Month: August 2022

PHOTO FLASH – 1st look at the National Youth Music Theatre’s production of  RAGTIME opening tonight in London

The MCT at Alleyn’s, Dulwich
Thursday 25 – Saturday 27 August

RAGTIME
Book by Terrence Mcnally, Music by Stephen Flaherty, Lyrics by Lynn Ahrens
This sweeping musical portrait of early 20th-century America tells the story of three families in the pursuit of the American Dream.

National Youth Music Theatre represents the very best in work with young people through musical theatre enabling thousands of youngsters across the UK to develop both their creative and personal potential, leading Andrew Lloyd Webber to dub it “the best youth music theatre in the world”.

Written by the award-winning composer/ lyricist team of Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens (‘Once on This Island’, ‘Seussical’ and ‘Lucky Stiff’), noted playwright Terrence McNally, and based on E.L. Doctorow’s distinguished novel, ‘Ragtime’ was the winner of the 1998 Tony Awards for Best Score, Book and Orchestrations, and both the Drama Desk and Outer Critics Circle Awards for Best Musical and Best Score. Called by TIME Magazine  “A triumph for the stage,” and by the  International Herald Tribune “the best musical in 20 years,” this acclaimed musical is filled with pageantry, emotion and hope, bursting onto the stage like no other musical.

The Tony-winning score is just as diverse as the melting pot of America itself, drawing upon many musical styles, from the ragtime rhythms of Harlem and Tin Pan Alley to the klezmer of the Lower East Side, from bold brass band marches to delicate waltzes, from up-tempo banjo tunes to period parlour songs and  expansive anthems.

Director Hannah Chissick
Musical Director David Randall
Choreographer Nathan ‘Neo’ Gordon
Set & Costume Designer Libby Todd
Lighting Designer Aaron Dootson

Birmingham Rep
The Snowman
Peacock Theatre, WC2
Saturday 19 November – Saturday 31 December
Tickets: £18 – £55
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

Iconic family show The Snowman returns to Peacock Theatre for its 25th anniversary in the West End from Saturday 19 November – Saturday 31 December. The 25th Anniversary London Season is dedicated to creator of The Snowman, Raymond Briggs CBE 1934-2022.

Birmingham Rep’s magical stage adaptation of the much-loved picture book by Raymond Briggs CBE and the animated film directed by Dianne Jackson continues to enchant audiences of all ages.

The family favourite follows the story of a young boy’s adventures when his snowman comes to life on Christmas Eve. Join them on their magical adventure to the North Pole where they meet a dazzling array of colourful characters including dancing penguins, a beautiful snow princess and Father Christmas himself. The Snowman is the perfect Christmas treat and a wonderful introduction to dance for children.

The Snowman features famous music and lyrics by acclaimed composer Howard Blake including the song ‘Walking in the Air’. The Snowman is directed by Bill Alexander with choreography by Robert North, design by Ruari Murchison, and lighting by Tim Mitchell. The show features a cast of 22 accompanied by a live orchestra.

Sir Alistair Spalding CBE, Sadler’s Wells Artistic Director and Chief Executive, said: “We are so pleased that The Snowman returns to Peacock Theatre for its 25th anniversary, and this year the season is dedicated to the creator of The Snowman, Raymond Briggs CBE. He was a special artist, with a sharp and observant mind. He leaves behind an everlasting treasure in The Snowman.

“It is a pleasure to see families introducing their children to dance through this magical show. Audiences have always loved this show and the important messages it carries, and we are sure that they will keep returning in the years to come.”

25th Anniversary London Season – dedicated to creator of The Snowman, Raymond Briggs CBE 1934-2022

Suitable for all ages 

Peacock Theatre, WC2
Saturday 19 November – Saturday 31 December
Tickets: £18 – £55
Ticket Office: 020 7863 8000 or www.sadlerswells.com

YOUNG VIC THEATRE IN THE WEST END AND ON BROADWAY
FOURTH PRODUCTION ANNOUNCED THIS YEAR

FOLLOWING CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED SELL-OUT RUNS AT THE YOUNG VIC, RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN’S
OKLAHOMA!, AS ANNOUNCED TODAY, AND BEST OF ENEMIES TRANSFER TO THE WEST END AND DEATH
OF A SALESMAN AND THE COLLABORATION RECEIVE BROADWAY PREMIERES

The Young Vic theatre today announces a fourth transfer in 2022 as it takes two of its world premiere productions and two critically acclaimed revivals into the West End and on Broadway. Following sell-out runs at the London, Waterloo venue, Daniel Fish’s radical revival of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! is the latest production staged at the Young Vic to open in the West End and follows the recently announced transfer of James Graham’s award-winning hit new play Best of Enemies due to open this November, directed by Jeremy Herrin. Further details for both productions will be revealed soon.

