Posts with the label News
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Showing posts with label News. Show all posts
Thursday 17 March 2022
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre Announces Principle Cast for Legally Blonde
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre have today announced principal casting for their forthcoming production of Legally Blonde (13 May-2 July), along with the full creative team.
Courtney Bowman takes the central role of Elle Woods. Courtney previously appeared in SIX (Arts Theatre/Lyric), Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Apollo/Sheffield Crucible), Blondel (Union) and The Wind in the Willows (UK Tour). Courtney can currently be seen as Small in the hit children’s CBeebies show Big Cook Little Cook.
Directed by Lucy Moss, co-director and co-writer of SIX, Legally Blonde is written by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin (music and lyrics), Heather Hach (book) and is based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture.
Also joining the cast are Michael Ahomka-Lindsay (Emmett), Lauren Drew (Brooke), Vanessa Fisher (Vivienne), Isaac Hesketh (Margot), Nadine Higgin (Paulette), Alžbeta Matyšáková (Enid), Eugene McCoy (Callahan), Grace Mouat (Pilar), Alistair Toovey (Warner), and Hannah Yun Chamberlain (Serena).
Full casting will be announced in due course.
Legally Blonde is created by Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong (dramaturg), Cat Beveridge (musical supervisor), Jean Chan (costume designer), Shanaé Chisholm (casting assistant), Natalie Gallacher CDG for Pippa Ailion Casting (casting director), Tony Gayle (sound designer), Phillip Gladwell (lighting designer), Ainsley Hall Ricketts (assistant choreographer), Laura Hopkins (set designer), Barbara Houseman (voice & text and season associate director), Majella Hurley (dialect coach), Ellen Kane (choreographer), Ingrid Mackinnon (season associate: intimacy support), Lucy Moss (director), Priya Patel Appleby (associate director), Chris Poon (assistant musical director), Alexzandra Sarmiento (assistant choreographer), Amber Sinclair-Case (associate director) and Katharine Woolley (musical director).
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s 90th Anniversary season also includes 101 Dalmatians (12 Jul – 28 Aug), a newly commissioned musical written by Douglas Hodge (music and lyrics) and Johnny McKnight (book), from a stage adaptation by Zinnie Harris, based on the book by Dodie Smith. Antigone (3 – 24 September) by Barber Shop Chronicles writer Inua Ellams after Sophocles, is the second commission from the theatre in 2022, directed by Max Webster and co-directed by Jo Tyabji.
Courtney Bowman takes the central role of Elle Woods. Courtney previously appeared in SIX (Arts Theatre/Lyric), Everybody’s Talking About Jamie (Apollo/Sheffield Crucible), Blondel (Union) and The Wind in the Willows (UK Tour). Courtney can currently be seen as Small in the hit children’s CBeebies show Big Cook Little Cook.
Directed by Lucy Moss, co-director and co-writer of SIX, Legally Blonde is written by Laurence O'Keefe and Nell Benjamin (music and lyrics), Heather Hach (book) and is based on the novel by Amanda Brown and the Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer motion picture.
Also joining the cast are Michael Ahomka-Lindsay (Emmett), Lauren Drew (Brooke), Vanessa Fisher (Vivienne), Isaac Hesketh (Margot), Nadine Higgin (Paulette), Alžbeta Matyšáková (Enid), Eugene McCoy (Callahan), Grace Mouat (Pilar), Alistair Toovey (Warner), and Hannah Yun Chamberlain (Serena).
Full casting will be announced in due course.
Legally Blonde is created by Cassiopeia Berkeley-Agyepong (dramaturg), Cat Beveridge (musical supervisor), Jean Chan (costume designer), Shanaé Chisholm (casting assistant), Natalie Gallacher CDG for Pippa Ailion Casting (casting director), Tony Gayle (sound designer), Phillip Gladwell (lighting designer), Ainsley Hall Ricketts (assistant choreographer), Laura Hopkins (set designer), Barbara Houseman (voice & text and season associate director), Majella Hurley (dialect coach), Ellen Kane (choreographer), Ingrid Mackinnon (season associate: intimacy support), Lucy Moss (director), Priya Patel Appleby (associate director), Chris Poon (assistant musical director), Alexzandra Sarmiento (assistant choreographer), Amber Sinclair-Case (associate director) and Katharine Woolley (musical director).
