Director Josie Rourke ends her tenure at the Donmar Warehouse with a hip revival of Sweet Charity that pushes Anne-Marie Duff out of her comfort zone and shows a new side to Adrian Lester.
NEWS: Further casting is announced for Josie Rourke’s production of Sweet Charity at the Donmar Warehouse
The Donmar Warehouse has announced further casting for artistic director Josie Rourke’s farewell production Sweet Charity. Joining previously announced cast members Anne-Marie Duff as Charity and Arthur Darvill as Oscar will be Lizzy Connolly, Lauren Drew, Jo Eaton-Kent, Will Haswell, Charlotte Jaconelli, Stephen Kennedy, Debbie Kurup, Martin Marquez, Ryan Reid, Amy Ellen Richardson, Danielle Steers and Shaq Taylor. The musical will run from 6 April to 8 June 2019 (press night is 17 April).
‘Buckhurst has a sure-fire hit on his hands’: SWEET CHARITY – Nottingham
In Bill Buckhurst’s production of Sweet Charity we benefit from the delicate balance between the seediness of the New York backstreets with the technicolor of Charity’s blithe daydreams.
‘An exhilarating if somewhat brutal comment on humanity’: SWEET CHARITY – Nottingham ★★★★
As Bill Buckhurst’s production of Sweet Charity takes the show squarely back to its 1960s origins with Rebecca Trehearn in the lead, the show delivers an exhilarating if somewhat brutal comment on humanity that proves disarmingly timeless.
‘A festival of sensational song & dance’: SWEET CHARITY – Watermill Theatre, Newbury ★★★★
Yet again, the people of Newbury find themselves spoiled with this display of some of the finest talent in the land putting on a show that alongside being a rollercoaster of emotions, Sweet Charity is a festival of sensational song and dance.
NEWS: Marcus Brigstocke & Laura Pitt-Pulford lead Barnum revival at Menier Chocolate Factory
Marcus Brigstocke and Laura Pitt-Pulford star as PT Barnum and Charity Barnum in Gordon Greenberg’s forthcoming revival of BARNUM at the Menier Chocolate Factory.
What would The Life characters say to their peers in Guys & Dolls and 42nd Street?
of the three American musicals set in the locale that we’ve seen in London recently – Guys & Dolls, which is now touring after an extended West End run; 42nd Street, recently opened with royal fanfare at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane; and The Life, in its final week at Southwark Playhouse – only one of them, 42nd Street, revolves around the theatre district.
THE LIFE – Southwark Playhouse
In The Life, drug-dealing Guys and rent-by-the-hour Dolls walk a side of 42nd Street far shadier than the tapdancing one at Drury Lane. The daily grit and the nightly grind are underpinned with a spectacularly revitalized score from Cy Coleman fusing jazz and blues with his musical theatre roots, and some spunky new dialogue from still-got-it-baby veteran Michael Blakemore who directed the Broadway version a mere 38 years ago.
THE LIFE – Southwark Playhouse
In The Life, drug-dealing Guys and rent-by-the-hour Dolls walk a side of 42nd Street far shadier than the tapdancing one at Drury Lane. The daily grit and the nightly grind are underpinned with a spectacularly revitalized score from Cy Coleman fusing jazz and blues with his musical theatre roots, and some spunky new dialogue from still-got-it-baby veteran Michael Blakemore who directed the Broadway version a mere 38 years ago.
THE LIFE – Southwark Playhouse
Even if you’re not a musical aficionado, Michael Blakemore’s production and the way the young cast headed by Sharon D Clarke get hold of and deliver Cy Coleman’s music with Ira Gasman’s lyrics will just blow you away.
THE LIFE – Southwark Playhouse
Cy Coleman has a fine track record of taking an acerbic view of iconic American cities. With City Of Angels his score parodied a film noir view of Los Angeles – and here, with The Life, he peels back the fairytale of New York to reveal the truer uglier side of 42nd Street and Broadway that persisted throughout much of the last century.
Interview: T’Shan Williams on The Life, Southwark Playhouse
T’Shan Williams plays Queen and we spoke during a break in rehearsals.
SWEET CHARITY – Manchester
Under Derek Bond’s masterful direction, the musical theatre classic fills the Great Hall – bursting with big Fosse numbers, a superb live band and extraordinary cast – it’s as if Sweet Charity was made to be performed in the round.
NEWS: Michael Blakemore directs UK premiere of The Life, Sharon D Clarke stars
Arriving in the UK for the first time, hit musical THE LIFE makes its long-awaited London debut, directed by the show’s original Broadway director Michael Blakemore and starring Sharon D. Clarke and Cornell S. John at Southwark Playhouse
Review: Barnum (Wimbledon Theatre)
It seems ironic that on the night when the print critics headed off to Chichester, from whence this show came, to throw themselves at the feet of Imelda Staunton in Gypsy, we should be attending the London opening of the re-worked Cameron Mackintosh production of Barnum. It is, quite simply, not the same show. Chichester staged […]
The post Review: Barnum (Wimbledon Theatre) appeared first on JohnnyFox.
Review: Barnum (Wimbledon Theatre)
It seems ironic that on the night when the print critics headed off to Chichester, from whence this show came, to throw themselves at the feet of Imelda Staunton in Gypsy, we should be attending the London opening of the re-worked Cameron Mackintosh production of Barnum. It is, quite simply, not the same show. Chichester staged […]
The post Review: Barnum (Wimbledon Theatre) appeared first on JohnnyFox.