Theatre News

London seems to be getting some pretty awesome productions coming up:

Paradise Found (Menier Chocolate Factory: 19th May-26th June)
Directed by Harold Prince (She Loves Me, Cabaret, Company, Follies, Evita, The Phantom of the Opera etcetcetec) and Susan Stroman (The Music Man, The Producers, Young Frankenstein) Paradise Found is a new musical, featuring music by Johann Strauss II (who granted, has been dead quite a while), lyrics Ellen Fitzhugh (who wrote something called Grind which starred Ben Vereen but flopped) and a book by Richard Nelson (Broadway version of Chess)
It's the cast for this that is getting me so excited though:
Kate Baldwin, whose voice is just a.m.a.z.i.n.g on the 2009 Finian's Rainbow recording
John Cullum, who has a GAZILLION Broadway credits (check the link) but has most recently seen as the missing patriach in August:Osage County
Shuler Hensley, who scared the HELL out of me when I went through my addicted to the National Theatre's Oklahoma film phase in which he played Jud Fry and recently been performing as the Monster in Young Frankenstein
Judy Kaye, who was the original Carlotta in Broadway's The Phantom of the Opera
Mandy Patinkin, who was the original Che in Broadway's Evita, and the original Archie Craven in The Secret Garden & is in the awesome The Princess Bride-currently appearing in Compulsion at Yale Rep-read about that here

The dates are a little scary (I'd been done with all my AS-Levels) but I woud lovelovelovelove to see this. SO MUCH [even if the plot sounds a bit like Kismet]. *Crosses fingers*

La Bete (Comedy Theatre: 7 th July-28th August)
La Bete is having a season in London before it transfers to Broadway with an amazing cast. Now, I'm not much of a play person myself but the combination of Mark Rylance (Jerusalem, Boeing-Boeing and apparently the man of the moment), David Hyde Pierce (Fraiser, Curtains) and Joanna Lumley (Absolutely Fabulous) is pretty damn cool!!

Aspects of Love (Menier Chocolate Factory: 3rd July-11th September)
Okay...so...I'm not a BIG fan of Aspects of Love. I've never seen it live, but I do have the really long cast album and it's the only Andrew Lloyd Webber album, aside from The Beautiful Game (now known as The Boys in the Photograph or something I think) that I just CANNOT sit and listen to. The story is also pretty disturbing-the Forbbiden Broadway parady 'I, I sleep with everyone' is pretty correct.
But hey, casting could be WONDERFUL, you never know. The Menier tends to seem to get that right.

In other Andrew Lloyd Webber news, the world has been ROCKED by the fact that the first preview of his new musical, Phantom sequel Love Never Dies has been cancelled. I don't get the SHOCK HORROR about it all....I mean, MANY MANY MANY productions cancel previews. Previews are not to be confused with performances. If the first performance was cancelled, sure, I get the anger. But a preview is really just a very polished rehearsal with an audience in front of it. Surely its better to have the show and all the sets and stuff run smoothly and safely for the actors than to open and risk an accident.

Anyway, Love Never Dies is hugely intriguing to me. POTO was the first musical I really fell for, followed by Les Miserables, and I am yet to see it on stage. However, I've seen the film and listened to the soundtrack a billion times and have seen enough photos/videos of it to feel like I have seen it. I'm hoping to get the schedule for LSE's open day within a few days so I can try and grab tickets for a LND performance. I'm am just PRAYING that it isn't a wish fulfillment, with Christine ending up ditching Raoul (who apparently now has a drink problem & is played by the rather handsome Joseph Millson) to marry the Phantom with whom she actually has a son (cause call me crazy, but unless the Phantom did something horrible between 'Music of the Night' and 'I Remember/Stranger Than You Dreamt It' that is pretty much impossible.

Then, this is ALW. Anything is possible ;)