Menier Chocolate Factory News

Today, the shortlist is announced for the 2019 BroadwayWorld UK Awards, celebrating the best long-running West End productions and best new productions from around the country. CLICK HERE TO VOTE!

With The Watsons currently running at the Menier and Fiddler on the Roof at the Playhouse Theatre, the Menier Chocolate Factory today announces further casting for Matthew White's revival of Sandy Wilson's The Boy Friend as the company begin rehearsals. Joining Jack Butterworth (Bobby van Husen), Janie Dee (Mme Dubonnet), Adrian Edmondson (Lord Brockhurst), Tiffany Graves (Hortense), Dylan Mason (Tony), Amara Okereke (Polly) and Issy van Randwyck (Lady Brockhurst) are Tom Bales (Alphonse), Ryan Carter (Pierre), Chloe Goodliffe (Nancy), Matthew Ives (Pépé), Bethany Huckle (Lolita), Emily Langham (Fay), Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson (Maisie), Annie Southall (Dulcie), Peter Nash (Marcel) and Robert Portal (Percival Brown). The production opens on 3 December, with previews from 22 November, and runs until 7 March 2020.

Funny Girl, starring Christina Bianco, is coming to THeatre Marigny in Paris, beginning November 7. Bianco took to Twitter to give a behind the scenes look at the rehearsal room for the upcoming production.

Gemma Maclean and Ben Morris will star in the new production of the 1966 Tony Award-Winning musical I Do! I Do! which will run at Upstairs at the Gatehouse in London this Autumn.

It takes a village to create a masterpiece. OBIE Winner, José Rivera ('Marisol' and 'References to Salvador Dali Make Me Hot'), premieres another powerful stage-work at the East Village's arts haven, The theater at the 14th Street Y.

BroadwayWorld has a first look at Christina Bianco rehearsing for Funny Girl in Paris, which will begin performances at Théâtre Marigny beginning November 7th, 2019.

BroadwayWorld UK reporter Jamie Body went backstage at the New Wimbledon Theatre to chat with 2017's Strictly Come Dancing Winner Joe McFadden about the UK tour of Priscilla Queen of the Desert.

Last chance to see Trevor Nunn's critically acclaimed Fiddler on the Roof - which broke box office records with the highest advance of any show at the theatre a?" as it completes its run at the Playhouse Theatre on 2 November. When it closes, the production will have played for a year since opening at the Menier Chocolate Factory in November 2018.

Artistic Director of Sheffield Theatres, Robert Hastie today announces the full casting for his revival of Guys and Dolls - Natalie Casey (Miss Adelaide), Darragh Cowley (Lt Brannigan), Dafydd Emyr (Big Jule), Jacob Fisher (Harry the Horse), Adrian Hansel (Benny Southstreet), Dawn Hope (General Cartwright), Kadiff Kirwan (Sky Masterson), TJ Lloyd (Nicely-Nicely Johnson), Matthew Malthouse (Rusty Charlie), Martin Marquez (Nathan Detroit), Ross McLaren (Angie the Ox), Garry Robson (Arvide Abernathy), and Alex Young (Sarah Brown) with Shaquille Brush (Havana Boy), Frances Camier (Havana Girl), Charlotte Coggin, Adam Denman, Emily Dunn, Tash Holway, Samantha Hull, Kate Playdon and Anthony Starr. The production opens on 12 December, with previews from 7 December, and runs until 18 January 2020.

The Menier Chocolate Factory is set in a beautiful Grade II listed building close to London Bridge. Since 2004, the 180-seat venue has developed a reputation for hosting multi-award winning productions. Here is everything you need to know if you are travelling there.

Chichester Festival Theatre and Menier Chocolate Factory today presents the London première of Olivier Award-winner Laura Wade's The Watsons at the Menier.

BroadwayWorld has a first listen to the  2019-20 North American tour cast of the Tony Award-winning Broadway revival of THE COLOR PURPLE. Preview performances will begin October 19, 2019 in Largo, Maryland at The Center for the Performing Arts at Prince George's Community College. The tour will have its official opening October 25, 2019 in New Orleans, Louisiana at The Mahalia Jackson Theatre.

We are so excited to debut our Most Accessible Theatre category in the 2019 BroadwayWorld UK Awards! Here, BWW reviewer Kerrie Nicholson explains what Access means to her.

Theatre Royal Bath Productions today announces full casting and tour dates for a new production of Daphne du Maurier's psychological thriller My Cousin Rachel, adapted by Joseph O'Connor and directed by Anthony Banks.

Royal & Derngate, Northampton, and New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich, have announced Tori Allen-Martin and Alex Cardall as the cast for their co-production of the new musical, The Season, by 2018 MTI Stiles + Drewe Mentorship Award winners, Jim Barne and Kit Buchan, playing in Northampton and Ipswich in November. The production will be directed by Tim Jackson and designed by Amy Jane Cook.

Multi-Award winning Musical The Color Purple comes to the Broadway Orange Park season on Tuesday, March 17, 2020 at 7:30 p.m.

Just last week, Broadway celebrated the opening of yet another Florian Zeller play- The Height of the Storm. The new play, starring acting greats Jonathan Pryce and Eileen Atkins, continues a streak of English-translated works by the French novelist and playwright, whose work was last seen on Broadway in 2016 with The Father, starring Frank Langella.

Laura Wade isn't the first to tackle Jane Austen's unfinished novel, abandoned in 1805, but she is the only one so far to write herself, the struggling adaptor, into the text. This witty, ingenious and surprisingly philosophical play, which premiered at Chichester last year, merges Austen with Pirandello, and satire with big existential questions.

With The Watsons currently running at the Menier and Fiddler on the Roof at the Playhouse Theatre, the Menier Chocolate Factory today announces initial casting for their major revival of Sandy Wilson's The Boy Friend running at the theatre over Christmas. Matthew White directs a cast including Jack Butterworth (Bobby van Husen), Janie Dee (Mme Dubonnet), Adrian Edmondson (Lord Brockhurst), Tiffany Graves (Hortense), Dylan Mason (Tony), Amara Okereke (Polly) and Issy van Randwyck (Lady Brockhurst). The production opens on 3 December, with previews from 22 November, and runs until 7 March 2020. Full casting will be announced shortly.

After winning a Stage Debut Award in 2017 for The Country Girls and starring alongside Jennifer Saunders in Lady Windermere's Fan, Grace Molony can now be seen in the London transfer of Laura Wade's The Watsons, which opens tonight at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Directed by Samuel West, The Watsons tackls Jane Austen's unfinished final novel. BroadwayWorld spoke with Grace about Austen's legacy, returning to the show, and the play's unexpected relevance today.