Features

BritishTheatre.com Playlist – January 2017

Features, News, Touring, West End
BritishTheatre.com Playlist

We’re often asked what we listen to here at BritishTheatre.com HQ and it just takes too long to make a list so we decided to put together monthly playlist to highlight shows that are currently playing and material from new musicals that excite us. So, will the help of Apple iMusic the January 2017 Playlist is now available and it’s as diverse as you could possible hope for. This month there are tracks from Dear Evan Hansen and Falsettos from Broadway, Alfie Boe and Michael Ball’s Les Miserables Suite, Jennifer Hudson’s outstanding I Know Where I’ve Been from Hairspray Live, and Shimmy Like They Do In Paree from Death Takes A Holiday. We’ve also included a track from the Sydney Dance Company production of The Berlin Tapes of Heroes to remind us of the brilliance of David Bowie sung by Iva Davies. If you have a suggestion for inclusion please … Read more

FIRST LOOK: La Cage Aux Folles UK Tour Photographs

Features, Gallery
Book tickets for La Cage Aux Folles Uk Tour starring John Partridge, Marti Webb and Adrian Zmed

It looks like Producer Bill Kenwright has certainly pulled out all the stops in the lavish new production of the musical La Cage Aux Folles which began its UK tour last week in Oxford. With 800,000 sequins, 52 pairs of heels, 50,000 feathers, 82 wigs and 57 quick changes, it’s sure to delight! La Cage Aux Folles will star John Partridge (EastEnders, Cats, Chicago, A Chorus Line) as Albin, Adrian Zmed (TV’s T J Hooker, Grease 2, Bachelor Party) as Georges and Marti Webb (Blood Brothers, Evita, Tell Me On A Sunday, Half A Sixpence) as Jacqueline. Dougie Carter will appear alongside them as ‘Jean-Michele’, Samson Ajewole as ‘Jacob’, Su Douglas as ‘Marie/Madame Renaud’, Alexandra Robinson as ‘Anne’, Paul F Monaghan as ‘Dindon / Renaud’, and Jon De Ville as ‘Francis’. Joining them on stage as Les Cagelles will be Jordan Livesey, Matthew Ives, Louie-George Daniels, Liam Paul Jennings, Micah … Read more

SNEAK PEEK: Death Takes A Holiday Rehearsals

Features, Video, West End
Book tickets for Death Takes a Holiday at Charing Cross Theatre

We are pleased to bring you this sneak peek into the rehearsal room for Maury Yeston’s new musical Death Takes A Holiday which opens this month at the Charing Cross Theatre. Starring Maxwell Caulfield, Zoe Doano and Chris Peluso, Death Takes A Holiday is a soaring story of the preciousness of life and the overwhelming power of love. With a score by multi-Tony-Award-winning composer Maury Yeston and book by award-winning writers Thomas Meehan and peter Stone, Death Takes A Holiday is based on the 1928 Italian play of the same name which also inspired the movie Meet Joe Black with Brad Pitt. BOOK TICKETS FOR DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY

Shows We’re Looking Forward To in 2017

Features, News, West End
Book tickets for 42nd Street at Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Looking forward, 2017 will offer West End Theatre-goers some exciting new shows with great revivals, star-led shows and big Broadway hits. These are some of the productions that are heading this way in 2017. AN AMERICAN IN PARIS – DOMINION THEATRE This award-winning Broadway musical featuring the music of George and Ira Gershwin and based on the classic MGM musical. 42ND STREET – THEATRE ROYAL DRURY LANE The ultimate Broadway musical that’s all about Broadway. Based on the iconic film, this is a lavish, revival of the international award-winning musical starring Sheena Easton. Book Tickets STEPPING OUT – VAUDEVILLE THEATRE A revival of the award-winning play about a group of women who get together to learn how to tap dance. With a cast including Tamsin Outhwaite, Angela Griffith, Tracy-Ann Oberman and Nicola Stephenson. THE WIND IN THE WILLOWS – LONDON PALLADIUM A major new musical version based on Kenneth Grahame’s … Read more

FIRST LOOK: Death Takes A Holiday Rehearsals

Features, Gallery, West End
Book tickets for Death Takes a Holiday at Charing Cross Theatre

We are pleased to bring you these first look rehearsal photographs by Scott Rylander from Maury Yeston’s new musical Death Takes A Holiday which opens at Charing Cross Theatre on 18 January 2017. Directed by Thom Southerland, the cast of Death Takes A Holiday is led by Maxwell Caulfield, Zoë Doano and Chris Peluso. BOOK TICKETS FOR DEATH TAKES A HOLIDAY

Longest Running Shows In The West End – December 2016

Features, News, West End
Les Miserables. One Day More at London's Queens Theatre

Have you ever wondered what the longest running shows were in London’s West End? The attached list is the current state of play and whilst the obvious candidates Les Miserables, Blood Brothers and The Phantom Of the Opera remain unassailable, this year should see some shake-ups as both Thriller Live and Wicked move ever closer to the Top 10. There aren’t many new candidates looking set to move into the Top 20 as the days of the mega-musical seem to be over, this does lead to a dynamic West End though as more and more great shows are seen and have respectable runs before touring. What were your favourites on this list? The West End’s Longest Running Shows (as at Sunday 18 December, 2016) 1. Les Misérables, 1985 still running, over 12,884 performances Book Now for Les Miserables 2. The Phantom Of The Opera, 1986 still running, over 12,552 performances … Read more

CRITIC’S CHOICE 2016 : Mark Ludmon

Critic Round Ups, Features, Off West End, Reviews, West End
Billie Piper in Yerma

We asked our reviewers to take a look at 2016 and to nominate some stand out productions for 2016. Mark Ludmon replied with the following:- In another wonderful year for British theatre, one of my highlights was Annie Baker’s The Flick at the Dorfman at the National Theatre, unfolding the quiet desperations and joys of young people working at a small independent cinema in Massachusetts. Despite its running time of three-and-a-quarter hours and long silences, it was an absorbing, beautiful play with perfectly pitched performances. A powerful performance by Billie Piper made Yerma at the Young Vic stand out for me. Simon Stone’s modern adaptation played pretty freely with Lorca’s original, creating a stunning, heart-breaking drama about the despair of childlessness, played out within a glass box to add to a feeling we were glimpsing private horrors. My favourite show of the year has come at the end: Schiller’s Mary … Read more

CRITIC’S CHOICE 2016: Paul T Davies

Critic Round Ups, Features, Off West End, Reviews, West End
Kenny Morgan returns to the Arcola Theatre

We asked our reviewers to take a look at 2016 and to nominate some stand out productions for 2016. Paul T Davies replied with the following:- 1. Kenny Morgan A well structured, naturalistic and beautifully performed play takes my choice as the best new play of 2016. Kenny Morgan was the real life lover of playwright Terence Rattigan, who, after his life spiralled into despair after leaving Rattigan, took his life by gassing himself in front of a gas fire. As a result, Rattigan wrote The Deep Blue Sea, which opens with his heroine, Hester Collier attempting to gas herself. Mike Poulton’s play, in many ways, is the play Rattigan couldn’t have written. Central to the production was Paul Keating’s powerful and moving performance as Kenny Morgan, for me, the male actor of the year. Yet the whole ensemble were terrific, the set perfect and the script shimmered with restrained, … Read more