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Recent Reviews
Hedda Extended to 4th of October Her Naked Skin
Hamlet
Piaf
The play is a hit and will transfer to the West End's Vaudeville Theatre where another official opening is scheduled for 10/21/08 for the 14-week run to Jan. 24, 2009.
Gigi
. . .some trace of her
West Side Story 50th Anniversary Production
Under The Blue Sky
The Female of the Species
Nocturne
Zorro the Musical
Fat Pig
Never Forget
Marguerite
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Sound of Music with a New Star
The Harder They ComeBTransferring to Playhouse Theatre Northumberland Avenue from Friday 23rd May to Saturday 1st November
. . .Past reviews and features are archived in two master indexes: Reviews . . . Features
Booking to 28th September 2008 Box Office: 020 7907 7060. The Menier Chocolate Factory, 53 Southwark Street, London SE1 1RU —LL
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover is a collection of sketches commissioned by the Latitude Festival but receiving its World Premiere at the tiny Bush Theatre. Running at just sixty minutes with some longer pieces, many of the 50 are inventive one liners. A hard working crew of four sing and act their way through the scenarios. We have Michelle Terry as Romeo’s dumped girlfriend Rosaline, "he dumped me for my cousin Juliet" saying "I’m so O-V-E-R him". We follow Oliver (Kobna Holbrook-Smith) and his wife, the quivering Evie (Michelle Terry) through a lifetime’s arguments in bed ever threatening to split even as their golden weding approaches. Jack (Ralf Little) and Kate (Claire Keelan) delay their parting as each time Jack is steeled to voice hIs doubts, Kate is in floods of tears and in the grips of a personal tragedy, whether it’s the death of her pet dog Dangerfield or something else. There are scenes with swingers, some songs and a rap number. RADA graduate Michelle Terry is an outstanding comic actress with a huge variety of expression. LL.
Showing at the Bush until 9th August 2008 Box Office: 020 8743 5050 www.bushtheatre.co.uk
Rupert Goold will direct Michael Gambon, David Bradley, David Walliams and Nick Dunning in Harold Pinter's No Man's Land, opening at the Duke of York’s Theatre on 27 September 2008, with press night on 7 October 2008. The production is currently booking until 3 January 2009
Josh Hartnett will make his West End debut in a new stage version of the 1988 Oscar-winning film Rain Man,which will begin performances at the Apollo Theatre 28th of August 28 prior to an official opening 9th of Sept. The play has been re-imagined by writer Dan Gordon and director David Grindley for the stage, and is reset in the present day. Hartnett will play Charlie Babbitt (originally played on screen by Tom Cruise) with British actor Adam Godley as his autistic savant older brother Raymond (originally played by Dustin Hoffman, who won the Best Actor in a Leading Role award).
It has been confirmed that the National Theatre will present the London debut of this year's Pulitzer Prize Tony Award-winning Best Play, Tracy Letts' August: Osage County. The Steppenwolf Theatre Company production will begin an eight-week run in the Lyttelton Theatre in late November (with precise dates still to be confirmed). Most of the original Broadway cast will likely reprise their performances in London. For Elyse Sommer's review of the New York production go here. The play is still running on Broadway, but with cast replacements.
The Donmar West End season will be launched at Wyndham's theater with Chekhov’s Ivanov In a new version by Tom Stoppard, from 12 September – 29 November, directed by Michael Grandage. Cast: Kenneth Branagh will be joined by John Atterbury, Lucy Briers, Linda Broughton, Lorcan Cranitch, Tom Hiddleston, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Gina McKee, Kevin R McNally, Andrea Riseborough, Malcolm Sinclair and James Tucker . Next Michael Grandage will direct Derek Jacobi in Twelfth Night, followed by Judi Dench in Yukio Mishima’s Madame de Sade. The season concludes with Kenneth Branagh directing Jude Law as Hamlet.
Sunday at the theatrer As from September, the National will have Sunday three o'clock matinees, starting with War Horse. With the National breaking the never on Sunday tradition, can the rest of London theatres be far behind?
Theatre to metamorphose into late-night club. An ambitious plan is afoot to transform the crumbling 81-year-old Arts Theatre into a club for theatregoers, actors and other theatreland workers to meet and socialise. The club would be part of a restaurant and 65-bedroom hotel. The aim is to create another Soho House or a Groucho Club. Marketing Ideas on the boards include plans to include admission to the lounge with a ticket to a West End show. The plan is the brainchild of multi-millionaire property developer Laurence Kirschel and is currently being scrutinised by Westminster council. If okayed, the project should be operational by January 2011.
