Union Theatre 10 August – 10 September.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

25 years after its original West end run, Children of Eden returns to London in a magical new production. A musical based on stories from the Old Testament may not sound too promising to some, but with music and lyrics by Stephen Schwartz (Wicked), and book by John Caird, this is a sublime piece of storytelling that side-lines the religion and explores what it means to be a parent.

Creating the world, Father (Joey Dexter) is like a child with a new toy, but the excitement he shares with Adam and Eve as they name the animals is soon replaced with frustration as Eve begins to ask too many questions and gives in to temptation, eating the forbidden fruit. Adam is forced to choose between Father and Eve, and leaves Eden, banished forever by their vengeful Father.

In the wilderness, Cain and Abel are born, and Cain has obviously inherited his mother’s inquisitive nature. He longs to explore beyond the waterfall, but Adam has forbidden this. Father secretly visits Cain and Abel, telling them that they are his hope for the future now, and promising to make them wives. But Cain refuses Father’s offer and disobeys Adam, resulting in a confrontation that ends with Cain killing Abel. Father watches all of this in despair, and decrees that Cain’s descendants shall all be marked to show their wickedness.

Many generations later, Noah has followed Father’s instructions to build an ark, and has found wives for two of his sons from the tribe of Seth. Japheth however is in love with Yonah, who wears the mark of Cain and should be left to die in the flood. Smuggling her onto the ark, he risks the wrath of his family. Father watches Adam deal with his son’s disobedience as they hope desperately for an end to the rain.

The mistakes of each generation, with parents trying heavy-handedly to protect their children from harm are accompanied by repeated musical themes that become increasingly poignant as the show progresses. The emotion boils over in The Hardest Part Of Love, where a despairing Father listens with growing realisation and acceptance to Noah singing about the joy and pain of being a parent, joining in with the line “children start to leave you on the day that they are born”.

Joey Dexter is full of energy as Father, equally strong in both light and dark moments. Stephen Barry as Adam and Noah has got one hell of a voice that packs in tons of emotion, and Natasha O’Brien is simply fantastic as Eve – full of gymnastic innocence and curiosity – and Mama Noah – stealing the show with her ballsy performance of Ain’t It Good? and making the most of her comedy moments. Guy Woolf as Cain and Japheth also stands out – embodying the frustration and rebelliousness of the characters with skill and belting out his numbers with aplomb. The whole cast give wonderful performances, making the most of Lucie Pankhurst’s unfussy choreography.

The simple costumes – all muted tones with a touch of colour added to portray events and times – and minimalist set work brilliantly together. The tree of knowledge is a tower of brown paper with some twigs sticking out of the top, and the ark is shown with just a few planks of wood. The wonderful puppets and headpieces to portray animals and birds are all made from natural materials of muted tones and are glorious in their simplicity, but lots of the animals are represented through dance by the cast and are instantly recognisable – there’s even a unicorn! The snake dance, tempting Eve to the tree is a brilliant piece of choreography involving most of the cast and will bring a smile to the face of even the most jaded observer. I must admit that the child puppets did creep me out a little, but the charm of puppeteers Daniel Miles and Guy Woolf eventually won me over.

Nic Farman makes the most of Union’s brand spanking new lighting rig, bathing the stage in delicate colours that enhance the story sympathetically.

The music is wonderful – with a range of genres included. There are full on big Broadway tunes, Bluesy numbers, hints of Gospel, but they all gel together and no number feels out of place or a filler. The cast are especially strong in the unaccompanied harmony sections, and musical director Inga Davis Rutter and her musicians are a very talented bunch.

Director Christian Durham has created a stunningly beautiful production. Children of Eden feels fresh and has a charming innocence that many musicals lack. There aren’t many shows around that make you feel this good, and I urge you to get down to the Union to see it.

Theatre N16 9 – 18 August.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

Ashley Pearson’s energetic update of Ibsen’s play for Riot Act transfers the action to the UK in modern(ish) times – talk of investing in the world wide web, and excitement over the Eurotunnel are gently riffed.

