West End shows opening summer 2021
MAGIC MIKE LIVE
The Theatre at the Hippodrome Casino, London
Reopening 21 May 2021 with social distancing
Channing Tatum and his co-producers are delighted to announce that MAGIC MIKE LIVE will be returning to its London home on 21 May 2021. Patrons will experience a revamped production featuring new songs and new dance sequences. As part of MAGIC MIKE LIVE’s return to the London stage, the show is announcing a new “Too Good To Be True” ticketing policy, which gives patrons unprecedented booking flexibility MAGIC MIKE LIVE is a large-scale, live production show based on the hit films Magic Mike and Magic Mike XXL. MAGIC MIKE LIVE is co-directed by Channing Tatum and Alison Faulk, with Luke Broadlick as associate director, and choreographed by Alison Faulk, Teresa Espinosa and Luke Broadlick.
Duration: 90 minutes, no interval
Age Guidance: guests must be at least 18 years to attend – appropriate photo ID will be requested on arrival at the venue.
www.magicmikelondon.co.uk
THE PRINCE OF EGYPT
Dominion Theatre, London
Reopening 1 July 2021 with social distancing (N.B. Should all legal limits on social contact be lifted on or before Thursday 1 July 2021, then performances will operate according to Step 4 protocols at the earliest opportunity)
THE PRINCE OF EGYPT, the hit musical based on the classic DreamWorks Animation film, will resume performances at London’s Dominion Theatre on 1 July 2021. THE PRINCE OF EGYPT has music and lyrics by Grammy® and Academy Award®-winner Stephen Schwartz (Wicked, Pippin, Godspell), a book by Philip LaZebnik (Mulan, Pocahontas) and features 10 brand new songs written by Stephen Schwartz, together with 5 of his acclaimed songs from the DreamWorks Animation film (Deliver Us, All I Ever Wanted, Through Heaven’s Eyes, The Plagues and the Academy Award®-winning When You Believe, which was a global hit for Whitney Houston and Mariah Carey). The cast of 43 is led by Luke Brady (Moses), Liam Tamne (Ramses), Christine Allado (Tzipporah), Alexia Khadime (Miriam), Joe Dixon (Seti), Debbie Kurup (Queen Tuya), Mercedesz Csampai (Yocheved), Adam Pearce (Hotep), Tanisha Spring (Nefertari) and Silas Wyatt-Barke (Aaron), and is directed by Scott Schwartz with choreography by Sean Cheesman. The acclaimed Original Cast Recording, released by Ghostlight Records and available on CD, digital and streaming formats, recently received a 2021 Grammy® Award nomination for `Best Musical Theatre Album’.
Duration: 2 hours 45 minutes
Age Guidance: 7+ (children under 5 cannot be admitted)
www.theprinceofegyptmusical.com
JERSEY BOYS
Trafalgar Theatre
From 28 July 2021
JERSEY BOYS, the remarkable true story of Frankie Valli and the Four Seasons and their rise to stardom from the wrong side of the tracks, returns to the West End in 2021. The show is packed with hits, including Beggin’, Sherry, Walk Like A Man, December, 1963 (Oh What a Night), Big Girls Don’t Cry, My Eyes Adored You, Let’s Hang On (To What We’ve Got), Bye Bye Baby, Can’t Take My Eyes Off You, Working My Way Back to You, Fallen Angel, Rag Doll and Who Loves You. JERSEY BOYS is the winner of 65 major awards worldwide including Broadway’s Tony, London’s Olivier and Australia’s Helpmann Awards for Best New Musical.
Duration: 2 hours 40 minutes
www.jerseyboyslondon.com
BACK TO THE FUTURE – THE MUSICAL
Adelphi Theatre
From 20 August 2021
Marty McFly is a rock ‘n’ roll teenager who is accidentally transported back to 1955 in a time-travelling DeLorean invented by his friend, Dr Emmett Brown. But before he can return to 1985, Marty must make sure his high school-aged parents fall in love in order to save his own existence. BACK TO THE FUTURE The Musical, produced by Colin Ingram, along with Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, the creators of the three Back To The Future films, will be directed by Tony Award-winning director John Rando (Urinetown, On The Town), have a book by Bob Gale and new music and lyrics by Emmy and Grammy Award-winning Alan Silvestri and six-time Grammy Award-winning Glen Ballard, with additional songs from the film including The Power of Love and Johnny B. Goode. The cast will be led by Olly Dobson as Marty McFly and Roger Bart as Doc Brown.
Duration: 2 hours 40 minutes
www.backtothefuturemusical.com
MAMMA MIA!
Novello Theatre
Reopening 25 August 2021
MAMMA MIA! is delighted to return to its London home, where it turned 21 on 6 April 2020. From West End to global phenomenon, MAMMA MIA! is Judy Craymer’s ingenious vision of staging the story-telling magic of ABBA’s timeless songs with an enchanting tale of family and friendship unfolding on a Greek island paradise. To date, it has been seen by 65 million people in 50 productions in 16 different languages grossing more than $4 billion at the box office. With music & lyrics by Benny Andersson & Björn Ulvaeus, MAMMA MIA! is written by Catherine Johnson, directed by Phyllida Lloyd and choreographed by Anthony Van Laast.
