A new musical based on the ground-breaking TV series Rock Follies is one of three major musicals and four world premieres to feature in artistic director Daniel Evans’ final season at the Chichester Festival Theatre.
Tag Archives | Daniel Evans
RSC appoints Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey as co-artistic directors
Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey will take over as co-artistic directors of the Royal Shakespeare Company from June 2023. Frequent collaborators on major productions, Evans, the current artistic director of Chichester Festival Theatre, and Harvey, the artistic director of Theatr Clwyd, jointly applied for the prestigious position which was publicly advertised in April 2022. Announcing […]
Cast for Chichester Festival Theatre’s Local Hero
Tony Award-winning American actor Gabriel Ebert will make his UK stage debut in the Chichester Festival Theatre production of Local Hero this autumn. The winner of the 2013 Best Featured Actor in a Musical Tony for his performance as Mr Wormwood in Matilda The Musical, the veteran Broadway and Off-Broadway star will take on the […]
South Pacific – Sadler’s Wells Theatre and Touring
South Pacific continues at Sadler’s Wells Theatre, London until 28 August 2022 before touring until 19 November 2022. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ For many, a big-budget musical revival must do more to justify its existence than any other type of theatrical production. New writing is chronically under-supported, and although showbusiness […]
Five Questions With: Gina Beck
GINA BECK is reprising the role of Nellie Forbush in the highly-anticipated Sadler’s Wells season and UK and Ireland tour of Chichester Festival Theatre’s crowd-pleasing production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic South Pacific. Presented by Jamie Wilson, Jonathan Church Theatre Productions and Gavin Kalin, and directed by Chichester’s artistic director Daniel Evans, the touring production […]
Full cast for South Pacific’s Sadler’s Wells season and UK and Ireland tour
Full casting has been confirmed for the highly-anticipated Sadler’s Wells season and UK and Ireland tour of Chichester Festival Theatre’s crowd-pleasing production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic South Pacific. Lee Ross (EastEnders, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Birdsong) will take on the role of Luther Billis alongside the previously announced returning original cast members Julian Ovenden […]
Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends – Sondheim Theatre
Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends at the Sondheim Theatre, London (and live-streamed at the Prince Edward Theatre). Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ It must be a record! The fastest time to stop a show after curtain-up came at the Sondheim Theatre when Julia McKenzie stepped on to the stage and softly sung […]
Tickets for a live screening of the sold-out Sondheim’s Old Friends Gala to be released
Tickets for a live screening at the Prince Edward Theatre of the sold-out Sondheim’s Old Friends Gala are to be released today, 30 March 2022. Priority will be given to the thousands of people who signed up in the hope of securing tickets but couldn’t be accommodated for the performance at the Sondheim Theatre. Booking […]
An all-star cast of Old Friends will celebrate Sondheim at the Sondheim
Cameron Mackintosh has invited many of Stephen Sondheim’s old friends to join him in celebrating his extraordinary talents and legacy at the theatre which was recently rebuilt in Sondheim’s honour. The all-star cast for OLD FRIENDS so far includes Michael Ball, Petula Clark, Judi Dench, Daniel Evans, Bonnie Langford, Adrian Lester, Damian Lewis, Julia Mckenzie, […]
Three musicals feature in Chichester Festival Theatre’s 2022 season – Susan Stroman makes her debut at the venue
Chichester Festival Theatre’s 60th anniversary season will feature three musicals: Susan Stroman makes her Chichester debut directing and choreographing the Gershwins’ musical comedy Crazy For You, Charlie Stemp returns to Chichester to lead the cast. Local Hero, book by David Greig and music and lyrics by Mark Knopfler, based on the Bill Forsyth film, directed […]
Principal cast for Chichester Festival Theatre’s South Pacific UK and Ireland tour
A number of original cast members will return when Chichester Festival Theatre’s production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic South Pacific embarks on a UK and Ireland tour this summer. Julian Ovenden (Merrily We Roll Along, Grand Hotel) will reprise his performance as Emile de Becque opposite the previously announced Gina Beck (Matilda, Show Boat) returning […]
Chichester’s hit South Pacific to tour UK and Ireland in 2022
Chichester Festival Theatre’s crowd-pleasing production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic South Pacific will embark on a UK and Ireland tour next summer. Gina Beck (Matilda, Show Boat) and Julian Ovenden (Merrily We Roll Along, Grand Hotel) will reprise their performances in the starring roles of Nellie Forbush and Emile de Becque when the touring production […]
South Pacific – Chichester Festival Theatre
