Showing posts sorted by date for query & Juliet). Sort by relevance Show all posts
Showing posts sorted by date for query & Juliet). Sort by relevance Show all posts

Wednesday, 15 October 2025

The Greatest Showman Musical Announces Star-Studded Cast for Spectacular UK Stage Premiere


The stage is set for one of the most anticipated musical theatre premieres in recent memory, The Greatest Showman is officially coming to the UK stage. The spectacular new adaptation of the 2017 hit film will debut at the Bristol Hippodrome, bringing the story of P.T. Barnum to life with all the energy, heart, and magic that made the movie a global phenomenon.

Leading the cast is acclaimed West End star Oliver Tompsett (& Juliet, We Will Rock You) as showman P.T. Barnum, alongside Samantha Barks (Frozen, Les Misérables) as Charity Barnum. Joining them are Lorna Courtney (& Juliet Broadway) as Anne Wheeler, Ben Joyce (Jersey Boys) as Phillip Carlyle, Vajèn van den Bosch as Jenny Lind, and Malinda Parris (Standing at the Sky’s Edge) as Lettie Lutz.

The musical will feature a powerhouse creative team, including Tony Award-winning director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw, whose dynamic work on The Book of Mormon and Aladdin has dazzled audiences worldwide. The beloved score by Benj Pasek and Justin Paul (Dear Evan Hansen, La La Land) and a new book by Tim Federle promise to bring both familiarity and freshness to this dazzling stage spectacle.

In a statement, Nicholaw shared: 
“It’s an absolute joy to finally share our incredible cast with the world — led by the brilliant Oliver Tompsett and Samantha Barks. Together with a world-class creative team, we are so excited to bring this story to life for the first time on stage.”
The full company features a remarkable ensemble of singers, dancers, and circus performers, including Mia Raggio, Angelica Pearl Scott, Harly Gill, Ellie McArdle, Eleanor Sebastian, Max Bispham, and Joel Tennant Clark Young. Josh St. Clair serves as the P.T. Barnum alternate, with Katie Tonkinson as the standby Anne Wheeler.

Behind the scenes, the creative lineup includes Alex Lacamoire (music supervision and orchestrations), David Korins (scenic design), Gregg Barnes and Sky Switser (costume design), Natasha Katz (lighting design), and Peter Hylenski (sound design), alongside a host of award-winning designers and choreographers ensuring every moment shines.

This world-premiere production of The Greatest Showman is poised to deliver everything audiences love about the original film- breathtaking visuals, heart-stirring music, and an inspiring story of courage and self-belief- now reimagined for the stage.

photo credit: Sebastian Nevols

UK Premiere of Daniel’s Husband Brings Award-Winning Off-Broadway Play to London Theatre


Plastered Productions has announced the full cast for the highly anticipated UK premiere of Michael McKeever’s Daniel’s Husband. The hit Off-Broadway play arrives at London’s Marylebone Theatre, directed by Alan Souza, and promises a deeply emotional exploration of love, identity, and conviction.

The acclaimed cast includes three-time Olivier Award winner David Bedella (& Juliet), Luke Fetherston (Big Mood), Raiko Gohara (A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder), Joel Harper-Jackson (Cock), and Olivier winner Liza Sadovy (Cabaret). Together, they will bring to life McKeever’s powerful examination of relationships, choices, and the human heart.

At its core, Daniel’s Husband follows Daniel and Mitchell, a couple whose seemingly perfect life is shattered by an unexpected crisis. As their love is tested, the play delves into the meaning of commitment, the fragility of security, and what it truly means to be a family.

Originally debuting in the US to critical acclaim, Daniel’s Husband has won multiple awards and captivated audiences with its honesty and emotional impact.

Plastered Productions shared that they chose the play as their inaugural London production to “inspire reflection on love, morality, and connection.”

A moving addition to the London theatre landscape, Daniel’s Husband invites audiences to confront both the beauty and complexity of love.