It’s the Christmas party at ice wholesalers Norway, Inc. (A nice price for a bag of ice), and the drunken revels are interrupted by newcomer Sten Stensgard, fresh from the Dublin branch. Reading the mood of the room after a badly received speech praising the ex-CEO, Henry, he is soon rabble rousing and declaring “the death of prevailing office politics”, forming The League of Youth with the disgruntled staff. Sten’s reputation as a “politico” has proceeded him and Henry agrees to a meeting. Sten has soon charmed Henry and changes tactics in his quest for power. Niall Bishop is horribly believable as Sten, switching from twinkling eyed charm to viciously threatening in the blink of an eye. The killer moment is when, surrounded by the entire cast screaming at each other in various arguments, Bishop sits down coolly, adjusting his cuffs and gently smiling as he admires his work.

Director and designer Whit Hertford’s set is simple and effective, with furniture arrangements demarcating different areas, and lighting changes as certain areas are entered (although the strip lighting is proving problematic in the men’s toilets). The traverse staging adds to the intimacy of the piece, creating a feeling of gatecrashing the parties and making the louder confrontations much more uncomfortable. Whitford’s assured no-frills direction seems to have brought out the best in his cast, with natural and funny performances all round.

Pearson has kept the spirit of Ibsen’s play, but has made it fantastically foulmouthed and funny. The errant brother Erik is now a coke head layabout, and Jak Ford-Lane is enormous fun sneaking around numerous parties, smuggling bottles out with his partner in crime Dana (Sukh Kaur Ojla) like naughty schoolkids, and having a hysterical chat about wimples. The various marriage proposals Sten makes in the original are replaced with a business-like office quickie with a board member and a toe-curlingly funny declaration of love for the CEO.

Fieldbo’s final speech, delivered wonderfully by Sean Earl McPherson, does hammer home the play’s message rather heavy-handedly, but it is done with such charm that it doesn’t rankle. The pleas to overcome voter apathy, stop being swayed by rhetoric, disbelief at allowing unelected representatives to sit in positions of power, and the acceptance that “the electorate are not always trustworthy” all brought smiles of recognition to the audience’s faces, as did his call for a revolution that seemed highly unlikely. Just as in Ibsen’s time, the power of personality and empty promises are chillingly attractive to voters.

I was a bit dubious about sitting through Ibsen on a sunny evening, but this is a truly refreshing piece of theatre. Riot Act’s revamped League of Youth is funny, relevant and well worth seeing.

Camden Roundhouse – 10 August.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

Matthew Herbert’s latest album “A Nude (The Perfect Body)” is comprised of recordings of the sounds of a naked body recorded over 24 hours. With tracks entitled Is sleeping, Is grooming, Is eating and Is coming, Herbert manages to transform sounds we hardly notice into a stunning soundscape.

Ron Arad’s Curtain Call is the perfect space in which to experience Herbert’s piece. Entering the ring of silicon rods, Is Sleeping played – snores and subtly introduced sounds that invite you to sit on the floor and relax in this intimate space. As the piece progressed, images of male and female bodies were projected onto the rods, producing a wonderfully immersive experience, and as the sounds of brushing teeth grew into a train-like frenzy, naked dancers became visible outside the curtain, acting out the actions of the body. Up until this point I had admired, rather than enjoyed the music, but the beats of Is Eating were brilliantly realised, being probably the most conventional section, and the remainder of the performance built brilliantly to a fantastic climax – literally.

The sounds of eating an apple morphed into something reminiscent of a gun battle, followed by a calmer, haunting section where the spotlight fell on the dancers as their huge silhouettes were displayed on the rods. Music from toilet sounds shouldn’t be a good idea, but Is Shitting, after the smiles of realisation, soon becomes all about the music, not the instrument.

Quieter sections had the dancers grabbing handfuls of rods and peeking through into the space – a little creepy – and then the increasing tempo was matched by the dancers running frantically around the outside of the curtain, pulling the rods as they moved, creating an almost hypnotic ripple around the space, finally breaking through to the centre of the ring and running around through the audience.

Sitting outside the curtain with his team and a bank of electronic gismos, Herbert oversaw the whole thing with great skill. I don’t think I’ll be buying the album, but the visual and aural experience in such a fantastic setting was uplifting, almost ethereal, and one that I’ll never forget.

