Welcome to Musicals Mash Up in which we catch up with lots of the week’s stories that haven’t yet appeared on the Musical Theatre Review pages. We hope you approve! News editor Angela Thomas reports
Picture: Matt Crockett
Cory English to return to West End’s Back To The Future
West End and Broadway actor Cory English will step back into the role of Doctor Emmett Brown in the multi-award-winning West End production of Back To The Future The Musical in March.
Best known for playing Max Bialystock in the West End and UK touring productions of The Producers, English (Sleepless, Troubadour Theatre Wembley Park, She Loves Me, Menier Chocolate Factory) will return to take over from his former Young Frankenstein co-star (Broadway/US tour), Tony Award-winning actor Roger Bart who is due to take his final bow in London on 20 March before heading for New York to lead the cast of the Broadway premiere production at the Winter Garden Theatre. English originally stepped into the role last November.
Based on the Universal Pictures/Amblin Entertainment film, the brainchild of producer Colin Ingram (Ghost – The Musical) and the creators of the much-loved time-travelling film series, Robert Zemeckis and Bob Gale, the West End production has been extended again, with booking now open until October.
The critically acclaimed Olivier, WhatsOnStage and Broadway World Award-winning Best New Musical had its opening night in London on 13 September 2021.
More guest stars announced for Benjamin Rauhala & His West End Besties concert
Grammy Award-winner and Tony Award-nominee Kathryn Gallagher and British Independent Film Award-nominee Max Harwood are among the latest additions to the guest line-up featuring alongside leading Broadway music director Benjamin Rauhala in a special concert at London’s Cadogan on 5 February 2023.
Gallagher (Jagged Little Pill) and Harwood who shot to fame with his acclaimed performance in the film version of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie will join Allie Daniel (Legally Blonde), Maria Coyne (The King and I), Katie Ramshaw (Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Cinderella) and Luke Baker (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie).
Presented by Fourth Wall Live, Benjamin Rauhala & His West End Besties on 5 February will also feature the previously announced Paisley Billings, Lauren Drew, Hiba Elchikhe, Jordan Luke Gage, Ben Joyce, Claudia Kariuki, Frances Mayli McCann, Zara MacIntosh, Natalie Paris, Courtney Stapleton, Jodie Steele and Benjamin Yates. The guest list is subject to change.
Rauhala’s Cadogan Hall show will offer a glimpse of the musical director on stage ahead of his previously announced appearance alongside Ariana DeBose for her highly anticipated London Palladium concert in April, also presented by Fourth Wall Live.
New-look Eugenius! to play season at Turbine Theatre
London’s Turbine Theatre will present a re-worked version of cult British musical Eugenius! this spring.
Hannah Chissick will step in to direct the latest incarnation of Ben Adams and Chris Wilkins’ musical which will play the Battersea venue from 17 March until 28 May.
Featuring a 1980s-inspired soundtrack, the musical which merges an earthbound love story with a comic book superhero fantasy, received its world premiere in concert format the London Palladium in 2016. A fully-staged production debuted at The Other Palace in early 2018, returning for an encore run in late 2018.
Encore run for folk-punk musical La Maupin
Critically acclaimed folk-punk musical La Maupin will return to London’s Lion and Unicorn Theatre. Loosely based on the life of 17th century French woman Julie d’Aubigny (La Maupin) and described as ‘Marie Antoinette meets The Pogues’, writer Olivia Thompson’s musical will play the Kentish Town venue from 31 January until 4 February 2023.
Produced by Fantastic Garlands Theatre Company and directed by Suzy Catliff the production features actor/musicians Frida Rodbroe, Katrina Michaels, Megan Armitage, Olivia Warren, and writer Olivia Thompson. The five-strong cast use a variety of instruments including an ukele, harmonica and a kazoo to create the distinctly different soundtrack.
Live To Tell: (A Proposal For) The Madonna Musical to play the London Fringe
The music of Madonna provides the inspiration for Brian Mullin’s Live To Tell: (A Proposal For) The Madonna Musical, which will receive its world premiere at the Omnibus Theatre (7-18 February) and Camden People’s Theatre (4-15 April).
Presented by PlayWell Productions, the autobiographical show recounts the story of Brian, a Madonna superfan living with HIV, as he tries to create a jukebox musical based on Madonna’s songs.
Mullin will play the self-inspired role of Brian with Dan de la Motte playing all other characters and Nadya Ginsburg (2 Broke Girls, RuPaul’s Drag Race) providing the voice of Madonna.
The production will also be working with local grassroots charities to provide a series of creative workshops for other people living with HIV.
