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Earlier this week, it was announced that Joseph at the Adelphi London Theatre will close six weeks early after an admirable eighteen months. Even mixed reviews did not dispel the clamour for tickets as Lee Mead, winner of the BBC’s I’d Do Anything, took to the stage.

However, interest in the show dwindled in the run up to Lee’s January departure as not only had a replacement not been announced by November, but it was also unclear whether or not the show would extend. So close to Christmas when other shows were doing great business selling their 2009 tickets, Joseph had nothing for sale beyond early January so it was widely assumed that the show would just close quietly.

An extension was eventually announced in early November, but with no replacement to play Joseph confirmed, the theatre going public reacted with mass indifference. Gareth Gates’ arrival was revealed only a month before Christmas, but ticket sales had already suffered. Also, due to other commitments, Gareth was only able to take the Dreamcoat a full four weeks after Lee Mead’s departure. However, these four weeks, during which the role of Joseph was played by understudy Ricky Rojas, saw some widespread ticket discounts that generated a great deal of new interest in the show. These reductions were stopped with Gareth’s arrival and audience numbers dropped immediately, so they were released once again.

Discounted tickets for a well known show with a famous face were bound to be a huge hit in the current financial climate and, ironically, the buzzing full houses Joseph has been welcoming have got people talking about the show once again, with Gareth and Ricky Rojas being ecstatically received by audiences. However, it is the very economic tough times that mean a show can’t survive on bargain tickets, so sadly, it’s now time for Joseph to go, go, go.

Tagged as: Adelphi Theatre, dreamcoat, joseph, london theatre tickets

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However vulgar the phrase may be, ‘bums on seats’ are what keep theatre folk in work, and even not-so-hot shows need to pull in a crowd. For years, producers and advertising agents have come up with ingenious ways to embellish the truth to make even a damp squib sound like a blazing triumph.

To avoid alarm bells ringing whenever you see these phrases around the West End, remember that if it has come from a critic, it may be true. However, if these fawning gems have come from the theatre’s camp itself, be warned!

Here’s the truth:

Must-see
Please see

Epic
Really long

For all the family
Lots of children needing to use the loo

By Pushkin/Gogol/Chekhov
Each character has at least five unpronounceable names and one of them will commit suicide

London’s No.1 show
One of London’s several No.1 shows

Heart warming
Sickly, gushing, often with a lead character under the age of twelve

Romantic
There’s kissing in it

Dance in the aisles
Stand up and pretend to dance while you put your coat on and try to gauge which exit would be best

Happy ending
Predictable

Innovative
Weird

Uplifting
Lots of people singing at the same time with a key change in the encore

Funny yet moving
Not as funny as it was meant to be

Visual feast
The music’s rubbish

Hard hitting
Contains swearing/violence/Northern dialects

Spectacular
Big stage and bright lights

Political drama
Slick hair, suits and lots of pacing and pointing. Sometimes a desk with paper on it

State of the art
Bits of the stage move

Multimedia
Sets projected on a screen

Relevant today
Either about war or has a character who’s an alcoholic.

Limited season
Potentially unpopular

Pre-West End national tour
National tour

Hollywood star
American actor

The nation’s favourite
One people who don’t like theatre have heard of

Hilarious
There’s someone fat in it

Back by popular demand
Back

Shakespeare
Boring

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Tagged as: london theatre tickets, Theatre Press Releases, Theatre Press Releases Translated

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Producers of Oliver! announced this week that Iranian comedian and actor Omid Djalili will be taking over the role of Fagin from Rowan Atkinson in July. In keeping with the current trend of unusual celebrity casting, Oliver! will see Djalili making his West End debut, just as Joseph and La Cage Aux Folles have recently seen Gareth Gates and Graham Norton take to musical theatre for the first time.

Omid is, of course, best known for his energetic stand-up comedy routines, with his trademark hyperactivity, singing, bellydancing and uncanny knack of taking on accents have also led to numerous appearances on TV shows such as Room 101, Live at Jongleurs, Have I Got News For You and Live at the Apollo.