South Pacific continues at the Chichester Festival Theatre until 5 September 2021. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Forgive me if I get emotional but South Pacific was the show that gave birth to a lifelong passion for musical theatre 68 years ago when, as an 11-year-old, I was taken to Drury […]
Gina Beck and Alex Young to share starring role in Chichester’s South Pacific
Alex Young will take over as Nellie Forbush part way through the Chichester Festival Theatre’s eagerly-anticipated production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic South Pacific when original leading lady Gina Beck leaves to await the birth of her second child. The special job share arrangement will mean Beck will rehearse and open in the role as […]
Chichester Festival Theatre announces full cast for South Pacific
Full casting has been confirmed for the Chichester Festival Theatre’s eagerly-anticipated production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic South Pacific. As previously announced artistic director Daniel Evans will direct a cast headed by Gina Beck (Matilda, Show Boat) as Nellie Forbush, Julian Ovenden (Merrily We Roll Along, Grand Hotel) as Emile de Becque, Joanna Ampil (Avenue […]
South Pacific set to be Chichester Festival Theatre’s reopening production
The Chichester Festival Theatre will reopen its doors this summer with the venue’s new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic South Pacific. Originally planned as the centrepiece of the 2020 season, the production will now make its eagerly-awaited debut at the Festival Theatre from 5 July until 13 July 2021. Announcing the new dates, executive […]
Celebrating Sondheim – Chichester Festival Theatre
Celebrating Sondheim – Encore, streaming from Chichester Festival Theatre until 25 March 2021. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Timed as a 91st birthday tribute to the only composer to have theatres named in his honour on Broadway and in the West End, this reissue of the Celebrating Sondheim concert filmed at […]
Chichester Festival Theatre offers another chance to see its Sondheim Celebration
Home viewers will get a second chance to enjoy Chichester Festival Theatre’s sold-out concert Celebrating Sondheim, an encore screening marking Stephen Sondheim’s 91st birthday on 22 March 2021. Hosted by the popular venue’s artistic director Daniel Evans, the star-studded celebration of the music of the legendary composer featured Evans’ co-star for the London and Broadway […]
Chichester’s Flowers For Mrs Harris cast reunites for first official recording
The cast of the Chichester Festival Theatre’s hit 2018 production of Flowers For Mrs Harris has been reunited for the first official recording of Richard Taylor and Rachel Wagstaff’s award-winning musical. Due for release on CD and download on 3 December 2020 by SimG Records, the cast album was recorded in July this year. Unveiling […]
Sondheim celebration planned for Chichester Festival Theatre autumn season
A star-studded celebration of the music of Stephen Sondheim looks set to be among the highlights of a live, socially distanced autumn season of entertainment unveiled by the team at the Chichester Festival Theatre. After hosting the crowd-pleasing Concert In The Park in August, artistic director Daniel Evans will take to the stage once again […]
South Pacific stars to join Chichester Festival Theatre outdoor bank holiday event
Lead cast members from the postponed Chichester Festival Theatre production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic South Pacific will be among the star-studded line-up for the venue’s August Bank Holiday outdoor event. Gina Beck, Rob Houchen and Julian Ovenden will join Gabrielle Brooks, Giles Terera and CFT artistic director Daniel Evans for a musical theatre flavoured […]
Masterclass for Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year candidates
The team behind the Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year (SSSSPOTY) has organised a special masterclass and Q&A to help fill the void left by the shelving of this year’s contest due to the Covid-19 crisis. The 70 students who had been due to travel to London for the selection process to find […]
Chichester’s South Pacific postponed until 2021 as Festival Theatre cancels 2020 productions
The highly-anticipated Chichester Festival Theatre production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic South Pacific is another major production to fall victim to the ongoing Covid-19 crisis following the venue’s decision to cancel the entire 2020 season. In a statement released this week, executive director Kathy Bourne and artistic director Daniel Evans said: “We are devastated that […]
Flowers For Mrs Harris – Chichester Festival Theatre website
Flowers For Mrs Harris is free to watch on the Chichester Festival Theatre website until 8 May 2020. There’s been precious little feelgood factor about this past miserable month but Chichester Festival Theatre is doing its bit to spread sunshine into our shrivelling lives by offering their charming 2018 production of Flowers For Mrs Harris […]
Flowers for Mrs Harris launches online productions streamed from Chichester Festival Theatre