In New York, Wendell Pierce and Sharon D Clarke will reprise their roles as Willy and Linda Loman in the Olivier Award-winning production of Death of a Salesman, directed by Miranda Cromwell, with previews beginning from 19 September at the Hudson Theatre, Broadway. The Collaboration by four-time Oscar nominee Anthony McCarten will be the second Broadway premiere this autumn, directed by Artistic Director Kwame Kwei-Armah. First seen in February starring Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope who will return as Warhol and Basquiat, the production previews at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre from 29 November.

The Collaboration has also been adapted for a feature film scripted by Anthony McCarten and starring Paul Bettany, Jeremy Pope and Daniel Brühl. It goes into production this autumn and will mark Kwame Kwei-Armah’s film directorial debut.

YOUNG VIC IN THE WEST END

Second Half Productions, Eleanor Lloyd Productions, Wessex Grove, Young Vic theatre and Headlong present
BEST OF ENEMIES
By James Graham
Inspired by the documentary by Morgan Neville and Robert Gordon
Directed by Jeremy Herrin
Dates November TBA

James Graham’s new play Best of Enemies will transfer to the West End from this November. The sold-out hit from the Young Vic and Headlong, which originally premiered at the Young Vic in December 2021, examines the bitter political rivalry between William F Buckley Jr. and Gore Vidal.

1968 – a year of protest that divided America. As two men fight to become the next President, all eyes are on the battle between two others: the cunningly conservative William F Buckley Jr., and the iconoclastic liberal Gore Vidal. Beliefs are challenged and slurs slung as these political idols feud nightly in a new television format, debating the moral landscape of a shattered nation. Little do they know they’re about to open up a new frontier in American politics, and transform television news forever…

Best of Enemies recently received the South Bank Sky Arts Award for Best New Theatre Production. The play was also nominated for two Olivier Awards and won the Critics Circle Theatre Award for Best New Play. 

Further information on the West End transfer will be announced shortly.

Sign up to the Young Vic mailing list to be the first to hear about Best of Enemies on sale.

Eva Price, Sonia Friedman Productions, Michael Harrison in association with the Young Vic theatre present
The Bard SummerScape production of
Rodgers & Hammerstein’s
OKLAHOMA!
Music by RICHARD RODGERS
Book and Lyrics by OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II
Based on the play “Green Grow the Lilacs” by Lynn Riggs
Original Choreography by Agnes de Mille
Directed by Daniel Fish
February 2023

Winner of the Tony Award® for Best Revival of a Musical, Daniel Fish’s bold interpretation of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! will transfer to Wyndham’s Theatre from February 2023 following sold-out runs at the Young Vic, in New York and across the U.S. on tour.

Oklahoma! tells a story of a community banding together against an outsider, and the frontier life that shaped America. Eighty years after Rodgers & Hammerstein reinvented the American musical, this visionary production is funny and sexy, provocative and probing, without changing a word of the text.

Sign up to the Young Vic mailing list to be the first to hear about Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! on sale.

YOUNG VIC ON BROADWAY

Cindy Tolan, Elliott & Harper Productions and Kwame Kwei-Armah present
The Young Vic theatre production of
DEATH OF A SALESMAN
By Arthur Miller
Directed by Miranda Cromwell
17 September 2022 – 15 January 2023

The critically-acclaimed Young Vic production of Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman opens at Broadway’s Hudson Theatre (141 West 44th Street) for 17 weeks only from 19 September. 

Arthur Miller’s Death of a Salesman is directed by Miranda Cromwell, who co-directed the London production alongside Marianne Elliott. Together, they won the 2020 Olivier Award for Best Direction. 

Olivier Award nominee Wendell Pierce and 2022 Tony® nominee Sharon D Clarke star as Willy and Linda Loman in a revival – told for the first time on Broadway – from the perspective of an African American family. A new cast of supporting actors join the production in New York, featuring McKinley Belcher III, Khris Davis and Tony® winner André De Shields. 

Manhattan Theatre Club and the Young Vic theatre
by Special Arrangement with
Eleanor Lloyd Productions, Anthology Theatre, Stanley Buchthal and Denis O’Sullivan
present
THE COLLABORATION
Featuring Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope
By Anthony McCarten
Directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah
Previews begin 29 November 2022
Opening night 20 December 2022

The Collaboration will receive its Broadway premiere at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre as part of MTC’s 2022/23 Season with previews from Tuesday 29 November and opening night on Tuesday 20 December.

Warhol. Basquiat. Electric, eccentric, polar opposites…together, for the first time in the most unlikely partnership the art world has ever seen. In the summer of 1984, longtime international superstar Andy Warhol and the art scene’s newest wunderkind, Jean-Michel Basquiat, agree to work together on what may be the most talked about exhibition in the history of modern art. But can these two creative giants co-exist, or even thrive? 

