Frankie Howerd News

There's such a rich history of musical theatre in London. World renowned, the West End has become a place of pilgrimage for the stagey community. But if you would like to understand better the heritage of the theatrical community and find out the origins of some of the biggest and most famous shows in the world, the new Lost West End Vintage album is a good starting point.

Full casting is announced today for Ian Lindsay and Jeremy Cantwell's Chinese Whispers, which receives its world premiere at Greenwich Theatre from Thursday 13th to Sunday 23rd July 2017, with a press night on Friday 14th July.

???????Following the critically acclaimed release of 'Lost West End' (2015) and 'Lost West End 2' (2016), albums highlighted in both The Sunday Times and The Guardian, Stage Door Records are pleased to continue the album series with the 2CD set 'Lost West End Vintage' released on July 28th 2017.

3…2…1… Blast Off! Edinburgh Festival Fringe audiences will have the chance to experience an explosively funny space adventure as David Walliams' stage adaptation of The First Hippo on the Moon touches down in Edinburgh this August.

March 6, 2017 marks the centenary of the birth of a comedy legend: Frankie Howerd, who was and still is "one of Britain's best-loved comedians". A radical, whose courage and innovation as a performer have too often been obscured by cosy nostalgia, he was the first stand-up to dispense with conventional punchlines and slick patter, instead crafting stumbling, surreal streams of insecurity, based on his sense of inadequacy, disappointment and sheer unsuitability to the very job of being a comedian.

A collaborative performance from BA (Hons) Acting, BA (Hons) Costumeand Performance Design, BA (Hons) Make Up for Media and Performance.

A collaborative performance from BA (Hons) Acting, BA (Hons) Costumeand Performance Design, BA (Hons) Make Up for Media and Performance.

A collaborative performance from BA (Hons) Acting, BA (Hons) Costumeand Performance Design, BA (Hons) Make Up for Media and Performance.

Dead Funny, written and directed by Terry Johnson will end it's scheduled run at the Vaudeville Theatre on Saturday 4 February 2017.  

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

With the long, dark and cold winter nights upon us, we could all do with a bit of lighthearted comedy to cheer us up! Terry Johnson's 'Dead Funny' originally made its West End debut 22 years ago in the very same theatre where the current run is housed, the Vaudeville Theatre. Set in 1992 it takes place during the week in April where two much loved comedians, Frankie Howerd and Benny Hill, died within days of each other.

Eleanor wants a child. Richard would oblige if he could, but he's too busy running the Dead Funny Society. When British comedy heroes Frankie Howerd and Benny Hill turn up their toes in the same week the Society gather for a celebration of hilarity and laughter. But Eleanor's grin masks a grimace. When your marriage is deader than either Morecambe or Wise it's hard to see the funny side of things.

???????To celebrate their 25th anniversary next year, Birmingham Stage Company - the acclaimed producers of Horrible Histories Live On Stage - today announce the West End debut of David Walliams' bestselling book - Gangsta Granny. The smash-hit production which was recently nominated for a UK Theatre Award for Best Show for Children and Young People, opens at the Garrick theatre on 1 August 2017, with previews from 26 July, and runs until 3 September, direct from an extensive UK tour.

Terry Johnson's "Painfully funny and funnily painful" (The Times) comedy, DEAD FUNNY, returns for a strictly limited season at the Vaudeville Theatre this autumn with Katherine Parkinson (The IT Crowd, In The Club, Humans), Steve Pemberton (The League of Gentleman, Benidorm, Whitechapel), Ralf Little (The Royle Family, Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps, The Cafe), Emily Berrington (The Inbetweeners 2, Humans, 24) and Rufus Jones (W1A, Hunderby, The Casual Vacancy). 

Following a complete sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe 2015, and an acclaimed West End transfer, BORIS: WORLD KING returns to Edinburgh in a brand new version rewritten to reflect recent events surrounding the UK's decision to leave the European Union.

BWW speaks to Al Porter about his 2016 Edinburgh Fringe show Al Porter At Large.

Following a complete sell-out run at the Edinburgh Fringe 2015, and an acclaimed West End transfer, BORIS: WORLD KING returns to Edinburgh in a brand new version rewritten to reflect recent events surrounding the UK's decision to leave the European Union.

Gary Naylor sees a very strange revival of a 1950s Broadway show saved by some fine singing and sensational songs.

With his days as Mayor of London numbered, Britain's favourite comedy politician casts himself in another leading role: the star of his own West End show. This gaffe-a-minute comedy sees the thinking man's idiot wobbling on the brink of power. This rollicking tale packs in pay-as-you-go bikes, wiff-waff, and an ancient Greek lecture for good measure. Before long, verbal slips, trips and divine interruption cue a new battle - for his very political existence.

Gary Naylor sees the revival of an old favourite from Saturday night television in the years long before it was captured by Simon Cowell and his clones - for whom no number of raspberries can be too many!