Editorial Staff

Willemijn Verkaik Returns To Wicked in January 2017

News, West End, Wicked the musical
Willemijn Verkaik returns to Wicked London

Producers have today announced that Willemijn Verkaik will return to the role of Elphaba in Wicked on January 30, 2017. Sue Kelvin will return as Madame Morrible and Sarah McNicholas will join the cast as Nessarose on the same date. Willemijn Verkaik has previously played Elphaba on Broadway, Germany (Stuttgart and Oberhausen), in Holland and in the West End. Willemijn is is the only actor in the show’s history to perform the show in more than one language. She returns to the London production as part of the shows 10th Birthday celebrations. Sue Kelvin returns to the show having starred in her own one-woman show Bette Middler…and Me, whilst Sarah McNicholas comes to the show having recently played the Mistress in Evita at the Dominion Theatre. From Monday 30 January 2017, Wicked will star Willemijn Verkaik, (Elphaba), Suzie Mathers (Glinda), Oliver Savile (Fiyero), Sue Kelvin (Madame Morrible), Mark Curry (The … Read more

It Is Easy To Be Dead Comes To Trafalgar 2

News, West End
It Is Easy To Be Dead At Trafalgar Studios 2

Following an acclaimed sell-out run earlier this year at the Finborough Theatre, producers have announced that It Is Easy To Be Dead will transfer to Trafalgar Studios 2 for a limited season from 9 November to 3 December 2016. When twenty-year-old Charles Sorley is killed in action during the First World War, his devastated parents are left with only his letters and poems to remember him by. Using his extraordinary writings, together with music and songs of the period, It Is Easy To Be Dead is a tender portrait of a brief life filled with promise, cut short by the futility of war. Charles Sorley was a witty, intelligent and spirited young man from Aberdeen, with a talent for poetry and dreams of escaping his privileged background. Studying in Germany in 1914 – where he was briefly imprisoned as an enemy alien – his life, like those of millions of … Read more

Full Casting Announced For Side Show at Southwark Playhouse

News, Off West End
Side Show the musical at Southwark Playhouse

Full casting has been announced today for the UK premiere of the Broadway musical Side Show at Southwark Playhouse this October. Joining the previously announced Louise Dearman and Laura Pitt-Pulford as conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, are Haydn Oakley as Terry Connor, Jay Marsh as Jake, Dominic Hodson as Buddy Foster, Christopher Howell as The Boss/Sir, Lala Barlow as Bearded Lady, Oliver Marshall as Dog, David Muscat as Human Pin Cushion, Nuwan Hugh Perera as Sheik Fakir, Agnes Pure as Snake Lady, Nuno Queimado as Reptile Man, Kirstie Skivington as Half Man Half Woman and Genevieve Taylor as Dolly Dimples. Inspired by the true story of conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton, Side Show is a remarkable musical about love, acceptance and embracing the unique. Side Show’s first Broadway run was in 1997, where it was nominated for four Tony Awards including Best Musical. It was the only time … Read more

Top 100 Greatest Musicals Results: 100 – 91

Features, News
Top 100 Musicals of All Time Poll Results

Over the past few months, we’ve invited you to take part in our first poll to choose the Top 100 Greatest Musicals. Tens of thousands of votes were made and the competition was fierce. Votes came in from musical lovers around the globe, some of you were extremely specific even going down to the productions you liked. In many cases,  just a single vote separated each show. Did your favourites make the Top 100? Don’t forget to let us know your thoughts in the Comments section below. 100. Fun Home Fun Home is a relatively new show on the musical theatre scene. Adapted by Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron from Alison Bechdel’s graphic novel of the same name, Fun Home was nominated for twelve 2015 Tony Awards, winning five including Best Musical. 99. Elisabeth https://youtu.be/MOS1VwEWhog Elisabeth is one of the most successful German-language musicals of all time. The musical is … Read more

Last Tango In London For Strictly Duo

News, West End
Vincent and Flavia in The Last Tango

Following a hit UK and Irish tour, Strictly favourites, Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace, have announced their final foray onto the West End stage with The Last Tango. Billed as the dancers’ ‘farewell to London’, the show follows George (Simone) as he reminisces poignant moments throughout his life and climaxes with the pair’s award-winning Argentine Tango routine.  A full, live band performs orchestrations by Chris Egan and Matt Smith (currently the musical director for Beautiful – The Carole King Musical at The Aldwych Theatre), providing a fiery and explosive aural accompaniment the remaining dance numbers that feature audience favourites including the Rumba, Jive, Flamenco and Salsa. Painstakingly brought to life under the watchful eye of Olivier Award winning choreographer and director Karen Bruce (whose choreographic and directorial credits include Dance ‘Til Dawn, Midnight Tango, Strictly Come Dancing – The Professionals, Starlight Express as well as countless others around the world), The … Read more

Through The Mills Transfers to Southwark Playhouse

News, Off West End
Through The Mill at Southwark Playhouse looks at the life of Judy Garland

Following its acclaimed premiere at London Theatre Workshop in 2015, Through The Mill transfers to the Southwark Playhouse this July. Set primarily during the filming of ‘The Judy Garland Show’ in 1963, Through the Mill chronicles the production difficulties behind the scenes, intercut with the young Judy Garland’s rise to fame through MGM in the 1930s, and her triumphant sell-out concert engagement at the Palace Theatre in the early 1950s. Illustrating why Judy Garland was, and continues to be, one of the great legends of show business history, Through the Mill goes beyond the rainbow, and explores the life of a woman destined for greatness; as loved today as she was when she first made her way along the yellow brick road. For both audiences new to Garland’s extensive back catalogue in the world of film and music, as well as the true Judy aficionado, here is an honest, entertaining … Read more

BIG INTERVIEW: Willy Russell and Bill Kenwright on Blood Brothers

Features, Interviews, Touring
Blood Brothers on Tour

Willy Russell and Bill Kenwright speak to Elaine Peake about Blood Brothers EP: How did you come up with the idea of writing a full-scale musical? WR: The kind of theatre I was involved in right from the word go didn’t make a distinction between musical and non-musical. When I started work at the Everyman Theatre in Liverpool, it was commonplace to have music as part of your show. Blood Brothers was written very much in the Everyman ‘house style’ of the day, and that was the period when the resident company included people like Bernard Hill, Jonathan Pryce, Alison Steadman, Julie Walters, Pete Postlethwaite, Bill Nighy, Matthew Kelly, Antony Sher – you were working with that kind of actor. All of them could sing (some better than others!), and some of them played a musical instrument, so it was the way we did it. We’d all been influenced by … Read more

Confessions Of A (Struggling) Actress Part 1

Exclusive, Features, News, West End
Confessions Of A Struggling Actress Part 1

Curtain Up / Who Am I? I see it coming a mile away… ‘What do you do?’ ‘I’m… an actress.’ I don’t know why, but I’ve always loathed admitting to strangers that I’m an actress. Probably because, most of the time, I’m not actually acting. I suppose that to admit you’re an actress without that essential acting job, to people who don’t understand the highs and lows of the profession, causes moderate confusion on their part. Not to mention severe embarrassment on mine. Parents’ dinner parties, family weddings, in fact any social event away from the industry, all lend themselves to a wearisome array of questions to do with my seemingly alien profession. I find myself answering the same questions, feigning the same excitement about my chosen path and faking the same wonderment at the glory of acting. And yet, the questions I ask myself are very different from the … Read more