Written by four-time Oscar Nominee Anthony McCarten, and directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah, Artistic Director of the Young Vic Theatre, the world premiere of The Collaboration was originally produced by the Young Vic Theatre in January-March 2022 in partnership with Eleanor Lloyd, Anthology Theatre, Stanley Buchthal and Eilene Davidson in association with Denis O’Sullivan. 

Multi award-winning actor Paul Bettany (The Avengers, “WandaVision”) and two-time Tony Award nominee Jeremy Pope (Choir Boy, Ain’t Too Proud) reprise their roles as Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat.

★★★★★

“Punchy, playful and sexy, this Oklahoma! is an absolute knockout” The Telegraph

CRITICALLY ACCLAIMED SMASH-HIT PRODUCTION OF

RODGERS & HAMMERSTEIN’S OKLAHOMA! TO TRANSFER TO THE WEST END IN FEBRUARY 2023

★★★★★

“Oklahoma! is stunningly reimagined” Financial Times

Eva Price, Sonia Friedman Productions and Michael Harrison in association with the Young Vic theatre today announce the West End transfer of the critically acclaimed production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!, opening in February 2023 at Wyndham’s Theatre, with dates and casting to be announced.

Reimagined for the stage by Daniel Fish, the production played a sold-out run at the Young Vic earlier this year, having previously transferred to Broadway from St. Ann’s Warehouse winning the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival.

Eva Price, Sonia Friedman and Michael Harrison said today, “Very occasionally a production comes along that redefines a classic musical for a generation – Daniel Fish’s revelatory reimagining of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s masterpiece Oklahoma! will be forever stamped in the memories of those that see it. After a hugely successful sold-out run at the Young Vic, we’re thrilled to transfer Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! to the West End in its 80^th anniversary year and bring the production to the wider UK audience it deserves.”

To sign up for advance information and access to priority booking for the production, please register your interest at www.OklahomaWestEnd.com.

★★★★

“A stunning reinvention…the best revival yet” Evening Standard

Eva Price, Sonia Friedman Productions, Michael Harrison

in association with the Young Vic theatre

present

The Bard SummerScape production of

Rodgers & Hammerstein’s

OKLAHOMA!

Music by RICHARD RODGERS

Book and Lyrics by OSCAR HAMMERSTEIN II

Based on the play “Green Grow the Lilacs” by Lynn Riggs

Original Choreography by Agnes de Mille

Director: Daniel Fish; Orchestrations, Arrangements and Co-Music Supervision: Daniel Kluger; Choreographer: John Heginbotham; Scenic Designers: Lael Jellinek & Grace Laubacher;

Costume Designer: Terese Wadden; Lighting Designer: Scott Zielinski; Sound Designer: Drew Levy;

Projection Designer: Joshua Thorson; Co-Music Supervision and Additional Vocal Arrangements: Nathan Koci

Forget what you think it is… this is Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! as you’ve never seen it before – re-orchestrated and reimagined for the 21st century. Winner of the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival, Daniel Fish’s bold interpretation recently enjoyed a sold-out run at the Young Vic following sold-out runs in New York and across the U.S. on tour.

Oklahoma! tells a story of a community banding together against an outsider, and the frontier life that shaped America. Eighty years after Rodgers & Hammerstein reinvented the American musical, this visionary production is funny and sexy, provocative and probing, without changing a word of the text.

After long and highly distinguished careers with other collaborators, Richard Rodgers (composer, 1902-79) and Oscar Hammerstein II (librettist/lyricist, 1895-1960) joined forces in 1943 to create the most successful partnership in American Musical Theater. Prior to joining forces, Rodgers collaborated with lyricist Lorenz Hart on musical comedies that epitomized wit and sophistication (Pal Joey, On Your Toes, Babes in Arms and more), while Hammerstein brought new life to operetta and created the classic, Show Boat, with Jerome Kern. Oklahoma! the first Rodgers & Hammerstein musical, introduced an integrated form that became known as “the musical play.” Their shows that followed included Carousel, South Pacific, The King and I and The Sound of Music. Collectively, the Rodgers & Hammerstein musicals have earned Tony, Oscar, Grammy, Emmy, Pulitzer and Olivier Awards. The Rodgers & Hammerstein Organization is a Concord Company.