For the first time, Chichester Festival Theatre is to stream a selection of its archive productions online, beginning with the musical Flowers for Mrs Harris from 9 April 2020 for the Easter weekend. Flowers for Mrs Harris will be available on CFT’s website for 30 days and will be free to watch. Daniel Evans and Kathy Bourne, artistic […]
Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell to lead series of Donmar shows
Olivier Award-winners Daniel Evans and Jenna Russell are reuniting to curate a series of special musical theatre-themes evening shows at the Donmar Warehouse. The pair who won Olivier Awards for their performances in the acclaimed 2007 production of Sunday in the Park With George, will join forces once again next month for four cabaret-style shows […]
New productions of South Pacific and Assassins for Chichester 2020
Gina Beck, Julian Ovenden, Joanna Ampil and Rob Houchen will star in a major new production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic South Pacific, one of two major musicals to feature in a packed 2020 season at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Due to play the prestigious venue from 6 July until 29 August 2002, the new […]
The Light in the Piazza – Royal Festival Hall
The Light in the Piazza continues at the Royal Festival Hall, London until 5 July 2019. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ The Light in the Piazza is based on a novel by the American author Elizabeth Spencer who travelled to Italy on a scholarship and stayed there so long that she […]
Renée Fleming and Dove Cameron head cast of London premiere of The Light in the Piazza
Opera superstar Renée Fleming and Disney TV star Dove Cameron will make their London theatre debuts next summer in a special production of Tony Award-winning The Light in the Piazza. The first production from Scenario Two, the new company founded by John Berry and Anthony Lilley, The Light in the Piazza will make its London […]
Flowers for Mrs Harris – Chichester Festival Theatre
Flowers for Mrs Harris continues at Chichester Festival Theatre until 29 September 2018. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Daniel Evans’ farewell production at The Crucible, Sheffield before taking over as Chichester’s artistic director was the staging of this new British musical, based on the 1958 novella by Paul Gallico. Rachel Wagstaff […]
Me and My Girl – Chichester Festival Theatre
Me and My Girl continues at the Chichester Festival Theatre until 25 August 2018. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ This season’s productions at Chichester have not met with the usual acclaim from other critics, although they have been well received by audiences and by this reviewer. Not surprisingly there has been speculation over […]
Chichester’s Me and My Girl full cast confirmed
The full company has been confirmed for the Chichester Festival Theatre’s much-anticipated production of the classic Me And My Girl this summer. As previously announced the principal cast will be led Little Britain star Matt Lucas who will make his Chichester Festival Theatre debut as Bill Snibson, the Cockney barrow boy who discovers he’s an […]
Clive Rowe joins cast of Chichester’s Me and My Girl
Clive Rowe is the latest addition to the principal cast of Chichester Festival Theatre’s much-anticipated production of the classic Me And My Girl this summer. Olivier Award winner Rowe (Guys and Dolls, Carousel) will join the previously announced Matt Lucas, Caroline Quentin and Alex Young in the new version of the music hall flavoured musical […]
Matt Lucas to make Chichester debut in Me and My Girl
Matt Lucas will make his Chichester Festival Theatre debut as Bill Snibson in the classic Me And My Girl this summer. The Little Britain star will take on the role of the Cockney barrow boy who discovers he’s an Earl in the production of the music hall-flavoured musical which will be directed by artistic director […]
Musical highlights of Chichester Festival Theatre 2018 season are Flowers For Mrs Harris and Me and My Girl
Productions of the Noel Gay classic Me and My Girl and new musical Flowers For Mrs Harris will be the musical highlights of artistic director Daniel Evans and executive director Rachel Tackley’s star-studded second season at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Following on from a record-breaking 2017, the new season will feature a mix of major revivals […]
Fiddler On the Roof – Chichester Festival Theatre
Fiddler On the Roof continues at the Chichester Festival Theatre until 2 September. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Who would have thought that a musical set in an Ukrainian Shtetl, that tells of the persecution and eviction of Jews from their homeland, would prove to be such a durable success. Such […]
Fiddler On the Roof at Chichester – full casting details
The full company has been announced today for Fiddler On the Roof, running at Chichester Festival Theatre from 10 July to 26 August, with a press night on Tuesday 18 July. Directed by Daniel Evans, the cast of this new staging of the classic Broadway musical is led by Omid Djalili and Tracy-Ann Oberman. The […]
Caroline, or Change – Minerva Theatre, Chichester
Caroline, or Change continues at the Minerva Theatre, Chichester until 3 June. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Chichester Festival Theatre has a new artistic director, Daniel Evans, and though his tenure may have started with a bit of a blip in the revival of Alan Bennett’s Forty Years On, this inaugural […]
