Menier Chocolate Factory News

A few months ago, it was announed that Joanna Froggatt, known for her role as DOWNTON ABBEY maid 'Anna,' would star as 'Becca' in the London premiere of David Lindsay-Abaire's RABBIT HOLE. The play was set to begin previews at the Vaudeville Theatre on September 11. But recently, The Stage reported that this date has been postponed due to 'scheduling issues.' Producers Creative Management and Productions, James Quaife Productions, and Celia Atkin released a statement saying 'Our production of Rabbit Hole will be postponed from the planned September opening at the Vaudeville Theatre as due to a late shift in schedules, it is unable to go ahead at this time.'

Following a sold-out and critically acclaimed run at the Menier Chocolate Factory, the theatre is delighted to announce its "breathtakingly funny" (Guardian) production of FORBIDDEN BROADWAY will transfer to the West End's Vaudeville Theatre on Tuesday 9th September - 22nd November, with press night on Monday 15th September at 7 pm.

DRG Records just kicked off the release of Gerard Alessandrini's Forbidden Broadway: Comes Out Swinging! (2014 Un-Original Cast Album), produced by Grammy Award winner Hugh Fordin, yesterday at Barnes & Noble (150 East 86 Street). The cast along with writer/creator and director Gerard Alessandrini and longtime Forbidden Broadway illustrator and CD cover artist Ken Fallin, were on hand to sign the CD and for performances. BroadwayWorld takes you inside the special event below!

Olivier Award winner David Bedella will play razor-wielding madman Sweeney Todd and Sarah Ingram his pie-making partner in crime, Mrs Lovett, in an intimate new production of the Tony Award and Olivier Award-winning musical, Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.

Due to huge demand and critical acclaim, the Menier Chocolate Factory has announced that the run for its production of FORBIDDEN BROADWAY has been extended to Saturday, 30th August, 2014.

DRG Records just kicked off the release of Gerard Alessandrini's Forbidden Broadway: Comes Out Swinging! (2014 Un-Original Cast Album), produced by Grammy Award winner Hugh Fordin, yesterday at Barnes & Noble (150 East 86 Street). The cast along with writer/creator and director Gerard Alessandrini and longtime Forbidden Broadway illustrator and CD cover artist Ken Fallin, were on hand to sign the CD and for performances. BroadwayWorld brings you photos from inside the big event below!

Good morning, BroadwayWorld! Because we know all our readers eat, sleep and breathe Broadway, what could be better than waking up to it? Today's big news: It's a night for movie adaptations! FINDING NEVERLAND begins in Boston, and SHAKESPEARE IN LOVE opens in the West End, with A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, starring Gillian Anderson, also launching tonight across the pond!

Sundance Institute and the LUMA Foundation today announced that the two organizations will again collaborate to host the second Sundance Institute | LUMA Foundation Theatre Directors Retreat in Arles, France, July 29 through August 11. The Retreat is one of 10 residential programs hosted by Sundance Institute this summer, collectively representing 15 weeks of support and mentorship for promising independent artists in theatre and film from the United States and around the world.

In its tenth anniversary year, the Chocolate Factory celebrates by creating a brand new production of the show that put it on the map in 2004, FULLY COMMITTED, the whirlwind culinary comedy set in one of Manhattan's hottest restaurants, where the city never sleeps and the phone never stops ringing! A decade later, with the masses clamouring for entry to dining hot spots du jour such as Chiltern Firehouse for their own taste of the A-List, and celebrity chefs salivated over as the new rock stars, FULLY COMMITTED is as fresh as ever.

Tony-nominated songwriters Benj Pasek & Justin Paul and book writer Peter Duchan are to attend the European premiere of their acclaimed musical Dogfight at Southwark Playhouse on Wednesday 13 August.

DRG Records celebrates the release of Gerard Alessandrini's Forbidden Broadway: Comes Out Swinging! (2014 Un-Original Cast Album) which is produced by Grammy Award winner Hugh Fordin, and is available in stores and online today, July 22nd. To kick off the CD release, Barnes & Noble (150 East 86 Street) will host an in-store appearance and performance from 4pm - 6pm. This CD marks Forbidden Broadway's 12th cast recording with DRG Records. Featured on the album are cast members Carter Calvert, Scott Richard Foster, Mia Gentile and Marcus Stevens, with David Caldwell on piano.

DRG Records will kick off the release of Gerard Alessandrini's Forbidden Broadway: Comes Out Swinging! (2014 Un-Original Cast Album), produced by Grammy Award winner Hugh Fordin, on Tuesday, July 22nd at Barnes & Noble (150 East 86 Street). There will be an in-store appearance and performance at 5pm.

Banned by the Lord Chamberlain for its facetious and irreverent treatment of adultery, This Was A Man, a previously unseen play by Noel Coward, directed by actress Belinda Lang, opens for its long overdue UK professional premiere in a strictly limited three week season at the Finborough Theatre tonight, 15 July 2014 (Press Night: Thursday, 17 July 2014 at 7.30pm).

Chichester's Festival Theatre reopens today with a new production of Amadeus, featuring West End and Hollywood star Rupert Everett alongside acclaimed young actor Joshua McGuire.

Olivier Award winning Jenna Russell, star of the RSC, Jonathan Slinger, and EastEnders' Marc Elliott, reprise their acclaimed roles, Penelope Pennywise, Officer Lockstock and Mr. McQueen respectively, in the West End transfer of Jamie Lloyd's ground breaking, splash hit production of Urinetown The Musical.

Guys and Dolls - a joyous and vibrant celebration of Prohibition-era New York - marks a series of firsts when it bursts onto the Festival Theatre stage at Chichester this summer, running 11 August - 21 September 2014.

Following a critically acclaimed, award-winning run last year in the Studio, Daniel Evans' production of Tim Firth's musical This Is My Family returns to Sheffield Theatres from Thursday 9 - Saturday 18 October, ahead of a national tour to Royal & Derngate Northampton, Belgrade Theatre Coventry, Liverpool Playhouse and The New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich.

Frank Sinatra's legendary concert, SINATRA: The Main Event, was billed as the biggest comeback in showbusiness history. Now the 40th anniversary is to be marked in London today October 10 at the Cadogan Hall with a stunning recreation of The Main Event, at New York's Madison Square Garden on October 13, 1974.

Forbidden Broadway is back at the Menier Chocolate Factory (last seen there in 2009) and it's like it never left. With a first class cast, excellent musical direction and a ceaseless barrage of jibes about your favourite shows, this is a jolly, fun night out.