Marianka Swain - Page 42

London is never short of theatre temptations, whether splashy West End shows, epic dramas or bold fringe offerings. From new takes on Brecht and Buchner to Jez Butterworth's latest and a classic musical, here are some of this month's most eye-catching openings. Don't forget to check back for BroadwayWorld's reviews…

Martin Crimp's 1993 play feels sharply contemporary in this slick revival from Lyndsey Turner, with its layered deconstruction of the way that we treat both art and life as commodities - and how we mistreat one another - opening up industry satire into a far-reaching portrait of social malaise.

Lee Hall's Olivier Award-winning stage adaptation of Alan Warner's novel The Sopranos, about a raucous group of teenage girls in Edinburgh for a choir competition, arrives in the West End following an acclaimed Traverse Theatre premiere and UK tour (read our review). Dawn Sievewright, who plays outwardly confident leader Fionnula and a host of other characters, shares her experience.

'Everybody wants passion,' says Ivo van Hove in the programme interview for his latest show, but in both tone and aesthetic, his take on this doomed romance is less red-hot fire of ardour, more the cold, grey ash left in the wake of a consuming flame. It's intermittently beautiful and thoughtful, but lacks the necessary fervour that binds lover to lover, and audience to material.

Carrie Hope Fletcher has starred in numerous musicals, including Les Miserables, Mary Poppins and Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and has also published two books. She's currently playing Wednesday Addams in the UK premiere of Andrew Lippa, Marshall Brickman and Rice Elice's musical The Addams Family, which has just begun its nationwide tour.

Christopher Hampton's 1969 take on Moliere's The Misanthrope is often played with actors older than their characters, but director Simon Callow has recruited some of TV's bright young things to play the solipsistic academics. It may well attract new audiences to the West End, but this uncomfortable revival is unlikely to capitalise on that influx.

Unusually, actress Kirsty Bushell comes to Juliet later in a stellar career; her work includes everything from the title role in Salisbury Playhouse's Hedda Gabler to Disgraced at Bush Theatre and Ivo van Hove's Antigone. English National Opera boss Daniel Kramer's production, co-starring Edward Hogg and opening Emma Rice's second and final Globe season, begins previews on 22 April.

Six-time Tony winner and reigning Queen of Broadway - plus 'Olivier Award presenter', jokes partner-in-crime Seth Rudetsky in his introduction (though surely that's just a matter of time, with her Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill coming to Wyndham's this summer) - lauded actress and singer Audra McDonald is the consummate pro. If further proof were needed, she's currently at Leicester Square Theatre offering a veritable master class in cabaret.

Last night was the 2017 Olivier Awards at London's Royal Albert Hall. Big winners included Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, Groundhog Day and Amber Riley for Dreamgirls - find a full list here.

The Olivier Awards 2017 with Mastercard - the most prestigious event in the UK's theatrical calendar - takes place today, Sunday 9 April, at London's Royal Albert Hall. Check out our updating list of winners here! It's currently interval time, and there's a live Facebook show from the Oliviers - watch it below

The Olivier Awards 2017 with Mastercard - the most prestigious event in the UK's theatrical calendar - takes place today, Sunday 9 April, at London's Royal Albert Hall.

The late, great Edward Albee is certainly having a West End 'moment', but it rather places this particular revival at a disadvantage, comparing unfavourably as it does with the shattering, unforgettable Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? a few streets away.

Amidst the middle-class small talk between two couples, one reeling from the arrival of a new baby, comes a shocking confession: 'I've been raping pensioners.' What kind of monsters are we dealing with here? Well, legal ones - it's barrister speak. Having tackled the NHS in Tiger Country, Nina Raine now has the judicial system in her sights: its eccentricities, seeming unfairness, and the effect it has on those caught in its truth-bending web.

The curtain rises just high enough to reveal a long line of tapping feet: a thoroughly appropriate intro, as those feet are the real stars of the show. The plot might centre around a leading lady battle, but this loving backstage fairy tale is really a paean to the chorus - the hard-working, unceasingly toe-tapping foundation upon which musical comedy ('the two most glorious words in the English language,' per the show) is built.

When Laura Wade's Posh premiered at the Royal Court in 2010, its dark promise that these destructive student toffs - members of the Riot Club, a loosely fictional version of Oxford's Bullington - would one day run the country had a timely frisson: former club members David Cameron, George Osborne and Boris Johnson occupied Downing Street and the mayoral office respectively.

London is never short of theatre temptations, whether splashy West End shows, epic dramas or bold fringe offerings. From a mammoth Tony Kushner revival to an unusual Romeo and Juliet and tap-happy musicals, here are some of this month's most eye-catching openings. Don't forget to check back for BroadwayWorld's reviews…

Alongside a lauded acting career - he will reprise his Prospero when the RSC's The Tempest comes to the Barbican this summer - Simon Russell Beale has retained his passion for classical music, through projects like BBC series Sacred Music. This Wednesday, he performs as the narrator for City of London Sinfonia's Closer: The Soldier's Tale - an intimate version of Stravinsky's parable, directed by Dame Janet Suzman at Shoreditch's Village Underground.

The bad boy is back. Marber's Moliere update, which first appeared at the Donmar Warehouse in 2006, has been revived by the playwright for a West End run - David Tennant succeeding Rhys Ifans as the titular seducer.

Tonight, the West End revival of Patrick Marber's Don Juan in Soho opened at Wyndham's Theatre. The production stars David Tennant, Adrian Scarborough and Gawn Grainger, and plays until 10 June. See production pictures here

Actor and musician David Hunter's previous work includes Once, Tommy and One Man, Two Guvnors. He's currently starring as Charlie in the West End production of Kinky Boots.