Barbican Theatre News

An outstanding cast has been announced for the return of Opera North's award-winning production of Cole Porter's classic musical comedy, Kiss Me, Kate, opening at Leeds Grand Theatre in May, then touring to the Ravenna Festival, to the London Coliseum for a two-week run in June, and moving to the Festival Theatre, Edinburgh in July.

Casting for Cameron Mackintosh's acclaimed production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg's Tony Award-winning musical phenomenon, LES MISERABLES, has been announced for its much-anticipated Madison engagement at Overture Center from the Arts direct from a celebrated two-and-a-half year Broadway engagement. Tickets are very limited. For availability, please visit the Overture Center box office (201 State Street), overture.org or call 608.258.4141.  For a sneak peek, please visit www.LesMiz.com.

The award-winning musical THOROUGHLY MODERN MILLIE visits Wolverhampton Grand Theatre from Tuesday 26 - Saturday 30 June with Hayley Tamaddon taking on the title role of Millie Dilmount, a Kansas girl determined to make it big in New York City.

Today, Elaine Paige and Alexandra Burke announced the nominations for the Olivier Awards 2018 with Mastercard, UK's most prestigious stage honours. The 2018 awards are set to be an exciting occasion with original new work dominating the categories and a significant number of artists receiving their first ever Olivier nominations. Catherine Tate will host the Awards at the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday 8 April and they will be broadcast to the UK and worldwide.

Following a hugely successful tour in Spring 2017, award-winning musical Thoroughly Modern Millie will tour the UK again in 2018 opening at Richmond Theatre on Tuesday 27 March .

LIFT, London's biennial festival of international theatre, has today announced the full programme for June 2018 and beyond. David Binder, recently announced as Artistic Director of Brooklyn Academy of Music, curates a festival which spans disciplines and fearlessly plays with form. Through exploring London's local, national and international identity, LIFT opens doors to cultures from across the globe, celebrates shared humanity and challenges preconceptions.

Cameron Mackintosh's acclaimed production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schonberg's Tony Award-winning musical phenomenon, LES MISERABLES, will arrive at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center in one month, direct from a celebrated two-and-a-half year engagement.

Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui / Bunkamura Theatre Cocoon presents Pluto 8 -11 Feb 2018 at Barbican Theatre. Broadway World has an exclusive look below!

Theatr Clwyd and the National Theatre today announce star of Welsh crime drama Hinterland, Richard Harrington will join the previously announced Katherine Parkinson in the world premiere production of Laura Wade's Home, I'm Darling. Making her National Theatre debut, Tamara Harvey, Artistic Director of Theatr Clwyd, will direct this first-time co-production which opens in the Emlyn Williams Theatre on the 3 July with previews from the 25 June ahead of transferring to the Dorfman Theatre in July.

Creator and librettist Cerise Jacobs – hailed by Opera magazine as “intrepid and artistically ambitious” – is quickly establishing a body of original operatic work that blends two of her great passions, myth and technology, in compelling and relevant contemporary stories. Her latest venture, premiering at Boston's Cutler Majestic Theater on September 27-29 of this year, is the video game opera PermaDeath, co-written with her son Pirate Epstein, founder of the video game company SqueePlay and a former New England Halo champion. Composed by Dan Visconti, perhaps best known in the opera world as the composer of Opera Philadelphia's recent Andy Warhol-themed ANDY: A Popera, the opera is directed by New York-based opera director Sam Helfrich, who helmed the first performances in New York of Hungarian composer Péter Eötvös's Angels in America at New York City Opera last year. PermaDeath is produced by White Snake Projects, headed by Boston producer and Artistic Director of TEDxCambridge Georgia Lyman, with Jacobs as Executive Producer.

Cameron Mackintosh's acclaimed production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Sch nberg's Tony Award-winning musical phenomenon, LES MISERABLES, will play Detroit's Fisher Theatre, February 27 March 11 direct from a celebrated two-and-a-half year Broadway engagement. Tickets start at $45 and are now on sale at all Ticketmaster locations, by phone at 800-982-2787 and online at www.broadwayindetroit.com or www.ticketmaster.com. Tickets are also available for purchase at the Fisher Theatre box office.

The Barbican presents the UK premiere of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and Bunkamura Theatre Cocoon's Pluto. The pioneering Belgian choreographer directs a genre-defying play honouring the Japanese art form of manga. Sensational visual effects, impactful storytelling and performances of physical grace illuminate this iconic Astro Boy tale by the father of manga, Osamu Tezuka.

The Fugard Bioscope has an exciting January line up with The National Theatre Encore Season, a chance to re-experience some of the most popular recorded live theatre titles of the past year. The programme features the best of British theatre screenings as well as some new titles from the comfort of a Fugard Theatre seat.

Gary Naylor looks back on 101 shows reviewed in 2017 and picks the best of the best.

It was September of this year that I first saw this particular Titus Andronicus, at the Royal Shakespeare Theatre. Back then, I was struck by how timely a production this seemed: corruption of power, toxic masculinity and the silencing of women all at the forefront under Blanche McIntyre's direction. A month later, the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke. Two months after that, the production transferred to the Barbican Theatre. Today, it proves an even more powerful and potent production, on both the Barbican and global stage.

When a production transfers, changes are inevitable. Different spaces create different possibilities and limitations, for actors, directors and designers alike. For the audience then, the entire experience between watching a show in one theatre and another may be wholly different. Part of the Royal Shakespeare Company's Rome MMXVII Season, Antony & Cleopatra is one of four shows to transfer to the Barbican. Rather than lose anything, Iqbal Khan's production gains something in this move. Playing in a proscenium arch theatre, the show and Robert Innes Hopkins' design cry out: 'Here is my space'.

Cameron Mackintosh's acclaimed production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Sch nberg's Tony Award-winning musical phenomenon, LES MISERABLES, will go on sale this Friday, December 15 at 10:00 am for its much anticipated Milwaukee engagement at the Marcus Center direct from a celebrated two-and-a-half year Broadway engagement.

A straight, gimmick-free production of Julius Caesar that may be as relevant today as at any time in the last 420 years.

Cameron Mackintosh's acclaimed production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Sch nberg's Tony Award-winning musical phenomenon, LES MISERABLES, will go on sale next Today, December 8 at 10 a.m. for its much anticipated engagement at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, direct from a celebrated two-and-a-half year Broadway movingGear engagement.

Cameron Mackintosh's acclaimed production of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Sch nberg's Tony Award-winning musical phenomenon, LES MISERABLES, will go on sale next Friday, December 8 at 10 a.m. for its much anticipated engagement at the Fox Cities Performing Arts Center, direct from a celebrated two-and-a-half year Broadway movingGear engagement.