Support act Lail Arad, daughter of Ron, performed next, after a short interval – and this structure worked brilliantly, as her quirky songs would have created a very different mood to “Is Sleeping”. Arad’s set from her new album “The Onion” opened with a poem comparing a relationship to a 5 year bath, and accompanied only by her acoustic guitar, she proceeded to charm the socks of the remaining audience with her bittersweet songs and pithy lyrics. Now THIS is an album I’ll buy! Using the curtain to great effect, her set was accompanied sensitively by images of a pen writing her lyrics, ink blots and water, turning the installation into a more relaxed and cosy space.

Two very different acts, both exceptional, and a wonderful night of music.

Rosemary Branch Theatre 2 – 14 August.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

The lengths that people are willing to go to for 15 minutes of fame, and the enjoyment audience’s feel from watching their humiliation, are explored brilliantly in this fantastically funny show.

Four university friends, impatient for fame (“People like Joey Essex really inspire us”) and rejected by every reality show, devise their own game show to record and send to a talent scout, who only has a slot for one of them in his new project.

The fearless cast play characters that are instantly recognisable to anyone familiar with X factor interview clips – there’s even a “Who is the most tragic?” round where the contestants have one minute to share their sob stories with the audience. Playing as hysterical caricatures at first, as the rounds progress and forfeits become more extreme, each actor reveals a little more of the deeper need and desperation of their character. The giggles at their friends’ misfortunes eventually become awkward winces of discomfort and shame. The audience, armed with voting handsets, is responsible for selecting the winner, and loser, of each round. When it gets to the stage where spit, catfood, a staplegun and a belt have all been used to inflict punishments, howling with laughter at the loser’s fate begins to feel very wrong, and very uncomfortable. (Although one audience member did shout out the useful suggestion of using the buckle end of the belt, so I may be a little over sensitive!)

And this is where this silly show transcends the naff, cruel, voyeuristic nature of a gameshow – The well thought out characters and situations and quick improvisational skills provide an ultimately sad picture of today’s fascination with talentless fame, and also makes the audience take a long, hard look at themselves and their attitudes. We’ve all sat at home laughing at deluded people arguing with Simon Cowell, or at contestants suffering through humiliating and painful gameshows – “Endurance” anyone? – but when you can hear the click of that staple 5 feet away from you, and smell that catfood, and there is no camera pan away from the victim’s face after their humiliation…

But don’t get me wrong – personal angst aside, this is one of the funniest shows I’ve seen this year. You will wince, squirm, gasp and gag, but above all you will cry with laughter.

The Old Red Lion 2 – 28 August.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

Simon Blow’s great-uncle Stephen Tennant, one of the “Bright Young Things” told him “not to forget me when I’m gone.” Blow’s response is this, his first play, fictionalising their relationship.

Joshua, the poor relation in a privileged and wealthy family, befriends his Uncle Napier, encouraged by builder boyfriend Damien hoping for an inheritance. Napier, lounging in bed for years, cannot accept his aged state, escaping into memories of his golden youth. The house is haunted by the spirits of young Napier and his over-indulgent mother (yes – it’s all her fault). And that’s about it. There is a slight build-up of tension revolving around whether Napier will write a will naming Joshua as sole heir, but nothing else really happens, just an arch, insouciant glimpse of Napier’s past, and a lot of navel gazing from Joshua. And I mean A LOT. This is the main problem – Joshua, orphaned and without inheritance, is a whining pain, as self-centred as Napier, but nowhere near as likeable. Jojo Macari does his best with the role, but Joshua is only bearable when he’s with Damien or Napier. But perhaps that’s the point.

The relationship between Joshua and Damien is the heart of the play, with Macari at his best when playing alongside Denholm Spurr. Spurr oozes charisma and makes the slightly seedy Damien the most human and relatable character on stage. As young Napier, Nick Finegan has obviously studied Anthony Andrews in Brideshead, and is suitably aloof and hedonistic. His scathing interactions with old Napier are one of the highlights of the play.

Uncle Napier should be a magnetic, fascinating creature, but is written as a name dropping, poetry spouting, vain and petulant old man. Bernard O’Sullivan has some wonderful funny lines that could come straight from Maggie Smith, but has a lot of work to do to convince us that Napier is anything other than an entertaining and frustrating old uncle. The name dropping doesn’t come to much either – any juicy anecdotes that would be of interesting peter out into nothingness – I will give Blow the benefit of the doubt and say that this is by design to emphasise Napier’s fading health, but I’m not quite sure. Blow’s language can be glorious, but there are times when he swings erratically between sharp staccato statements (mostly Josh having a moan) and lyrical phrases. There are times when you feel Blow has shoehorned a particularly good line he can’t let go of into a completely inappropriate exchange.

