Sweeney Todd - 1985 - London Fringe Articles Page 17

Previous Olivier Award-winners Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton are to host the 2011 Olivier Awards with MasterCard at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane on 13 March. The pair, who will preside over the most glamorous ceremony in years, are no strangers to the Olivier Awards. Ball won the coveted Best Actor in a Musical Award in 2009 while Staunton is a double winner, having picked up the famous bronze statuette in 1985 and 1991. Both hugely experienced stage performers, Staunton and Ball's presenting double-act comes ahead of their joint appearance on stage in Chichester Festival Theatre's revival of Sondheim's Sweeney Todd this September. Treasured as much for her screen work as her stage appearances, Staunton is a BAFTA-winning actress with a vast body of work behind her. Such is her versatility that musicals Into The Woods, Guys And Dolls and Mack And Mabel sit on her CV alongside plays Life X 3, There Came A Gypsy Riding, Uncle Vanya and, most recently, Entertaining Mr Sloane in the West End. On screen, Staunton has starred in numerous films including Shakespeare In Love, Much Ado About Nothing, Sense And Sensibility and Vera Drake - for which she won a BAFTA and received an Oscar nomination - as well as the hugely popular television serial Cranford. Before heading to Chichester, Staunton returns to the London stage in A Delicate Balance at the Almeida theatre this May. Ball will be adding Olivier Awards host to a resume that already includes actor, producer, radio and TV presenter and recording artist. Since making his West End debut in the original production of Les Miserables in 1985, Ball has appeared in a variety of high profile West End productions, including Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom Of The Opera, The Woman In White and Aspects Of Love, Stephen Sondheim's Passion and family musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. He made his opera debut at the London Coliseum in 2007 in Kismet and has appeared several times on Broadway. In 2008 he famously donned drag to play the loveable role of Edna Turnblad in Hairspray, a performance which earned him an Olivier Award. On top of that, Ball has released 12 solo albums, represented Great Britain in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1992, toured all over the world and, since 2008, presented Michael Ball's Sunday Brunch on BBC Radio 2. In 2010 he turned producer by co-producing the musical Love Story in the West End. Theatre fans who want to see Staunton and Ball in action can purchase tickets to the Olivier Awards, either by MasterCard through www.olivierawards.com or with cash, Theatre Tokens or MasterCard in person at the tkts booths in Leicester Square and Brent Cross.

This spring Arizona Theatre Company journeys to the New York boroughs and into Neil Simon's masterwork, LOST IN YONKERS, the fourth installment of ATC's AMERICA PLAYS! Celebrating Great American Stories series. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for Best Play, LOST IN YONKERS is as funny as it is poignant and is certain to leave you spellbound with laughter and tears. Featuring Tony Award-winner and Arizona favorite Judy Kaye, and directed by Samantha K. Wyer, LOST IN YONKERS plays in Tucson at the Temple of Music and Art from February 26 through March 19, 2011. It continues its run in Phoenix at the Herberger Theater Center from March 24 through April 10, 2011. LOST IN YONKERS is sponsored in part by JP Morgan Chase, Shirley Estes, and The Stonewall Foundation. AMERICA PLAYS! is sponsored by The Johnson Family Foundation, and Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Foundation. The Tucson media sponsors for the 2010-2011 season are KGUN9, MIX-FM and Tucson Lifestyle. Arizona Theatre Company's season sponsors are I. Michael and Beth Kasser.

Roundabout Theatre Company in association with Tracy Aron, announces the complete cast for the new Broadway musical THE PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE, starring two time Tony® Award-winner Donna Murphy, directed by Leonard Foglia. THE PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE features book & lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart and music by Mike Stoller and Artie Butler.

Multi-award winning Foothill Music Theatre presents the timely musical WORKING.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director), in association with Tracy Aron, announces additional casting for the new Broadway musical THE PEOPLE IN THE PICUTRE, starring two time Tony® Award-winner Donna Murphy, directed by Leonard Foglia. THE PEOPLE IN THE PICTURE features book & lyrics by Iris Rainer Dart and music by Mike Stoller and Artie Butler.

