Johan Persson News

Renowned actress Helen Mirren reprises her Academy Award winning role as Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience, Live in HD from Britain's National Theatre (NTL) on Saturday, July 20, at 6:30 p.m., a very civilized way to spend a hot summer's night in the cool, calm theater of The Ridgefield Playhouse.

June Watson, Pat Shortt, Conor MacNeill, Gary Lilburn, Gillian Hanna, Sarah Greene, Padraic Delaney and Ingrid Craigie join Daniel Radcliffe in Martin McDonagh's The Cripple Of Inishmaan, directed by Michael Grandage for his new Michael Grandage Company at the Noel Coward Theatre. The show will run now through 31 August 2013. Let's see what the critics had to say...

The Audience, which just began performances in the West End starring Helen Mirren, will be filmed and broadcast live from the Gielgud Theatre for National Theatre Live today, June 13, 2013. The production has already brought in nearly £4 million in ticket sales before its opening on March 5. The play is running through June 15.

H&M's CEO Karl-Johan Persson gave an interview today with the free daily newspaper, the Metro, where he admitted that models in H&M's ad campaigns have been overly thin in the past. 'Some of our models have been too skinny. That's not OK,' he told the Metro.

According to the Daily Mail, Helen Mirren will star as Queen Elizabeth II in The Audience when it transfers to Broadway this time next year.

Here are the first sneak peeks of The Book of Mormon on stage in the West End!

Today, H&M published its eleventh Conscious Actions Sustainability Report. Highlights from the 2012 report include:

According to the Daily Mail, The Audience, starring Helen Mirren as Elizabeth II, has drawn an advance total ticket sales of nearly £5 million. The Mail is also reporting that there is 'chatter about it going to Broadway next spring for a limited run.'

Joining Helen Mirren who plays The Queen in the world premiere of Peter Morgan's The Audience are Michael Elwyn as Anthony Eden, Haydn Gwynne as Margaret Thatcher, Richard McCabe as Harold Wilson, Nathaniel Parker as Gordon Brown, Paul Ritter as John Major, Rufus Wright as David Cameron and Edward Fox as Winston Churchill. The Equerry is Geoffrey Beevers and the role of Young Elizabeth is played by Bebe Cave, Maya Gerber and Nell Williams. David Peart plays James Callaghan who is joined by ensemble members Jonathan Coote, Ian Houghton and Charlotte Moore. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the production below.

James McAvoy plays Macbeth in a production by new West End theatre company Traf Transformed, headed by Jamie Lloyd. Macbeth opened Feb 9 and will run through April 27, 2013. Check out the production photos below!

According to the Daily Mail, The Audience, which just began performances in the West End starring Helen Mirren, will be filmed and broadcast live from the Gielgud Theatre for National Theatre Live on June 13, 2013. The production has already brought in nearly £4 million in ticket sales before its opening on March 5. The play is running through June 15.

Macbeth, Jamie Lloyd's inaugural production in a season of work for Trafalgar Transformed, will be staged at Trafalgar Studios from 9 February until 27 April, with press night on 22 February 2013. Design for Jamie Lloyd's season is by Soutra Gilmour, who won the 2012 Evening Standard Award for Best Design for Inadmissible Evidence at the Donmar Warehouse, directed by Lloyd, and Antigone at the National Theatre.

Joining Helen Mirren as The Queen in the world premiere of THE AUDIENCE are Michael Elwyn as Anthony Eden, Haydn Gwynne as Margaret Thatcher, Robert Hardy as Winston Churchill, Richard McCabe as Harold Wilson, Nathaniel Parker as Gordon Brown, Paul Ritter as John Major and Rufus Wright as David Cameron. The Equerry is Geoffrey Beevers and the role of Young Elizabeth will be played by Bebe Cave, Maya Gerber and Nell Williams.

Joining Helen Mirren as The Queen in this world premiere are Michael Elwyn as Anthony Eden, Haydn Gwynne as Margaret Thatcher, Robert Hardy as Winston Churchill, Richard McCabe as Harold Wilson, Nathaniel Parker as Gordon Brown, Paul Ritter as John Major and Rufus Wright as David Cameron. The Equerry is Geoffrey Beevers and the role of Young Elizabeth will be played by Bebe Cave, Maya Gerber and Nell Williams.

The Audience will preview at the Gielgud Theatre from 15 February 2013, with press night on 5 March 2013 and is currently booking to 15 June 2013. Designs are by Bob Crowley with lighting by Rick Fisher, sound by Paul Arditti, music by Paul Englishby and video by Ian William Galloway. BroadwayWorld has a sneak peek at rehearsals below.

From 4 February Rufus Hound leads the new cast in Nicholas Hytner's five star West End production of Richard Bean's One Man, Two Guvnors as loveable chancer Francis Henshall, he is joined by Sam Alexander (Stanley Stubbers), Ian Burfield (Charlie Clench), Amy Cudden (Rachel Crabbe), Harry Kershaw (Alan Dangle), Kelly Price (Dolly) and Hugh Sachs (Harry Dangle). Martin Barrass (Alfie), David Benson (Gareth), Rhona Croker (Pauline) and Derek Elroy (Lloyd Boateng) continue in the production and Mensah Bediako, Owen Brazendale, Gillian Budd, Max Hutchinson, Tom Lorcan, Aimee Parkes and Claire Sundin complete the ensemble. Check out the photos below!

Conservation organisation WWF and Fashion Company H&M have entered into a three-year global partnership. Side by side, a new H&M water strategy has been formed which is a game changer in the fashion industry, as it takes the whole supply chain into account and goes far beyond the factory lines.

American Ballet Theatre has announced an exchange program that will bring Steven McRae, a principal dancer with The Royal Ballet and Alban Lendorf, a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet, to perform as exchange artists during ABT's 2013 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House. The exchange program was announced today by Kevin McKenzie, ABT Artistic Director. McRae will dance the role of Lankendem in Le Corsaire at the June 5 matinee and June 8 evening performances. Lendorf will dance the role of Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty at the Saturday, July 6 matinee.

John Lithgow stars in the title role opposite Nancy Carroll in The National Theatre revival of Arthur Wing Pinero's The Magistrate at the NT Oliver. With his louche air and a developed taste for smoking, gambling, port and women, it's hard to believe Cis Farringdon is only fourteen. And that's because he isn't. Agatha his mother lopped five years from her true age and his when she married the amiable Posket. Check out photos of the cast in action below!

H&M is the first fashion company to launch a clothing collecting initiative worldwide. Starting in February 2013, customers will be able to drop off used garments in H&M stores worldwide. Sustainability is an important part of H&M's offering, and H&M strives to reduce the environmental impact of clothes throughout their lifecycle.