Menier Chocolate Factory News

Tickets go on sale today for the world premiere of new stage musical From Here to Eternity. The show will preview at the Shaftesbury Theatre from 30th September with Press Night on 23rd October 2013. Tickets can be bought from FromHereToEternityTheMusical.com or by calling box office on 020 7379 5399.

Matthew Kelly is to play Florian in the World Premiere of the Touring Consortium Theatre Company/ Royal & Derngate Northampton co-production of To Sir With Love, written by E R Braithwaite and adapted by Ayub Khan Din (East is East). Mark Babych will direct To Sir With Love, with design by Mike Britten, lighting by Johanna Towns and choreography by Nick Winston.

Southwark Playhouse announces its Autumn 2013 season, including: the UK Premiere of Beau Willimon's Farragut North; the first major revival in over 30 years of Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn's The Love Girl and the Innocent; and the world premiere of Timberlake Wertenbaker's Our Ajax. Details below!

Producer David Binder has just announced that Neil Patrick Harris will star in the Broadway premiere of John Cameron Mitchell and Stephen Trask's musical HEDWIG AND THE ANGRY INCH in the Spring of 2014. The remaining creative team members, additional casting, and the theatre will be confirmed at a later date.

Celebrating the 80th birthday of playwright and novelist David Storey, the first London production in over 30 years - and the first production in London since the original National Theatre production- David Storey's Early Days plays at the Finborough Theatre for a limited run of nine Today and Monday evening and Tuesday matinee performances from tonight, 16 June 2013 (Press Night: Monday 17 June 2013 at 7.30pm).

Casting is today announced for the European premiere of a new chamber version of the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical, Titanic. Directed by Thom Southerland and produced by Danielle Tarento, it will run for a 6-week season at Southwark Playhouse, from Friday 26 July - Saturday 31 August.

This June, Brat Productions gives you dinner theatre like you've never experienced it before. The Last Plot in Revenge is a spaghetti western, dinner theatre, musical - with the signature Brat twist of mixed genres, surprising collaborations and rock star talent. Up-and-coming local playwright Brian Grace-Duff takes you to Revenge, Montana, a land where the wild rule, the whiskey runs, the whores are tired, the guns are smokin' - and there is only one cemetery plot left in the whole town. Let the Scrapfields and the MacGruels duke it out, because when the Nameless Gunman enters, who knows who will be left standing? After all, revenge is a dish best served with a plate of spaghetti.

Alex Gaumond will join the company in the role of Miss Trunchbull and Kay Murphy will play Mrs Wormwood from 3 September 2013. Haley Flaherty will continue in the role of Miss Honey until 7 September 2014. Further casting will be announced soon.

To coincide with the 20-year anniversary of the Ford Partnership Program, which nurtures locally based artists and arts organizations, the Los Angeles County Arts Commission presents the inaugural Zev Yaroslavsky Signatures Series. This two-concert program benefiting the Ford Theatre Foundation pairs world-renowned performers with a local artistic treasure, celebrating Los Angeles as a destination for world-class artists, who find here both collaboration with, and inspiration from, celebrated local artists.

As the summer months heat up, so does the West End theatre. Here are my picks for must-see theatre this summer:

Menier Chocolate Factory presents the European premiere of the landmark musical The Color Purple, which runs from 5 July to 14 September. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the rehearsals below.

The new musical SHIDA, written and performed by Jeannette Bayardelle -- whose Broadway appearances include leading roles in THE COLOR PURPLE and HAIR -- will receive its world-premiere this summer Off-Broadway as an Ars Nova Summer Fling (511 W. 54 St. in Manhattan). Previews begin July 19 prior to SHIDA's official opening night on July 31. The limited engagement runs through August 28.

59E59 Theaters welcomes the Finborough Theatre production of J.B. Priestley's CORNELIUS, directed by Sam Yates, to Brits Off Broadway. Produced by Jagged Fence, Handsome Dog and 31 Productions, CORNELIUS began performances on Saturday, June 1 for a limited engagement through Sunday, June 30. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the cast in action below!

The European premiere of the landmark musical The Color Purple, runs from 5 July to 14 September at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Accomplished UK TV host Jonathan Ross spotlights the current hit West End revival of Stephen Sondheim & George Furth's MERRILY WE ROLL ALONG in a new clip just released.

Glenn Carter* (Jersey Boys, Jesus Christ Superstar, Whistle down the Wind), Stephen Rahman Hughes* (Emmerdale, Dream Team, Bombay Dreams, West Side Story), David Thaxton (Passion, Les Miserables) and Matt Willis (Wicked, Flashdance, Footloose and BRIT award winning member of Busted), join the previously announced Lee Mead (Wicked, Legally Blonde, BBC Series Winner of Any Dream Will Do) to complete The West End Men. All four will be joined by special guest star Kerry Ellis* (Wicked, Oliver, We Will Rock You, Born Free Tour with Brian May) for the limited run at the Vaudeville Theatre from 25 May to 22 June.

Further casting has been announced for the four new in-house productions which will make up the 2013 Summer Season Theatre Royal Bath.