UK Roundup - Guys, Dolls, Sweeney and Chitty

By: Jun. 20, 2004
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Sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down, sit down, they're rocking the… theatre? Well, it certainly seems that way after the news came this week that Michael Grandage of the Donmar Warehouse is to collaborate his 250-seater theatre with the Ambassador's Theatre Group. The production? Guys and Dolls, the first in London since the National's successful 1982 production, which was restaged fourteen years later and won Clive Rowe an Olivier. Grandage will direct, and though no further creative have been announced, it is expected to be staged early 2005.

The Trafalgar Studios were created to transfer small house work to the West End, much like the Cameron Mackintosh funded Sondheim Theatre, currently under construction. This week they announced the transfer of the Watermill's production of Sweeney Todd, meaning Sondheim will have a good London presence this summer with the National's high profile production of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum as well. The last time Sweeney was in London was at the Royal Opera House at the beginning of the year.  Another production, with Opera North, played in the capital in 2002 with a company of over fifty performers. The Watermill Theatre's will have.. nine.

Speaking of Opera North, this week they bring their 8 Little Greats season to London for one week only. I caught two performances of the eight short operas earlier this week and can greatly recommend to any opera fan in the capital, especially as it's a massively reduced saving on the hundreds of pounds at the Royal Opera House. It plays at Sadler's Wells and tickets can be snapped up for as little as £2.50.

Message boards and gossipmongers were revelling in big news this week after the Mail on Sunday printed a rumour that Charlotte Church, of child-star opera fame, is lining herself up for a role on Broadway - in the English transfer of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. It looks fairly certain that the production in London will close and the settings be shipped to New York, as the centrepiece itself costs £?m. Rumoured to replace is Lloyd Webber-produced The Sound of Music, postponed from production last year at the Victoria Palace, or even possibly Wicked.

Also rumoured, after a small mention in The Sun newspaper, is that Jennifer Ellison has auditioned for Chicago in London. The Liverpudlian star made her name in soap Brookside and is soon to be seen in the film Phantom of the Opera playing Meg. Whether she can sing or dance on stage eight nights a week is, as yet, unclear, but after recently winning celebrity reality TV show Hell's Kitchen, she's in for a good chance of getting bums on seats.

And to round things off - Marti Pellow has extended his run in Chicago by a week, Martin Crewes, Angela Christian, Oliver Darley and Edward Petherbridge are among the cast joining Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Woman In White (not to be confused with The Woman in Black) and drag act Lily Savage is to appear in panto at the Victoria Palace after the closure of Tonight's the Night on October 30th.



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