Tuesday, 5 November 2024

Stockard Channing Joins Brie Larson and Star-Studded Cast for the Thrilling West End Revival of Elektra


The timeless power of Greek tragedy is set to take the West End stage as Empire Street Productions announces additional casting for Elektra, Sophokles’s renowned drama, featuring a new, visceral translation by the award-winning poet Anne Carson. Academy Award-winner Brie Larson, previously announced as the lead, will make her West End debut alongside an impressive lineup: the internationally celebrated Stockard Channing (The West Wing, The Good Wife), Marième Diouf (Romeo and Juliet, The Globe), Greg Hicks (Grapes of Wrath, Coriolanus), and Evening Standard Award-winner Patrick Vaill, fresh off his acclaimed performance in Oklahoma! and Stranger Things: The First Shadow.

Directed by the visionary Daniel Fish, known for his groundbreaking Tony and Olivier Award-winning revival of Oklahoma!, this production of Elektra promises a powerful, haunting experience. Fish's return to Sophokles’s masterpiece marks the first major revival of the classic Greek tragedy in over a decade. The creative team behind Elektra features Annie-B Parson (Choreography), Jeremy Herbert (Set Design), Doey Lüthi (Costume Design), Adam Silverman (Lighting Design), Max & Ben Ringham (Sound Design), and Ted Hearne (Composer), with Kate Godfrey (Voice & Dialect) and casting by Heather Basten CDG.

The production begins its journey at Theatre Royal Brighton on January 13, 2025, before moving to London’s Duke of York’s Theatre for an exclusive 11-week season starting January 24, with a press night scheduled for February 5. This staging of Elektra promises an intense exploration of vengeance, grief, and survival, as Elektra, haunted by her father’s murder, awaits the return of her brother Orestes, who she urges toward a harrowing and irreversible act of revenge.

Empire Street Productions brings this much-anticipated Elektra revival to life following their acclaimed projects like Prima Facie with Jodie Comer and The Pillowman starring Lily Allen. The full cast lineup for Elektra will be announced soon. For tickets and more information, visit ElektraPlay.com.

Wednesday, 16 October 2024

Orange Tree Theatre Announces Exciting 2025 Season Featuring World Premieres and Classic Revivals


Orange Tree Theatre (OT) has announced its highly anticipated 2025 season, packed with a dynamic lineup of six new plays, including four world premieres, two rediscoveries, and a beloved classic comedy. Artistic Director Tom Littler and Executive Director Hanna Streeter have curated a season that blends cutting-edge new writing with timeless stories, exploring powerful themes such as war, power, privilege, and the human condition.

The season launches with Churchill in Moscow, an imagined meeting between Winston Churchill and Joseph Stalin in 1942, reuniting playwright Howard Brenton and Littler for their sixth collaboration. The production stars Roger Allam in the titular role and promises to be a standout event. Following this, the theatre will revive April De Angelis’ acclaimed Playhouse Creatures, starring Anna Chancellor and directed by Michael Oakley, before transferring to the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre and Theatre Royal Bath. Next, the London premiere of Mark Ravenhill’s Ben and Imo, produced in collaboration with the RSC and directed by Erica Whyman, will feature Samuel Barnett and Victoria Yeates reprising their original roles. The spring season concludes with a revival of Terence Rattigan’s In Praise of Love, directed by Amelia Sears.

The summer and autumn months promise even more excitement with Chiara Atik's Poor Clare, directed by Blanche McIntyre, and world premieres of two eagerly anticipated adaptations: Dance of Death, adapted and directed by Richard Eyre from the play by August Strindberg, and Hedda, a fresh take on Ibsen’s Hedda Gabler by Tanika Gupta. Tom Littler will also helm a special 250th-anniversary production of Richard Brinsley Sheridan’s classic comedy The Rivals. Additionally, the OT Young Company will present Alice in Wonderland, a new adaptation by Chinonyerem Odimba based on Lewis Carroll’s iconic novel.

