Welcome to today’s edition of ShentonSTAGE Daily, after an extraordinary day that saw us bid farewell to Her Majesty the Queen, after a reign of 70 years that saw her appoint 15 prime ministers — the latest of whom Liz Truss she met only on Tuesday. Truss will now be reporting in a weekly audience to King Charles III (coincidentally the title of Mike Bartlett’s 2014 play which imagined the future that awaited him — and us — that transferred to the West End and Broadway).
‘A little cheesy, a little heart-rending, a little bit spectacular, but always fun’: BONNIE & CLYDE – Arts Theatre
Composed by Frank Wildhorn with lyrics by Don Black, the story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow’s road to infamy is perhaps best known from Arthur Penn’s classic 1967 film.
Composed by Frank Wildhorn with lyrics by Don Black, the story of Bonnie Parker and Clyde Barrow’s road …
‘Fresh, stylish & beautifully carried by a star turn from Jodie Prenger’: TELL ME ON A SUNDAY – Touring
The Watermill Theatre’s 2016 production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black’s one-woman, one-act musical has been revived for a UK tour.
NEWS: Concert staging of Sunset Boulevard at Royal Albert Hall reunites Mazz Murray, Ramin Karimlo, Zizi Strallen & Jeremy Secomb
In a special, one-night-only concert, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black and Christopher Hampton’s musical Sunset Boulevard will be staged at London’s Royal Albert Hall on 3 December 2021.
Mark Shenton confesses all about his top ten guilty theatrical pleasures
We’ve all got them: things we enjoy — sometimes mightily — that it’s just a little bit embarrassing to admit to liking. Like admitting, in my case, a massive passion for Selling Sunset, the real estate reality TV show set in the cramped offices of an LA boutique agency that sell houses to millionaires and billionaires. (But somehow seem to work cheek-by-jowl in a tiny office on Sunset Boulevard).
Mark Shenton bemoans the lack of British songwriters in Radio 2’s forthcoming musicals celebration
Radio 2’s Greatest Show could — and should — have been a platform to celebrate more British musicals, especially here, especially now, with the industry floundering so badly. A show of support for our own creators of new musicals would not have gone amiss.
‘Makes a virtue of its scratch staging’: SUNSET BOULVARD IN CONCERT – Leicester Curve (Online review)
Curve Leicester’s Sunset Boulevard certainly offers ‘new ways to dream,’ proving a beautiful and fitting finale to a year of considerable change for theatre.
’An undeniable triumph’: SUNSET BOULVARD IN CONCERT – Leicester Curve (Online review) ★★★★★
The Curve, Leicester’s production of Sunset Boulevard takes the streaming of live theatre to a new level, not only with its music and storytelling, all performed by a wonderful cast, but also in the way in which it showcases the skill and talent of the entire team both on and off the stage.
NEWS: Don Black & Ian McKellen will be honoured as part of the Olivier Awards 2020
The announcement of this year’s Olivier Awards winners will be broadcast on ITV on 25 October 2020 at 10.20pm. Lyricist Don Black receives The Olivier Special Award for contribution to theatre and Ian McKellen will be honoured in his 80th year for his Ian McKellen On Stage tour.
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Aspects of Love at Southwark Playhouse
Love London Love Culture rounds up the reviews for Jonathan O’Boyle’s production of Aspects of Love which has transferred to London from Manchester.
‘There is colour in every moment of the show’: ASPECTS OF LOVE – Southwark Playhouse
Aspects of Love may perhaps benefit from a modern reworking to iron out the more distasteful elements, but it should be fondly remembered.
‘Ria Jones’ Norma Desmond has to be one of the finest musical creations of the decade’: SUNSET BOULEVARD – Touring ★★★★★
A packed house at the New Wimbledon Theatre rose as one to salute Ria Jones’ bow at the close of Sunset Boulevard and with good reason. Jones remains magnificent, her definitive, decaying diva capturing Norma Desmond’s long-faded Hollywood majesty.
‘One of the most astounding performances I’ve ever seen’: SUNSET BOULEVARD – Touring ★★★★★
This Curve staging of Sunset Boulevard successfully manages to keep the glamour and scale required of a show documenting the golden age of Hollywood whilst making it suitable for a touring company.
SUNSET BOULEVARD – Touring ★★★★★
Ria Jones dazzles in the poignant, wonderfully melodramatic and tragic Sunset Boulevard that is both a love letter to movies and a eulogy to Hollywood’s silent era.
SUNSET BOULEVARD – Touring ★★★★★
There is a magic that pervades Nikolai Foster’s production of Sunset Boulevard, and it flows from leading lady Ria Jones. Twenty-six years after creating the role of Norma Desmond for Andrew Lloyd Webber at the composer’s Sydmonton Festival, Jones now leads the show and never has a casting been more perfect.
TELL ME ON A SUNDAY – Touring
Jodie Prenger is exquisite in this stylish production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black’s musical.
Report on: Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year Awards 2016
Sunday 15 May 2016 saw the Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year Awards 2016 take place at London’s Novello Theatre, with Guildford School of Acting’s Courtney Bowman (pictured centre) crowned the winner. Catherine Francoise was at the event for www.jonathanbaz.com and reports.
NEWS: Mrs Henderson Presents posts closing notices, 18 June
There are just six weeks left to see the critically acclaimed, Olivier Award nominated musical MRS HENDERSON PRESENTS at the West End’s Noel Coward Theatre. The final performance of this strictly limited 18-week season will be on Saturday 18 June 2016.
SUNSET BOULEVARD – London Coliseum
What Close is, is a Hollywood Legend of the grandest order, ranking in her generation alongside Meryl Streep, but not really many others. And that defines part of the magic of this production at the Coliseum. A Hollywood diva is in London, playing …a Hollywood diva. This will not happen often in our lifetimes.
SUNSET BOULEVARD (with Ria Jones as Norma Desmond) – London Coliseum
At the curtain call, co-star Michael Xavier bowed down before Ria on stage and producer Michael Grade was first to grab her in the wings as the sound of the cast applauding her enveloped her. A class act, indeed and one I am so privileged to say I witnessed up close and personal from the front row. It was a night I will never forget.
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