Menier Chocolate Factory News

BroadwayWorld has just learned that beginning Tuesday, September 15, West End alumna RACHEL TUCKER will join the Broadway company of WICKED in the role of Elphaba. After nearly three years and over 1,000 performances, Rachel holds the record for most consecutive performances as Elphaba in London's West End production. She made her Broadway debut last season as Meg Dawson in Sting's The Last Ship.

McQUEEN, which received its world premiere in May at St. James Theatre, where it broke box office records, will transfer to London's West End, opening at the Theatre Royal Haymarket on Thursday 27 August, following previews from 22 August, for a strictly limited season until 7 November.

Casting is announced today for Michael John LaChiusa's Off-Broadway hit See What I Wanna See, which will receive its London Premiere in a limited 4-week run at Jermyn Street Theatre from Tuesday 8 September to Saturday 3 October, with a press night on Friday 11 September, 7.30pm.

FUNNY GIRL returns to the London stage for the first time since its 1966 premiere November 20 - March 5. Led by Sheridan Smith, it is now completely sold out, with the possibility of a West End transfer.

MACK & MABEL, currently playing Chichester Festival Theatre before heading out on a UK & Ireland Tour this autumn, is transferring to the West End later this year. And, according to the New York Post, if the musical -- starring Michael Ball and Rebecca LaChance -- does well in London, it could be moving to Broadway next season.

A father and son pairing started this week in The Woman In Black, one of the most exciting, gripping and successful theatre events ever performed, now in its 26th year in the West End in a production revisited by original director Robin Herford.

A star-studded West End cast of over 50 principals, a 40-piece orchestra led by Gareth Valentine and an ensemble of more than 50, including a chorus from ArtsEd Musical Theatre, will celebrate the songs and shows of Stephen Sondheim in HEY, OLD FRIENDS! An 85th Birthday Tribute to Stephen Sondheim, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane on Sunday 25 October.

Casting is announced today for the UK Premiere of the smash-hit Broadway musical comedy Xanadu.

Steven Berkoff and Shobu Kapoor return to the stage to play opposite Sanjeev Bhaskar in the world premiere of Anthony Horowitz's new play Dinner with Saddam.  The production, directed by Lindsay Posner, opens on 22 September, with previews from 10 September, and runs until 14 November.

Today Keen Artistic Director Jonathan Silverstein announced his plans for the upcoming season: "I am thrilled to present Keen's 16th season. This season, we will present two very different plays in uniquely different styles, each of which makes us contemplate fundamental questions about identity. In the fall, I will direct Giles Havergal's wonderfully theatrical adaptation of Graham Greene 's comedic novel Travels With My Aunt and I am thrilled to welcome back Thomas Jay Ryan, with whom I collaborated with on The Temperamentals, as well as Daniel Jenkins, a Keen alum I have always wanted to work with.

In celebration of the big news, BroadwayWorld brings you a look back at some of Smith's best-known performances below!

The songwriting team of Will Van Dyke and Jeff Talbott is set to release an EP of their songs called A View of the River on Tuesday, September 15, 2015.  They will then follow up the release with a concert of their songs at 54 Below on Monday, September 21, 2015 at 9:30 p.m.  

The Menier Chocolate Factory today announces that award-winning actress Sheridan Smith returns to the theatre to play Fanny Brice in a major new revival of Funny Girl.

THE COLOR PURPLE, directed by Tony Award winner John Doyle, will begin preview performances on Tuesday, November 10 at the Bernard B. Jacobs Theatre (242 West 45th street) and will officially open on Thursday, December 10. Check out photos of the marquee below!

Fox Stage Productions has hired Isaac Robert Hurwitz as Senior Vice President, reporting to Bob Cohen, who oversees the division of 20th Century Fox.

Additional principal casting for this fall's highly anticipated production of THE COLOR PURPLE, directed by Tony Award winner John Doyle, has been confirmed.

Celebrating 20 years since its first performance off-Broadway, an all-new London production of triple-Tony Award winner Jason Robert Brown's first musical, Songs for a New World is at the St. James Theatre for a strictly limited run of three weeks, beginning tonight, July 22, directed by Adam Lenson.

Mack & Mabel, which will embark on a UK & Ireland Tour in Autumn 2015 following its premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre, stars double Oliver award-winning Michael Ball andRebecca LaChance. The production opens tonight, July 21, 2015.

Ghostlight Records will record the Original Cast Album of Be More Chill, the new musical which recently had its world premiere production at Two River Theater, Red Bank, NJ. Be More Chill has music and lyrics by Joe Iconis, book by Joe Tracz and is based on the novel by Ned Vizzini. The show was directed by Stephen Brackett with Chase Brock serving as choreographer. Also available on Ghostlight is the cast recording of Things To Ruin - The Songs of Joe Iconis and The Joe Iconis Rock and Roll Jamboree. To sign up for updates on Be More Chill, visit www.sh-k-boom.com/be-more-chill.

Mack & Mabel, which will embark on a UK & Ireland Tour in Autumn 2015 following its premiere at Chichester Festival Theatre, stars double Oliver award-winning Michael Ball and Rebecca LaChance. The production opens tonight, July 21, 2015.