Daniel Fish is a New York-based director who makes work across the boundaries of theatre, film, and opera. He draws on a broad range of forms and subject matter including plays, film scripts, contemporary fiction, essays and found audio. His 2019 production of Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! transferred to Broadway from St. Ann’s Warehouse and won the Tony Award for Best Musical Revival. Other recent work includes White Noise, inspired by the novel by Don DeLillo (Ruhrfestspiele Recklingshausen, Theater Freiburg, Skirball NYU), Most Happy, based on Frank Loesser’s “The Most Happy Fella” (Williamstown Theater Festival), Michael Gordon’s opera, Acquanetta (Prototype Festival/Bard SummerScape), Don’t Look Back (The Chocolate Factory), Who Left This Fork Here (Baryshnikov Arts Center, Onassis Center), Ted Hearne’s The Source (BAM NEXT WAVE, LA Opera, San Francisco Opera), and Eternal, a video installation. His work has been seen at theatres and festivals throughout the U.S. and Europe including, The Walker Arts Center, PuSH, Teatro Nacional D. Maria, Lisbon/Estoril Film Festival, Vooruit, Festival TransAmériques, Noorderzon Festival, The Chocolate Factory, The Public Theater’s Under The Radar, Opera Philadelphia/Curtis Opera Theater, American Repertory Theater, Richard B. Fisher Center at Bard College, Yale Repertory Theater, McCarter Theater, Signature Theater, The Shakespeare Theater Company, Düsseldorfer Schauspielhaus, Staatstheater Braunschweig, and The Royal Shakespeare Company. Residencies and commissions include The MacDowell Colony, Baryshnikov Arts Center, Mass MOCA, and LMCC/ Governor’s Island. In December 2022, he will première a new production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide for Opera National de Lyon. He is graduate of Northwestern University’s Department of Performance Studies and has taught at The Juilliard School, Bard College, and The Department of Design for Stage and Film at NYU Tisch School of the Arts.  He is the recipient of the 2017 Herb Alpert Award in the Arts for the Theater.

www.OklahomaWestEnd.com

Instagram: @Oklahoma.WestEnd

Twitter: @OklahomaWestEnd

Facebook: @OklahomaWestEnd

#OklahomaMusical

Opening night: photos released from the world premiere of
‘Elizabeth Fry: The Angel of Prisons’
Staged in the Elizabeth Fry Room at Canning Town Library

Three prisoners have a story to tell. It’s the story of Elizabeth Fry and how she changed prisons forever. But this is not a history lesson. You’ll hear both contemporary and historical language. You’ll see both modern-day and period mash-up costumes. Because the question remains the same today as it did in Elizabeth Fry’s time: does prison actually work?

Elizabeth Fry is forever linked to Newham because she and her husband lived from 1829 to 1845 in Upton Lane House, West Ham. In addition to her prison work, she was a regular visitor at gypsy encampments in Plashet, dispensing food, clothing and medicine to the local Gypsy and Irish communities.

‘Elizabeth Fry: The Angel of the Prisons’ is the latest instalment in The Newham Plays, a series of site-specific, localist-focussed plays rooted in Newham’s history, culture and people, created and written by James Kenworth.

The plays are a unique collaboration between a writer, director, designer and professional actors working alongside students from Newham schools and young actors from local youth groups/theatres.

It continues the collaboration between writer James Kenworth and director Martin Charlton, following ‘Gob’, starring ex-Take That star Jason Orange at the King’s Head Theatre, and ‘Revolution Farm’, “a terrifically powerful update…Highly recommended” – The Independent, an update of Orwell’s ‘Animal Farm’ staged on an inner city farm in Newham.

Cast:

Anya Williams, Hayley Morson, Ruthie Presh Lane, Eric Calvin, Abubacarr Sambah Bah, Lucas Goodman, Nyah Carter, Oluwatofunmi Balogun, Lucas Goodman, Tacyana Ferguson

Creative team:

Written by James Kenworth

Directed by James Matin Charlton

Designed by Hardy Gru

Produced by Nayomi Roshini

ELIZABETH FRY
English prison reformer Elizabeth Fry. Elizabeth Fry lived in Plashet House in East Ham between 1809 and 1829 when she moved to Upton Lane in Forest Gate. She has sometimes been referred to as the ‘Angel of Prisons’. Fry was a major driving force behind new legislation to make the treatment of prisoners more humane, and she was supported in her efforts by the reigning monarch.

In 1813 Elizabeth Fry made her first visit to Newgate prison where she observed women and children in terrible conditions. Elizabeth began working for the reform, campaigning for segregation of the sexes, female matrons for female prisoners, education and employment (often knitting and sewing) and religious instruction.

In 1817 Elizabeth Fry created the Association for the Improvement of Female Prisoners and along with a group of 12 other women lobbied authorities including Parliament. In the 1820s she inspected prison conditions, advocated reform and established more groups to campaign for reform. In 1823 prison reform legislation was finally introduced in Parliament.

