Marianka Swain - Page 40

Relative newcomers Andrew Polec and Christina Bennington were thrilled to land the lead roles in Jim Steinman's musical Bat Out of Hell. Several decades in the making, the show is now playing at the London Coliseum.

Killian Donnelly's stellar musical career includes Kinky Boots, Memphis, The Commitments, Billy Elliot and The Phantom of the Opera. From tonight, he becomes the new West End Jean Valjean in Les Miserables.

'My mother says you're tragedy personified,' reports a precocious child to Carol, who recently attempted suicide. It's typical of Alice Birch's harrowing new play, which wrings blistering humour as well as despair from its accomplished portrait of women in pain and their disconnect from those around them.

In this febrile climate, do we want societal critique from our theatre or pure escapism? As I experienced when I recently swapped BroadwayWorld UK Editor duties for a New York trip, both theatrical regions are currently just as charged by provocative, resonant commentary as by jazz hands ­– as this year's Tony Award nominations reflect.

Has there ever been a time when we're more in need of irrepressible optimism? The orphan who convinces everyone around her that 'the sun will come out tomorrow' has certainly hit the West End at an opportune moment, and there's plenty of enjoyment to be had from a show that is, nevertheless, far more throwback than vital piece for 2017.

Simon Lipkin's numerous credits include Avenue Q, Rock of Ages, The Lorax and Guys and Dolls. He's currently starring as Rat in a new musical version of The Wind in the Willows, which begins its West End run at the London Palladium on 16 June.

It's entirely possible that there will one day be a fascinating Heart of Darkness-esque documentary about the making of Common. We can only hope, because the creation of something so extraordinary, so wilfully bewildering, on the National's biggest stage is surely a story worth telling.

Last night, Nikolai Foster's revival of ANNIE opened at the Piccadilly Theatre in London's West End. The production stars Miranda Hart as Miss Hannigan, Alex Bourne as Daddy Warbucks, Holly Dale Spencer as Grace Farrell, Jonny Fines as Rooster and Djalenga Scott as Lily.

Actor Gary Trainor, whose past work includes the West End productions of Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, I Can't Sing and The Shawshank Redemption, has been playing the role of alternate Dewey in School of Rock since its London premiere. He's now leading the cast as Dewey.

Actress Janique Charles was born and raised in Trinidad and Tobago. She moved to the UK to join the touring cast of The Lion King in 2013, and is now playing Nala in the West End production.

London is never short of theatre temptations, whether splashy West End shows, epic dramas or bold fringe offerings. From a classic musical and acclaimed Shakespeare to buzzy history plays, here are some of this month's most eye-catching openings. Don't forget to check back for BroadwayWorld's reviews…

Director/choreographer Drew McOnie's work includes In the Heights, Strictly Ballroom, The Wild Party and Jesus Christ Superstar. He's now back at Regent's Park helming On the Town - the classic musical tale of three sailors on shore leave in search of love and adventure - which opens tonight.

Actor Alex Bourne's past musical work ranges from Kiss Me, Kate to Chicago and We Will Rock You. After playing Daddy Warbucks on tour, he's now back in the role for the West End run of Annie, which begins previews at the Piccadilly Theatre on May 23.

Following a critically acclaimed opening at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe, subsequent UK tour and sell-out run last summer at the National Theatre, Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour opened in the West End last night at the Duke of York's Theatre.

Following UK tours of West Side Story and Singin' in the Rain, plus several ensemble and understudying roles in shows like Wicked and Grease, Matthew Croke takes on his first West End lead when he becomes the new Aladdin on 5 June in the hit Disney production at Prince Edward Theatre.

Salome, that dancing seductress who demanded the head of John the Baptist, has been reclaimed by Yael Farber in this new feminist interpretation (the RSC stages Oscar Wilde's more familiar take next month). Or at least that's the intention, but Farber's production sacrifices the personal for the mythic - ironically once again losing the girl history erased in a storm of overblown symbolism.

Last night, members of the cast and creative team from beloved 1996 British movie BRASSED OFF reunited for a special 21st birthday screening at London Royal Albert Hall, with the film's score played live by the Grimethorpe Colliery Band - all on the iconic stage where its famous finale takes place.

The hit West End revival of Dreamgirls is rumoured to be heading over to Broadway next year. In the meantime, fans on both sides of the pond can be content with this excellent double-CD cast album. Recorded live at London's Savoy Theatre, complete with audience reaction (rapturous during 'And I Am Telling You…'), it's a strong approximation of a thrilling theatre experience.

Edward Fox's stellar stage and screen career ranges from Hamlet and The Go-Between to The Day of the Jackal. He's currently performing one-man John Betjeman play Sand in the Sandwiches, which comes to London's Theatre Royal Haymarket on 30 May.

Tony Kushner's landmark two-part play begins at a funeral, with a rabbi solemnly naming a woman's surviving relatives; partway through the interminable list of grandchildren, he stops and sighs. It's a witty opener for a piece that's epic in every conceivable sense of the word, taking almost eight hours to tackle not just state of the nation, but state of humanity and the divine. Though there's the odd lull, particularly in Kushner's baggier, wilder second part, Marianne Elliott's revival - 25 years after the influential National Theatre production - is a monumental achievement.