As part of OT's ongoing commitment to engaging younger audiences, the theatre is launching OT Under 30 Nights, offering 18-29-year-olds the chance to see shows for just £15, complete with a post-show talk and a social event. The inaugural event will take place on 8 November, featuring the JMK Award-winning production Guards at the Taj. Cast members Usaamah Ibraheem Hussain and Maanuv Thiara will participate in the post-show panel, alongside creatives Roisin Jenner and Priya Virdee, with the discussion chaired by Kalungi Ssebandeke, the 2023 JMK award winner.

In addition to the main stage programming, the OT’s Community team will continue their work with young people, offering educational performances of Julius Caesar and Romeo & Juliet for primary and secondary school audiences, as well as participation in the National Theatre’s Connections festival for teenagers.

Priority booking for Churchill in Moscow, Playhouse Creatures, Ben and Imo, and In Praise of Love opens on 16 October, with general sales starting on 28 October. On-sale dates for the rest of the season will be announced soon.

Photo Credit: Rebecca Need Menear

Tuesday, 6 February 2024

Tom Holland to Play Romeo in Jamie Lloyd's Romeo and Juliet


The Jamie Lloyd Company today announces its new West End production of Shakespeare’s Romeo & Juliet, starring Tom Holland as Romeo, and directed by Jamie LloydRomeo & Juliet runs at the Duke of York’s Theatre, Saturday 11 May – Saturday 3 August 2024.
 
Further casting to be announced. Tickets go on sale to those signed up for priority booking and ATG+ members on Tuesday 13 February at 8am; general booking opens on Tuesday 13 February at 12pm.
 
Sign up for priority booking here: www.romeoandjulietLDN.com
 
The Jamie Lloyd Company also continues its commitment to accessibility, offering 10,000 tickets priced at £25 and under, with 5,000 of these exclusively for under 30s, key workers and those receiving government benefits. Further information to be announced. 
 

Jamie Lloyd said today:

“Tom Holland is one of the greatest, most exciting young actors in the world. It is an honour to welcome him back to the West End.”


Text edited by Nima Taleghani; Set and Costume Design: Soutra Gilmour; Lighting Design: Jon Clark; Sound Design; Ben and Max Ringham; Video Design and Cinematography: Nathan Amzi and Joe Ransom; Composer: Michael 'Mikey J’ AsanteCasting Director: Stuart Burt CDG; Movement Directors: Sarah Golding & Yukiko Masui (SAY); Intimacy Coordinator: Ingrid Mackinnon; Associate Director: Jonathan Glew; Associate Designer: Rachel Wingate
 
Violent delights have violent ends.

 

Photo Credit: Isaac Anthony / AUGUST

Tuesday, 8 November 2022

Benjamin Rauhala & his West End Besties at Cadogan Hall



Fourth Wall Live are delighted to announce BENJAMIN RAUHALA & HIS WEST END BESTIES at the Cadogan Hall on Sunday 5 February at 6.30pm. Tickets on sale now www.fw-live.com/ben 

 

One of Broadway’s most trusted music directors and collaborators, Benjamin Rauhala will be joined on stage by stars of the West End including Luke Bayer (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Soho Cinders)Paisley Billings (Six, The Lion King, ‘Tattoo Fixers’)Lauren Drew (Six, Heathers, Legally Blonde, ‘The Voice’)Hiba Elchikhe (Everybody’s Talking About JamieAladdin)WhatsOnStage Award nominee Jordan Luke Gage (& Juliet, Bonnie & Clyde, Bat Out of Hell)Ben Joyce (Back to the FutureJersey Boys)Claudia Kariuki (SixWicked, School of Rock)Olivier Award nominee Frances Mayli McCann (Bonnie & ClydeHeathers, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour), Zara MacIntosh (&Juliet, Six) Olivier Award nominee Natalie Paris (SixBilly Elliot, Les Miserables)Courtney Stapleton (‘Belle’ in Beauty and the BeastSix)Jodie Steele (Six, Heathers) Benjamin Yates (Jersey Boys, School of Rock, Wicked). Guests are subject to change. 

