The producers of the world’s biggest musical theatre fan convention Musical Con have unveiled the full programme for the popular event’s upcoming fifth anniversary celebration. Due to open its doors to musical theatre lovers once again at ExCel London on 17 and 18 October, Musical Con 2026 will include a special Beetlejuice Spotlight featuring the […]
Tag Archives | Layton Williams
All-star Herods announced for Superstar’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane season
An all-star line-up of Herods will join Sam Ryder’s Jesus for the Theatre Royal Drury Lane run of the new London Palladium production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar.
The Lost Boys and Schmigadoon! lead the 2026 Tony Awards nominations closely followed by British musical Two Strangers
New musicals The Lost Boys and Schmigadoon! lead the nominations for the American Theatre Wing’s 79th Tony Awards, announced today by stage and screen stars Uzo Aduba and Darren Criss. Both shows were recognised in 12 categories.
Super six Herods to star in Jesus Christ Superstar at the London Palladium
Six stars will share the role of King Herod in this summer’s London Palladium run of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s Jesus Christ Superstar.
Layton Williams and George Blagden join Kiss of the Spider Woman cast
Layton Williams and George Blagden are the latest additions to the cast of next year’s highly anticipated new production of the groundbreaking musical Kiss of the Spider Woman.
Olivier Awards 2025 – Fiddler on the Roof is the most nominated production
The nominations for the Olivier Awards 2025 with Mastercard have been announced and Fiddler on the Roof is leading the way, having been recognised in 13 categories.
Starlight Express wins big at the WhatsOnStage Awards 2025
The most awarded show of the evening at the 25th annual WhatsOnStage Award was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express, taking home seven out of its nine nominations and winning Best Musical Revival.
The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals – AO Arena, Manchester
The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals was reviewed at the AO Arena Manchester on 27 January 2025 and will be broadcast in the spring on BBC One, BBC Radio 2, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sounds. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
Titanique – Criterion Theatre
If you’re looking for a quick burst of bonkers, crazily camp musical theatre (packed with songs associated with one of pop music’s most beloved divas) to blow the winter blues away you could do worse than book a ticket for Titanique at London’s Criterion Theatre.
Black British Theatre Awards 2024 – the winners
MJ The Musical and West End Musical Productions’ Shanay Holmes and Chris Steward were among the winners at the 2024 Black British Theatre Awards (BBTAs).
Musical Con 2024 – check out the schedule
The full schedule has been unveiled for Musical Con 2024 – the world’s biggest musical theatre fan convention which returns for the third consecutive year this weekend (19 and 20 October).
New cast for Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club
The multi-award-winning Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club will welcome four new principal cast members early next month.
Star line-up revealed for Musical Con 2024
Over 700 special guests will take part in the world’s biggest musical theatre fan convention Musical Con when the popular event returns for the third consecutive year on 19 and 20 October 2024.
Musical Con 2023 – full schedule confirmed
The full schedule has been confirmed for the second Musical Con – the musical theatre-themed event which will turn ExCel London at Royal Victoria Dock into a haven for musical theatre lovers on 21 and 22 October 2023.
Dates and details are revealed for Musical Con 2023
When Phantoms walk the streets and Cats cosplayers crowd the Elizabeth line singing ‘One Day More’, you know what time it is. Musical Con, the West End’s official musical theatre fan convention, is back with over 70 West End stars joining fans at the ExCeL London on Saturday 21 and Sunday 22 October 2023.
Second Musical Con planned for October 2023
Following an inaugural event that attracted over 10,000 musical theatre-lovers, the West End’s first official musical theatre fan convention MUSICAL CON will return to ExCel London next year.