More venues added to Rocky Horror 50th anniversary tour
Further dates have been added to the current hit 50th anniversary tour of Richard O’Brien’s cult classic The Rocky Horror Show. Following recent sold-out trips to Tel Aviv, Milan, Rome and Trieste, the tour is set to continue through 2023 with visits to Torquay, Sheffield, Dublin, Blackpool, Manchester, Chester, Shrewsbury, Edinburgh, Southampton, Birmingham, Cheltenham, Cardiff, Stockton, London, Eastbourne, Cornwall, Leeds, Aylesbury, Crewe, Woking, Portsmouth, Belfast, Southend, Nottingham and Swindon already confirmed and further dates to be announced.
As previously announced thecelebrations will included a limited six-week season at the Peacock Theatre in London from 3 May until 10 June with former Strictly champion turned genre favourite Ore Oduba stepping back into his fishnets to return to the role of Brad Majors.
Directed by Christopher Luscombe, the hit production continues to play to packed houses across the country with an acclaimed cast led by Stephen Webb as Frank, Rocky Horror veteran Philip Franks as the Narrator, Richard Meek as Brad, Haley Flaherty as Janet and fan favourite Kristian Lavercombe reprising his performance as Riff Raff, following over 2,000 performances across the world.
After making her professional debut last year as one of the Phantoms, Darcy Finden has stepped into the role of Columbia with Ben Westhead as Rocky, Suzie McAdams as Magenta and Joe Allen as Eddie and Dr Scott.
The Phantoms are Stefania Du Toit, Jessica Sole, Reece Budin and Fionán O’Carroll in his professional debut. Nathan Shaw is Male Swing and Tyla Nurden is Female Swing.
Ricky Tomlinson to guest star in new musical comedy Irish Annie’s
Actor and comedian Ricky Tomlinson will return to the stage in a new musical comedy celebrating the best of Irish culture as part of the St Patrick’s Day celebrations.
Set in a traditional Irish pub and featuring live six-piece band The Shenanigans, Irish Annie’s stars Catherine Rice as pub landlady Irish Annie, with Royle Family favourite Tomlinson as a celebrity pub guest.
Co-produced by Bill Elms Productions and the show’s creator Asa Murphy who also features in the production as Seamus Murphy, the production visits St Helens Theatre Royal, Stockport Plaza, Epstein Theatre in Liverpool, City Varieties in Leeds, Stafford Gatehouse, Blackpool Grand, The Brindley in Runcorn and Mansfield Palace Theatre
London date for Nina Kristofferson Sings Billie Holiday
Multi-award-winning actor, singer and writer Nina Kristofferson will bring her hit show celebrating the music of Billie Holiday back to London’s Pheasantry on 19 February 2023.
First seen in 2013, the concert features performances of many of Holiday’s most famous songs including classics ‘Don’t Explain’, ‘My Man’, ‘Fine and Mellow’, ‘Good Morning Heartache’, ‘Strange Fruit’ and ‘All of Me’.
Commenting on the inspiration behind her show, Kristofferson has said: “Billie’s unusual timbre tells a story like no other jazz singer. Her phrasing and timing is heartfelt as she takes you on a journey which encapsulates her many influences including prostitution, the cops, doing time and the effects drugs had on her life. Her relationship with men, her work, the abuse she suffered by those who took advantage of her. What drove her and finally killed her.”
The show features Kristofferson accompanied by regular musical director Allan Rogers on piano.
Tori Scott’s Crazy Coqs encore
New Yorker Tori Scott will return to London’s Crazy Coqs on 5 and 6 February 2022 with new show Tori Scott: Tori with an “I” presented by New Frame Productions.
Currently touring the UK as Georgia Holt in The Cher Show, Scott will be joined by guest stars Christina Bianco (The Wizard of Oz, Funny Girl, The Rise and Fall of Little Voice) on 5 February and her The Cher Show co-star Danielle Steers (Bat Out Of Hell, Six The Musical) on 6 February.
Featuring a mix of pop classics and musical theatre accompanied by outrageous true stories, the musical director for the show is Ben Papworth.
Original cast recording of multi award-winning Cabaret released
The 2021 London cast recording of Cabaret is now available on Decca Records. Featuring original stars multi-award-winning movie actor Eddie Redmayne in his genre debut as The Emcee opposite BAFTA nominee and British Independent Film Award-winner Jessie Buckley as Sally Bowles, the recording offers a taste of the unique new version of the classic musical which began performances at the in-the-round 550 capacity Kit Kat Club in December 2021.
The winner of a record-breaking seven Olivier Awards – the most for any musical revival in Olivier history – and three prestigious Critics Circle Awards, the innovative production which transformed London’s Playhouse Theatre into the Kit Kat Club is directed by Rebecca Frecknall.
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