Don't bother, they're here
Paul Taylor-Mills has confirmed the line-up of award-winning and international performers and creatives assembled for next month’s MTFestUK 2021.
Due to open at the Turbine Theatre in London from 17-29 May 2021 before embarking on a digital tour from 31 May until 4 July, the third edition of the annual celebration of new musical theatre will showcase eight new musicals. Continue reading “Cast and creatives announced for MTFestUK 2021”
Supporting the COVID-19 Emergency Relief Fund Featuring over 150 performers and musicians, reunited from across the world to present a truly unique, memorable and breath-taking performance of ‘All That Jazz’ from the legendary Kander and Ebb musical Chicago. Bringing together former Broadway, West End and International Tour company members, ‘All That Jazz’ provides plenty of razzle dazzle, featuring award winning stars that played the roles of Velma Kelly, Roxie Hard and Billy Flynn including Ute Lemper, Sally Ann Triplett, Debbie Kurup, Bonnie Langford, Sue Kelvin, Ian Kelsey, Michael Greco, David Hasselhoff, Annette McLaughlin, Gaby Roslin, and many more.
| Winner | Runner-up | Other nominees | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Best Actress in a Play | Sarah Niles/Natalie Simpson/Racheal Ofori, Three Sisters | Marieke Heebink, Medea | Adjoa Andoh, Richard II Sharon D Clarke, Death of a Salesman Claire Foy, Lungs Leah Harvey, Small Island Chris Nietvelt, De Kersentuin |
| Best Actor in a Play | Lucian Msamati, ‘Master Harold’…and the boys | Cary Crankson, Country Music | Tobias Menzies, The Hunt Daniel Monks, Teenage Dick Wendell Pierce, Death of a Salesman Matt Smith, Lungs Zubin Varla, Equus |
| Best Supporting Actress in a Play | Monica Dolan, All About Eve | Jackie Pulford, Karaoke Play | Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo, Three Sisters Janni Goslinga, De Kersentuin Pippa Nixon, The Ocean at the End of the Lane Cecilia Noble, Faith Hope and Charity Gemma Whelan, Pinter Seven |
| Best Supporting Actor in a Play | Nick Holder, Faith Hope and Charity | Hugo Koolschijn, De Kersentuin | Rupert Graves, Pinter Five John Heffernan, Pinter Seven Martins Imhangbe/Natey Jones, Death of a Salesman Arinzé Kene/Sope Dirisu, Death of a Salesman Ken Nwosu, Three Sisters |
| Best Actress in a Musical | Audrey Brisson, Amélie the Musical | Kirsty Findlay/Bethany Tennick, Islander | Lucie Jones/Katherine McPhee, Waitress Miriam-Teak Lee, & Juliet Samantha Pauly, Evita Joanna Riding, Follies Zizi Strallen, Mary Poppins |
| Best Actor in a Musical | Jamie Muscato, West Side Story (Curve Leicester) | Keith Ramsay, Preludes | Andy Coxon, West Side Story (Royal Exchange) Jordan Fox/Michael Vinsen, [title of show] David Hunter, Waitress, Charlie Stemp, Mary Poppins Oliver Tompsett, & Juliet, |
| Best Supporting Actress in a Musical | Cassidy Janson/Melanie La Barrie, & Juliet | Jocasta Almgill/Emily Langham, West Side Story (Royal Exchange) | Laura Baldwin/Marisha Wallace, Waitress Tiffany Graves/Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson, The Boy Friend Claire Machin/Claire Moore, Mary Poppins Rebecca McKinnis/Lauren Ward, Dear Evan Hansen Carly Mercedes Dyer/Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, The View UpStairs, |
| Best Supporting Actor in a Musical | David Bedella, & Juliet | Jack Butterworth, The Boy Friend | Ricardo Afonso, Jesus Christ Superstar Rob Houchen, The Light in the Piazza Samuel Holmes, Curtains Cedric Neal, The View UpStairs Jez Unwin, Amélie the Musical |
Best Supporting Actress in a Play
Monica Dolan, All About Eve
In a star-studded ensemble, it was Dolan’s no-nonsense pseudo-narrator Karen who ended up pulling focus with her every utterance. With Appropriate too, 2019 was a superb year for Dolan and those of us who are captivated by her work.
Honourable mention: Jackie Pulford, Karaoke Play
Scorchingly good in a doozy of a tragicomic role, this is one I wasn’t expecting and entirely typical that it emerged out of the brilliant Bunker.
Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo, Three Sisters
Janni Goslinga, De Kersentuin
Pippa Nixon, The Ocean at the End of the Lane
Cecilia Noble, Faith Hope and Charity
Gemma Whelan, Pinter Seven
8-10
Deborah Findlay, Glass. Kill. Bluebeard. Imp.; Jane Horrocks, Pinter Five; Sarah Niles, Richard II
Best Supporting Actress in a Musical
Cassidy Janson/Melanie La Barrie, & Juliet
There was just so much superlative work in this category that shortlisting was nigh on impossible. So I doubled up on nominations, recognising how much great work was going on and in that crowded field, the glories of Janson and La Barrie just about edged it. Cassidy belting Céline as if her life depended on it, Mel getting it on in fine fashion (just watch her hips go!) – f**kin’ perfect you might say!
