Thursday 26 May 2022
Carrie Hope Fletcher, Danielle Steers & Laura Pitt-Pulford to star in The Witches of Eastwick in Concert
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. 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.
Further casting is to be announced.
Carrie Hope Fletcher is currently starring as Cinderella in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella until 12 June 2022. She has played both Eponine and Fantine in Les Miserables at the Queen’s/Sondheim Theatre and Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End and the Opera House in Dubai. In the UK, she originated the roles of Wednesday Addams in the UK tour of The Addams Family and Veronica Sawyer in Heathers at the Theatre Royal Haymarket which transferred from The Other Palace. Her other credits include Beth in the arena tour of The War of the Worlds, Emily in A Christmas Carol and Brenda Payne in The Christmasaurus Live at the Eventim Apollo. Carrie is also a Sunday Times Best Selling author.
Danielle Steers is currently starring as Cher in the UK and Ireland tour of The Cher Show. Her previous credits include Catherine Parr in Six The Musical (London), Zahara in the original cast of Bat out of Hell: The Musical (Manchester Opera House, London Coliseum, Ed Mirvish Theatre Toronto, Dominion Theatre, New York City Centre), Carmen in Sweet Charity (Donmar Warehouse), Lead Shirelle in the original London cast of Beautiful - The Carole King Musical (Aldwych Theatre), swing and cover Nikki Marron in The Bodyguard (Adelphi Theatre) and cover Killer Queen in We Will Rock You (International Arena Tour). Her debut album, The Future Ain't What It Used To Be, was released in 2021.
Laura Pitt-Pulford’s theatre credits include Louise in Gypsy in concert (Alexandra Palace), Marlene Dietrich in Piaf (Nottingham Playhouse/Leeds Playhouse), Falsettos (The Other Palace), Little Miss Sunshine (Arcola Theatre), Charity Hope Valentine in Sweet Charity (Pimlico Opera), Flowers for Mrs Harris (Chichester Festival Theatre & Sheffield Crucible), Nancy in Oliver (Curve), Milly Bradon in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre), for which she received an Olivier Award nomination, and Maria in The Sound of Music (Curve).
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.
THE WITCHES OF EASTWICK has musical staging by Chrissie Cartwright, lighting design by Simon Sherriff, sound design by Adam Fisher and associate direction by Jack McCann.
Monday 21 March 2022
School of Rock (Tour), New Wimbledon Theatre | Review
Many people know and love the hit 2003 film School of Rock. With Jack Black’s iconic comedy, incredibly catchy tunes and a true rock soul it became an instant classic. Fortunately, all of this translates brilliantly to the stage and to the current UK tour which is getting audiences up on their feet and releasing their inner rock god’s.
With music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, School of Rock provides a throughly entertaining night out. The show follows Dewey Finn, a man who’s only goal is to live a life of music. One thing leads to another and he ends up taking the place of his best friend and pretending to be a supply teacher for the elite Horace Green school. There he discovers that he’s not the only one with music in his soul; he finds a classroom full of wonderful musicians who just want to be heard. Thus begins his mission to form a band and win the Battle of the Bands. The entire story is a comedic dream, with a cast of amazing talents and so many great songs.
There’s also astute observations on growing up and the pressures young people are under, as well as many witty and topical comments on the world as a whole.
Of course this show would not be half of what it is without the young performers who make up the class. There’s not a weak link, with utterly superb musicianship being displayed throughout. They all have enough energy to raise the roof off of the New Wimbledon Theatre and also do particularly well in the more moving moments of the show. Special mention must go to Souparnika Nair who shone supremely bright with her spectacularly controlled vocals as Tamika and Emerson Sutton who is a marvel on the drums. All the children are a joy to watch and there's also some exceptional hairography going on throughout!
As Dewey Finn, Jake Sharp carries the musical outstandingly. Not wavering a single moment he’s on stage (and that’s pretty much throughout). He’s hilarious, vocally virtuosic and brings enough of the iconic Jack Black attitude and swagger that we know and love but also adds his own flair and makes the role his own.