 

Music director Benjamin Rauhala’s love affair with the London theatre community and actors of the West End has been ongoing since his first sold-out concerts with Jeremy Jordan in the summer of 2016. Rauhala grew up obsessed with British pop music, including a subscription to Top of the Pops magazine! As a mainstay of the Broadway community, he has produced hundreds of sold-out concerts that spawned viral YouTube concert clips totalling * totalling over 56million views, including Jeremy Jordan’s ubiquitous cover of “It’s All Coming Back To Me Now” and the many medleys featured in his Broadway Princess Party concert series. 

 

Rauhala found that everyone he met in London had a favourite one of those videos and wanted to chat about it, so he had an idea: what if he gathered a dozen of his favourite West End performers with an epic band and re-created some of those beloved videos, as well as crafting some new arrangements for these amazing singers? On the heels of a sold-out run at Theatre Royal Drury Lane with Jeremy Jordan and in preparation to play the London Palladium with Ariana DeBose and for an upcoming international tour of Disney Princess The Concert, this was the perfect moment to create a concert unlike anything London has ever seen! BENJAMIN RAUHALA AND HIS WEST END BESTIES will be a night filled with Rauhala’s signature mashups and medleys, some of the best contemporary musical theatre, some radically rearranged Disney tunes, and, of course, tunes from the likes of Céline Dion, the Spice Girls, Selena Gomez, and Sam Smith! 

 

Benjamin Rauhala is the Music Supervisor, co-creator, and ‘Fairy Godfairy’ of Disney Princess - The Concert, touring over 100 cities in North America throughout 2022, and internationally in 2023. He helped conceive and arrange the opening and closing numbers of the 2022 Tony Awards for Academy Award winner Ariana DeBose. Rauhala has toured the world since 2014 as the music director forJeremy Jordan, the Tony-nominated star of Broadway's Newsies and TV’s ‘Supergirl’, and in 2020, Rauhala was named 'Best Musical Director' at the Broadway World Cabaret Awards.

 

His Broadway credits include Fiddler on the RoofAmerican Psycho, and Pippin. His Off-Broadway credits include Hit List, the meta-musical from the NBC television show Smash, Duncan Sheik’s The Secret Life of Bees and David Byrne’s Joan of Arc: Into The Fire. He is also the music director for Academy Award Winner Ariana DeBose, Halston star Krysta Rodriguez, Tony Award nominees Derek Klena, Jennifer Damiano, Kathryn Gallagher, and Disney legend Jodi Benson, as well as Nashville star Kyle Dean Massey, Anastasia star Christy Altomare, Smash star Andy Mientus, Moulin Rouge star Ashley Loren, and Frozen stars Caroline Bowman and Austin Colby. 

 

Rauhala co-founded the Write Out Loud songwriting competition with Mean Girls Tony Award nominee Taylor Louderman, which is currently in its fourth season of supporting the next generation of composers. Additionally, he is an Original Programming Producer at 54 Below, where he has created hundreds of sold-out concerts, including the Broadway Loves Series, that has famously honored Celine Dion, Britney Spears, Selena Gomez, Sam Smith, Demi Lovato, and many more beloved pop icons. 

Follow him @brauhala

Wednesday, 25 May 2022

Line-Up for West End LIVE is Unveiled


A packed line-up of 34 hit West End shows has been unveiled so far ahead of this year’s West End LIVE, a free and unticketed celebration of London’s world-leading theatre scene which comes to Trafalgar Square on the weekend of 25 and 26 June. More acts are due to be announced in the next few weeks, as London gears up for the biggest ever West End LIVE.
 
Tens of thousands of theatre fans are expected to flock to the capital for this year’s musical theatre spectacular, enjoying free performances from dozens of top shows - from long-running favourites Hamilton, Les Misérables, Wicked, Six, The Book Of Mormon, Disney’s The Lion King and Matilda The Musical, to new shows making their West End LIVE debut, such as Moulin Rouge! The Musical, Legally Blonde, My Fair Lady, Disney’s Beauty And The Beast, Back To The Future - The Musical and Get Up Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical.
 