First Musical Con – full schedule announced
The full schedule has been confirmed for Musical Con, the new musical theatre themed event which will turn ExCel London into a haven for musical theatre lovers on 22 and 23 October 2022. Ten thousand musical theatre fans and enthusiasts are due to attend the weekend event which will offer fans the opportunity to meet […]
More tickets available for first Musical Con
Extra tickets have been released for the UK’s first musical theatre fan convention Musical Con in response to high demand. Announced in April this year, the latest event from the team behind the popular West End Musical Drive-In and West End Musical Celebration, will turn ExCel London into a haven for musical theatre-lovers on 22 […]
Stars line-up for the first West End Musical Convention
Musical theatre fans will be able to celebrate their favourite theatrical genre in the company of a host West End stars this autumn at the first West End Musical Con. The latest event from the team behind the popular West End Musical Drive-In and West End Musical Celebration, will turn ExCel London into a haven […]
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Milton Keynes Theatre and Touring
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie continues at Milton Keynes Theatre until 23 April 2022 and then tours until 30 April. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Heart-warming hit Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is storming the stage of Milton Keynes Theatre this week. The feel-good, coming of age show received critical acclaim for its […]
Performances and presenter line-up announced for Olivier Awards 2022
With under a week to go until the Olivier Awards 2022 with Mastercard, details have been revealed for British theatre’s most prestigious and glamorous night, including the star-studded list of award presenters and performances. The Olivier Awards take place on Sunday 10 April at the Royal Albert Hall – returning after a two-year pandemic hiatus […]
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Woking and Touring
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie continues at the New Victoria Theatre, Woking until 19 March 2022 and tours until 30 April 2022. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The fairytale story of teenage wannabe drag queen Jamie Campbell has come a long way since Firecracker’s 2011 BBC documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16. It […]
Theatre Support Fund+ and Aqua Shard offer show-stopping prize draw of unique paintbrushes signed by renowned theatre actors
Exclusively designed paintbrushes which made up Aqua Shard’s show-stopping 2021 Christmas tree in support of Theatre Support Fund+ are to be offered in a prize draw which launched on 28 January to tie in with BBC1’s Big Night Of Musicals. Eight hundred stunning, golden, brushes dipped in glitter made up the tree, which was designed […]
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – The Lowry, Salford and Touring
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie ran at The Lowry, Salford from 1-12 September 2021 and tours until 30 April 2022. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ The clock on the wall has moved by quite a considerable amount since Everybody’s Talking About Jamie was due to tour around the UK tour for the first time. […]
West End Musical Celebration concerts to return to London
Following a successful six show run at London’s Palace Theatre, the organisers of the West End Musical Celebration concert series have announced a three-month residency at London’s Vaudeville Theatre. One of the first shows to reopen West End theatres in the summer, the star packed celebration of live musical theatre will be back on stage […]
The Best of the West End – Royal Albert Hall
The Best of the West End at the Royal Albert Hall, London Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The breathtaking Best of the West End, presented by Alpha at the Royal Albert Hall, lived up to its name with some of the best stars in musical theatre taking to the stage for a […]
Fundraising Best of the West End concert at Royal Albert Hall announced
A host of the West End’s brightest stars will take to the stage at the Royal Albert Hall for a special concert in aid of Acting For Others on 21 July 2021. Presented by Alpha as part of the iconic venue’s 150th anniversary season, the third concert in the popular The Best of the West […]
West End Musical Celebration – Palace Theatre
West End Musical Celebration continues at the Palace Theatre, London until 13 June 2021. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ I – like you, I’m sure – have spent the last 15 months sat at home, counting down the days until I would get ‘Defying Gravity’ belted directly into my face again. […]
Jamie will be back on tour in September
The first major tour of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie will resume performances in September 2021 with Layton Williams, Shobna Gulati and Shane Richie reprising their performances as Jamie, Ray and Hugo/Loco Chanelle. Opening at The Lowry in Salford Quays on 1 September, the critically-acclaimed and crowd-pleasing British musical will then visit Birmingham, Leicester, Wolverhampton, Canterbury, […]
Digital series The Theatre Channel returns with episode six
Kerry Ellis (Wicked, We Will Rock You), Danny Mac (Sunset Boulevard, Pretty Woman The Musical) and Layton Williams (Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Rent) are among the star performers to feature in the next instalment in the popular pay-to-stream musical theatre flavoured web series, The Theatre Channel. Ellis performs ‘Always Starting Over’ from If/Then, while Mac […]
Turbine’s production of Hair The Musical will play the London Palladium and Mayflower Southampton
Following a sell-out run as part of The Turbine on the Jetty season, Hair The Musical (In Concert), directed by Arlene Phillips, will now play two performances at the London Palladium on 13 June 2021, and two performances at Southampton Mayflower Theatre on 27 June. The performances were originally planned for earlier this year, but […]
West End Musical Celebration concerts rescheduled
With indoor theatre performances not due to resume until 17 May 2021 at the earliest, the West End Musical Celebration – Live At The Palace Theatre concerts have been rescheduled to dates in June. Originally planned for October last year, the star-packed celebration of musical theatre and the return of live theatre will now play […]
Stars unite for Make A Difference Trust single to mark a year of closedown
