Sally Ann News

The new cast of West End's MAMMA MIA! appeared at the Prince of Wales Theatre, and has now moved to its new home at the Novello Theatre from 6 September 2012. The new cast includes Gary Milner, real-life wife Sally Ann Triplett, Neil Roberts as Harry Bright, James Gaddas as Bill Austin, Charlotte Wakefield as Sophie Sheridan, Andreas Gyllander as Sky, Abiola Ogunbiyi as Ali, Tasha Taylor Johnson as Lisa, Steven Oliver as Pepper and Liam Doyle as Eddie. At certain performances, the role of 'Donna Sheridan' will be played by Claire Poyzer. Joanna Monro and Kim Ismay will continue as Rosie and Tanya respectively. Check out the video below, featuring the new cast!

The new cast of West End's MAMMA MIA! appeared at the Prince of Wales Theatre, and has now moved to its new home at the Novello Theatre from 6 September 2012. BroadwayWorld has a first look at the full cast below, including Gary Milner, real-life wife Sally Ann Triplett, Neil Roberts as Harry Bright, James Gaddas as Bill Austin, Charlotte Wakefield as Sophie Sheridan, Andreas Gyllander as Sky, Abiola Ogunbiyi as Ali, Tasha Taylor Johnson as Lisa, Steven Oliver as Pepper and Liam Doyle as Eddie. At certain performances, the role of 'Donna Sheridan' will be played by Claire Poyzer. Joanna Monro and Kim Ismay will continue as Rosie and Tanya respectively.

The smash hit musical MAMMA MIA! will be holding a special Gala performance in support of BBC Children in Need at the show's new home, the Novello Theatre, on Wednesday 12 September 2012. The night will include special guest appearances by BBC Radio 2 presenters Vanessa Feltz, Anneka Rice and Penny Smith. Sir Terry Wogan will be there to mark this special night, along with a celebrity-packed audience to help celebrate MAMMA MIA!'s third London home

The smash hit musical MAMMA MIA! will be holding a special Gala performance in support of BBC Children in Need at the show's new home, the Novello Theatre, on Wednesday 12 September 2012. The night will include special guest appearances by BBC Radio 2 presenters Vanessa Feltz, Anneka Rice and Penny Smith. Sir Terry Wogan will be there to mark this special night, along with a celebrity-packed audience to help celebrate MAMMA MIA!'s third London home

The smash hit musical MAMMA MIA! will be holding a special Gala performance in support of BBC Children in Need at the show's new home, the Novello Theatre, on Wednesday 12 September 2012. The night will include special guest appearances by BBC Radio 2 presenters Vanessa Feltz, Anneka Rice and Penny Smith. Sir Terry Wogan will be there to mark this special night, along with a celebrity-packed audience to help celebrate MAMMA MIA!'s third London home.

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Helen Hobson will return to the role of Donna Sheridan in the global smash hit musical MAMMA MIA! from Monday 24 September, less than three weeks after the musical, now in its 14th year in London, has transferred from the Prince of Wales Theatre to its new home, the Novello Theatre.

According to the Daily Mail, Hannah John-Kamen has officially been cast as the title role of Viva in the upcoming Spice Girls-inspired musical Viva Forever! alongside Sally Ann Triplett as her mother. Both actors participated in developmental workshops prior to being cast.

CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, the 'most fantasmagorical stage musical in the history of everything,' flies into Her Majesty's Theatre Melbourne from 30 January 2013.