This unique event, a joint production by Westminster City Council and the Society of London Theatre (SOLT), unites London’s theatre industry every year and brings people of all ages into central London to experience the best of the West End - from the city’s unparalleled culture scene to food, drink, fashion, nightlife, retail and more.
 
As excitement builds for West End LIVE, anyone visiting central London in the next couple of weeks - and who happens to look up - might catch one of a series of surprise, pop-up performances by West End shows on iconic London rooftops, an opportunity to get a feel for things to come from one of the world’s most spectacular outdoor theatre events. Details for these ‘Sing it from the Rooftops’ events will be teased before each appearance on the West End LIVE and Official London Theatre social channels, and anyone lucky enough to witness one will be in with a chance of winning a West End LIVE queue jump. The first pop-up performance will take place today (Wednesday 25 June) at 4pm, in Covent Garden’s famous piazza on the SUSHISAMBA balcony. 
 
Sky VIP are welcomed back as sponsor for West End LIVE 2022, having also supported last year’s event. Once again, they will be offering their customers the chance to watch from the exclusive Sky VIP viewing area onsite, plus win some fabulous prizes. 

They join returning partners The Northbank and Edwardian Hotels and sponsors Art of London, Capco Covent Garden, The Crown Estate, Derwent London, Great Western Railway, Heart of London Business Alliance, New West End Company, The Portman Estate, Regent Street & St James’s, Shaftesbury, Veolia, Victoria Business Improvement District, Victoria Westminster Business Improvement District and Whitehall Business Improvement District.

Eleanor Lloyd, President of SOLT, said:
 
‘London’s theatres are the envy of the world, and West End LIVE is a highlight of the theatrical calendar for so many - not just the countless fans who converge on Trafalgar Square to enjoy a wealth of incredible live entertainment, but also the hundreds of performers and crew involved in putting on what is always an unforgettable weekend. We are delighted to continue to work so closely with Westminster to deliver West End LIVE, and hugely grateful for the support of Sky, who have a long history as champions of theatre and the arts.’

Cllr Tim Roca, Deputy Leader at Westminster City Council, said:

‘West End LIVE is a much-loved annual event that brings together the musical theatre community in celebration of the world-class theatre we have right on our doorstep. One of the main aims the new administration has for the council is to make culture, arts and leisure accessible to everyone living in Westminster, not just the few. We want to encourage all residents, especially those in disadvantaged communities, to participate and join in cultural opportunities and big, fun events such as West End LIVE so we can bring all our communities in Westminster together.’
 
Joel Keoghan, Head of Brand Partnerships at Sky said: 
Sky is delighted to be part of West End LIVE again. This annual celebration of London’s world class theatre is a fantastic event and a highlight in the arts calendar.  It’s a great opportunity for us to host and thank our customers, getting them closer to the entertainment they love through Sky VIP.

Official London Theatre will be backstage throughout the West End LIVE weekend sharing exclusive behind-the-scenes content across our social channels.

West End LIVE remains free and unticketed as in previous years. The event will be BSL interpreted by Sue MacLaine, Marco Nardi and Caroline Richardson.
 
List of shows appearing at West End LIVE 2022
More shows and acts will be announced in the lead-up to the event
 
& Juliet
Back To The Future - The Musical
Disney's Beauty And The Beast
Bonnie And Clyde The Musical
The Book Of Mormon
Chess, Kinky Boots and Treason at Drury Lane
The Choir Of Man
Come From Away
Dear Evan Hansen
The Drifters Girl
Fantastically Great Women Who Changed The World The Musical
Disney's Frozen
Get Up Stand Up! The Bob Marley Musical
Grease The Musical
The Great Gatsby
Hamilton
Heathers The Musical
Jersey Boys
Legally Blonde The Musical
Disney's The Lion King
Magic Mike Live
Mamma Mia!
Mary Poppins
The RSC’s Matilda The Musical
Les Misérables
Moulin Rouge! The Musical
My Fair Lady
Only Fools And Horses The Musical
The Phantom Of The Opera
Pretty Woman: The Musical
Six
South Pacific
Tina - The Tina Turner Musical
Wicked

photo credit: Pamela Raith