By James V. Ruocco
Beginning this September, Andrew Lloyd Webber's "Sunset Boulevard" returns to London's West End in an all-new revival reimagined for the stage by visionary director Jamie Lloyd whose credits include "The Homecoming," "Evita," "Macbeth" and "A Doll's House."
Based on the 1950 Billy Wilder film that starred Gloria Swanson and William Holden, the two-act musical portrays Desmond's delusional attempt to resurrect her faded film career by hiring a struggling Hollywood screenwriter to rework a mediocre screenplay that would mark her triumphant return to the big screen.
Featuring a musical score by Webber (composer) and Don Black/Christopher Hampton (lyrics), "Sunset Boulevard" includes the iconic showtunes "With One Look," "As If We Never Said Goodbye," "Too Much in Love to Care," "The Perfect Year" and "New Ways to Dream."
Nicole Scherzinger, best known as the lead singer for The Pussycat Dolls" has been tapped to portray Norma Desmond in this highly anticipated revival of Webber's 1993 musical that originally started Patti Lupone and Kevin Anderson when it debuted at London's Adelphi Theatre.
In 2014, Scherzinger made her West End debut as Grizabella in the acclaimed revival of the Webber/ Rice musical "Cats" at the London Palladium. She played the part for a 12-week run for which she received rave reviews and an Olivier Award nomination for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for a Musical.
"Sunset Boulevard" will begin its limited 16-week run at the Savoy Theatre (Savoy Court on the Strand, London, UK) 21 September 2023 and run through 6 January 2024.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 2:30 p.m. Thursdays and Saturdays.
Tickets for the Stalls and Dress Circle are £56.50, £80.30, £104.10, £148.80 and £208.30. Upper Circle tickets are £56.50, £44.60 and £23.80.
For advance reservations and more information, call 844 871 7687.
For general enquiries, call 03330 096 690.
Per the Savoy Theatre, Scherzinger will not be performing the role of Norma Desmond for the 2:30 p.m. performance on 5 October 2023 and all 7:30 p.m. Monday performances from 9 October 2023.
Casting for the roles of Joe Gillis, Betty Schaefer, Max von Mayerling and the Norma Desmond alternate will be announced in the coming weeks.
James Graham's "Dear England," directed by Rupert Goold ("Spring Awakening," "Judy," "Tammy Faye"), continues its run at the National Theatre (Upper Ground, Southbank, London, UK) through 11 August 2023. The play, a serio-comic retelling of Gareth Southgate's earnest, uncanny leadership of England's football squad, which led to the team's participation in the 2018 World Cup semifinals and beyond, has received high scores for its life-like narrative, its grounded classroom and stadium scenes, its edgy 60-minute first act and Es Devlin's moody, atmospheric set design.
The production stars Joseph Fiennes (Gareth Southgate), Will Close (Harry Kane), Kel Matsena (Raheem Sterling), Darragh Hand (Marcus Rashford), Gina McKee (Pippa Grance), Paul Thornley (Mike Webster), Gunnar Cauthery (Gary Lineker), John Hodgkinson (Greg Clarke), Josh Barrow (Jordan Pickford) and Crystal Condie (Alex Scott).
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Mondays through Saturdays and 2 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Tickets for the Stalls are £60.00, £89.00 and £99.00.
For advance reservations and more information, call 20 7452 3000.
Per National Theatre, "Dear England" is a fictionalized account of the struggles, conflicts and successes of England's football teams. It features characters, incidents and events that are imagined by the playwright or inspired by real-life individuals.
And happen, it has.
The West End revival of Kander and Ebb's "Cabaret," which received seven Olivier Awards including Best Musical Revival, has extended its run at the Kit Kat Klub (The Playhouse Theatre, Northumberland Avenue, London, UK) through 29 June 2024.
And why not!
It's one of the hottest musicals in London and it's not going anywhere anytime soon.
Directed by Rebecca Frecknall, this revival adapts an immersive, in-your-face staging process that thrusts the audience into Berlin's notorious Kit Kat Klub of the 1930s - a place where anything goes, and anything can happen as theatergoers find themselves enjoying drinks, good food and musical fare alongside "Cabaret's" Sally Bowles, The Emcee and members of the band, dance ensemble and other decadent patrons and on-lookers.
Word on the street is that no two performances are alike.
Per Kit Kat Klub management, theatergoers are advised to enter the venue in advance of the entry time listed on the ticket and the performance of the main show. What happens next, is anybody's guess.
Just remember: You can look. You can drool. You can flirt. You can get naughty.
But don't touch.
Based on Christopher Isherwood's "Berlin Stories" and John Van Druten's 1951 play "I Am a Camera," "Cabaret" replays the familiar story of an American bisexual writer and his relationship with an English female cabaret performer during the twilight of the Jazz Age and the subsequent rise of Nazism in Berlin, Germany.
First performed on Broadway in 1966, the musical has been subsequently revised and reworked to include songs from the 1972 film adaptation in addition to new material from various revivals including the 1993 London production and its 1998 remounting for Broadway.
Musical numbers include "Willkommen," "Maybe This Time," "Don't Tell Mama," "Cabaret," "What Would You Do?" "I Don't Care Much," "If You Could See Her," "Mein Herr" and "Tomorrow Belongs to Me."
Heading the West End production of "Cabaret" are Mason Alexander Park as The Emcee, Maude Apatow as Sally Bowles, Nathan Ives-Moiba as Cliff Bradshaw, Beverly Klein as Fraulein Schneider, Teddy Kempner as Herr Schultz, Danny Mahoney as Ernst Ludwig and Michelle Bishop as Fraulein Kost.
Performances are 7:30 p.m. Mondays through Fridays and 2 p.m. Wednesdays and Saturdays.
Tickets are £300.00, £250.00, £200.00, £175.00, £150.00, £100.00, £80.00, £60.00 and £50.00.
No comments:
Post a Comment