Close-Up: The Twiggy Musical continues at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London until 18 November 2023. Star rating: two stars ★ ★ Does it give offer a balanced dramatisation of Twiggy’s life? Not really, but some people will adore it for the nostalgia it throws up.
Tag Archives | Ben Elton
Full cast for Menier Chocolate Factory’s Twiggy musical
The Menier Chocolate Factory has unveiled the full cast for the world premiere production of Ben Elton’s new musical Close Up – The Twiggy Musical.
We Will Rock You – London Coliseum
We Will Rock You continues at the London Coliseum until 27 August 2023. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
Stage acting debut for Ben Elton in We Will Rock You
Comedian Ben Elton will make his stage acting debut when his hit Queen-themed show We Will Rock You returns to the West End this summer for a strictly limited season at the London Coliseum.
Menier announces three major musical productions for 2023
The Menier Chocolate Factory is returning to its musical theatre roots with a 2023 season that will feature two world premiere musicals and a revival of a Stephen Sondheim classic.
We Will Rock You to return to London 21 years after its debut
Queen and Ben Elton’s hit show We Will Rock You will return to West End next summer for a strictly limited residency at the London Coliseum 21 years after its London stage debut.
Ben Elton to direct 20th anniversary UK tour of We Will Rock You
Ben Elton will return as director of the 20th anniversary UK tour of his hit Queen musical We Will Rock You in early 2022. The comedian and writer who has previously taken charge of various international productions of the show he created with the superstar rock band, including the original Australian production in 2004 and […]
We Will Rock You tour dates moved to 2021 – new venues to be added
Following the closure of all UK theatres, the 2020 UK tour dates for the new-look production of the smash hit Queen and Ben Elton musical We Will Rock You has been re-scheduled for 2021. Welcoming the producers’ decision to move the remaining dates for the tour to next year, Queen’s Brian May said: “Happy to […]
The Beautiful Game – National Youth Music Theatre – The Other Palace
The Beautiful Game continues at The Other Palace, London until 18 August 2018. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ When it comes to exploring the Northern Ireland Troubles of the 1960s and 1970s, neither Ben Elton nor Andrew Lloyd Webber were names that would immediately spring to mind. Perhaps unsurprisingly, their 2000 […]
NYMT announces three-week London season
The National Youth Music Theatre a three-week summer residency at The Other Palace will include a new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton’s award winning Beautiful Game. Running from 15-18 August 2018, the musical set during ‘The Troubles’ in Belfast in 1969 will feature Jasper Britton, the NYMT alumnus who spoke the first lines […]
Billy Elliot the Musical – West End production bids farewell
This weekend, after 4,600 performances and prior to the theatre’s previously announced refurbishment programme, the final Victoria Palace Theatre performance of Billy Elliot the Musical took place in front of a packed house with guests including past and present Billy Elliots, original cast members and members of the show’s creative team. The 1,530-strong audience rose to their […]
The Beautiful Game – Union Theatre
The Beautiful Game continues at the Union Theatre, London until 3 May. On its original West End run in 2000, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton’s musical The Beautiful Game attracted much scorn for attempting to address Northern Ireland’s Troubles of the late 1960s and early 1970s through the use of musical theatre. And while there is plenty to be […]
Niamh Perry playing The Beautiful Game
It’s not every 23 year-old musical theatre actress who can plausibly first-name drop Lord Lloyd Webber. Niamh Perry is one. “It’s taken the best bits of both productions… it’s what it always should have been in Andrew’s eyes.” The musical in question is one of the Lord’s lesser known works, The Beautiful Game. The show, […]
Lloyd Webber’s The Beautiful Game revived at the Union Theatre
Over 12 years after it was seen in the West End, Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton’s The Beautiful Game will receive its first London revival at the Union Theatre from 3 April (press night is 8 April) to 3 May 2014. John and Del are just two regular teenagers who dream of nothing more […]
We Will Rock You to close after 12-year run
After a record-breaking 12 years at London’s Dominion Theatre, entertaining more than 6.5 million people, the Queen and Ben Elton musical We Will Rock You will close on 31 May 2014. Now the longest-running show ever at the Dominion Theatre by a margin of nine years, the musical has become one of the Top 10 longest-running musicals […]
Tonight’s the Night – interview with Ben Elton
Ben Elton’s career has spanned plays, novels, and a feature film, in addition to 30 years as a successful comic writer and performer on British television and the stand-up circuit. But Elton has always reserved a special place in his heart for musicals, having written three that feature music from such diverse talents as Andrew […]
Tonight’s the Night on tour from January 2014
Tonight’s the Night, the musical comedy inspired by the songs of Rod Stewart, is to launch a major new tour in January 2014, starring Jade Ewen (Sugababes). The show premiered in the West End in 2003 and went on to tour across across the UK. With a book by writer and comedian Ben Elton (We […]
We Will Rock You Arena Tour
No fewer than 25 Queen melodies energise We Will Rock You, Ben Elton, Roger Taylor and Brian May’s 2002 hit show, a version of which is touring Scandinavia, the Low Countries, Eastern Europe, and, more recently, Sheffield’s Motorpoint Arena. Elton’s idea is terrific, but as contorted as it is ingenious. As a vehicle for the sizzling […]