The set is simple, with moveable screens covered with paintings of sailors moved back by the cast to reveal Napier lying on his chaise longue. Scene changes are quick, but get a little tedious – if the audience suspends belief to accept two ghosts, surely trust them to accept that the front of the stage is a different space to Napier’s room. Jeffrey Mayhew’s does a fine job directing, but shows a little too much respect for the debut playwright, not cutting some scenes that added nothing to the narrative, and tidying up some messy dialogue.

The Past is a Tattooed Sailor is a promising, if slightly self-indulgent, debut full of nostalgia and bittersweet but ephemeral charm.

The Vaults 2 – 28 August.  Reviewed by Claire Roderick

Mark Healy’s adaptation of John Fowles’ novel is, like it’s protagonists, fascinating and frustrating.

Lottery winner and butterfly collector Frederick Clegg finally has the money to get to know Miranda Grey. Unfortunately, Clegg’s idea of “get to know” involves secret filming, a van, chloroform and a gloomy cellar.

The Vaults is an ideal setting for this play, entering the dark tunnels under Waterloo and walking into the cellar set, draped with plastic sheeting and filled with piles of furniture and bulk packs of water and loo rolls, the claustrophobia sets in quickly.

This is all explained to us by Clegg in a series of self-justifying monologues, constantly stressing that there are two sides to every story. Daniel Portman gives Clegg a bumbling, almost innocent persona in the initial stages of the play. But his fingers are never still, hinting at the nervous energy and effort taken to appear “normal”. He is unable to touch Miranda, and backs away from her like a nervous puppy. He seems like a boy who doesn’t know what to do with his prize now he has it. Miranda (Lily Loveless) knows exactly what he wants, however, expecting to be raped at any moment, until she realises that she can take control of the situation. Clegg will give her anything she wants, except her freedom. They even negotiate the length of her captivity. There are some funny scenes where Miranda tours the house, criticising the décor and trying to educate Clegg. The class differences between the characters, rooted in the 1960s novel, still ring true unfortunately, with Clegg’s chip on his shoulder about education and money sounding like excuses used by Jeremy Kyle’s guests and Miranda’s sense of entitlement being very recognisable.

At first we only hear Clegg’s side of the story through Portman’s monologues, until he gives Miranda a writing pad, and she starts a diary, delivering monologues which show her fear and determination to survive. This helps make Miranda more human, as the character does begin to get annoying in the first act. You know this isn’t going to end well, but keep rooting for feisty Miranda to outwit Clegg, hoping she doesn’t push him too far. The monotony of life in the cellar, and Miranda’s rebellious efforts are the problem here. The play is just too long. Even with these two talented actors, the first act has sections that drag and director Joe Hufton should have cut.

When the power dynamics shift suddenly and violently, Portman turns on the menace brilliantly. All shades of Podrick disappear, and we see the frightening psycho beneath the prissy exterior before he manages to gain control again. But the possibility of violence is ever present after that moment, changing the power balance and allowing the actors to add even more nuances to their beautifully judged performances. Loveless is outstanding as Miranda – manipulating Clegg with calculating wit but always reminding the audience of her underlying panic and fear through constant movement and gut wrenching facial expressions.

The play ends as it begins, with a monologue from Clegg, delivered with glimpses of the same wide eyed innocence, belying the plans he is making for his next specimen, and ending with a disdainful glance at the audience that produces goose bumps, and will haunt you. Let’s just say I avoided walking next to any vans on the way home.

It is overlong, and with some slightly stilted moments, but The Collector is a fascinating study of obsession with outstanding performances by Portman and Loveless. Well worth a look.

Grand Opera House York Stage Experience

carries out fundraising collections for Kidney Research UK and Parkinson’s UK

Raising a staggering £2,052!

 

 

The Grand Opera House York has succeeded in bucket collections during the stage experience performances of Oklahoma! for charity Kidney Research UK – the UK’s leading funder of research into the treatment and prevention of kidney disease and Parkinson’s.