Duration: 2 hours 35 minutes
www.mamma-mia.com
THE LAST FIVE YEARS
Vaudeville Theatre
From 17 September 2021
After a critically acclaimed run at Southwark Playhouse last year and a highly successful worldwide stream with stream.theatre, Jason Robert Brown’s Drama Desk Award-winning musical, THE LAST FIVE YEARSis transferring to the Vaudeville Theatre, for a limited season. The musical is an emotionally powerful and intimate story about two New Yorkers who fall in and out of love over the course of five years. The musical’s unconventional structure unfolds as Cathy (Molly Lynch), a struggling actor, tells her story in reverse, from the end of their turbulent relationship, whilst Jamie (Oli Higginson), a literary prodigy, tells his story chronologically from the spark of their initial meeting. In the musical, the two characters meet only once, at their wedding, which falls in the middle of the show. THE LAST FIVE YEARSis directed by Jonathan O’Boyle.
last5yearsUK.com
UK Tours opening this summer
APRIL IN PARIS
UK Tour
Opening at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry from 17 May 2021 with social distancing.
Joe Pasquale and Sarah Earnshaw will star as Al and Bet in John Godber’s classic comedy, APRIL IN PARIS, which will tour the country will be directed by Richard Lewis. Audiences will be socially distanced. Al and Bet are in a rut. Married for 26 years, their conversations are running dry and life has taken its toll. With his building work sparse and her shifts at the shoe shop getting few and far between there’s little to look forward to, apart from a possible ABBA tribute show in Wakefield and the odd trip to the pub. But Bet has dreams. She longs to walk with the Pharaohs in Egypt, sunbathe on golden beaches and climb Alpine mountains, all fuelled by her love of magazine competitions with holidays as prizes. Finally, her luck changes; she wins a night away for two to Paris in April, via a luxury trip on P&O Ferries out of Hull.
A SPLINTER OF ICE
UK Tour
Opening at the Malvern Festival Theatre from 8 June 2021 with social distancing
The UK Tour of Ben Brown’s new political drama, A SPLINTER OF ICE, will open on 8 June in Malvern and will tour until 31 July. The production, starring Oliver Ford Davies as Graham Greene, Stephen Boxer as Kim Philby and Karen Ascoe as Rufa Philby, is directed by Alan Strachan with Alastair Whatley.
Moscow 1987 and the cold war begins to thaw. After declining his offer for more than 30 years, novelist Graham Greene travels into the heart of the Soviet Union to meet with his old MI6 boss, Kim Philby. Under the watchful eye of Russian memoirist and Philby’s last wife, Rufa, the two men set about catching up on old times. With a new world order breaking out around them, how much did the writer of The Third Man know about Philby’s secret life as a spy and did Philby betray his friend as well as his country?
CHARLIE & STAN
UK Tour
Opening at Theatre Royal Bath on 14 July 2021
David Pugh, the renowned theatre company Told by an Idiot and Theatre Royal Bath Productions present CHARLIE & STAN created by Told by an Idiot and written and directed by Paul Hunter. Jos Houben is physical comedy consultant and dance choreography is by Nuna Sandy for ZooNation: The Kate Prince Company. The tour will open in Bath on 14 July and then play the Minack Theatre, Cornwall from 1 August. Further dates prior to the West End are to be announced.
In 1910, the then unknown Charlie Chaplin and Stan Laurel set sail on board a tramp steamer from Liverpool to New York as part of Fred Karno’s famous music hall troupe. On the voyage, they shared a cabin, they shared comedy routines, they shared laughter, but, by the end of the journey, they had drifted apart… yet they would both go on to become two of the biggest stars of the age.
EDUCATING RITA
UK Tour
Opening at MAST Mayflower Studios, Southampton on 20 July 2021
The critically acclaimed 40th anniversary production of Willy Russell’s EDUCATING RITA, starring Stephen Tompkinson and Jessica Johnson as Frank and Rita and directed by Max Roberts, will tour again in 2021. EDUCATING RITA tells the story of married hairdresser Rita, who enrols on an Open University course to expand her horizons, and her encounters with university tutor Frank. Frank is a frustrated poet, brilliant academic and dedicated drinker, who is less than enthusiastic about teaching Rita. However, Frank soon finds that his passion for literature is reignited by Rita, whose technical ability for the subject is limited by her lack of education, but whose enthusiasm Frank finds refreshing. The two soon realise how much they have to learn from each other. The tour is produced by David Pugh and is a Theatre by the Lake production.
GREASE
UK Tour
Opening at Curve, Leicester on 30 July 2021
Following a highly acclaimed UK and Ireland tour in 2019, the first new production of GREASE in 25 years will tour the UK again with Peter Andre as Teen Angel and Vince Fontaine at certain performances. The musical features beloved songs, including Summer Nights, Greased Lightnin’, Hopelessly Devoted To You and You’re The One That I Want. GREASE is directed by Nikolai Foster and choreographed by Arlene Phillips.
www.greasethemusicalontour.com
THE ADDAMS FAMILY, A MUSICAL COMEDY
UK & Ireland Tour
Opening 17 August 2021 at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking.
THE ADDAMS FAMILY, A Musical Comedy, will be directed by Matthew White, with choreography by Alistair David, and will star Samantha Womack and Cameron Blakely as Morticia and Gomez Addams, based on the characters created by Charles Addams. Book is by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice, and music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa, based on the characters created by Charles Addams.
Wednesday Addams, the ultimate princess of darkness, has grown up and has a shocking secret that only Gomez knows; she’s fallen in love with a sweet, smart young man from a respectable family! Now, Gomez Addams must do something he’s never done before — keep a secret from his beloved wife, Morticia. Everything will change for the whole family on the fateful night they host a dinner for Wednesday’s “normal” boyfriend and his parents. All the usual clan are present – Uncle Fester, Lurch, Pugsley et al.