Paul Taylor-Mills

Dearman and Pitt-Pulford Join Together for Side Show The Musical

News, Off West End
Side Show at Southwark Playhouse

Producers have announced that Louise Dearman and Laura Pitt-Pulford will play conjoined twins Daisy and Violet Hilton in the much anticipated UK premiere of the Broadway musical Side Show at Southwark Playhouse. 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. Louise Dearman (Daisy) is best known for being the first actress to star as both Glinda and Elphaba in the hit musical Wicked, playing both roles to great acclaim in the West End. Her many other theatre credits include Miss Adelaide in Guys and Dolls (UK Tour), Bianca in Kiss Me Kate (Royal Albert Hall), Mrs D in The Water Babies (Leicester Curve), Eva Peron in Evita (UK Tour) and Jan in Grease (West End). Laura Pitt-Pulford (Violet) received a 2016 Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Musical for her performance … Read more

End Of The Rainbow UK Tour

News, Touring
Lisa Maxwell as Judy Garland in End Of The Rainbow UK Tour 2016

Following sell-out seasons in the West End and on Broadway, Peter Quilter’s play End Of The Rainbow will tour the UK in a brand new production opening at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester in February 2016. It’s 1968 and Judy Garland, a once-glittering star, is in London to make her explosive comeback. But off stage, holed up in her hotel room, Judy is battling with her young new fiancé, her devoted accompanist, and her destructive addictions. Will she be able to conquer her demons and reclaim her crown as one of history’s great musical icons? Featuring Garland’s most memorable songs The Man That Got Away, Come Rain Or Come Shine, The Trolley Song and of course Somewhere Over The Rainbow, End of the Rainbow is a fiercely funny and emotionally charged musical play filled with Garland’s legendary tenacity, razor-sharp wit and once-in-a-generation voice. Lisa Maxwell (The Bill, Loose Women) will play … Read more

Casting Announced for Closer To Heaven Return Season

News, Off West End
Closer To Heaven by Jonathan Harvey and The Pet Shop Boys at the Union Theatre, London

Casting has been announced today for Closer To Heaven, a musical by the Pet Shop Boys and Jonathan Harvey which is returning to the Union Theatre from October 21 to Saturday 28 November 2015 following a sell-out run earlier this year. (Read our review) Set against the backdrop of Soho’s pulsing clubland, Closer to Heaven tells the story of Dave, just off the boat from Ireland and determined to make something of himself. He is offered a bar job at a glitzy London nightclub, where he quickly becomes part of an unconventional family including Billie Trix, a fading rock star of the sixties and mother figure to the club’s habitués – Vic, the club’s owner and a middle-aged gay father and his daughter Shell, who Dave sparks an immediate connection with. But will Dave truly discover himself in London, or will he fall into a labyrinth of excess, false agendas … Read more

Closer To Heaven Returns To Union Theatre

News, Off West End
Closer To Heaven by Jonathan Harvey and The Pet Shop Boys at the Union Theatre, London

Following its sell-out run at the Union Theatre in April 2015, it has been announced that Closer To Heaven – The Pet Shop Boys musical will play a return season at the venue from 21 October to 28 November 2015. Set against the backdrop of Soho’s pulsing clubland, Closer to Heaven tells the story of Dave, just off the boat from Ireland and determined to make something of himself. He is offered a bar job at a glitzy London nightclub, where he quickly becomes part of an unconventional family including Billie Trix, a fading rock star of the sixties and mother figure to the club’s habitués – Vic, the club’s owner and a middle-aged gay father and his daughter Shell, who Dave sparks an immediate connection with. But will Dave truly discover himself in London, or will he fall into a labyrinth of excess, false agendas and the darker side … Read more

Casa Valentina Cast Announced

News, Off West End
The cast of Casa Valentina at the Southwark Playhouse.

Producer Paul Taylor-Mills and Director Luke Sheppard have announced their cast for the upcoming European premiere of Harvey Fierstein’s play Casa Valentina at Southwark Playhouse. The cast will include Tamsin Carroll (Rita), Ben Deery (Miranda), Charlie Hayes (Eleanor), Bruce Montague (Terry), Robert Morgan (Amy), Matt Rixon (Bessie), Ashley Robinson (Gloria), Gareth Snook (Charlotte) and Edward Wolstenholme (Valentina). Set in 1962, in the picturesque Catskills mountains of New York, a group of heterosexual men escape from the City to spend their weekend dressed as women. In this cross dressing colony they leave their families, friends and city jobs behind to safely inhabit their female alter egos and release their inner woman. However when given the choice to share their secret lives with the world, the group have to decide whether the freedom gained by the openness is worth the personal risk. Based on real–life events, this delightfully insightful and hilariously entertaining … Read more

Harvey Fierstein’s Casa Valentina Comes To Southwark Playhouse

News, Off West End
Casa Valentina to have its European Premiere at the Southwark Playhouse.

It has been announced today that Harvey Fierstein’s play Casa Valentina will have it’s European premiere at the Southwark Playhouse within a day of the London premiere of his musical Kinky Boots at the Adelphi Theatre. Set in 1962, in the picturesque Catskills mountains of New York, a group of heterosexual men escape from the City to spend their weekend dressed as women. In this cross dressing colony they leave their families, friends and city jobs behind to safely inhabit their female alter egos and release their inner woman. However when given the choice to share their secret lives with the world, the group have to decide whether the freedom gained by the openness is worth the personal risk. Based on real–life events, this delightfully insightful and hilariously entertaining piece gives us a glimpse in to the life of these “self-made women” as they search for acceptance and happiness in … Read more

Willemijn Verkaik in Concert

Broadway, Events, News, West End
Willemijn Verkaik in Concert

Dutch vocal powerhouse Willemijn Verkaik will play a one-off solo concert at the Ambassadors Theatre on Tuesday 25 August 2015. Accompanied by a live band and joined by some to-be-announced special guests, Willemijn will take a journey through some of the greatest classic and contemporary musicals of all time, as well as celebrating some of the iconic songs that have defined her career so far. Willemijn Verkaik is best known for playing the role of Elphaba in Wicked, having performed the role in the West End, on Broadway, in Germany and the Netherlands. Willemijn is also the only actress to have performed the role in multiple languages. Other stage credits include Women on the Verge of a Nervous Breakdown in the West End, and Mamma Mia!, Aida and We Will Rock You in Germany. Willemijn also voiced Elsa in the Dutch and German versions of Disney’s smash hit animated film … Read more

Carrie To Make London Debut – Finally!

News, Off West End
Carrie the musical will play at the Southwark Playhouse in May 2015

It was announced today that Carrie the musical is coming to London! Twenty seven years after first wreaking havoc, the world’s most talked about Broadway musical is coming to London. Academy Award winning Dean Pitchford and Michael Gore (Fame), and original screenplay writer Lawrence D. Cohen, have transformed Stephen King’s unlikely Cinderella story into an infectiously modern musical that has gripped audiences from Australia to America with its timeless story and thrilling score. Based on Stephen King’s bestselling novel, the musical of Carrie hasn’’t been seen since the legendary original production. Produced by the Royal Shakespeare Company, it first premiered in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1988 before transferring straight to Broadway, but never made it to London. In 2012, its score and book were revised by original composer Michael Gore, lyricist Dean Pitchford and librettist Lawrence D. Cohen and this newly reworked and fully re-imagined vision for Carrie will now be presented … Read more