Like previous Newham Plays, ‘Angel of the Prisons ‘will be performed by professional actors and local young people, and following the production, an Elizabeth Fry Education Resource Pack will be produced and free drama workshops run in our partner schools.

Prison facts:

Women make up only 4% of the total prison population. In 2020, 5,011 women were sent to prison – either on remand or to serve a sentence. Despite a recent decline there are still twice as many women in prison today as there were 27 years ago.

Seven in 10 women in prison (71%) reported that they had mental health issues compared with
nearly half of men (47%).

“Punishment’s not for revenge, but to lessen crime and reform the criminal” – Elizabeth Fry

LISTINGS INFO

The world premiere of

Elizabeth Fry: ‘The Angel of Prisons’

by James Kenworth

Directed by Martin Charlton

22 August – 27 August

Monday – Saturday at 7.30pm
Matinees Thursday to Saturday at 3pm

Canning Town Library
(Elizabeth Fry Room)
18 Rathbone Road,
Canning Town,
London
E16 1EH

Ticket price (Non-Newham):
Pay What You Can
suggested donation £5

Free seats for Newham residents
supported by  Newham Council

To reserve Tickets:
https://angelprisons.eventbrite.co.uk

Not suitable for children

How to get here

Bus Routes – 5, 15, 15b, 241, 276, 69, 330

Tube Station – Canning Town

Docklands Light Railway – Canning Town
ReplyForward

KW

FULL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR

THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE AT ROSE THEATRE

OPENING THURSDAY 6 OCTOBER 2022

Rose Theatre Artistic Director Christopher Haydon is delighted to announce the full cast for his new production of Bertolt Brecht’s The Caucasian Chalk Circle, which will run at the Rose from 1 to 22 October.

Joining the previously announced Carrie Hope Fletcher as Grusha Vashnadze will be Jonathan Slinger as Azdak, Ronny Jhutti as The Governor/Monk, Nickcolia King-N’da as Simon, Joanna Kirkland as The Governor’s Wife, Shiv Rabheru as Lavrenti/Youssef, Bridgitta Roy as Cook/Mother-in-Law, Zoe West as The Singer and Adeola Yemitan as Aide/Younger Lady.

In the midst of a bloody revolution, a young woman risks everything to rescue the abandoned child of the Governor and his wife. Years later, when the Governor’s wife returns seeking her son, a raucous rogue judge turns justice on its head. Can the test of the chalk circle determine which of the two women is the boy’s real mother? 

Brimming with original songs and full of mischievous humour, this is the first major production of Brecht’s epic masterpiece for more than 25 years. A gripping adventure, this new version by Steve Waters (Limehouse, Donmar Warehouse), with music by Michael Henry (Barber Shop Chronicles, National Theatre)is directed by Rose Artistic Director, Christopher Haydon.

The production is developed in association with MGC with set and costume design by Oli Townsend, movement direction by Lucy Cullingford, lighting design by Mark Jonathan and sound design by Gareth Fry, with Layla Madanat as associate director, Christopher Worrall is the casting director and Stuart Burt CDG as casting consultant. The Associate Producer is Kater Gordon.

LISTINGS INFORMATION

A Rose Original Production

1 – 22 October 2022

Captioned Performance: Saturday 15 October, 2.30pm

Audio Described Performance: Monday 17 October, 7.30pm

Booking Link: https://rosetheatre.org/whats-on/the-caucasian-chalk-circle

rosetheatre.org

Twitter: @Rosetheatre

Instagram: @RoseTheatreKingston                

Facebook: /rosetheatrekingston  

Cahoots Theatre Company presents the 2022/23 tour of 

Looking For Me Friend: The Music of Victoria Wood 

Written and performed by Paulus

Musical Director: Michael Roulston; Director: Sarah-Louise Young 

Cahoots Theatre Company presents the 2022/23 national tour of Looking For Me Friend: The Music of Victoria Wood, a nostalgic hour of entertainment celebrating the music of the late comedy genius and national treasure. 

Fresh from a successful run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, Looking For Me Friend: The Music of Victoria Wood will tour to MAST Mayflower Studios, Southampton (9 Sept), Sonata Piano & Cabaret Lounge, Manchester (10 Sept), Liverpool Theatre Festival (11 Sept), Warleggan Jubilee Hall, Bodmin (16 Sept), St Austell Arts Theatre (17 Sept), Launceston Town Hall (18 Sept), Theatre Playhouse, Norwich (22 Sept), Perth Theatre (23 and 24 Sept), Whole Lotta Comedy, Surbiton (6 Oct), The Crazy Coqs, London (23 Oct), Faversham Fringe, Kent (27 Oct), Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne (4 Nov), Pound Arts, Corsham (10 Dec), Chichester Festival Theatre, Minerva Theatre (20 Jan), Saltburn Arts Centre, Saltburn-By-The-Sea (10 Feb), Haverhill Arts Centre (17 Feb) and Theatre@41, York (26 Feb). 