 

As part of Stage Experience this year we have decided to hold collections for Kidney Research UK and Parkinson’s UK. We’ve chosen these charities because, although the diseases could affect anyone, they have directly affected some of the team behind tonight’s show.

 

Kidney disease is a silent killer, and there are millions of people with it in the UK. It’s fatal without dialysis or a transplant and completely changes lives. However, Kidney Research UK receives almost no government funding. They have to turn down four out of every five research ideas because they don’t have enough money to support them.

 

Likewise Parkinson’s disease is a complex and progressive neurological condition, and affects different people in different ways. Parkinson’s UK tries to raise awareness, fund groundbreaking research and offer support and information to families affected by the disease.

 

Neither disease has a cure, and both hugely affect the families just as much as the patient.

 

GOH has raised £1026 for Kidney Research UK.

Clare O’Connor said: “We decided to take on this challenge for Kidney Research UK because Kidney Disease has directly affected members of the production team for Oklahoma!, and quite simply doesn’t receive the recognition or funding that it deserves and ultimately needs.

“It was an amazing to raise that much money just through bucket collections and I’m so glad we decided to do this. It’s wonderful to think the money we’ve raised is going to fund research that will benefit millions of people in the UK affected by kidney disease.”

Sandra Currie, Chief Executive of Kidney Research UK, said: “We are incredibly grateful to the Grand Opera House for all their hard work and support.

“Kidney disease can affect anyone at any age and without warning. It can’t currently be cured and is responsible for thousands of deaths every year – many of which could be prevented with better diagnosis and improved treatments.”

Although the Grand Opera House has successfully completed their fundraising you can still make a donation by visiting www.kidneyresearchuk.org

For more information about kidney disease and the work being carried out by Kidney Research UK, please visit: www.kidneyresearchuk.org.

 

GOH has raised £1026 for Parkinson’s UK

“As the UK’s Parkinson’s support and research charity we’re leading the work to find a cure, and we’re closer than ever. But our work is totally dependent on donations.

“We are incredibly grateful to the Grand Opera House York, for their support and I hope their success will encourage others to Party for Parkinson’s too”.

Every hour, someone in the UK is told they have Parkinson’s. Because we’re here, no one has to face Parkinson’s alone.

 

We bring people with Parkinson’s, their carers and families together via our network of local groups, our website and free confidential helpline. Specialist nurses, our supporters and staff provide information and training on every aspect of Parkinson’s. 

 

As the UK’s Parkinson’s support and research charity we’re leading the work to find a cure, and we’re closer than ever. We also campaign to change attitudes and demand better services.

 

Our work is totally dependent on donations. Help us to find a cure and improve life for everyone affected by Parkinson’s.

York Theatre Royal – 2 August 2016.  Reviewed by Marcus Richardson

The stupendous Sherlock Holmes made a spiffing appearance at York Theatre Royal for a exciting tale of the Hounds of Baskervilles, the play set as a Victorian melodrama made the whole audience laugh with funny multi-acting especially from the petite Joanna Holden. The play was whacky and thoroughly entertaining myself and the whole audience.

The Victorian melodrama style of the play was an amazing piece of direction and was used so effectively, with the actor running into the audience and audience interaction on stage, all of this just felt very warming and made for a cheerful environment in the theatre. It truly is suitable for all ages as it isn’t a thriller piece of theatre but a comedy, which WILL make you laugh your socks off.

All of the actors played multiple characters parr from Elexi Walker who played Dr John Watson, very well I might add. York Theatre Royals very own David Leonard played Sherlock and a very creepy Mr Barrymore, Rob Castell became sir Henry Baskerville but also was the composer which I really liked as the whole play was under the Victorian theatre group ‘Mr Henry Dimmell and Mrs Rose Dimmells world-renowned Victorian travelling theatre company’ what a mouthful that was, so very confusing at it took me all night to understand.

The staging was stunning with with three archways with pillars that could move and a door that could rise from the stage. They made great use of shadow puppets and lighting to tell certain tales in the play such as the origins of the Baskerville curse which was funny yes also very creepy as it had that supernatural aura about it.

