher has cancelled her forthcoming UK tour due to throat surgery. Sadly Connie who won How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? to star in The Sound of Music is to have surgery on her vocal chords to save her professional career.
Connie,who is only 25 years old, has just been diagnosed with condition known as congenital fusion anomalies. This is a birth defect which is not uncommon in the general population but extremely rare in professional singers.
According to walesonline.com a consultant ear nose and throat surgeon Jonathan Osborne, described the operation as “very delicate”.
“I do not know of Connie’s personal medical details but I’ve performed similar operations on the vocal chords and this can be very difficult. The problem is caused by a web of tissue that crosses the gap between the two sides of the vocal chords. This can be removed but there is a chance of it reforming.
“In severe cases if this tissue is left it can cause breathing difficulties but after surgery at least three months of voice rest is needed. I wish Connie well.”
A spokesperson from Connie’s management team said:
“Connie is obviously very disappointed and upset she will not be able to do the concert tour, but we wish her a full recovery.
“Connie’s condition was diagnosed in March following a smaller operation but she was told last week she needed an urgent operation to have any chance to perform again.
“Connie’s doctor has advised her that the situation she finds herself in has been with her from birth. Effectively how Connie Fisher has ended up having a singing career is nothing short of a miracle.
“Connie is obviously very disappointed and upset she is not able to do the concert tour, but we wish her a full recovery.”
Connie had on-going problems with her voice during her time as Maria in The Sound of Music which she finally left in February 2008. Her plan was to pursue a solo singing career and she was due to return to the role for a UK tour starting in July.
We’d like to wish her a speedy recovery.
Hairspray – Brian Conley New Edna from July
Brian Conley will take over as Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, currently running at London’s Shaftesbury Theatre, according today’s Daily Mail. 
Conley will take over from Michael Ball on July 27 2009. Michael Ball says that the show
“has without doubt been one of the happiest and most fulfilling experiences of my professional life.”
Brian Conley started out at Pontin’s and used to be warm-up man for Terry Wogan, Noel Edmonds and Kenny Everett. Since then he’s gone on to have his own TV shows “Brian Conley: This Way Up” and “The Brian Conley Show,.
He’s probably best known for presenting The National Lottery Show Live. His West End credits include ‘Me and My Girl’ where he took the lead role of Bill Snibson in the Adelphi Theatre production. More recently he played Caractacus Potts in “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” at the London Palladium in 2005.
Speaking about the casting Brian Conley said “I’ve done a lot in my career, but wearing a dress and heels every night and being married to Nigel Planer weren’t things I was expecting to be doing all at the same time, and in front of thousands of people! I’m absolutely delighted to be back in the West End and joining one of the most uplifting, happy and, not to mention, successful shows in town. Being part of something that brings a smile to people’s faces, especially in these troubled times, is a real treat and I can’t wait to get on stage at the Shaftesbury.”
Wicked – rest of the new cast announced.
Alexia Khadime (Elphaba),
Dianne Pilkington (Glinda),
Oliver Tompsett (Fiyero), Sam Kelly (The Wizard), Harriet Thorpe (Madame Morrible)
Natalie Anderson (Nessarose)
Alex Jessop (Boq),
David Stoller (Doctor Dillamond),
Ashleigh Gray (Standby for Elphaba)
Sarah Earnshaw (Standby for Glinda),
Ensemble: Karen Aspinall, Lee Bridgeman, Sabrina Carter, Aileen Donohoe, A C Garcia, Clare Halse, Lauren James Ray, Keeley Jane Jackson, Arran Knight, Danny Mac, Mitchell Mahony, Sean Needham, Buchi Osuji, Sean Parkins, Caroline Rovina, Pharic Scott, Gregor Stewart, Lindsay Taylor, Chloe Taylor, Michelle Theunissen, Emily Tierney, Jennifer Tierney, Hannah Toy, George Ure, Sam Wilmott and Gary Wood.
Wicked gets a new witch
Wicked has a new Wicked Witch of the East, Natalie Anderson (best known for her appearances on ITV in The Royal) will take over the role in May.
Natalie will play Nessarose, Elphaba’s a spoilt, wheelchair-bound, younger sister. Nessarose grows up to be the witch who’s flattened under Dorothy’s house in The Wizard of Oz.
Natalie’s first lead role was in Alice In Wonderland at Bradford Playhouse, aged 12. She was working on a film called Freight when she was offered the Wicked role.
