Menier Chocolate Factory News

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES recently made Tony Awards history as the first show to ever win the Tony Award three times for best production. The classic musical comedy by Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein originally won six Tony Awards in 1984, including Best Musical. A Broadway revival won two 2005 Tony Awards including the Best Revival of a Musical prize. The new, freshly reconceived LA CAGE won three 2010 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical and Best Director of a Musical (Terry Johnson).

Roundabout Theatre Company has just announced that Tony® Award winner Douglas Hodge will star in a new Broadway production of Cyrano de Bergerac by Edmond Rostand, with a translation by Ranjit Bolt and directed by Jamie Lloyd. Cyrano de Bergerac will begin previews on September 14, 2012 and open officially on October 11, 2012 at the American Airlines Theatre on Broadway (227 West 42nd Street). This will be a limited engagement through November 25, 2012. The full cast & design team will be announced soon.

Playing in repertory now through - 8 September 2012, Timothy Sheader directs RAGTIME, a contemporary musical based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow; Olivier Award nominated Javier De Frutos is choreographing. Matthew Dunster is directing Shakespeare's most magical of plays A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM from tonight, 2 June - 5 September 2012.

Sheffield Theatres will be home to the first ever International Student Drama Festival from Friday 22 - Saturday 30 June, as the National Student Drama Festival (NSDF) celebrates the 2012 Cultural Olympiad.

LA CAGE AUX FOLLES recently made Tony Awards history as the first show to ever win the Tony Award three times for best production. The classic musical comedy by Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein originally won six Tony Awards in 1984, including Best Musical. A Broadway revival won two 2005 Tony Awards including the Best Revival of a Musical prize. The new, freshly reconceived LA CAGE won three 2010 Tony Awards including Best Revival of a Musical and Best Director of a Musical (Terry Johnson).

The Menier Chocolate Factory presents Harvey Fierstein's acclaimed Torch Song Trilogy, tonight, 30th May to 12th August, starring David Bedella and Sara Kestelman and directed by actor/director Douglas Hodge.

It'll be a very special concert at Chickenshed this weekend when West End diva Maria Friedman takes to the stage for an evening of Sondheim.

Steven Berkoff directs the World Premiere of his latest play, 6 Actors in Search of a Director, a comedy set on a movie location set, for a West End season at Charing Cross Theatre now through Saturday 23rd June. See below for photos of Sarah Chamberlain, Philip Voss, Ruth Everett, Paul Trussell and Neil Stuke in the production, which opens tonight!

Jeremy Herrin directs the World Premiere of Matthew Dunster's Children's Children running at the Almeida now through 30 June 2012, with press night on 24 May. Designs are by Robert Innes Hopkins with lighting by Neil Austin and sound by Ian Dickinson. The cast comprises Emily Berrington (Effie), Beth Cordingly (Louisa), Darrell D'Silva (Michael), Trevor Fox (Gordon), John MacMillan (Castro) and Sally Rogers (Sally). See photos of the full cast on stage below!

The Pleasance Theatre presents a new production of MOON RIVER, written by Seiriol Davies and directed by Caroline Horton, from tonight, May 22nd through June 2nd.

Stage and screen stars Brooke Shields and Richard Chamberlain will take on the iconic roles of Chris MacNeil and Father Merrin in playwright John Pielmeier's world premiere of The Exorcist at the Geffen Playhouse. Helmed by acclaimed director John Doyle, who won a Tony Award for his striking reimagining of Sweeney Todd, this stage adaptation of William Peter Blatty's famous 1971 novel transforms the unsettling battles of good versus evil, faith versus fact and ego versus ethos into a uniquely theatrical experience as sophisticated as it is suspenseful.

Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Chocolate Factory Productions open Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party at Wyndham's Theatre tonight, May 18.

The 2012 season at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre includes productions of RAGTIME and A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. Playing in repertory from tonight, 18 May through 8 September 2012, Timothy Sheader directs RAGTIME, a contemporary musical based on the novel by E.L. Doctorow; Olivier Award nominated Javier De Frutos is choreographing.

Today, May 17 Cake Productions, one of the most cutting-edge-aware theatre companies in the country, will present the New York Premiere of Tiffany Antone's prophetic wake-up call, "IN THE COMPANY OF JANE DOE," a new play about a woman who gets herself cloned then wants a Do-Over. There are men in the play. One of them causes all the trouble.

Jeremy Herrin directs the World Premiere of Matthew Dunster's Children's Children running at the Almeida from tonight, 17 May - 30 June 2012. Designs are by Robert Innes Hopkins with lighting by Neil Austin and sound by Ian Dickinson.

Steven Berkoff is to direct the World Premiere of his latest play, 6 Actors in Search of a Director, a comedy set on a movie location set, for a West End season at Charing Cross Theatre from tonight 16th May - Saturday 23rd June. Six actors are on a movie set waiting for their call. Until then they are in limbo needing the director to bring them to life. He does this merely by using the one magic word - "Action!"

Following a sold out run in 2011, the Menier Chocolate Factory welcomes back groundbreaking ventriloquist Nina Conti, working on brand new material for her new show for 5 performances only, from tonight 15th - Saturday 19th May. This material will form the basis of Nina's new show, Dolly Mixtures at the Pleasance Dome 1st - 27th August as part of the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Theatre Royal Bath Productions and Chocolate Factory Productions previously announced the transfer of Mike Leigh's Abigail's Party to Wyndham's Theatre from tonight, 15th May.

The Old Globe today announced the complete cast and creative team for the 2012 Shakespeare Festival, performed in repertory in the outdoor Lowell Davies Festival Theatre.

On Thursday, May 17 Cake Productions, one of the most cutting-edge-aware theatre companies in the country, will present the New York Premiere of Tiffany Antone's prophetic wake-up call, "IN THE COMPANY OF JANE DOE," a new play about a woman who gets herself cloned then wants a Do-Over. There are men in the play. One of them causes all the trouble.