Rebecca Lock as Rosalie Mullins the uptight headmistress who also longs to break free is utterly charming. Her vocals are spectacular with her operatic range shining in the Queen of the Night aria and her astounding belt providing a real highlight in Where Did The Rock Go.
photo credit: Paul Coltas
Monday 21 February 2022
Carrie Hope Fletcher Announces Debut UK Tour
Carrie Hope Fletcher - An Open Book 202318-May Bradford, St George's Hall21-May Southampton, Mayflower Theatre22-May Norwich, Theatre Royal25-May London, The London Palladium27-May Llandudno, Venue Cymru28-May Salford, The Lowry29-May Birmingham, Symphony Hall31-May Sheffield, City Hall02-Jun Nottingham, Royal Concert Hall03-Jun Newcastle, O2 City Hall04-Jun Edinburgh, Festival Theatre
Wednesday 15 July 2020
Regent's Park Open Air Theatre to present Jesus Christ Superstar: The Concert
Monday 4 May 2020
Theatre You Can Stream For FREE
The Wizard of Oz: A young farm girl Dorothy (Judy Garland) and her dog Toto are whisked away from their Kansas home in a tornado to the magical land of Oz. A complete classic, with whimsy to take you away and a load of tunes to sing along to.
Burlesque: Ali (Christina Aguilera) is a singer who moves to LA in hopes of achieving her dreams. After getting a job at a burlesque lounge, Ali performs there nightly and helps the lounge's owner (Cher) restore the club to its original glory. It's a film of absolute boppage with two musical queens.
La La Land: While navigating their careers in Los Angeles, a pianist (Ryan Gosling) and an actress (Emma Stone) fall in love. As they start to experience professional success, they struggle in their relationship and have to decide between love and doing what they love.
Opening Night: A failed Broadway singer who now works as a production manager must save opening night on his new production by wrangling his eccentric cast and crew. Starring Lesli Margherita and Taye Diggs.
West Side Story: Romeo and Juliet told through the street gangs of New York City — The Sharks and The Jets. When Tony (Richard Beymer), a Jet, falls in love with Maria (Natalie Wood), a Shark, drama ensues as the gangs fight one another and Tony and Maria fight for their love.
Crazy Ex Girlfriend: Rebecca Bunch, a New York City real-estate lawyer abandons her job and her life in an attempt to find happiness in the unlikely locale of West Covina, California. It's hilarious and heart-warming and the music (by Rachel Bloom) is completely genius.
Disney+ there are of course all the live action movies on here as well as the classic Disney films such as Annie, The Sound of Music, Frozen etc... but here are a few other things you may have missed/not gotten round to yet:
Amazon Prime has a few more rogue theatrical selections as well as some great documentaries; some of my favourites are:
Once: The story of Girl meeting Guy. He, is a Dublin busker on the brink of walking away from music after having his heart broken and feeling unheard in a bustling world; whilst, she is a force for change who exudes positivity from the moment their worlds collide. In the space of a few days, their lives become beautifully connected and changed forever.
The Last Five Years: This show chronicles the lives of a struggling actress (Anna Kendrick) and a successful writer (Jeremy Jordan) as they journey through their ultimately doomed relationship. Told from two perspectives, this is just a beautiful piece of theatre.
Jesus Christ Superstar: Based on Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice's musical, JCS recounts the last days of Jesus Christ (Ted Neeley) from the perspective of Judas Iscariot (Carl Anderson), his betrayer.
Hamilton: One Shot to Broadway: If you're a Hamilton fan this is a must watch. It looks at how the hit musical came to be and features snippets of the show as well as interviews and archive footage.
Aside from what's available on these regular streaming platforms, the brilliant creatives from the world of theatre have put together some amazing online resources:
National Theatre at Home: Each week the National Theatre are streaming plays from their archives on YouTube. Each show stays up for 7 days and there's a whole variety of genres. This week's stream is Frankenstein with Anthony and Cleopatra going live on Thursday and more to be announced. Check out the channel here
Ghost Quartet: If you missed the recent revival of Dave Malloy's show at the Boulevard Theatre, you can now watch the original production here
Signal: A series that presents new artist driven musical theatre has released a complete playlist of songs presented over the past two years. Available here
The Show Must Go Online: Each Friday Andrew Lloyd Webber is sharing one of his musicals, available here
21 Chump Street: Lin Manuel Miranda's lovely 15 minute musical is available to stream now. Telling the true story of an agent who went undercover in a school to reveal students who were dealing drugs. For a short musical, this fits so much in and the performances from Anthony Ramos and Lindsay Mendez are outstanding.
Southwark Playhouse have introduced the Southwark Stayhouse with three of their previous productions, including the tale of the Bronte sisters, Wasted. Find them all here
The Royal Opera House #FromOurHouseToYourHouse: The Royal Opera House are releasing lots of their archive shows, including La Traviata. Find them all here
The Shows Must Go On!: Weekly readings of Shakespeare's plays, performed by stellar actors take place on YouTube
Only The Brave: Telling the story of a group of soldiers in the run up to the D-Day landings, the hit musical starring Caroline Sheen and David Thaxton is available to view here
Eugenius! Towards the start of lockdown, team Eugenius! released their show which was filmed during its run at The Other Palace and the show is still available to stream now.