Chichester season – Omid Djalili to star in Daniel Evans’ Fiddler On the Roof
Comedy favourite Omid Djalili’s performance as Tevye in a major new production of Fiddler On the Roof is set to be one of the musical highlights of Daniel Evans and Rachel Tackley’s first season at the Chichester Festival Theatre. The British-Iranian comedy actor whose many credits include taking on the role of Fagin in Oliver! […]
UK Theatre Awards – Sheffield Theatres double as Flowers For Mrs Harris and Show Boat share top musical prize
Sheffield Theatres productions Flowers For Mrs Harris and Show Boat have shared the honours in the Best Musical Production category at the UK Theatre Awards today (Sunday 9 October). The double triumph was especially sweet for the shows’ director Daniel Evans who earlier this year left his post as artistic director of Sheffield Theatres after seven […]
Interview – Emmanuel Kojo takes on the role of Joe in Show Boat
EMMANUEL KOJO was thrust into the spotlight, fresh from drama school, less that two years ago, in The Scottsboro Boys, and has been working almost continuously since. He joined Musical Theatre Review’s Aura Simon, breathless and exhilarated, from a matinee performance playing Joe in the Sheffield Crucible production of Jerome Kern and Oscar Hammerstein II’s timeless masterpiece Show Boat, now […]
Flowers for Mrs Harris – Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
Flowers for Mrs Harris continues at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield until 4 June. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Daniel Evans, in the programme notes for his last production as artistic director of Sheffield Theatres, claims that Music and Lyrics Richard Taylor and Rachel Wagstaff’s Flowers for Mrs Harris has something of the Wagnerian […]
Interview – Clare Burt on Flowers for Mrs Harris and creating new work
Actress CLARE BURT (This is My Family, London Road) has returned to Sheffield Theatres to take on the title role in the world premiere of Flowers for Mrs Harris, Daniel Evans’ final production as artistic director at the venue (opening tonight, 23 May). The new musical by Richard Taylor (The Go-Between, Tom’s Midnight Garden) and Rachel Wagstaff (Birdsong, Moonshadow), based […]
West End Show Boat to close early
The limited season of Daniel Evans’ acclaimed Sheffield Crucible production of Show Boat will now play its final West End performance on 27 August 2016. Show Boat began West End previews at the New London Theatre on 9 April 2016 with opening night on 25 April 2016 after which Evans’ production was the recipient of a second set of five star reviews. […]
Show Boat – New London Theatre
Show Boat continues at the New London Theatre. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ The New London Theatre, as both Cats and War Horse demonstrated, lends itself to spectacle. Show Boat follows in that tradition with a fabulous three decker paddle steamer at its centre and sensitive use of the aisles to make the action […]
Robert Hastie is new Sheffield Theatres artistic director
Actor-director Robert Hastie is to succeed Daniel Evans as artistic director of Sheffield Theatres. The appointment marks a homecoming for Hastie who began his professional theatre career at Sheffield Crucible as an actor in Edward Bond’s Lear in 2005. He will take up his new role in July, taking over from fellow actor-director Evans who is […]
West End transfer of Show Boat – casting news
Casting details have been announced for the West End transfer of Daniel Evans’ sell-out Sheffield Crucible production of Show Boat. Malcolm Sinclair (My Fair Lady, The Meeting) will play Capt. Andy Hawks and Chris Peluso (Beautiful – The Carole King Musical, Miss Saigon) will take on the role of Gaylord Ravenal. They have joined many of […]
New musical Flowers for Mrs Harris – Anna-Jane Casey, Rebecca Caine and Laura Pitt-Pulford cast
Full casting details for Flowers for Mrs Harris, Daniel Evans’ final production as Sheffield Theatres’ artistic director, have been announced. The new musical by Richard Taylor (The Go-Between, Tom’s Midnight Garden) and Rachel Wagstaff (Birdsong, Moonshadow), based on American writer Paul Gallico’s (The Poseidon Adventure) novel is due to have its world premiere at the Sheffield Crucible in May. […]
Show Boat – Sheffield production transfers to New London in April 2016
Daniel Evans’ production of Show Boat will transfer from Sheffield to the West End in the spring of 2016. With booking opening today (12 February 2016), previews begin at the New London Theatre on 9 April, with press night on 25 April 2016. With music by Jerome Kern and book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II, based on the novel Show Boat by Edna Ferber, Evans’ production […]
The Oliviers in Concert – Royal Festival Hall, London
The Oliviers in Concert, featuring the BBC Concert Orchestra, at the Royal Festival Hall, London. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ So it’s 40 years since the Olivier Awards were created (they were originally inaugurated in 1976 as the Society of West End Theatre Awards) and kicking off the celebrations was this one-off […]