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s 90th Anniversary season also includes 101 Dalmatians (12 Jul – 28 Aug), a newly commissioned musical written by Douglas Hodge (music and lyrics) and Johnny McKnight (book), from a stage adaptation by Zinnie Harris, based on the book by Dodie Smith. Antigone (3 – 24 September) by Barber Shop Chronicles writer Inua Ellams after Sophocles, is the second commission from the theatre in 2022, directed by Max Webster and co-directed by Jo Tyabji.
One Woman Show 'Pickle' to Open at London's Park Theatre
Audiences can expect bagels, self-deprecation and a large dose of Jewish guilt.
Here’s the shtick: Pickle is a darkly comic one-woman show about a Jewish woman caught between two conflicting worlds.
As part of the ‘Come What May’ festival, this new one-woman, 60-minute play written and performed by Deli Segal (Ali & Dahlia, Pleasance Theatre), produced by Tanya Truman and directed by Kayla Feldman, will open at the Park Theatre on Monday 2nd May 2022.
Pickle brings a band of Jewish women together as an authentic creative team to explore what it means to be a young Jewish woman in London today.
It tells the story of Ari: Jewish, still living at home with her parents in North-West London and struggling through life in a secular world. But can she get the voice of Jewish guilt out of her head?
Deli Segal, writer and star of Pickle, said: “Pickle is all about one woman’s experience of reconciling belief and tradition with change. I wanted to tell a story that explores being in the middle of both worlds and celebrates the parts that fit together, and those that don’t. The vibrancy, the spirit, the richness of culture, the humour of Jewish life - those things often get lost in the conversation. Pickle brings them all to the stage.”
Producer Tanya Truman added, “I was so drawn to this story, as a young, Jewish woman – this piece really spoke to me and had me laughing immediately. I can’t wait to get the show in front of an audience and am really excited about its future.”
Tickets for Pickle are on sale now via the Park Theatre.
The Witches of Eastwick to have Concert Performance Starring Giles Terera
Producer Jack Maple, by arrangement with Cameron Mackintosh Ltd, is delighted to announce a special one-off concert of The Witches of Eastwick at the Sondheim Theatre on Monday 20 June 2022.
The Witches of Eastwick has a book and lyrics by John Dempsey and music by Dana P. Rowe, based on the novel by John Updike and the Warner Brothers motion picture. Maria Friedman will direct with musical staging by Stephen Mear. Olivier Award-winning actor Giles Terera will star as Darryl Van Horne. This will be the first time the musical has been seen in London since it originally played at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in 2000, transferring to the Prince of Wales Theatre in 2001. Tickets are on sale from 10am on Thursday 17 March.
Further all-star casting is to be announced.
The Witches of Eastwick tells the tale of the people of the little town of Eastwick. It is a town where everyone knows everything about everyone else, and it is presided over by the indomitable Felicia Gabriel. Bored with their small town lives, three women - Alexandra (Alex), Sukie, and Jane--share a desire for “all manner of man in one man” to provide excitement and variety. That man arrives, literally in a flash, in the devil-like form of Darryl Van Horne. Darryl seduces the women and teaches them powers, which they never knew they had.
Further all-star casting is to be announced.
The Witches of Eastwick tells the tale of the people of the little town of Eastwick. It is a town where everyone knows everything about everyone else, and it is presided over by the indomitable Felicia Gabriel. Bored with their small town lives, three women - Alexandra (Alex), Sukie, and Jane--share a desire for “all manner of man in one man” to provide excitement and variety. That man arrives, literally in a flash, in the devil-like form of Darryl Van Horne. Darryl seduces the women and teaches them powers, which they never knew they had.