News from the RSC. Michael Boyd announced the following key additions to his current RSC creative team alongside Chief Associate, Gregory Doran, Associate Director, Deborah Shaw, and Associate Designer, Tom Piper, as the company plans the artistic programme for the next long-term acting ensemble from 2009 and the reopening in 2010 of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon:
Kathryn Hunter becomes Artistic Associate for the next long term ensemble. David Farr will join the RSC full time from early 2009 and Rupert Goold from 2010, alongside his commitments to Headlong Theatre, though they will be closely involved in the development of the repertoire from now on. Roxana Silbert will join shortly, dividing her time between the RSC and as Artistic Director of Paines Plough. As RSC Associate Directors, they will participate fully in the life of the company, including the events and learning programmes, as well as directing plays. In another step towards repositioning New Work at the heart of the company, Boyd is also strengthening the RSC's literary department, with Anthony Neilson becoming Literary Associate.
Spring Awakening will come to the Lyric Hammersmith beginning 23 January 2009, for a six-week run. The musical with music by Duncan Sheik, book & lyrics by Steven Sater is still running on Broadway (CurtainUp's Review.
2008 —2009 at the Almeida.
5 — 20 September. 16 performances only of Sam Shepard's latest play Kicking a Dead Horse. This Abbey Theatre, Dublin production is directed by the author and stars Stephen Rea. Designs will follow a run at New York's Public. From 25 September — 15 November. Samuel West will direct Harley Granville Barker's Waste. Casting TBA.
20 November — 17 January. Michael Attenborough will direct The European premiere of Neil LaBute's three hander, In a Dark Dark House. Casting TBA. 16 July—26. Matt Wilde will direct Peter McDonald in the European premiere of Adam Rapp's one man play, Nocturne. Wilde will collaborate with composer Phillip Neil Martin – most recently Music Creator in Residence at the Royal College of Fashion. The production will be presented at the Traverse Theatre as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe following its run in Islington.
For more information, www.almeida.co.uk
A new production of Pam Gems' Piaf — originally produced in 1978 at the Donmar Warehouse when the RSC used to run it as their new writing studio home — will launch the Covent Garden venue's new season, beginning previews Aug. 8, opening Aug. 13 and running through Sept. 20. From September 2008, a one year residency in the West End at Donmar ticket prices will commence. The West End season comprises Chekhov's Ivanov in a new version by Tom Stoppard, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Yukio Mishima's Madame de Sade and Shakespeare's Hamlet. The Donmar will also join forces with the National Theatre of Scotland to present a stage adaptation of Andrew O'Hagan's novel Be Near Me, adapted by and starring Ian McDiarmid. Casting has been announced for the London production of Jersey Boys, the Tony Award award-winning Broadway musical that's repeated its success wherever it's toured. It's headed to London's Prince Edward Theatre on Tuesday 18 March 2008, following previews from 28 February. The London cast will be headed by Ryan Molloy as Frankie Valli, Stephen Ashfield as Bob Gaudio, Glenn Carter as Tommy DeVito and Philip Bulcock as Nick Massi.
Ewan McGregor will play Iago to Chewetl Ejiofor's Othello with Kelly Reilly as Desdemona at the Donmar Warehouse in December. Michael Grandage will direct with design by Christopher Oram. The production opens on Tuesday 4 December, with previews from 29 November, and runs until 23 February 2008. Priority booking opens Monday 10th September with public booking 15th October.
Six years after he stepped down as artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse with sell-out productions of Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya, Sam Mendes will return to the London stage with another pairing of classic works. As part of a three-year collaboration between Mendes, Kevin Spacey's Old Vic and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) called the Bridge Project, Mendes will direct Stephen Dillane in Hamlet and The Tempest in 2008, and Simon Russell Beale (who appeared in the Donmar double) in The Winter's Tale and The Cherry Orchard in 2009, with another pairing still to be announced for 2010. Each double bill will have seasons in London and New York as well as at least one other city internationally (the first will be mounted in Milan between its dates at BAM and the Old Vic).
