Marianka Swain - Page 14

Much of the conversation around the incoming of the revamped Les Misérables production to the West End has revolved around the revolve a?' or lack thereof. But this slicker touring version (first seen in 2009, for the 25th anniversary) is a beautiful fit for Cameron Mackintosh's marvellously refurbished Sondheim Theatre, and the show's indelible score and stirring human drama are, if anything, showcased more strongly than ever.

Last year, recent drama school graduate Sam Tutty landed the role of a lifetime: the lead in Tony Award-winning musical Dear Evan Hansen, which is now playing in the West End. He told BroadwayWorld about his audition journey, experience of the show, favourite songs, and dream future roles... 

London is never short of temptations, whether splashy West End shows, epic dramas or bold fringe offerings. From a starry Beckett revival to Tom Stoppard and magical mishaps, here are some of this month's most eye-catching openings. Don't forget to check back for BroadwayWorld's reviews, interviews and features!

How ripping! A saucy French maid doing the Charleston with a handsome chap in tennis whites sets the scene for the most delightful escapism in town: Matthew White's gossamer-light revival of Sandy Wilson's 1953 love letter to the Roaring Twenties. It was once the third-longest-running stage musical, and boosted Julie Andrews' career on Broadway.

New musical & Juliet officially opened at London's Shaftesbury Theatre last night. Let's see what the critics had to say!

Have you ever dreamed of seeing Juliet wrest control of her destiny from William Shakespeare, aided by a liberated Anne Hathaway, all while belting out stone-cold Nineties and Noughties pop bangers? Well, you're in luck! This jukebox musical take on the Bard is pure sugar rush a?' and with enough groan-worthy puns and panto pleasure to make it a raucously fun Christmas outing.

It wouldn't be Christmas without Birmingham Repertory Theatre's family favourite The Snowman, now in its 22nd consecutive year. This beloved dance adaptation of Raymond Briggs' tale returns to Sadler's Wells' Peacock Theatre this week as part of its UK tour. Martin Fenton talks to BroadwayWorld about taking on the all-important title role.

How can you possibly put Joe Simpson's account of his hellish mountaineering accident on stage? Curiosity alone might well draw in viewers for this new adaptation, which premiered last year at Bristol Old Vic a?' swiftly followed by awe as they see just how inventively writer David Greig and director Tom Morris have engineered the translation.

London is never short of temptations, whether splashy West End shows, epic dramas or bold fringe offerings. From a starry revival to musical comedies and an incendiary Pulitzer winner, here are some of this month's most eye-catching openings. Don't forget to check back for BroadwayWorld's reviews, interviews and features!

Is this a great time to tell stories, shedding light in dark times? Or is it an impossible task? That's the loose premise of Annie Baker's wilfully elusive new piece, featuring the brainstorming session from hell a?' or possibly about hell, or in hell. Immaculately directed by Baker herself and designer Chloe Lamford, it's monstrously clever: a philosophical Fright Night.

Musical theatre leading man Hayden Tee recently starred as Miss Trunchbull in the West End production of Matilda - for which he is nominated for a BroadwayWorld UK Award! - and he's also produced new album Face to Face. It features songs from shows like Matilda, Les Misérables, 1776 and more, and fans can catch it on tour soon.

London is never short of temptations, whether splashy West End shows, epic dramas or bold fringe offerings. From highly anticipated musicals to mountaineering and Welsh apocalypse, here are some of this month's most eye-catching openings. Don't forget to check back for BroadwayWorld's reviews, interviews and features!

With Extinction Rebellion looming large in the capital, it's canny programming to revive Duncan Macmillan's 2011 play about a couple debating the merits of having a child a?' including fears about how introducing another person might impact the planet. The play also gets a boost from the starry casting of The Crown's Claire Foy and Matt Smith, whose established chemistry is a huge asset here.

Today, BroadwayWorld's Emma Watkins attended the official West End press launch of AMELIE THE MUSICAL at The Other Palace. The event featured a performance of songs from the show by Audrey Brisson and the company, plus there was a Q&A with director Michael Fentiman and Brisson. Watch the video below!

Athol Fugard's 1982 play, set in 1950s Port Elizabeth, is inspired by his own boyhood in apartheid-era South Africa a?' as Fugard says in a programme note, it's a?oethe most intensely personal thing I have ever writtena??. Like his teenage character Harold (Fugard's actual first name), his father was disabled and his mother tried to keep them afloat via a struggling tearoom. And, crucially, Fugard also had a complex relationship with Sam and Willie, their black employees a?' encapsulated here in an increasingly gripping 100-minute piece of atonement.

Laura Wade isn't the first to tackle Jane Austen's unfinished novel, abandoned in 1805, but she is the only one so far to write herself, the struggling adaptor, into the text. This witty, ingenious and surprisingly philosophical play, which premiered at Chichester last year, merges Austen with Pirandello, and satire with big existential questions.

As we previously reported, actress Oluwaseyi (Seyi) Omooba was removed from Leicester Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome's revival of musical The Color Purple after Hamilton actor Aaron Lee Lambert shared a screenshot of her 2014 Facebook post. Now, the Daily Mail reports that Omooba claims she is a victim of religious discrimination.

Composer, writer and actor Dave Malloy's work includes the Tony Award-winning Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812, Octet, and his upcoming adaptation of Moby-Dick - the latter directed by regular collaborator Rachel Chavkin and starring Malloy. This year, London also sees two of his shows: Preludes, soon to conclude its run at Southwark Playhouse, and Ghost Quartet, which plays at the new Boulevard Theatre from 24 October. 

Caryl Churchill returns with a new quartet of shorts a?' and, at 81, she's still one of the most daring, formally inventive and linguistically dexterous playwrights working today. There's never any sense that her work could slide into another medium; it requires theatre's abstract arena, its live-wire liveness, the crucial space for an audience to bring their own readings, and the very act of storytelling unfolding.

This new illustrated companion volume to Irene Sankoff and David Hein's Tony and Olivier Award-winning musical Come From Away, which tells the remarkable true story of a small Newfoundland town that welcomed stranded air passengers on 9/11, is just as beautifully and thoughtfully crafted as the show itself.