Cameron Mackintosh said “I’m really thrilled that Jack Maple is conjuring up the wickedly funny Witches of Eastwick again, for one night only in concert with a glorious cast at the Sondheim Theatre. It has always been one of my favourite scores, which I’m very much looking forward to hearing in its full splendour.”
Maria Friedman said “I’m so incredibly excited to be revisiting Eastwick after all these years. To be reunited with the fantastic Stephen Mear and to have the opportunity to bring this beloved musical back to London, and at the simply stunning Sondheim Theatre, for one night only is an absolute thrill and I can’t wait to get started.”
Giles Terera MBE is an award-winning actor, musician and writer. He is best known for originating the role of Aaron Burr in the London production of the award-winning musical Hamilton, for which he won the 2018 Olivier Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Giles’s other work on stage includes Rosmersholm, The Tempest, Avenue Q, The Book of Mormon, 125th Street, Rent (West End); Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom, Hamlet, Death and the King’s Horseman, The Hour We Knew Nothing of Each Other, Troilus and Cressida, Candide, Honk! (National Theatre); The Merchant of Venice (Shakespeare’s Globe/international tour); The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Donmar Warehouse); Pure Imagination – The Songs of Lesley Bricusse (St. James’s); King John (Shakespeare’s Globe/UK tour); The Ratpack (West End/international tour); Jailhouse Rock (Theatre Royal Plymouth/West End); The Tempest (RSC) and Generations of the Dead (Young Vic). As a writer, his theatre work includes The Meaning of Zong (Bristol Old Vic), The Ballad of Soho Jones (St. James’) and Black Matter (Crazy Coqs). Giles was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 2020 New Year Honours for services to theatre.
The winner of three Olivier Awards and an Evening Standard Award, Maria Friedman is one of Britain’s most successful and acclaimed Musical Theatre actresses. Maria starred in the original West End production of The Witches of Eastwick as Sukie alongside Lucie Arnaz as Alex and Joanna Riding as Jane. Her many other West End acting credits include Passion, Ragtime, Merrily We Roll Along, Blues in the Night, Chicago, The Woman in White and, most recently, she played Golde in the Olivier Award-winning Trevor Nunn production of Fiddler on the Roof at the Playhouse Theatre. Maria won over a whole new audience when she joined the cast of long-running soap EastEnders, playing Elaine Peacock. In 2013, Maria made her directorial debut at the Menier Chocolate Factory with a production of Stephen Sondheim's musical Merrily We Roll Along. After a series of 5-star reviews, the Critics’ Circle Award for Best Musical and a sell-out extended run, it transferred to the West End and played Boston. In 2014, it won the Olivier for Best Musical Revival. It was recently announced that Maria will stage Old Friends, a celebration of the work of Stephen Sondheim at the Sondheim Theatre, with Matthew Bourne in May, as well as an Off-Broadway production of Merrily We Roll Along starring Daniel Radcliffe as part of New York Theatre Workshop’s 2022/23 season.
The multi award-winning Stephen Mear, is one of the world’s most celebrated choreographers, with two Olivier Awards, an LA Drama Critics Circle Award, and a Helpmann Award. His theatre work includes Mary Poppins with co-choreographer Matthew Bourne (Prince Edward Theatre 2004 & 2019); Funny Girl and Guys and Dolls, as director/choreographer (Marigny Theatre); Guys and Dolls Concert, as director/choreographer (Royal Albert Hall); Chess (ENO); Sunset Boulevard (ENO and Broadway); On the Town (ENO and Théâtre du Châtelet); 42nd Street as director/choreographer (Théâtre du Châtelet); Singin’ In The Rain (Grand Palais); City of Angels, The Vote and The Resistible Rise of Arturo Ui (Donmar); White Christmas (Dominion Theatre and Curve, Leicester); Mack and Mabel, The Pajama Game, She Loves Me as director/choreographer, Amadeus, The Music Man, Funny Girl, How to Succeed In Business, Putting it Together and The Grapes of Wrath (Chichester Festival Theatre); Die Fledermaus (The Metropolitan Opera, New York) and The Little Mermaid (Broadway). Stephen will be choreographing Old Friends at the Sondheim Theatre this May.
