Marianka Swain - Page 50

Globe Education's production for the 2017 Playing Shakespeare with Deutsche Bank will be THE TAMING OF THE SHREW, opening at Shakespeare's Globe on 28 February and running until 25 March. Over 20,000 free tickets are available for state secondary schools in London and Birmingham.

New family musical MR POPPER'S PENGUINS will open at the Criterion Theatre for a magical Christmas season from 15 December to 31 December. Mr and Mrs Popper and their remarkable family of performing penguin puppets come to London direct from a UK tour and US premiere at New York's renowned New Victory Theatre.

'Inmates, coming through.' That's our introduction to Phyllida Lloyd's landmark trilogy, as the homogenised prisoners are steered through the audience by prison officers. But this extraordinarily empathetic project, developed with Clean Break, gives those inmates individual voices and means of expression, while the all-female cast that inhabit them gives new voice to three familiar plays.

Following sold-out seasons at the Royal Albert Hall and several world tours, The Imperial Ice Stars have brought their dazzling production of THE NUTCRACKER ON ICE to London's Hyde Park. The show runs every day until 2 January, 2017 at Hyde Park Winter Wonderland, which is celebrating its 10th anniversary this year.

Cabaret sensation LA SOIREE has returned to London for its seventh season in the capital this Christmas, running until 8 January, 2017 - read our review here. The spectacular line-up includes cirQle master David Girard, physical comedians Daredevil Chicken, quirky trickster Olivia Porter, and hula hoop artist Satya Bella. See them in action photographed below by Ana Maria Wiggins for BroadwayWorld

The world premiere of Matthew Bourne's production of THE RED SHOES has its world premiere at the Theatre Royal Plymouth tonight, with an eight-week Christmas season at Sadler's Wells from Tuesday 6 December 2016 to Sunday 29 January 2017. 

Photographs from the opening of HALF A SIXPENCE

Anna-Jane Casey made her West End debut in Cats, and has since starred in Chicago, West Side Story, Sunday in the Park with George and Billy Elliot, among others. She's currently in rehearsals for Sheffield Crucible's Christmas show, Annie Get Your Gun, in which she plays gun-totin' Annie Oakley. Previews begin on 9 December.

This Sixties Tommy Steele vehicle is joyfully reborn in another Chichester Festival Theatre musical triumph, now comfortably ensconced in the West End. The unstoppable George Stiles and Anthony Drewe have seamlessly renewed and added to David Heneker's original score, and Julian Fellowes has done the same for Beverley Cross's book, giving this gently passe show a smart new suit of clothes.

Renowned choreographer Arlene Phillips is making her pantomime debut in as Fairy Bowbells in New Wimbledon Theatre's Christmas Pantomime, DICK WHITTINGTON, from Friday 9 December 2016 to Sunday 15 January 2017. Joining her are award-winning actor Matthew Kelly, who returns to New Wimbledon Theatre to play Sarah the Cook and comedian Tim Vine as Idle Jack.

Andrew Lloyd Webber may seem an unlikely rock god, but he's harnessed anarchic musical liberation for this big-hearted, irresistibly entertaining new show, adapted from the popular Jack Black film. Its success on Broadway looks likely to be replicated here, given its broad appeal, hummable hits and giddy, live-action cartoon hijinks framing the seriously impressive talent of its young rockers.

Watch videos of the West End cast of DEAD FUNNY at Vaudeville Theatre

Mark Umbers' diverse work includes Home Fires and Mistresses on screen and, on stage, The Glass Menagerie at the Apollo Theatre and the acclaimed revival of Merrily We Roll Along at Menier Chocolate Factory. He's returned to the Menier for She Loves Me, whose plot - two feuding employees in a Budapest shop are also, unbeknownst to them, one another's romantic pen pals - also formed the basis for the Tom Hanks/Meg Ryan film You've Got Mail. Umbers stars opposite Scarlett Strallen, and the show begins previews on 25 November.

Singer and actor Jack Shalloo's theatre credits include Madness musical Our House, Departure Lounge and Hamlet the Musical, and he released an album, London Soul, in 2011. He's currently appearing in The Little Matchgirl and Other Happier Tales at Shakespeare's Globe, which begins previews on 24 November.

Actor Jeremy Irvine got his big break as the lead in Steven Spielberg's film version of War Horse. His other screen credits include Great Expectations, The Railway Man and Stonewall, but he's now back on stage alongside Ed Harris, Amy Madigan and Charlotte Hope in Sam Shepard's Buried Child, currently in previews at Trafalgar Studios.

Composer Howard Goodall's remarkable career ranges from lauded choral works to West End musical Bend It Like Beckham, the Emmy Award-winning score for HBO film Into the Storm, and themes for beloved British TV shows like Mr Bean, Blackadder, Red Dwarf and QI. On 20 November, Goodall's Eternal Light: A Requiem makes its New York debut at Carnegie Hall, presented by Distinguished Concerts International New York and performed by ensembles from both America and the UK.

New musical SCHOOL OF ROCK opened at the West End's New London Theatre tonight. Based on the smash hit 2003 film of the same title, the show features music from the movie, as well as new music written byAndrew Lloyd Webber with lyrics by Glenn Slater and a book by Julian Fellowes. Comedy star David Fynn stars as substitute teacher Dewey Finn, the role made famous by Jack Black in the film, and a nationwide search to find the three teams of 13 young performers took place earlier this year.

Last night, theatre luminaries turned out for the Evening Standard Awards at the Old Vic, where winners included Glenn Close, Ralph Fiennes, Billie Piper and Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. The evening was co-hosted by Sir Elton John and Evgeny Lebedev, and the Duke of Cambridge presented Sir David Attenborough with the Beyond Theatre Award for his contribution to broadcasting, while Amber Riley performed 'And I Am Telling You I'm Not Going' from the upcoming Dreamgirls. Find the full list of winners here

The latest instalment of LET THERE BE LIGHT, our series showcasing some of Britain's best theatrical lighting designers, focuses on Lucy Carter. A regular collaborator with Wayne McGregor, as well as numerous other leading choreographers and dance companies, she's also worked on operas and plays, including Husbands & Sons at the National Theatre and Oil, currently playing at the Almeida.

Like David Bowie himself, this is a show that defies definition. It's both all and none of a musical, a play, a gig, performance art, philosophical meditation, a fever dream, a collective trip into the unknown. It's aesthetically ravishing, musically profound, and though inarguably weird and frequently indecipherable at times emotionally devastating.