Reprise Theatre Company presents Barbara Cook in Concert. It will have one performance only on Monday, May 16 at 8:00 pm, at UCLA's Freud Playhouse. Barbara Cook in Concert is the latest in Reprise Theatre Company's tradition of presenting Broadway stars and legendary entertainers in concert, which have included Patti LuPone, Carol Burnett, Sutton Foster, Ben Vereen, Kristin Chenoweth, and Brian Stokes Mitchell.

This spring Arizona Theatre Company journeys to the New York boroughs and into Neil Simon's masterwork, LOST IN YONKERS, the fourth installment of ATC's AMERICA PLAYS! Celebrating Great American Stories series. Winner of the Pulitzer Prize and the Tony Award for Best Play, LOST IN YONKERS is as funny as it is poignant and is certain to leave you spellbound with laughter and tears. Featuring Tony Award-winner and Arizona favorite Judy Kaye, and directed by Samantha K. Wyer, LOST IN YONKERS plays in Tucson at the Temple of Music and Art from February 26 through March 19, 2011. It continues its run in Phoenix at the Herberger Theater Center from March 24 through April 10, 2011. LOST IN YONKERS is sponsored in part by JP Morgan Chase, Shirley Estes, and The Stonewall Foundation. AMERICA PLAYS! is sponsored by The Johnson Family Foundation, and Freeport McMoran Copper & Gold Foundation. The Tucson media sponsors for the 2010-2011 season are KGUN9, MIX-FM and Tucson Lifestyle. Arizona Theatre Company's season sponsors are I. Michael and Beth Kasser.

Multi-award winning Foothill Music Theatre presents the timely musical WORKING.

The New York Philharmonic will present Stephen Sondheim's groundbreaking Company, with an all-star cast led by Neil Patrick Harris, star of the hit television series, How I Met Your Mother, on April 7-9, 2011. The award-winning musical will be produced and directed by Lonny Price, who directed and co-produced last season's SONDHEIM: The Birthday Concert!, and will be conducted by Sondheim specialist Paul Gemignani, with the original orchestrations for a 35-piece orchestra by Jonathan Tunick. More details will be announced at a later date.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) is pleased to announce the full company of the new Broadway production of Anything Goes, starring Tony Award winner Sutton Foster as 'Reno Sweeney' and Tony and Academy Award winner Joel Grey as 'Moonface Martin.'

As BroadwayWorld has reported, The New York Philharmonic's SONDHEIM: The Birthday Concert, which took place on March 15-16, 2010 at Avery Fisher Hall, will be broadcast on THIRTEEN'S Great Performances on PBS on Wednesday, November 24 (check local listings). WNET, Channel 13 in New York City, will air the concert at 9:30 p.m. that evening. Today, it has been revealed that the Image Entertainment will release the program DVD and Blu-Ray on November 16, 2010. The concert includes songs and orchestral pieces from Sondheim musical theater favorites such as Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, and Sunday in the Park with George. Today, it has been announced that in addition to the PBS telecast, the concert will be released on DVD in November by Image Entertainment.

Film and television icon Pee-wee Herman (Paul Reubens) will bring his signature brand of hilarious mayhem to Broadway for a special six-week limited engagement of the acclaimed stage play, The Pee-wee Herman Show. The production will begin previews October 26 at the Sondheim Theatre.

Mac & Mack Productions presents SONDHEIM IN REVERSE Freedom Bar - Soho Sunday 24th October at 4pm A Unique Twist On Some Of Musical Theatre's Greatest Works with Lucy May Barker, Helena Blackman, Joseph Connor, Sam Harrison, Jeremy Legat, Anton Stephans and Charlotte Wakefield And Special Guest Joanna Riding

Mac & Mack Productions presents SONDHEIM IN REVERSE Freedom Bar - Soho Sunday 24th October at 4pm A Unique Twist On Some Of Musical Theatre's Greatest Works with Lucy May Barker, Helena Blackman, Joseph Connor, Sam Harrison, Jeremy Legat, Anton Stephans and Charlotte Wakefield And Special Guest Joanna Riding

Mack and Mac Productions presents a brand new and unique showcase of one of the world's greatest Musical Theatre composer/lyricist's works in a brand new light, starring some of the West End's hottest talent.

Stephanie J. Block, Broadway star of '9 to 5: The Musical,' 'Wicked,' 'The Pirate Queen,' and 'The Boy From Oz,' will star opposite Jason Alexander, Artistic Director of Reprise Theatre Company, in 'They're Playing Our Song,' the opening production of the company's 2010-2011 season, playing September 28 to October 10 (press opening September 29) at UCLA's Freud Playhouse.