John Dempsey wrote both the book and lyrics for Zombie Prom (Off Broadway & Germany), The Fix directed by Sam Mendes at the Donmar Warehouse (Olivier Award & Helen Hayes Award nominations) and lyrics for The Reluctant Dragon, A Country Christmas Carol, and the Ringling Bros. Barnum & Bailey Circus. Plays include; One Miracle in a Lifetime (Ohio Arts Council Award), The World Today and The Greater Goode.
Dana P. Rowe wrote the music for Zombie Prom (Off Broadway & Germany) and The Fix, directed by Sam Mendes at the Donmar Warehouse (Olivier Award & Helen Hayes Award nominations). He also prepared the score for The Ballad of Bonnie & Clyde which premiered at the 2005 New York Musical Theater Festival as a featured production.
Three Sets of Twins Cast in 'Identical’, the New Musical Adaptation of ‘The Parent Trap’
After a five-year casting search and multiple auditions across the UK, three sets of talented identical twins are about to become Britain’s latest musical theatre stars.
They say you should never work with children or animals but this summer Olivier and Tony award-winning director Trevor Nunn will be doing both, with three sets of identical twins! Kyla and Nicole Fox, aged 12, from County Armagh, Northern Ireland, Emme and Eden Patrick, 12 from Waltham Abbey and Sienna and Savannah Robinson, 12 from Bromley, are the youngsters playing Lottie and Lisa in the world premiere of Identical, a new musical destined for the West End.
Identical is based on the novel ‘The Parent Trap’ by Erich Kästner, which inspired hugely successful Disney films featuring Hayley Mills in 1961 and Lindsay Lohan in 1998.
It will open at Nottingham Playhouse 26 July – 14 August 2022, then transfer to Salford’s The Lowry 19 August – 3 September 2022.
Future dates will be announced.
Identical tells the story of Lottie and Lisa, twin girls separated at birth, reunited by chance at a summer camp 10 years later. In an attempt to re-join their divorced parents, they decide to swap identities.
It has Music and Lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, (the multi award-winning writers of the Olivier award-winnig National Theatre hit ‘Honk!’, who also created a new score for the international smash-hit Cameron Mackintosh/Disney production of ‘Mary Poppins’) with a Book by Stuart Paterson.
Identical is co-produced by Nottingham Playhouse and Kenny Wax Ltd (producer of the new global musical phenomenon ‘SIX’ and the ‘Goes Wrong’ shows) and directed by Olivier and Tony award-winning Trevor Nunn (responsible for some of the greatest hits in the world, including ‘Les Miserables’, ‘Starlight Express’, ‘Cats’ and ‘Sunset Boulevard’).
Producer Kenny Wax says: “Identical is a story about the reuniting of twins separated shortly after birth and the healing of a family which has been fractured. The narrative offers a powerful message for the world right now and under the directorial genius of Trevor Nunn, I have no doubt that Identical will be regarded as one of the great musicals of its generation…..providing that we can consistently cast incredibly talented identical twins!”
Nottingham Playhouse’s Executive Director Stephanie Sirr commented: “We can’t wait to create this show. It’s particularly exciting to give kids from our community the chance to work alongside world class professionals and to take part in the premiere of a newly commissioned musical.”
Stiles and Drewe said: “It’s been a delight to adapt Erich Kästner’s hauntingly beautiful and timeless tale of two identical twins separated as babies, and their wily determination to stitch their family back together. It’s a story packed with wonderful humour and characters which makes it a great canvas to become a musical and retell for a 21st-century audience.”