Written and performed by Paulus (‘King of Cabaret’, The Stage), and directed by multi-award-winning cabaret artist Sarah-Louise Young, the show is filled with love, laughter and fabulous memories for Victoria Wood fans as well as the ultimate ‘beginner’s guide’ for audiences new to her work. Twelve of Victoria’s best-loved songs through the decades are featured including ‘It Would Never Have Worked’, ‘Reincarnation’ and, of course, the classic ‘Ballad of Barry & Freda (Let’s Do It)’, as well as some of her lesser-known and more poignant compositions.  

The highly acclaimed Musical Director Michael Roulston joins Paulus on stage, proving what many have known for decades: that it takes two men to do the work of one woman – half as well! 

Looking For Me Friend: The Music of Victoria Wood is written and performed by Paul L. Martin (Paulus). Paulus, The Cabaret Geek, is an entertainer and educator who specialises in cabaret. Best known for his appearances on BBC1’s All Together Now as a talent judge, his musical tribute to Victoria Wood, Looking For Me Friend: The Music of Victoria Wood premièred in London in 2020. His brand-new musical Building Paulus written with Jordan Clarke is currently in development. For fifteen years, Paulus had close ties to the cult London cabaret venue The Battersea Barge, producing many cabarets for them including the hugely successful talent contest Cheese ‘n’ Crackers, Diva Nite and their annual adult pantomimes. For ten years, Paulus ran the entertainment agency Excess All Areas (formerly Better Chemistry) and under this banner he spearheaded the annual Cabaret Convention and London Cabaret Awards, which played host to cabaret performers, promoters, and practitioners from across the UK and Ireland. Paulus was awarded ‘Best Producer (Cabaret)’ by fringe report during this time. His expertise has been sought to judge many talent competitions including National Burlesque Awards, Drag Idol for Royal Vauxhall Tavern, Pride’s Got Talent, Musical Comedy Awards and Burlesque Idol at The Hippodrome Casino. He has long-lasting working relationships with Home Live Art and their Alternative Village Fete at the National Theatre; the award-winning Festival of Thrift in Darlington and Redcar; The Urban Village Fete for Wayne Hemingway and Hemingway Designs; the Ukulele Festival of Scotland and these have seen him play key roles in the LOCOG Staff Wrap Party at the Copperbox for the 2012 London Olympics and the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Celebrations in Battersea Park.  

To find out more about Looking For Me Friend: The Music of Victoria Wood and to book tickets, visit www.lookingformefriend.com or venue websites. 

TOUR LISTINGS 2022-2023 

9 Sept               MAST Mayflower Studios, Southampton   

https://www.mayflowerstudios.org.uk/what-s-on/looking-for-me-friend-2022/

10 Sept             Sonata Piano & Cabaret Lounge, Manchester 

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/Sonatamcr/t-moongjp

11 Sept             Liverpool Theatre Festival 

www.liverpooltheatrefestival.com/whatson 

16 Sept             Warleggan Jubilee Hall, Bodmin 

https://cornwall365.com/events/paulus-looking-for-me-friend-the-music-of-victoria-wood/

17 Sept             St Austell Arts Theatre 

http://www.staustellartstheatre.org.uk/whatson/?event_id1=1622  

18 Sept             Launceston Town Hall 

https://www.ticketsource.co.uk/whats-on/launceston/launceston-town-hall/paulus-looking-for-me-friend-the-music-of-victoria-wood/e-qqmodr

22 Sept             Theatre Playhouse, Norwich 

https://norwichtheatre.org/whats-on/looking-for-me-friend-the-music-of-victoria-wood/

23 & 24 Sept    Perth Theatre 

https://www.horsecross.co.uk/whats-on/looking-for-me-friend-180002

6 Oct                Whole Lotta Comedy, Surbiton 

https://www.wholelottacomedy.com/event-details/looking-for-me-friend-the-music-of-victoria-wood

23 Oct              The Crazy Coqs, London 

https://www.brasseriezedel.com/events/looking-for-me-friend/

27 Oct              Faversham Fringe, Kent 

https://favershamfringe.co.uk – timings to be announced; on sale soon 

4 Nov               Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne 

https://www.eastbournetheatres.co.uk/events/lookingformefriend

10 Dec             Pound Arts, Corsham 

20 Jan              Chichester Festival Theatre, Minerva Theatre 

https://www.cft.org.uk (10 Sept – Friends Priority On Sale; 17 Sept – General On Sale) 

10 Feb              Saltburn Arts Centre, Saltburn-By-The-Sea  

https://saltburnarts.co.uk – timings to be announced; on sale soon 

17 Feb              Haverhill Arts Centre 

https://haverhillartscentre.co.uk – timings to be announced; on sale soon 

26 Feb              Theatre@41, York  

https://tickets.41monkgate.co.uk  – timings to be announced; on sale soon 

A New Adventure is About to Happen…

Winnie the Pooh The Musical comes home to the UK in Spring 2023!

