Marianka Swain - Page 43

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.

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.

While An American in Paris captures the dreamy glamour of old Hollywood, Simon McBurney rivetingly evokes its seedy, cynical underbelly, from backroom deals to drug busts and mobsters. Yet it is, in its own way, just as dazzling - a paean to Tinseltown myth-making as well as a blackly comic deconstruction.

Maria Friedman directs a brand new staging of Richard Harris's award-winning play STEPPING OUT, which which toured UK venues last year and now plays at the West End's Vaudeville Theatre. Book tickets here from £20

It's 1945, and Paris is shakily emerging from Nazi occupation - celebrating, yes, with soldiers returning and families reuniting, but also confronting collaborators in their midst and post-war deprivation. Amidst this turmoil, two future lovers meet: an encounter of seismic power.

Michael Blakemore's stellar directing career encompasses everything from landmark productions at the National, where he was associate director, to West End and Broadway hits. He was the first director to win a Tony Award for both Best Director of a Play and a Musical in the same year (for Michael Frayn's Copenhagen and Kiss, Me Kate). Now, he's helming the long-awaited UK premiere of Cy Coleman musical The Life - a gritty exploration of 1980s New York's underbelly - which he first directed on Broadway in 1997. The show begins previews at Southwark Playhouse on 25 March.

In 1944, Terence Rattigan substantially revised Less Than Kind at the behest of star theatrical couple the Lunts; the result was the less political, more overtly comic Love in Idleness. Now, Trevor Nunn – inspired by Dan Rebellato's introduction in a Nick Hern Books edition of the two versions – has synthesised them, to intriguing and largely successful effect.

Archie Madekwe's screen credits include Fresh Meat and films Legacy and Second Coming. He's now making his professional stage debut in The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia, Edward Albee's darkly comic masterpiece about a successful family man who embarks on a shocking love affair. Ian Rickson's revival also features Damian Lewis, Sophie Okonedo and Jason Hughes, and begins previews at Theatre Royal Haymarket on 24 March.

Rajiv Joseph's plays include Gruesome Playground Injuries, All This Intimacy and the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Bengal Tiger at the Baghdad Zoo. On screen, he's written for TV series Nurse Jackie and feature film Draft Day, starring Kevin Costner and Jennifer Garner. His 2015 play Guards at the Taj, about two imperial guards in 17th-century India handed a gruesome decree, has its European premiere at the Bush Theatre, directed by Jamie Lloyd, beginning previews on 7 April.

Actor Tom Lister is best known for playing Carl King on Emmerdale, but he's also amassed a number of stage credits, including Legally Blonde, Calamity Jane and Water Babies. He's currently starring in the West End revival of 42nd Street, alongside Sheena Easton, Clare Halse and Stuart Neal. The show begins previews on 20 March.

Never mind stepping out - the real wonder of this production is Anna-Jane Casey stepping in for the injured Tamzin Outhwaite at short notice. It's a plot twist worthy of the backstage shenanigans in Richard Harris's genial 1984 play about the members of a weekly tap class, and Casey's superb turn - and smooth integration into the ensemble - equally in keeping with its triumphant community spirit.

This week, London's Bush Theatre reopens following a £4.3 million capital project. The building's revitalisation sees it become more sustainable and entirely accessible, with a new entrance, front-of-house area and garden terrace, improved rehearsal and dressing room facilities, an expanded main auditorium, and a new 70-seat studio space - a home for emerging artists and producers. Madani Younis, Artistic Director since 2012, discusses his hopes for the Bush.

Hadley Fraser's work ranges from Les Miserables and Phantom of the Opera to Coriolanus at the Donmar and The Winter's Tale at the Garrick. He's collaborated with pianist Will Butterworth on a show that imagines Tony Bennett and Bill Evans did a third album together; the result is a mix of jazz, Broadway and contemporary classics, performed at Zedel on 1 April.

How quickly should art react? The National's Great Britain opened right on the heels of the 2014 phone-hacking trial, and here again the theatre is speedy with this response to the EU referendum. But, as with Brexit itself, the piece feels rather in limbo: caught in the midst of unfolding events, rather than able to fully and insightfully reflect on them.

Imelda Staunton and Conleth Hill star in a new production of multi Tony and Pulitzer prize-winning playwright Edward Albee's Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? directed by James MacDonald. The production opened at London's Harold Pinter Theatre last night.

Much has been written about the snack ban instigated by this Edward Albee revival at the behest of its star, Imelda Staunton. No problems on that score: with performances of such scorching intensity sustained over a shattering three hours, audiences will be unwilling to release a breath, let alone distract with a rustling crisp packet.

Arthur Darvill's work ranges from TV shows like Doctor Who, Broadchurch and Legends of Tomorrow to starring in Once in the West End and on Broadway, as well as composing music for projects like the recent stage adaption of Roald Dahl's Fantastic Mr Fox. This Sunday, he and Samantha Barks lead the UK premiere of Jason Robert Brown's Honeymoon in Vegas, in a special concert presentation with the London Musical Theatre Orchestra.

Fifty years on, Tom Stoppard's absurdist tragicomedy is back in the theatre where it had its professional premiere, and still just as dazzlingly virtuosic. If some of its gags, musings and metatheatrical tricks have since become overfamiliar through imitation, that's surely testament to its enduring influence.