Everyone's favorite 'Adelaide,' Faith Prince, will be reprising the role she made famous on Broadway in two concerts with the Orlando Philharmonic this October. Prince will star alongside Davis Gaines as Sky Masterson in a concert version of Guys and Dolls that will run at the Bob Carr Performing Arts Center on October 9, 2010 and 2:00pm and 8:00pm. Christopher Wilkins conducts the concert, and Mad Cow Theatre's Alan Bruun will direct.

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) announces Tony and Academy Award winner Joel Grey will return to Broadway to join the cast of the new Broadway production of Anything Goes, starring Tony Award winner Sutton Foster as 'Reno Sweeney.'

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) announces Tony and Academy Award winner Joel Grey will return to Broadway to join the cast of the new Broadway production of Anything Goes, starring Tony Award winner Sutton Foster as 'Reno Sweeney.'

Roundabout Theatre Company (Todd Haimes, Artistic Director) announces Tony and Academy Award winner Joel Grey will return to Broadway to join the cast of the new Broadway production of Anything Goes, starring Tony Award winner Sutton Foster as 'Reno Sweeney.' Anything Goes will mark Mr. Grey's seventh Broadway production.

This fall, The Public Theater (Oskar Eustis, Artistic Director; Andrew D. Hamingson, Executive Director) will launch The Public Forum, an exciting new series of lectures, debates and conversations that showcase leading voices in the arts, politics and the media. Curated by Jeremy McCarter, a senior writer at Newsweek, Public Forum events are open to the general public. Tickets for the inaugural event can be purchased for $25 beginning Tuesday, October 5. Member tickets are on sale Tuesday, September 28.

Carmen Pavlovic, C.E.O. of Global Creatures, the company behind the phenomenal world-wide success, Walking with Dinosaurs - the Arena Spectacular, has announced that a creative team has been assembled and work has begun on KING KONG - Live on Stage, an entirely new production conceived for the Broadway stage. KING KONG - Live on Stage is authorized by the estate of Merian C. Cooper (Creator of KING KONG and director of the 1933 film).

Last week I conducted an illuminating InDepth InterView with legendary producer and director Harold Prince in which we discussed his singular career, having won more Tony Awards than any other person on the planet for his near one-hundred productions since his start as George Abbott's assistant producer over fifty years ago. He produced such landmark musicals as DAMN YANKEES, THE PAJAMA GAME and WEST SIDE STORY in the 1950s and then went on to become a director in his own right with Kander & Ebb's FLORA, THE RED MENANCE (Liza Minnelli's Broadway debut), CABARET into the Sondheim series of masterpieces in the 1970s - COMPANY, FOLLIES, A LITTLE NIGHT MUSIC, PACIFIC OVERTURES, SWEENEY TODD - bridging into his two biggest commercial successes, the Andrew Lloyd Webber musicals EVITA and THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA. Celebrating its 23rd year on Broadway in January, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA is the most successful entertainment of all time, more than any other musical, television show or even feature film in history. It's a juggernaut like no other and the mystery, magic and majesty that had made the show such a rousing success is thanks to the masterful eye-of-all-eyes, the true master director of the American Theatre, Harold Prince. But, will he be doing the sequel?

Paul Garman, Executive Director/Producer and Steven Glaudini, Artistic Director/Producer of Musical Theatre West are proud to announce that single tickets for the upcoming 2010-2011 Season at the beautiful Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach go on sale September 15, 2010.

As BroadwayWorld has reported, The New York Philharmonic's SONDHEIM: The Birthday Concert, which took place on March 15-16, 2010 at Avery Fisher Hall, will be broadcast on THIRTEEN'S Great Performances on PBS on Wednesday, November 24 (check local listings). WNET, Channel 13 in New York City, will air the concert at 9:30 p.m. that evening. Today, it has been revealed that the Image Entertainment will release the program DVD and Blu-Ray on November 16, 2010. The concert includes songs and orchestral pieces from Sondheim musical theater favorites such as Company, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, and Sunday in the Park with George. Today, it has been announced that in addition to the PBS telecast, the concert will be released on DVD in November by Image Entertainment.