On Thursday, three-time Tony Award-winning Broadway composer Richard Adler passed away at the ripe old age of 90. Responsible for two of the biggest Broadway smash hits of the 1950s, THE PAJAMA GAME and GAMN YANKEES, Adler never quite managed to equal his career-high double-hitter of that era, yet his earlier work with Tony Bennett ('Rags To Riches'), Doris Day ('Everybody Loves A Lover') and Marilyn Monroe (the iconic 'Happy Birthday, Mr. President') surely shall solidify his place in the firmament of entertainment history along with his two classic musicals from the Golden Age. Winning both Best Score and Best Musical for both THE PAJAMA GAME and DAMN YANKEES, Adler's partnership with lyricist Jerry Ross - which began on Broadway in 1953 with JOHN MURRAY ANDERSON'S ALMANAC - was tragically cut short just months after the DAMN YANKEES premiere when Ross was diagnosed with lung disease and passed away soon thereafter. Yet, thanks to the beloved film versions of THE PAJAMA GAME and DAMN YANKEES and continued interest in the entities as expressed in the revivals and reappraisals of both onstage from Broadway to Biloxi to Bombay year after year, the snappy, snazzy tunes of Adler and Ross live on eight times a week all around the world - even now, more than fifty years after they premiered. Unfortunately, Adler's subsequent shows with other collaborators post-1955 failed to capture the early magic of his previous projects with Ross and his earlier musical and theatrical endeavors in the pop arena, with the racially charged KWAMINA flopping on Broadway in 1961 (though he took home a Best Composer Tony Award for his efforts anyway) and the awkwardly titled MUSIC IS failing to recreate the magic of its source material, Shakespeare's TWELFTH NIGHT, in 1976. A MOTER'S KISSES, starring Bea Arthur and a young Bernadette Peters, died on the road, as well. In the intervening years, Adler attempted musical adaptations taken from a number of intriguing sources - OF HUMAN BONDAGE and others among them - though only his ballet scores seemed to reach an audience; particularly his last, commissioned for a new production of Lorca's THE HOUSE OF BERNARDA ALBA in 1998. Of course, THE PAJAMA GAME has had two Broadway revivals - most recently the rapturously received Kathleen Marshall-directed production starring Harry Connick, Jr. and Kelli O'Hara; and DAMN YANKEES famously returned to the Great White Way with much ado in 1994 starring Victor Garber. Now seems particularly ripe for remounting YANKEES, as we approach twenty years in its absence - especially given the musical's seriously smashing showing at Encores! in 2007. Who knows, perhaps some risky producer will even take a chance on a new production of KWAMINA, MUSIC IS, A MOTHER'S KISSES or one of the bottom drawer shows someday soon to see if they possess any of the limitless potential shown by Adler's earlier work. Or maybe a stage treatment of his TV musical GIFT OF THE MAGI (originally composed for then-wife Sally Ann Howes)? Or, better yet, how about a revue? What a stupendous songstack Adler created over the course of his career - 'Whatever Lola Wants' to 'Hey There' to 'Hernando's Hideaway' to 'You Gotta Have Heart' to 'Steam Heat' to the aforementioned Bennett, Day and Monroe standards and so many more chestnuts.

The Concrete Jungle, an original work from American composer Bobby Cronin opened at the Studio Theatre of London's Arts Educational School on 8th June, 2012, and runs until the 16th June, 2012. The show follows the lives and loves of a group of young singletons who have just moved to New York City as they share stories in their local bar, 'The Concrete Jungle'.

The West Village Musical Theatre Festival, which runs tonight, June 13 to June 17, features all-new one-act musicals by a selection of New York's top emerging professional talent. This year's Festival, held at the New York Live Arts Center, will feature over twenty new works from some of musical theatre's most exciting writers, composers, and lyricists.

Gary Milner will be joining real-life wife Sally Ann Triplett in the smash hit musical MAMMA MIA! at the Prince of Wales Theatre from tonight, 11 June 2012. Milner, who will play Sam Carmichael opposite Sally's Donna Sheridan, most recently appeared on stage playing the title role in Pericles at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.

The West Village Musical Theatre Festival, which runs June 13 to June 17, features all-new one-act musicals by a selection of New York's top emerging professional talent. This year's Festival, held at the New York Live Arts Center, will feature over twenty new works from some of musical theatre's most exciting writers, composers, and lyricists.

CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG, adapted for the stage from the MGM Motion Picture by Jeremy Sams and Ray Broderick with music and lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman will open at Sydney's Capitol Theatre from the 16th of November. The show will be directed in Australia by Roger Hodgman and features sets and costumes by renowned English designer Anthony Ward.

On 19 February at the Prince of Wales Theatre, West End and Broadway star Kerry Ellis (Wicked, We Will Rock You, Oliver!) was voted Winner of the Jo Hutchinson International Best Solo Performance at the WhatsonStage Awards (2012). Kerry Ellis will next be appearing at the Royal Albert Hall, in another production produced and directed by Hugh Wooldridge, for the benefit of Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research, The Night of 1000 Voices, on Bank Holiday Sunday, tonight, May 6.

Gary Milner will be joining real-life wife Sally Ann Triplett in the smash hit musical MAMMA MIA! at the Prince of Wales Theatre from 11 June 2012. Milner, who will play Sam Carmichael opposite Sally's Donna Sheridan, most recently appeared on stage playing the title role in Pericles at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.

Gingold Theatrical Group's GOLDEN SHAMROCK GALA was held last night at The Players Club (16 Gramercy Park South), honoring the talents of playwright, Terrence McNally, actor, Brian Murray and, of course, George Bernard Shaw. BWW was there to cover this event. Check out the photos below!

The life and career of playwright, composer, director and actor Noel Coward is being celebrated by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences in a new touring exhibition, 'Star Quality: The World of Noel Coward' which is currently open at the Lincoln Center until August 12. These photographs from the New York launch party yesterday, March 11, feature Jim Dale, Dana Ivey and more.

Two-time Tony Award nominated costume designer Carrie Robbins, and scenic, lighting, costume designer and educator Lloyd Burlingame are among the 2012 TDF/Irene Sharaff Awards recipients. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, May 4, at 6:30pm, at the Hudson Theatre (145 West 44th Street). Ms. Robbins was selected to receive the 2012 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design, and Mr. Burlingame will receive the Robert L.B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design.