UK premiere of Disney’s WINNIE THE POOH

Created and directed by Jonathan Rockefeller

Featuring music by The Sherman Brothers

with additional songs by A.A. Milne

Disney’s Winnie the Pooh will be coming to the UK for the first time in Spring 2023. The UK premiere will be presented by Rockefeller Productions, in partnership with ROYO, and in association with Disney Theatrical Productions. Theatre, dates and casting are to be announced.

Audiences can sign up at winniethepoohshow.co.uk to be the first to hear more!

Deep in the Hundred Acre Wood, a new adventure is about to happen.  A.A. Milne’s beloved characters, Winnie the Pooh, Christopher Robin and their best friends Piglet, Eeyore, Kanga, Roo, Rabbit and Owl (and Tigger too!), will all arrive on stage in a beautifully-crafted musical stage adaptation.

In a new story from the Hundred Acre Wood, this fresh stage adaptation is told with impressive life-size puppetry, exciting new stories and featuring characters that have played iconic roles in the lives of children for generations. Accompanying the modern narrative is an original score by Nate Edmondson, featuring some of the Grammy award-winning songs written by the Sherman Brothers for the original animated features, including Winnie the Pooh, The Blustery Day, The Wonderful Thing About Tiggers and Whoop-De-Dooper Bounce, plus A.A. Milne’s The More It Snows (featuring music by Carly Simon) and Sing Ho in a new arrangement.

Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation is developed and presented by renowned family entertainment creator Jonathan Rockefeller (whose spectacular puppetry is omnipresent in the acclaimed productions of The Very Hungry Caterpillar Show and Paddington Gets in a Jam).

“The music, the life-size puppets, and the charming performances are the perfect way to introduce (or re-introduce) audiences to live theatre, and this is a must-see show for Winnie the Pooh fans of all ages. I am thrilled to be entrusted to bring this celebrated character to the stage for new audiences as they join our adventure into the Hundred Acre Wood,” said Jonathan Rockefeller, creator of Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Adaptation.

Inspired by the beloved books by A. A. Milne and the classic Disney featurettes, the production was welcomed in New York in 2021, where it broke theatre box office records for the largest advance, with rave reviews where it was called “Enchanting!” (Time Out); “Winnie the Pooh: The New Musical Stage Adaptation is magical, sweet as honey, and full of humor. It’s a wholesome, delightful, enchanting piece of theatre,” (BroadwayWorld); “A perfect reintroduction to live theater. It’s a captivating adventure with spectacular puppetry,” (Mommy Poppins); “Charming and whimsical stage show that Pooh surpasses every expectation I had for it,” (The Laughing Place); “Winnie the Pooh is delightfully first-rate,” (Theatre Pizzazz); “Irresistible. ‘Winnie the Pooh’ is sweeter than honey,” (DC Metro Arts); “An hour of bountiful joy,” (New York Theatre Guide); “Mesmerizing and lifestyle puppets and original Sherman Brothers tunes, the beautiful new Winnie the Pooh musical is must-see,” (Theatrely); “The wonderful thing about musicals is that musicals are wonderful things. The New ‘Winnie the Pooh’ Musical Is Sweeter than Honey,” (Toy Insider).

Website: winniethepoohshow.com

Facebook: @WinnieThePoohShow

Twitter: @WinnieThePooh

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Full company announced for
LOCAL HERO at Chichester Festival Theatre

Book by David Greig, Music and Lyrics by Mark Knopfler

Based on the Bill Forsyth film

Directed by Daniel Evans

Minerva Theatre, Chichester
8 October – 19 November

The full cast has been announced for LOCAL HERO, running at Chichester’s Minerva Theatre from 8 October – 19 November. Based on the Bill Forsyth film, with book by David Greig and music and lyrics by Mark Knopfler (formerly of Dire Straits), it will be directed by Chichester Artistic Director Daniel Evans, whose production of South Pacific is currently playing at Sadler’s Wells before embarking on a UK & Ireland tour.

The Tony Award-winning American actor Gabriel Ebert will make his UK stage debut as Mac, with Lillie Flynn (as Stella), Paul Higgins (as Gordon), Hilton McRae (as Ben), Jay Villiers (as Happer), and Rodney Earl Clarke, Ali Craig, Julie Cullen, Liz Ewing, Murray Fraser, Craig Hunter, Rachael Kendall Brown, Joshua Manning, Jackie Morrison and Betty Valencia.