As well as huge success and a worldwide following for his comedy work, trained actor Djalili has also appeared in a number of films, most notably Casanova, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, Spy Game, Notting Hill and Gladiator. He is well known in the US for having played Persian janitor Nasim in Whoopi Goldberg’s sitcom Whoopi.

Although his name might not be as big as Atkinson’s (not to mention harder to pronounce), Djalili’s CV shows he is more than qualified to take on such an iconic theatrical role. The critically applauded Rowan Atkinson will be playing Fagin until Saturday 18 July 2009, and Omid takes over on Monday 20 July. New tickets for Oliver! have just been released.

Tagged as: london theatre tickets, oliver the musical, oliver!, omid, omid in oliver

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After the excitement of the monolith musicals Wicked and We Will Rock You announcing record breaking sales and attendance figures at the beginning of the year, it seems that the Society of London Theatre wants the world to know that the entire West End is defying the credit crunch. According to the Society, 2008 was a record breaking year, with 13,807,286 people taking in London shows, spending a total of £480,563,674, marking a 1% increase on 2007’s attendances and 3% up on box office revenue.

Although figures made public by SOLT this week are impressive and encouraging, they fall short of naming names and identifying specific shows. They did acknowledge that the revenue of plays was down on 2007, not surprising, given the spate of early closures in 2008 that, for a while, threatened to turn into a Broadway style bloodbath.

However, SOLT, and London theatres in general for that matter, are notorious for keeping financial affairs close to their chests, while in New York, attendance numbers and ticket sales are broken down and made public weekly. It has often been suggested that the West End would benefit from such a facility. Thankfully, some producers are more than happy to divulge their own figures, as Cameron MacIntosh did recently when revenues from advance sales of tickets for Oliver exceeded all previous shows.

Tagged as: london theatre tickets, theatre 2008, theatre budget, theatre finances, Theatre News

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This week, camp television presenter Graham Norton took his first steps onto the Playhouse stage as outrageous drag act Albin in La Cage Aux Folles. Although Norton is no newcomer to the theatre world, being a passionate musical fan, host of How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria, Any Dream Will Do and I’d Do Anything, and friend of Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber, his autobiography So Me states that he can’t sing. Coupled with the questionable acting talents shown in a number of short films and 2006’s Another Gay Movie, the announcement that Norton would be replacing the critically acclaimed Douglas Hodge in the Menier Chocolate Factory’s smash hit transfer, London’s theatre fans gasped.

However, those present at his first couple of shows have testified that Norton did admirable. Despite obvious nerves, he certainly should have won an award for effort in his blink-and-you’ll miss-it appearance at the Royal Variety Performance in December, and it would appear that his intensive coaching is working wonders. Although he was visibly shaking and reportedly stumbled on a few high notes to begin with, his overall performance improved vastly as his nerves calmed down. His delivery was suitably hilarious and poignant, while his rendition of I Am What I Am proved to be a real highlight, described by one audience member as ‘an emotional tour de force’.

It seems the theatre community was wrong to judge Norton so quickly. As his confidence grows, the West End could have another star on its hands.

Tagged as: graham norton, graham norton on stage, la cage, london theatre tickets, so me

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The West End’s festive season certainly defied the credit crunch, with so many people descending on London’s theatres, the last week of 2008 turned out to be a record breaker, with Wicked and We Will Rock You achieving the highest weekly gross and the most paid admissions respectively. While millions of people feel the pinch as Britain finds itself in recession for the first time in almost twenty years, thousands upon thousands of those ignored the constant stream of media reports of how the credit crunch is affecting spending during the holidays, and treated their loved ones to a London show.

While expensive shops and the January sales suffered as a result of the financial climate, West End theatres were buzzing with willing and eager customers, and the phenomenon looks to be repeated on 14 February, with top shows such as Wicked and We Will Rock You and The Lion King tickets selling rapidly. It seems that even during tough times, Britain still wants to keep those special days special, and giving loved ones a night to remember is always worth splashing out for.