“My agent rang saying I’d got an audition in London,” she said. “I went down and they asked me back next day. It happened so fast and because I was busy filming I had hardly any time to prepare. I was learning my lines on the train! I hadn’t even seen the show when I auditioned, but I’ve seen it since. It’s amazing.”
Best known as Nurse Stella Davenport in The Royal,Natalie left the show last year.She launched her singing career after quite recently with the release of her debut album, Return to Me.
Entertaining Mr Sloane – stars return
Mathew Horne and Imelda Staunton are both to return to the cast of Entertaining Mr Sloane at the Trafalgar Studios tonight. The production has only one week left in its run. Both actors have been absent with a virus after Mathew Horne collapsed on stage last week. Horne was initially believed to have collapsed due to overwork but then his co-star also became ill.
Oliver! another new Fagin
Oliver! will have a new Fagin a little sooner than expected.
Russ Abbots as Fagin
Russ Abbot will take over as Fagin from April 13. Rowan Atkinson has been forced to pull out for three weeks to undergo surgery for a hernia.
He’s hoped to be back on stage by April 27.
A statement from a spokesperson for the show said:
“Rowan has been nursing the problem for a few weeks but it flared up badly whilst on a break with his family this week. He has cut short his holiday to fly back to have surgery immediately to speed the recovery process…..The condition, whilst neither serious nor dangerous, is extremely painful and prevents normal movement, making performing impossible.”
Russ Abbot played the role of Fagin in the 1997 production and also in a couple of touring productions.
Cat Stevens Musical – production delayed
Moonshadow, the Cat Stevens musical will not open at Royal & Derngate, Northampton in July as originally planned.
The producers blamed their inability to find a West End venue to transfer to and say that the musical will go straight to the West End instead.
In a statement they said:
“A West End venue is still hoped to be secured for an autumn 2009 opening at which point the production will open directly into London. The creative and design process will continue so that the production is ready to be mounted as soon as a West End theatre becomes available.”
National Theatre Live Broadcasts to Cinema
The Nation Theatre based at London’s Southbank is to embark on a radical new initiative to broadcast live performances of plays onto cinema screens worldwide. A pilot season of four shows is planned starting with a broadcast of the play Phèdre, with Helen Mirren, Margaret Tyzack and Dominic Cooper on July 25th. This will be restricted to fifty UK cinemas, but clearly if the technology holds up it could be expanded worldwide wherever there is sufficient interest. NESTA which is a Quango supporting innovation is sponsoring:
National Theatre : NT Live : What is it? How does it work?
NT Live
What is it? How does it work?Live theatre broadcast to cinema screens around the world.
‘I grew up in Manchester in the 60s. If I had been able to see Olivier’s National Theatre at my local cinema, I would have gone all of the time.’ Nicholas Hytner
On 25 June the performance of Phèdre will be filmed in high definition and broadcast via satellite to approximately 50 cinemas and arts centres, reaching a widespread audience live across the UK. Tickets will cost £10. Over 100 venues around the world will also screen the production.
The remaining three shows in the pilot season have yet to be announced but will feature a range of the National’s diverse repertoire. The performances will be nominated in advance to allow cameras greater freedom in the auditorium.
Broadcasts will also feature behind-the-scenes footage and interviews with artists. We hope to open the walls of the National Theatre and invite cinema audiences around the country and the world to share in the work we create.
Find out if NT Live is at a cinema near you on 25 June.
NT Live is funded in partnership with: NESTA
Future international venues for live screenings of Phèdre are intended for
Australia, Belgium, Canada, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, Hungary, Iceland, Ireland, Luxembourg, Netherlands, New Zealand, Poland, Romania, Sweden & US.
The big question which this initiative perhaps seeks to answer is this:
Do people really want to see “live” theatre at the cinema?
Well do you?
Avenue Q Moves to a New Theatre
Avenue Q will reopen at the Gielgud Theatre on 1 June after a month-long break. The show has done surprisingly well recently, at least in part because of a realistic pricing policy.
I think it is great news that this favourite show will not be closing after all and so does Cameron Mackintosh:
“When I first saw Avenue Q over five years ago, I found it a very funny, fresh and clever look at the trials and tribulations of young people finding their way in life.So I was rather surprised when the show opened in 2006 that the British national critics mostly didn’t get it.
Three years later Q is going stronger than ever, so much so that ever since I announced its closure business has surged.
Cameron Mackintosh, producer of Avenue Q
The show will move into the Gielgud after Alan Bennett’s play Enjoy finishes its run on 16 May. Meanwhile at the Noel Coward Theatre, Avenue Q makes way for the highly anticipated stage version of the film Calendar Girls opening on April 4th.
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