Charing Cross Theatre Announces Upcoming Season

Charing Cross Theatre has announced its second season, opening with the world premiere of THE MAN ON HER MIND, followed by the Olivier Award-winning OperaUpClose production of LA BOHEME, and concluding with the UK premiere of the 1969 Jerry Herman musical DEAR WORLD.

In January 2011, five people, Steven M. Levy, Sean Sweeney, Vaughan Williams, Mark Jenkyns and Conrad Freedman, came together to buy the New Players Theatre. Following a £1 million acquisition and seven-month refurbishment, the theatre was re-christened the Charing Cross Theatre. The theatre’s first season included presentations of Thrill Me – the Leopold & Loeb Story, the transfer from Broadway of John Leguizamo: Ghetto Klown, The Pajama Men - In The Middle of No One, A Tale of Two Cities – the Musical, directed by Paul Nicholas, a sold-out Christmas season of Fascinating Aida: Cheap Flights and the world premiere of Steven Berkoff’s 6 Actors in Search of a Director, directed by the author. For the second season, the theatre’s owners are proud to be producing and co-producing and bringing new work to London.

THE MAN ON HER MIND
By Alan Hruska
Directed by Bruce Guthrie
Produced by Charing Cross Theatre

5 September – 27 October 2012
Tickets: £17.50 - £29.50

American playwright, author and director, Alan Hruska’s new comedy is an exploration of the age-old story of girl meets boy… or does she? For her, the image taps into her dreams. For him, it’s an equally enchanting but otherworldly experience. Then reality intervenes. For both – or is it the four of them?

The cast will include Amy McAllister, Samuel James, Georgia MacKenzie and Shane Attwooll. The production will be designed by Emma Bailey, with Tom Piper as design consultant, with lighting by Matt Haskins and sound by Mike Walker.

LA BOHEME
By Giacomo Puccini to an Italian libretto by Luigi Illica and Giuseppe Giacosa
In a new English version by Robin Norton-Hale
Directed by Robin Norton-Hale
Musical Direction and piano accompaniment by Elspeth Wilkes
Produced by Dominic Haddock & Adam Spreadbury-Maher for OperaUpClose and Charing Cross Theatre

30 October 2012 – 5 January 2013
Tickets: £10 - £35

OperaUpClose’s LA BOHEME premiered at the c*ckTavern Theatre on 8 December 2009 and ran sold out for six months, becoming the longest continuously running opera in the UK. It then transferred to Soho Theatre, opening in July 2010 and running sold out for six weeks, before returning to the c*ckTavern Theatre, to celebrate its first birthday with a three-week run in December 2010. LA BOHEME won the 2011 Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Opera Production and the 2011 Whatsonstage.com Award for Best Off-West End Production.

DEAR WORLD A Musical Fable
Music & Lyrics by Jerry Herman
Book by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Based on The Madwoman of Chaillot by Jean Giraudoux, as adapted by Maurice Valency
New version by David Thompson
Directed & Choreographed by Gillian Lynne
Produced by Charing Cross Theatre

4 February – 30 March 2013
Tickets: £15 - £42.50

DEAR WORLD premiered on Broadway in 1969 starring Angela Lansbury and Milo O’Shea, but this will be the first production ever to be staged outside of the United States.

Set in post-war Paris in 1945, this musical fable of Good versus Evil is a tale for our times, with only a madwoman and her odd collection of acquaintances to save the city from corporate greed.

The cast will be led by Tony Award-winning actress Betty Buckley as the Countess Aurelia. The production will have sets by Matt Kinley, costumes by Ann Hould-Ward, and lighting by Mike Robertson. Orchestrations will be by Sarah Travis, with Kevin Amos as the Musical Director.

LISTINGS INFORMATION

Charing Cross Theatre
The Arches, Villiers Street
London WC2N 6NL

Box Office 0844-493-0650

Website www.charingcrosstheatre.co.uk