CREATIVE TEAM
Director Trevor Nunn
Choreographer Matt Cole
Set Design Rob Jones
Costume Design Jonathan Lipman
Video Design Douglas O’Connell
Lighting Design Johanna Town
Sound Design Paul Gatehouse
Musical Supervisor Caroline Humphris
Musical Director Tamara Saringer
Orchestrator Tom Curran
Associate Director (with special responsibility for the children) Martha Geelan
Casting Director Anne Vosser
Children’s Casting and Administration Jo Hawes
Wig and Hair Designer Richard Mawbey
Production Manager Digby Robinson
General Management & Marketing Kenny Wax Ltd
photo credit: Alistair Muir
Tuesday 15 March 2022
Full Cast Announced for the UK and Ireland Tour of The Cher Show
“All of us invent ourselves.
Some of us just have more imagination than others.”
CHER
The producers of the brand new production of The Cher Show are delighted to announce the full cast joining Debbie Kurup, Danielle Steers and Millie O’Connell, all starring as Cher – Star, Lady and Babe respectively.
Lucas Rush will play Sonny, Jake Mitchell will play Bob Mackie, Sam Ferriday will play Greg Allman and Tori Scott will play Georgia. Joining them are Jordan Anderton, Jasmine Jules Andrews, Carla Bertran, Catherine Cornwall, Áine Curran, Sam Holden, Samantha Ivey, Aston Newman Hannington, Ingrid Olivia, Clayton Rosa, Chay Wills and Guy Woolf.
With book by Tony and Olivier Award-winning Rick Elice (Jersey Boys, The Addams Family, Peter and the Starcatcher), direction by Arlene Phillips (Saturday Night Fever, Starlight Express, Grease), choreography by Oti Mabuse (two-time Strictly Come Dancing champion) and costume design by Gabriella Slade (Six, In The Heights, Spice World 2019 Tour), the UK & Ireland Tour will open at Leicester’s Curve on 15 April 2022 and will continue through to 1 April 2023.
From a young child with big dreams, the shy daughter of an Armenian American truck driver, to the dizzying heights of global stardom, The Cher Show tells the incredible story of Cher’s meteoric rise to fame. Cher takes the audience by the hand and introduces them to the influential people in her life, from her mother and Sonny Bono, to fashion designer and costumier Bob Mackie. It shows how she battled the men who underestimated her, fought the conventions and, above all, was a trailblazer for independence.
The musical is packed with 35 of her biggest hits, including ‘If I Could Turn Back Time’, ‘I Got You Babe’, ‘Strong Enough’, ‘The Shoop Shoop Song’ and ‘Believe’.
With over 100 million record sales, an Academy Award®, an Emmy®, a Grammy®, three Golden Globes® and an award from The Council of Fashion Designers of America, Cher has influenced popular culture more than most. Her on-screen career started in 1971 with her weekly television show that attracted 30 million viewers a week, and went on to include starring roles in iconic films from Moonstruck, for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress, to Mamma Mia: Here We Go Again!, which prompted the New York Magazine to realise “every single movie—no matter how flawless—would be infinitely better if it included Cher.” Her ‘Farewell Tour’ became the highest grossing music tour in history – in true Cher fashion, she followed up her ‘Farewell Tour’ with two further sell-out, worldwide arena tours. She is the only artist in history to have a number one hit in the Billboard chart for six consecutive decades; an achievement that caused Vogue to deem her “eternally relevant and the ruler of outré reinvention”. She became known as the Queen of Reinvention.
In the 1990s, she established The Cher Charitable Foundation to support causes around the world. She has been a long-time donor and supporter of Habitat for Humanity, The Intrepid Fallen Heroes Fund and Keep A Child Alive, an organisation that helps to combat the AIDs epidemic. Most recently, she co-founded Free the Wild to help rescue Kaavan the Asian elephant from Islamabad zoo.
Written by Tony Award-winning Rick Elice, The Cher Show made its debut on Broadway in 2018 in a production that earned two Tony Awards and delighted fans from around the world. This new production will be the European premiere.