Daniel Evans said: ‘I came to Local Hero innocently; the film having passed me by in my childhood. However, the minute I read David Greig’s warm, witty book and heard Mark Knopfler’s seductive folk score, I fell hook, line and sinker. I then watched Bill Forsyth’s extraordinary film and appreciated its resonance immediately. It’s a story for our time where communities and corporations collide. It asks us to readdress how we look at the world by interrogating what we value.’

It’s 1983 and hotshot Texan oil executive Mac MacIntyre is dispatched to the tiny Scottish fishing village of Ferness with $30million in his pocket. The bay may have views to die for but it’s the only place that can take the tankers from an offshore oil field, so it’s up to Mac to seal a deal on the locals’ homes and put a refinery in their place.

The villagers aren’t averse to cashing in on the black gold and Gordon, the local hotelier-lawyer-accountant-ceilidh organiser, proves a surprisingly tough negotiator.

But they’ve all overlooked one very important person. And as the northern lights dance in the skies, Mac comes to realise that not everything of value is for sale.

The book by David Greig (Artistic Director of Edinburgh’s Royal Lyceum Theatre), based on Bill Forsyth’s iconic film,features new songs by the legendary Mark Knopfler. This new musical version of Local Hero will win devotees from admirers of the beloved film as well as those coming fresh to this funny and enchanting story.

Gabriel Ebert (Mac)’s many Broadway and off-Broadway roles include Mr Wormwood in Matilda The Musical, for which he won the 2013 Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Musical; The Misanthrope, Pass Over (Lucille Lortel Award), 4000 Miles (Obie Award), Thérèse Raquin and the title role in Peer Gynt. His screen work includes Dickinson, News of the World, Mr Mercedes and The Mandalorian.

Lillie Flynn (Stella) previously appeared at Chichester in Love Story; her many other musical credits include Sunny Afternoon and Wicked in the West End.

Paul Higgins (Gordon)’s extensive TV work includes The Ipcress Files, Line of Duty, The Thick of It and Utopia; his stage credits include the National Theatre of Scotland’s Caledonia and Black Watch, and Children of the Sun and The White Guard at the National Theatre.

Hilton McRae (Ben) returns to Chichester where he last appeared in My One and Only which transferred to London; his innumerable West End theatre credits also include End of the Rainbow (for which he was nominated for an Olivier Award), 1984, Mamma Mia!, Miss Saigon, and Timon of Athens at the National Theatre.

Jay Villiers (Happer)’s previous Chichester credits include Quiz (also in the West End), Arcadia, The Admirable Crichton and Mansfield Park; his screen work includes Outlander and Film Stars Don’t Die in Liverpool.

Daniel Evans’s previous Chichester productions include South Pacific, Quiz, Fiddler on the Roof and this season’s Our Generation.

Local Hero will be designed by Frankie Bradshaw, with lighting design by Paule Constable with Ryan Day, sound design by Paul Arditti, musical direction by Richard John, movement direction by Sasha Milavic Davies and video design by Ash J Woodward. The music producer is Guy Fletcher;with orchestrations and arrangements by Dave Milligan, casting by Charlotte Sutton CDG and US casting by Jim Carnahan.

The sponsors are itd Consultants and Genesis Town Planning.

Edinburgh Fringe Festival

The Space on the Mile (Space 3), Venue 39 – until 27 August 2022

4****

It’s the kind of fact that history skims over on the way to bigger things: Queen Anne had 17 pregnancies but all her children died. Nia Williams explores this searing story in her beautiful  short musical/opera Mrs Pack.

The real Mrs Pack was a wet nurse, who breastfed the only one of all those babies to survive into childhood. Pack was celebrated at the time for saving the heir to the throne (he died aged 11). We only know about her now because of a memoir written by a manservant, but for a while she was at the heart of court intrigue. The story is told from the servants’ point of view. The cast of four handles multiple parts and carries the story along, sometimes talking, sometimes singing Williams’s lovely interweaving harmonies.

 It’s short – 50 minutes. The set is minimal – some poignant little bundles of cloth and a washing line.

Rhiannon Williams is glorious as larger-than-life Mrs Pack and others; Olivia Baker performs with quieter intensity as her rival Atty; Isabella Jeffrey (excellent as the young prince) and Chris Johnson turn on a sixpence to cover all the other parts, and they all manage to make us laugh at the same time as telling a heartrending tale. Despite the subject matter this isn’t a glum show; it’s bright and lively but very moving, with a  sense of empathy for all the people caught up in this tangled web. This is a Three  Chairs and a Hat production, directed by Katie Blackwell.