Lee Mead News

As 2009 becomes 2010, BWW:UK's writers pick out their favourites - and least favourites - from the past ten years...

Arena Stage presents an innovative take on the world's longest-running musical, The Fantasticks by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. Director Amanda Dehnert (Oregon Shakespeare Festival‘s All's Well That Ends Well and Stratford Shakespeare Festival's Cabaret) and famed set designer Eugene Lee (Tony Award for Broadway's Wicked, Candide, Sweeney Todd) take a spin on this timeless love story by staging it in Rocky Point, an abandoned amusement park in Rhode Island. This whimsical twist on the classic musical is full of buoyant humor, charming music and incredible magic that will thrill audiences of all ages. The Fantasticks runs November 20, 2009 - January 10, 2010 at Arena Stage at the Lincoln Theatre, with an official opening on Friday, November 27, 2009.

What's on Stage has reported details of the BBC's 'Over the Rainbow' audition process to find the perfect Dorothy (and Toto) for Andrew Lloyd Webber's upcoming revival of The Wizard of Oz in the West End.

Published reports are saying actor Lee Mead and Denise Van Outen are expecting a child. After meeting on the hit reality show 'Any Dream Will Do,' a contest Mead won, Mead and Van Outen began a relationship and married in April of 2009. Reportedly, the pair is thrilled about the news, with Van Outen quoted as saying 'I look at him and know he'd make a great father. Our kids will have so much curly hair!'

Arena Stage presents an innovative take on the world's longest-running musical, The Fantasticks by Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt. Director Amanda Dehnert (Oregon Shakespeare Festival‘s All's Well That Ends Well and Stratford Shakespeare Festival's Cabaret) and famed set designer Eugene Lee (Tony Award for Broadway's Wicked, Candide, Sweeney Todd) take a spin on this timeless love story by staging it in Rocky Point, an abandoned amusement park in Rhode Island. This whimsical twist on the classic musical is full of buoyant humor, charming music and incredible magic that will thrill audiences of all ages. The Fantasticks runs November 20, 2009 - January 10, 2010 at Arena Stage at the Lincoln Theatre, with an official opening on Friday, November 27, 2009.

It is something no artiste would like to admit, but according to a report in the London Evening Standard today, West End box offices may have reality television to thank for its swelled intake.

Whatsonstage.com has confirmed that Lee Mead will headline the upcoming revival of Oscar Wilde's Lord Arthur Savile's Crime, which begins a U.K. tour in January 2010. The play is adapted by Trevor Baxter and directed by Christopher Luscombe.

Whatsonstage.com is suggesting that British actor Lee Mead, best known for winning the BBC reality television show 'Any Dream Will Do' and his subsequent run as Joseph in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, may be gearing up to star in a West End revival of the little known Rodgers and Hart musical, BABES IN ARMS. The revival is rumored to have set an opening for sometime in 2010.

The next BBC talent search will seek a Dorothy and a Toto for a new production of The Wizard Of Oz.

Carrie Dunn talks to the Any Dream Will Do? alumnus about his long run in the tour and his plans for the future...

The Sun newspaper has reported that the planned UK reality show to find a 'Dorothy' for the upcoming West End stage production of 'The Wizard of Oz' has been cancelled by the BBC after Andrew Lloyd Webber withdrew.

British TV personality and former 'You're the One That I Want' Co-Host Denise Van Outen has married her fiance, actor Lee Mead in the Seychelles.

From February 9 2009, Gareth Gates will make his West End stage debut starring as ?Joseph' in the smash hit production of the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical 'JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT' at the Adelphi Theatre in London. Lee Mead leaves the show on Saturday January 10.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts celebrates the 12th Anniversary of the Millennium Stage on January 31, 2009 with 'Broadway Today'-a star-studded, free concert, produced by Michael A. Kerker and presented in cooperation with ASCAP, in the Opera House as a part of the Center's season-long artistic initiative Broadway: The Third Generation. With the composers at the piano, original cast members and Broadway stars perform signature songs that made these artists household names. Free tickets are required. Tickets will be given away one (1) per person in line in front of the Opera House beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday, January 31, 2009.

The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts celebrates the 12th Anniversary of the Millennium Stage on January 31, 2009 with 'Broadway Today'-a star-studded, free concert, produced by Michael A. Kerker and presented in cooperation with ASCAP, in the Opera House as a part of the Center's season-long artistic initiative Broadway: The Third Generation. With the composers at the piano, original cast members and Broadway stars perform signature songs that made these artists household names. Free tickets are required. Tickets will be given away one (1) per person in line in front of the Opera House beginning at 4 p.m. on Saturday, January 31, 2009.

From February 9 2009, Gareth Gates will make his West End stage debut starring as ?Joseph' in the smash hit production of the Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber musical 'JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT' at the Adelphi Theatre in London. Lee Mead leaves the show on Saturday January 10.

Signature Theatre today announced that Andrew Call will sing the role of the student revolutionary Marius in its upcoming production of Les Misérables. He will replace Doug Kreeger, who will be performing in the new off-Broadway production of Rooms. Call recently performed in Signature's world premiere production of Glory Days, playing the role of the would-be jock Andy. Call has also performed in Cry-Baby and High Fidelity on Broadway, in Altar Boyz off-Broadway, and in national tours of Saturday Night Fever and Altar Boyz.

On Sunday, October 19, Signature Theatre will audition boys and girls, ages 7 - 12, for two singing roles and one non-singing role in its innovative new production of Les Miserables, which will run December 2 through February 22. Signature is looking for six children (two boys and four girls) all under 50 inches (4' 2''), who will alternate performances in their respective roles.

The UK Daily Mirror is reporting, in an exclusive interview with Andrew Lloyd Webber, that the squel to Phantom of the Opera, Phantom- Once Upon Another Time, is aiming for a premiere in October 2009.

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.