The Cher Show UK & Ireland Tour will have set design by Tom Rogers, musical supervision, orchestrations and arrangements by Rich Morris, lighting design by Ben Cracknell, sound design by Dan Samson, music production by Gary Hickeson, wigs, hair and make-up design by Sam Cox, associate direction by James Cousins, associate choreography by James Bennett, musical direction by Danny Belton and casting by Will Burton CDG.
The Cher Show UK & Ireland Tour is produced by ROYO with Fiery Angel, Cuffe & Taylor/LIVE NATION and Playing Field in association with Tilted, Aria Entertainment and JONES Theatrical Group.
Website: www.cheronstage.com
Twitter, Facebook, Instagram: @TheCherShowUK
Friday 11 March 2022
Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical Extends Booking Period
Producers have today announced that the hit production Get Up, Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical has extended booking until 29 January 2023. The critically acclaimed production has been playing to sell-out ecstatic crowds since October last year at the Lyric Theatre Shaftesbury Avenue and it has just been nominated for 4 Olivier Awards, including BestNew Musical.
Producers said: “Bob’s music has a power to heal, and bring joy and life and happiness to the whole world. In these difficult times we are so pleased that audiences are feeling the positive vibrations reverberating around the Lyric Theatre which we have made our home. ONE LOVE to all nominees and welcome to our family, the brilliant Michael Duke.”
This news comes as new images are released of Michael Duke who has taken over the role of Bob Marley from Arinzé Kene. Duke has been performing for 20 years, starting his career as Young Simba in The Lion King. He has appeared in the West End run of The Inheritance, West Side Story at the Royal Exchange in Manchester, Beautiful: The Carol King Musical, Thriller Live and The Rat Pack LIVE! (all in the West End).
On Tuesday this week it was announced that the show had been nominated for 4 Olivier Awards including Best New Musical, Best Actor in a Musical for Arinzé Kene, Best Actress in a Supporting Role in a Musical for Gabrielle Brooks and Best Original Score or New Orchestration for Orchestrator Simon Hale.
Award-winning director Clint Dyer channels the creative quest and spiritual power of a universally embraced icon, in this critically acclaimed production which features Marley’s magical, revolutionary songs and a book by award-winning Lee Hall.
Lose yourself to the rhythm of 'Exodus', 'No Woman No Cry', 'Waiting in Vain', 'Three Little Birds', ‘I Shot the Sheriff’, 'Could You Be Loved', 'Redemption Song' and many more.
The explosive production celebrates the immense life and timely message of Jamaican soul rebel Bob Marley - from a life of poverty to visionary international superstar. Crucial fellow soul rebels in the cast include the sensational Rita Marley and the I Three and his inspiring brothers in arms, Peter Tosh, Bunny Wailer and Lee ‘Scratch Perry’.
The full cast features Michael Duke (Bob Marley), Gabrielle Brooks (Rita Marley), Shanay Holmes (Cindy Breakspeare), Sophia Mackay (Judy Mowatt), Melissa Brown-Taylor (Marcia Griffiths), Jacade Simpson (Bunny Wailer), Natey Jones (Peter Tosh), David Albury (Alternate Bob Marley) Daniel Bailey, Craig Blake, Charles Blyth, Luke Buck, Maxwell Cole, Athena Collins, Viquichele Cross, Kimmy Edwards, Raphael Estavia, Henry Faber, Cannon Hay, Llewellyn Jamal, Savanna Jeffrey, Kieran McGinn, Rohan Pinnock-Hamilton, Cleopatra Rey, Julene Robinson, Lawrence Rowe, Nate Simpson, Amarra Smith, Archie Smith, Declan Spaine, Jaime Tait, Teddy Wills.
‘It’s not all that glitters is gold, half the story has never been told’
From the hills of rural Jamaica, armed only with his overwhelming talent, Bob Marley applied himself with resolute determination to achieve international acclaim for his prophetic musical message – a gospel of love and unity.
photo credit: Craig Sugden
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