In a year when new musical theatre productions in London consisted of juke box transfers, classic revivals, whimsical adventure stories and majestic failures, one might be forgiven for thinking that the age of great new musicals exists merely in days of Auld Lang Syne. So let's pause and think back over the year's musical fayre.
'THE SOUND OF MUSIC' has announced it will be closing on February 21, 2009. The Andrew Lloyd Webber production will be on national tour with Connie Fisher playing the role of Maria. She was the original casting for this role.
Polydor Records celebrates the 60th birthday of Andrew Lloyd Webber, indisputably the most successful composer of our time, with the release of '60'. This amazing 3 CD, 60 track set spans the whole of Andrew's illustrious career and includes hits from all of his most famous musicals - Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Starlight Express, Evita, Sunset Boulevard and of course The Phantom Of The Opera.
On Sunday 14th September, Radio 2 continues its celebration of the leading lights of musical theatre with Andrew Lloyd Webber's Birthday In The Park.
Connie Fisher makes a welcome return to the stage this week as she begins previews in the Marvin Hamlish/Carole Bayer Sager/Neil Simon musical They're Playing Our Song at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Previews of the show, which will be directed by Fiona Laird, begin on July 25 prior to an August 4 opening. The production will run till September 28.
In an interview with BBC online while talking about the talent search competition 'I'd Do Anything', Andrew Lloyd Webber revealed the title of the much talked about upcoming Phantom of the Opera sequel currently in the works.
Reality TV merged with Musical Theatre again this weekend as presenter Graham Norton reunited with the 'Phantom Lord' Webber in BBC's I'd Do Anything, which aims to cast the roles of Oliver and Nancy for the upcoming Cameron Mackintosh production of Oliver! at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. Following in the footsteps of previous searches, which earned Connie Fisher and Lee Meade leading roles in The Sound Of Music and Joseph And The Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, twelve potential Nancys sang their hearts out in a bid to gain the votes of the viewing public.
West End Sound of Music star Connie Fisher swapped her nun's wimple for an adjudicator's hat at the Grand Theatre, Swansea on Saturday March 1st as a member of the adjudicating panel for the 2008 Welsh Young Musical Theatre Singer of the Year contest. During the evening Connie also made a welcome return to the stage where she was herself the 2006 winner of the contest before going on to earn stardom as the winner of the BBC's How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria talent show. After being greeted by rapturous applause from the audience in her native Wales, she treated the crowd to a rendition of Cole Porter's classic tongue twister, 'The Physician' (first sung by Gertrude Lawrence in Nymph Errant in 1933). Then she returned to the score of The Sound of Music to sing 'Edelweiss', accompanied by the Dunvant Male Choir, before completing her short programme with a virtuoso rendition of Charles Strouse and Richard Maltby's 'Everybody Wants To Do A Musical' - a song from the musical Nick and Nora she had performed on the same stage the night she became the Welsh Young Musical Theatre Singer of the year two years ago.
The Original Broadway Cast album of 'Spring Awakening' won the 2008 Grammy Award for Best Musical Show Album during the pre-televised 50th Annual Grammy Awards today, Sunday February 10. Tune-in for all the winners tonight on CBS at 8PM.
From February 26, the worlds of theatre and television collide in a unique life imitating art event as Summer Strallen, from Channel 4's hit soap Hollyoaks, takes over as Maria in The Sound of Music at the London Palladium.
The London Daily Mail reports that Tony-winner Jack O'Brien will direct The Phantom of Manhattan, the sequel to Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera. Bob Crowley is set to design.
The search to find Canada's Maria von Trapp starts January 25, 2008 with a seven-city cross-country audition tour that will culminate in the eight-week CBC Television series 'How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?'
Andrew Lloyd Webber is set to make his acting debut with a cameo appearance in the United Kingdom on Channel 4's hit teen drama 'Hollyoaks.' Summer Strallen is being lined to take over as the next Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music
Marias and Josephs from the award-winning BBC1 television series 'How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?' and this year's 'Any Dream Will Do' will perform together for the first time in the Christmas Eve extravaganza 'When Joseph Met Maria,' to air on Christmas Eve, December 24, at 7PM on BBC 1.
The 50th Annual Grammy Award nominations were announced today, Thursday December 6, 2007. Of the several categories and nominees, these are the listings for Best Musical Show Album and Best Movie Soundtrack.
In a Broadwayworld.com exclusive, hot budding star Francesca Jackson, set to play lesbian lawyer Joanne opposite Denise van Outen's Maureen in the upcoming West End 'Remix' of Rent, talks to Robert Gould about her career and her role in the Jonathon Larsen musical.
Andrew Lloyd Webber and David Ian's smash-hit new London production of The Sound of Music will make its North American premiere beginning September 2008 at The Princess of Wales Theatre in Toronto. Role of 'Maria' to be cast by Canadian TV public audiences.
Beginning September 24, the smash hit new production of the legendary Rodgers and Hammerstein musical, The Sound of Music at the London Palladium, introduces four new cast members to the company. Fiona Sinnott will play The Baroness, Paul Grunert assumes the role of Max, Amy Lennox will portray Liesl and Luke Fredericks as Rolf.
Simon Burke will star as 'Captain Von Trapp' in The Sound of Music at the London Palladium from 24 September, joining Connie Fisher, who stars as 'Maria' for six performances a week, with Aoife Mulholland playing the role on Monday evenings and Wednesday matinees
On August 24th, BBC Radio 2 will present a special 'Friday Night Is Music Night Gala' celebrating the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber
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