Gigi
. . .some trace of her
West Side Story 50th Anniversary Production
Under The Blue Sky
The Female of the Species
Nocturne
Zorro the Musical
Fat Pig
Never Forget
Marguerite
A Midsummer Night’s Dream
The Sound of Music with a New Star
The Harder They ComeBTransferring to Playhouse Theatre Northumberland Avenue from Friday 23rd May to Saturday 1st November
. . .Past reviews and features are archived in two master indexes: Reviews . . . Features
New and Noteworthy
They’re Playing Our Song at the Menier Chocolate Factory London SE1. The Menier’s latest revival of a musical is not the stuff of greatness that we saw in Sunday in the Park with George. The credits sounded promising but the musical does not feature Marvin Hamlisch’s greatest songs as for the wonderful A Chorus Line. Neil Simon’s book doesn’t work either, maybe because of it being shown in London or maybe the jokes need a rapid New York, self deprecating delivery? Connie Fisher, yes, she the winner of the BBC Mariafest in How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria? for The Sound of Music, the first British casting by reality tv show, plays lyricist Sonia Walsk in 1970 flicked red wig and cast off costumes from shows, but never seems to capture the New Yorker’s anxious addiction to her ex-boyfriend. Alistair McGowan is composer Vernon Gersch, "The man hasn’t been born who’s as neurotic as I am. McGowan sings ok through his nose but his wig is laughable and the three clones of Vernon and Sonia are merely distracting. I never believed for one moment that Vernon and Sonia could be romantically entangled. Kinder souls might suggest that this musical was merely miscast but Fiona Laird has to take some responsibility for McGowan and Fisher’s feeble hand waggling impression of Jewish New Yorkers. Their accents too journey to and fro across the pond. The revolving record set is ok but this is one show at the Menier where I went for the excellent supper and could have done without the vapid, lacklustre musical. Booking to 28th September 2008 Box Office: 020 7907 7060. The Menier Chocolate Factory, 53 Southwark Street, London SE1 1RU —LL
50 Ways to Leave Your Lover is a collection of sketches commissioned by the Latitude Festival but receiving its World Premiere at the tiny Bush Theatre. Running at just sixty minutes with some longer pieces, many of the 50 are inventive one liners. A hard working crew of four sing and act their way through the scenarios. We have Michelle Terry as Romeo’s dumped girlfriend Rosaline, "he dumped me for my cousin Juliet" saying "I’m so O-V-E-R him". We follow Oliver (Kobna Holbrook-Smith) and his wife, the quivering Evie (Michelle Terry) through a lifetime’s arguments in bed ever threatening to split even as their golden weding approaches. Jack (Ralf Little) and Kate (Claire Keelan) delay their parting as each time Jack is steeled to voice hIs doubts, Kate is in floods of tears and in the grips of a personal tragedy, whether it’s the death of her pet dog Dangerfield or something else. There are scenes with swingers, some songs and a rap number. RADA graduate Michelle Terry is an outstanding comic actress with a huge variety of expression. LL.
Showing at the Bush until 9th August 2008 Box Office: 020 8743 5050 www.bushtheatre.co.uk
Rupert Goold will direct Michael Gambon, David Bradley, David Walliams and Nick Dunning in Harold Pinter's No Man's Land, opening at the Duke of York’s Theatre on 27 September 2008, with press night on 7 October 2008. The production is currently booking until 3 January 2009
Josh Hartnett will make his West End debut in a new stage version of the 1988 Oscar-winning film Rain Man,which will begin performances at the Apollo Theatre 28th of August 28 prior to an official opening 9th of Sept. The play has been re-imagined by writer Dan Gordon and director David Grindley for the stage, and is reset in the present day. Hartnett will play Charlie Babbitt (originally played on screen by Tom Cruise) with British actor Adam Godley as his autistic savant older brother Raymond (originally played by Dustin Hoffman, who won the Best Actor in a Leading Role award).
It has been confirmed that the National Theatre will present the London debut of this year's Pulitzer Prize Tony Award-winning Best Play, Tracy Letts' August: Osage County. The Steppenwolf Theatre Company production will begin an eight-week run in the Lyttelton Theatre in late November (with precise dates still to be confirmed). Most of the original Broadway cast will likely reprise their performances in London. For Elyse Sommer's review of the New York production go here. The play is still running on Broadway, but with cast replacements.
The Donmar West End season will be launched at Wyndham's theater with Chekhov’s Ivanov In a new version by Tom Stoppard, from 12 September – 29 November, directed by Michael Grandage. Cast: Kenneth Branagh will be joined by John Atterbury, Lucy Briers, Linda Broughton, Lorcan Cranitch, Tom Hiddleston, Sylvestra Le Touzel, Gina McKee, Kevin R McNally, Andrea Riseborough, Malcolm Sinclair and James Tucker . Next Michael Grandage will direct Derek Jacobi in Twelfth Night, followed by Judi Dench in Yukio Mishima’s Madame de Sade. The season concludes with Kenneth Branagh directing Jude Law as Hamlet.
Sunday at the theatrer As from September, the National will have Sunday three o'clock matinees, starting with War Horse. With the National breaking the never on Sunday tradition, can the rest of London theatres be far behind?