Honourable mention: Jocasta Almgill/Emily Langham, West Side Story (Royal Exchange)
Anita is probably one of my favourite roles in all of musical theatre and Almgill absolutely nailed it with a whirlwind of charismatic personality and pitch-perfect vocals. Langham’s Anybodys was a real surprise though, a near-constant presence in the background but a masterclass in detailed character work. And when ‘Somewhere’ starts…ooff!
Laura Baldwin/Marisha Wallace, Waitress
Tiffany Graves/Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson, The Boy Friend
Claire Machin/Claire Moore, Mary Poppins
Rebecca McKinnis/Lauren Ward, Dear Evan Hansen
Carly Mercedes Dyer/Victoria Hamilton-Barritt, The View UpStairs
8-10
Melissa James/Kate O’Donnell, Gypsy; Rebecca Lock/Carley Stenson, Curtains; Carly Mercedes Dyer/Beth Hinton-Lever, West Side Story (Curve Leicester)
“Clap-a your hands and slap on your thighs
Grin like a goon and roll up your eyes”
As light as a madeleine and as frivolous as a macaron, Sandy Wilson’s The Boy Friend belongs in the same delightfully daft bracket of musical theatre as the likes of Salad Days and as such, is the perfect kind of frothy fun that offers a little respite from the darkness of winter nights and politicians’ empty promises. Written in the 1950s as an homage to the 1920s and with a plot that can be summed up in one character’s aside “poor little rich girl”, Matthew White’s production for the Menier Chocolate Factory sees him renew a richly fruitful relationship which has included such successes as She Loves Me and Sweet Charity.
Keeping the original three act structure, complete with two intervals, pushes the evening a little towards the episodic, but any sense of slightness is banished by the thrilling choreographic content from Bill Deamer (also associate director). From the gobsmacking elasticity and unflagging energy of Jack Butterworth and Gabrielle Lewis-Dodson’s first act charleston, to the explosive passion of Bethany Huckle and Matthew Ives’ fiery carnival tango, the quality of the dancing really is second to none. And as the full company join in time and again, it’s hard not to be swept up in the joyous atmosphere and just join in with their beaming grins. Continue reading “Review: The Boy Friend, Menier Chocolate Factory”
“Don’t you use my little red key”
A nippy little thing this, Lock and Key. A new musical from writing duo Barlow & Smith, a couple of cracking musical theatre actresses in Tiffany Graves and Evelyn Hoskins, and the sweaty intimacy of the Pit, one of the VAULT Festival’s less hospitable spaces. It all adds up to something really rather entertaining.
Set in the children’s literature department of a publishing firm, office junior Jess is doing everything she can to impress boss Samantha as the end of her probationary period fast approaches. She’s even missing her birthday party in order to seize a key opportunity but she soon finds out that that is not all she will have to sacrifice to make it to the top. Continue reading “Review: Lock and Key, VAULT Festival”
Continue reading “Round-up of news and treats and other interesting things”
“I’ll pull the greatest stunt this business has seen”
I can’t be doing with supermarkets who are already starting to stock mince pies but it was hard not to feel that Christmas had come early, such were the heady delights of the London Musical Theatre Orchestra’s latest venture Mack and Mabel, directed by Shaun Kerrison. Ostensibly, these are concert presentations of musicals but the joy in what you actually get, the bonuses that get incorporated into the creation of genuine one-off experiences makes LMTO one of the more valuable recent additions to the London theatre ecology.
So you’ve got your cast of West End names (David Bedella, Natasha J Barnes, Tiffany Graves headlining), you’ve got your orchestra of 32 (conducted by Freddie Tapner, led by Debs White), you’ve got a chorus of 16 too. And of course you’ve got the marvellous musical, written by Michael Stewart and composed by Jerry Herman, in the atmospheric surroundings of the Hackney Empire. But not content with such riches, we also get cream pies, chorus lines, and two properly gobsmacking coups de théâtre that brought the audience to their feet. Continue reading “Review: Mack and Mabel, Hackney Empire”
Drip by drip, the National is teasing us with the cast reveals for Network.
Latest to be announced is Douglas Henshall who is to play Max Schumacher in this world-premiere of Lee Hall’s new adaptation of the Oscar-winning film by Paddy Chayefsky.
Directed by Ivo van Hove, the cast also includes Tony award winner Bryan Cranston as Howard Beale, and Michelle Dockery as Diana Christenson. Continue reading “Round-up of news and treats and other interesting things”
“Blame it on the gin”
There’s no doubting the visual flair that choreographer Drew McOnie is able to conjure in his work – In The Heights and Jesus Christ Superstar being just two recent examples – and so it is no coincidence that his move into directing has begun with dance-heavy pieces. Strictly Ballroom lit up the stage at the West Yorkshire Playhouse before Christmas and now The Wild Party opens up the programming at The Other Palace, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s rebranded St James Theatre.
Michael John LaChiusa’s musical version is not the first adaptation of Joseph Moncure March’s epic poem to hit London this year – that title goes to the Hope Theatre’s two hander from last month. But it does have its own tunes presented as a vaudeville, a real mish-mash of every 1920s style you can think of and more, which makes for a bold and brash evening – especially as performed by this lavishly assembled ensemble – but ultimately, one of little staying power. Continue reading “Review: The Wild Party, The Other Palace”