The only thing that I found wrong with the play and this is a very very minor detail, is that in the second act neither Elexi or David were on top form with the line I could feel that there was a little bit of a slip up but I was watching with an eagle eye as I was so entertained. These thing happen in theatre and shouldn’t detract anyone from coming to see this amazing performance. Well done to all involved cast and crew.

National and International Success for Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour as the successful Live Theatre and National Theatre of Scotland Co-production written by Lee Hall transfers to National Theatre, London and Melbourne Festival, Australia

 

Adapted by Lee Hall from the novel The Sopranos by Alan Warner.

Directed by Vicky Featherstone
Music Arranger and Supervisor, Martin Lowe
Designed by Chloe Lamford
Lighting Design by Lizzie Powell
Choreography by Imogen Knight

 

Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour, the hugely successful play, adapted by Lee Hall from Alan Warner’s cult Scottish novel The Sopranos and the first collaboration between Live Theatre and National Theatre of Scotland has its London premiere at National Theatre next week running between Monday 8 August and Saturday 1 October. It has also just been announced that Our Ladies…, will then transfer to a run at Melbourne Festival between Thursday 6 and Sunday 23 October 2016.

 

A conversation between writer Lee Hall and director Vicky Featherstone led them to discover a mutual love of Alan Warner’s cult Scottish novel, The Sopranos, and a desire to work together to turn it into a stage play. This led to the first and hugely successful collaboration between Live Theatre and National Theatre of Scotland.

 

Our Ladies… premiered at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in August 2015, and enjoyed a successful sell-out run at the Traverse Theatre, earning critical and audience acclaim, and picking up four awards. It embarked on a sell-out Scottish tour and a sell-out run at its English Premiere at Live Theatre in October 2015, where it also gained a Journal Culture Award for best production in 2015.

 

The play toured the UK in summer 2016 including a week at Newcastle’s Theatre Royal, and was featured internationally at Galway Festival, Ireland and The Festival of Art and Ideas, New Haven, USA where The New York Times review said:

 

‘Vibrant performances and the show’s raunchy good humo[u]r draw you in.’

 

Our Ladies… will receive its London premiere in summer 2016, at the Dorfman Theatre at the National Theatre of Great Britain. Live Theatre and Lee Hall have previously collaborated with National Theatre when The Pitman Painters was co-produced by the National Theatre of Great Britain in 2009.

 

Max Roberts, Artistic Director, Live Theatre said

 

“We are delighted that our co-production with The National Theatre of Scotland Our Ladies…, written by Live Theatre’s long-time collaborator Lee Hall has gone on to delight audiences both nationally and internationally. It’s a rich theatrical mix of humour and pathos with stunning live music and choreography delivered by a superb young cast is a joy to behold and we are very proud to be part of this collaboration.”

 

Alan Warner’s novel and Lee Hall’s musical stage play tell the story of six girls on the cusp of change. Love, lust, pregnancy and death all spiral out of control in a single day. Funny, sad, rude and beautifully sung, Our Ladies …. is a tribute to being young, lost and out of control, featuring a soundtrack of classical music and 70s pop rock, with music by Handel, Bach  and ELO including the songs Mr Blue Sky, Don’t Bring Me Down, Long Black Road and more.

Vicky Featherstone, Artistic Director of the Royal Court Theatre, collaborates with Lee Hall, (Shakespeare in Love, Billy Elliot and The Pitmen Painters), to create a wild and tender play meets gig about singing, sex and sambuca.

 

Alan Warner wrote The Sopranos in 1998, followed by its sequel The Stars in the Bright Sky which was long listed for the 2010 Man Booker Prize. He has written eight novels and is best known for Morvern Callar which was made into a film starring Samantha Morton in 2002. His most recent novel is Their Lips Talk of Mischief, published by Faber in 2014.

Our Ladies… can be seen at the Dofrman Theatre, National Theatre, London between Monday 8 August and Saturday 1 October and Melbourne Festival, Australia between Thursday 6 and Sunday 23 October 2016.

 

THE BIG-TIME BROADWAY SHOW!