Tagged as: lion king tickets, london theatre tickets, the lion king, tickets to the lion king

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Since Ken Ludwig’s Treasure Island is closing almost two months early, the Theatre Royal Haymarket has had to find a show pretty quickly to fill those seats before the arrival of Ian McKellen and Patrick Stewart in Beckett’s Waiting for Godot on 30 April. What the theatre has found is a stage version of On the Waterfront, adapted by Steven Berkoff.

Based on the 1954 Marlon Brando movie , there were talks as far back as July 2007 that the lead role would be cast through an Andrew Lloyd Webber style talent hunt, with Berkoff later suggesting that a Hollywood actor would take the role, with Mark Ruffalo and Guy Pearce being mentioned. As it happens, the play features a cast of newcomers joined by Berkoff himself and received some very favourable reviews during its pre-London run at the Nottingham Playhouse last year. Whether or not it will have similar success remains to be seen, particularly as Berkoff characteristics such as mime, slow motion and tableaux sequences feature prominently in On the Waterfront.

If the play’s regional triumph is repeated in London, then its function as a Haymarket stop gap may be the waste of what could have been a run to break the chain of early closing new work at the Haymarket. Even if it doesn’t, not even the surefire smash hit Waiting for Godot can disguise the Haymarket’s four flops in a row.

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Tagged as: london theatre tickets, Marlon Brando movie, Nottingham Playhouse

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While the theatre gossips’ lips buzz with talk of Phantom II and TV talent searches, Andrew Lloyd Webber is now said to be planning a London revival of Herman and Stewart’s Broadway classic Hello Dolly! with Connie Fisher taking the title role.

The original 1965 West End production ran for almost two years at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane starring Mary Martin but never repeated the triumph it achieved in New York, where it won twelve Tony awards and became one of Broadway’s longest running shows. The last time the show was seen in the West End was in 1984, when its revival at the Prince of Wales flopped, closing after four months. Similarly, the 2008 UK tour starring Anita Dobson and Darren Day received some pretty biting reviews. While it is revered as one of the all time musical greats because of its enormous and enduring success on Broadway, the show does not appear to resonate with UK audiences and the general view of the West End grapevine is that London isn’t ready to embrace it just yet.

ALW’s next planned TV project are also based on a rather precarious choice of show as the Lord intends to cast a Dorothy and Toto for The Wizard of Oz, which came and went unnoticed at the Royal Festival Hall in August 2008, albeit with a handful of negative notices.

Work on Hello Dolly! Probably won’t begin until well into 2010 as the Phantom sequel Love Never Dies is, for now, due to premiere in October this year and 2009 will see Connie back in the habit as she joins yet another Lloyd Webber venture, The Sound of Music UK tour, beginning in Cardiff this July.

This may appear to be a bit much for a man of sixty, but in all the activity, originality appears conspicuously absent as he revives flop shows and his one brand new project already has its roots in one of his existing classics. Still, at least he’s finding time to sort our Eurovision hopes out. That will do wonders for his credibility.

Tagged as: Andrew Lloyd Webber, Eurovision, london theatre tickets

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Stage actor Daniel Hoevels accidently stabbed himself in the neck with a ‘live blade’ whilst performing the suicide scene of the play ‘Maria Stuart’ - by Friedrich Schiller.
 
Daniel - of the german theatre ‘Thalia’ was believed to have been using a stage prop knife that had a blunt edge, however the stage knife may have been replaced with a ‘real’ one.
 
Mr. Hoevels was taken to hospital, where he recieved stiches, and was told he narrowly missed an artery in his neck.
 
One of the dectors is reported to have said that “If the actor had put a little more pressure on the knife or even struck an artery, he would probably have bled to death on the stage,”
 
Police initially reported that they were unsure if fould play was involoved, but a female prop manager for the company admitted buying a blade to be used on the stage, and had forgotten to blunten it.
 
This is far from the first time that stage props have been involved in injuries on the theatrical stage, for example;
 
Joseph Burrus, An escapologist, had himself fastened in manacles and buried in a coffin made from glass and plastic. He was then burried under 7ft of earth and wet cement. Tragically, the coffin gave way under the weight of the cement and earth, and Mr. Burrus died.
 
 
 
 
 
 

Tagged as: stage accidents, theatre accident, theatrical accident

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