Theatre to metamorphose into late-night club. An ambitious plan is afoot to transform the crumbling 81-year-old Arts Theatre into a club for theatregoers, actors and other theatreland workers to meet and socialise. The club would be part of a restaurant and 65-bedroom hotel. The aim is to create another Soho House or a Groucho Club. Marketing Ideas on the boards include plans to include admission to the lounge with a ticket to a West End show. The plan is the brainchild of multi-millionaire property developer Laurence Kirschel and is currently being scrutinised by Westminster council. If okayed, the project should be operational by January 2011.
News from the RSC. Michael Boyd announced the following key additions to his current RSC creative team alongside Chief Associate, Gregory Doran, Associate Director, Deborah Shaw, and Associate Designer, Tom Piper, as the company plans the artistic programme for the next long-term acting ensemble from 2009 and the reopening in 2010 of the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon:
Kathryn Hunter becomes Artistic Associate for the next long term ensemble. David Farr will join the RSC full time from early 2009 and Rupert Goold from 2010, alongside his commitments to Headlong Theatre, though they will be closely involved in the development of the repertoire from now on. Roxana Silbert will join shortly, dividing her time between the RSC and as Artistic Director of Paines Plough. As RSC Associate Directors, they will participate fully in the life of the company, including the events and learning programmes, as well as directing plays. In another step towards repositioning New Work at the heart of the company, Boyd is also strengthening the RSC's literary department, with Anthony Neilson becoming Literary Associate.
Spring Awakening will come to the Lyric Hammersmith beginning 23 January 2009, for a six-week run. The musical with music by Duncan Sheik, book & lyrics by Steven Sater is still running on Broadway (CurtainUp's Review.
2008 —2009 at the Almeida.
5 — 20 September. 16 performances only of Sam Shepard's latest play Kicking a Dead Horse. This Abbey Theatre, Dublin production is directed by the author and stars Stephen Rea. Designs will follow a run at New York's Public. From 25 September — 15 November. Samuel West will direct Harley Granville Barker's Waste. Casting TBA.
20 November — 17 January. Michael Attenborough will direct The European premiere of Neil LaBute's three hander, In a Dark Dark House. Casting TBA. 16 July—26. Matt Wilde will direct Peter McDonald in the European premiere of Adam Rapp's one man play, Nocturne. Wilde will collaborate with composer Phillip Neil Martin – most recently Music Creator in Residence at the Royal College of Fashion. The production will be presented at the Traverse Theatre as part of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe following its run in Islington.
For more information, www.almeida.co.uk
A new production of Pam Gems' Piaf — originally produced in 1978 at the Donmar Warehouse when the RSC used to run it as their new writing studio home — will launch the Covent Garden venue's new season, beginning previews Aug. 8, opening Aug. 13 and running through Sept. 20. From September 2008, a one year residency in the West End at Donmar ticket prices will commence. The West End season comprises Chekhov's Ivanov in a new version by Tom Stoppard, Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, Yukio Mishima's Madame de Sade and Shakespeare's Hamlet. The Donmar will also join forces with the National Theatre of Scotland to present a stage adaptation of Andrew O'Hagan's novel Be Near Me, adapted by and starring Ian McDiarmid. Casting has been announced for the London production of Jersey Boys, the Tony Award award-winning Broadway musical that's repeated its success wherever it's toured. It's headed to London's Prince Edward Theatre on Tuesday 18 March 2008, following previews from 28 February. The London cast will be headed by Ryan Molloy as Frankie Valli, Stephen Ashfield as Bob Gaudio, Glenn Carter as Tommy DeVito and Philip Bulcock as Nick Massi.
Ewan McGregor will play Iago to Chewetl Ejiofor's Othello with Kelly Reilly as Desdemona at the Donmar Warehouse in December. Michael Grandage will direct with design by Christopher Oram. The production opens on Tuesday 4 December, with previews from 29 November, and runs until 23 February 2008. Priority booking opens Monday 10th September with public booking 15th October.
Six years after he stepped down as artistic director of the Donmar Warehouse with sell-out productions of Twelfth Night and Uncle Vanya, Sam Mendes will return to the London stage with another pairing of classic works. As part of a three-year collaboration between Mendes, Kevin Spacey's Old Vic and the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) called the Bridge Project, Mendes will direct Stephen Dillane in Hamlet and The Tempest in 2008, and Simon Russell Beale (who appeared in the Donmar double) in The Winter's Tale and The Cherry Orchard in 2009, with another pairing still to be announced for 2010. Each double bill will have seasons in London and New York as well as at least one other city internationally (the first will be mounted in Milan between its dates at BAM and the Old Vic).
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