 

42^ND STREET

 

ARRIVES IN THE WEST END MARCH 2017

 

MULTI TONY AWARD-WINNING MUSICAL

INCLUDES THE ICONIC SONGS ‘WE’RE IN THE MONEY’ ‘LULLABY OF BROADWAY’ AND ‘DAMES’

 

PREVIEWS FROM MONDAY 20 MARCH 2017

AT THEATRE ROYAL, DRURY LANE

 

42nd STREET, the quintessential backstage musical comedy classic, is to play the Theatre Royal, Drury Lanefrom Monday 20 March 2017, with a press night on Tuesday 4 April 2017 at 7:00pm. Tickets go on-sale today, Friday 5^th August.

 

This new production of 42^nd STREET – the dazzling and romantic homage to the world of musical theatre – arrives in London with an all-singing, high-kicking cast of over 50 and some of the greatest songs in musical history, ready to explode on to the West End’s biggest stage.

 

42nd STREET is the song and dance, American dream fable of Broadway and includes some of the greatest songs ever written, such as ‘We’re In The Money’, ‘Lullaby of Broadway’, ‘Shuffle Off To Buffalo’, ‘Dames’, ‘I Only Have Eyes For You’, and ‘42nd Street’.

 

Young Peggy Sawyer is fresh off the bus from small-town America and just another face in the chorus line on Broadway’s newest show. But when the leading lady gets injured, Peggy might just have the shot at stardom she’s always dreamed of…

 

42^nd STREET has played to great global acclaim for almost 40 years. Its phenomenal popularity serves as a legacy to Gower Champion, for whom 42^nd STREET stands as the outstanding, timeless tribute to the legendary director and choreographer of the original, Tony Award-winning production. The new West End production will be directed by the show’s author Mark Bramble (whose other hit shows include Barnum,Treasure Island, The Three Musketeers, The Grand Tour), and director of many award-winning previous productions of 42^nd STREET around the world.

 

Mark Bramble said, “The original production had the look of a Warner Brothers black and white film.  This time we’re doing an MGM Technicolor version of 42nd Street with additional songs and dances.  The theme of the show speaks louder today than ever before:  follow your bliss and with talent and hard work dreams can come true. I’m delighted that Linnit/Grade are bringing our song and dance extravaganza to the magnificent Theatre Royal Drury Lane.”

The producers are also pleased to confirm that Douglas W Schmidt will return as Set Designer and Roger Kirk as Costume Designer, as they have been for previous productions of “42nd STREET”.

Mark Bramble has been involved in writing, directing and producing of musicals all over the world. He began his theatrical career under the mentorship of legendary Broadway producer David Merrick, for whom he worked on many Broadway productions.  As author, his shows include BARNUM, starring Jim Dale (Michael Crawford in London) which introduced Glenn Close as a leading actress, with songs by Cy Coleman and Michael Stewart (Outer Critics Circle Award for Best Musical, and ten Tony Award nominations including Best Book and Best Musical,), 42ND STREET with songs by Harry Warren and Al Dubin, produced by David Merrick and staged by Gower Champion (Tony Award for Best Musical, Tony Award nomination for Best Book of a musical, Laurence Olivier Award for Musical of The Year, Evening Standard Drama Award for Best Musical, Plays and Player Citation For Musical Of The Year, etc.),  THE THREE MUSKETEERS with the music of Rudolph Friml,  many collaborations with Michael Stewart includingTHE GRAND TOUR with songs by Jerry Herman, TREASURE ISLAND with songs by Jule Styne, and the off Broadway opera ELIZABETH & ESSEX based on Maxwell Anderson’s ELIZABETH THE QUEEN.  At the Haymarket Theatre, in Leicester, England, Mr. Bramble and Henry Krieger (composer of DREAMGIRLS) created FAT PIG, a rock and roll extravaganza about health. He directed the 2001 Tony Award winning Best Revival of 42ND STREET on Broadway (Tony Award nomination for Best Director), as well as productions of the show around the world. 

 

Previous productions of 42^nd Street have won a series of major international awards, including:

 

·         Original Broadway Production 1981: Tony Award Best Musical

·         Original Broadway Production 1981: Tony Award Best Choreography

·         Original London Production 1984: Laurence Olivier Award Best New Musical

·         Original London Production 1984: Evening Standard Award Best Musical

·         Broadway Revival 2001: Tony Award Best Revival of a Musical

 

Further information and casting to be announced.

 

42^nd STREET is presented in London by Michael Linnit & Michael Grade for Gate Ventures PLC present, with Executive Producer Johnny Hon.