Some of the most distinctive voices in the West End feature on a new charity single released to mark a year since UK theatres went dark. With representatives from every musical open in the West End when the curtains came down on 16 March 2020 along with artists from shows that should have opened in […]
April return for West End Musical Drive-In
The UK’s biggest musical theatre concert series West End Musical Drive-In is returning with a series of live performances in its London home next month. Following on from its popular live shows last year (and the current digital re-streaming) which brought a touch of musical theatre magic to audiences in their cars, the series will […]
Re-stream of star-packed Leave A Light On series
Lambert Jackson and the Theatre Café have announced an encore run for their popular Leave A Light On online concert series from the middle of next month. A total of 70 performances featuring a host of West End favourites including Zoe Birkett, Jordan Luke Gage, David Hunter, Cassidy Janson, Lucie Jones, Beverley Knight and Layton […]
Line-up for 21st WhatsOnStage Awards revealed
Details of the star-studded line-up for this year’s special WhatsOnStage Awards ceremony have been unveiled. Reflecting current times as the industry awaits the return to live theatre following the Covid crisis, the event will feature performances from shows that were cut short in 2020 and selections from productions planned for 2021. Jodie Prenger and Tom […]
West End Musical Drive-In Goes Digital – Stream.Theatre
West End Musical Drive-In Goes Digital, available via Stream.Theatre until 21 March 2021. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Anything that gives musical theatre fans the opportunity to see a live show in these endless days of deprivation is to be applauded even if, in this case, it involves driving to an […]
Musicals: The Greatest Show – BBC1 and BBC iPlayer
Musicals: The Greatest Show – BBC1 and BBC iPlayer (where it is available for a year). Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ As soon as the great Ramin Karimloo launched into a sublime ‘Music of the Night’, tears started rolling down cheeks and shivers tumbled like a waterfall down the spine. We […]
Thespie announces star-studded concerts celebrating Black and LGBT+ theatre artists
West End stars will feature in two fundraising online concert premieres as part of theatre discovery platform Thespie’s month-long celebration of Black and LGBT+ theatre artists. With proceeds going to LGBT+ charity Stonewall, Break Free will feature LGBT+ theatre artists sharing their personal stories and performing the musical theatre and pop songs that have inspired […]
West End Musical Drive-In shows to be streamed online
Home-bound audiences will be able to get a taste of the initiative that brought a touch of musical theatre magic to a London car park with the release of digital recordings of the West End Musical Drive-In concerts via the stream.theatre platform. Featuring over 25 West End stars including Alice Fearn (Come From Away), Lucie […]
New dates and new look for West End Musical Celebration – Live At The Palace Theatre
The postponed festive show West End Musical Christmas – Live at London’s Palace Theatre has been re-scheduled and re-branded after the show was shelved due to the December Covid-closedown. Now re-titled West End Musical Celebration – Live At The Palace Theatre, the star packed celebration of musical theatre will now play the Palace Theatre from […]
Monday Night At The Apollo – new dates announced
Revised dates have been announced for the new live and live-streamed fundraising concert series Monday Night At The Apollo. Originally due to play two shows in front of a socially distanced audience at the Apollo Theatre on Shaftesbury this month with a third concert in early February, the shows will now take place on 12 […]
Sheridan Smith to host Palladium show as part of BBC musicals special
Sheridan Smith will return to the London Palladium to host a star-studded transatlantic celebration of the music and stars of musical theatre and film on BBC Radio 2 later this month. Musicals: The Greatest Show will be the centrepiece of Radio 2 Celebrates Musicals – three days of programming on the national radio station along […]
Andy Fickman is planning a UK return to direct new musical Halls
Heathers director Andy Fickman will return to the UK in 2021 as director of new British musical Halls. Written by George Stroud and Jennifer Harrison, the pop/rock-flavoured musical which follows the fortunes of eight first year university students, Fickman has already presided over a virtual first official read-through during the national lockdown. Discussing his involvement […]
Check out the new video for the just-released charity single from #CheerUpCharlie & West End Friends
‘You Will Be Found’ by #CheerUpCharlie & West End Friends, a fundraising charity single in aid of youth charity The Diana Award, has been released today (15 November 2020) by Auburn Jam Music to tie in with the start of National Anti-Bullying Week, which runs from 16-20 November. The star-studded single is led by ten-year-old Charlie Kristensen […]
Anti-bullying campaigner Charlie and West End friends feature on charity single
Inspirational young anti-bullying campaigner Charlie Kristensen is joining forces with a host of West End stars to release a charity fundraising single to mark the start of National Anti-Bullying Week (16-20 November 2020). Available from 15 November, the recording of ‘You Will Be Found’ from Dear Evan Hansen features the Berkshire 10-year-old along with a number […]
High demand for The Show Must Go On Live! At The Palace Theatre leads to additional dates
Two extra dates have been added to The Show Must Go On! Live At The Palace Theatre concert series in response to high public demand. After selling out the initial four star-packed special performances at London’s Palace Theatre, the team behind the successful lockdown-launched Theatre Support Fund + will now move their fundraising efforts onstage for […]
Black British Theatre Awards 2020 winners announced
Thriller Live beat off strong opposition from Hamilton and Tina – The Tina Turner Musical to claim the Best Musical Production Award at the 2020 Black British Theatre Awards during a special socially distanced event at London’s Young Vic Theatre which aired on Sky Arts as part of the channel’s new free-to-air line-up. Following on […]
Star-packed West End Musical Christmas shows for London’s Palace Theatre
The team behind the popular West End Musical Brunch events and the recent West End Musical Drive-In series has joined forces with producer Nica Burns to bring a festive version of the north London shows to the heart of the West End this Christmas. Running from 17 until 20 December 2020, West End Musical Christmas […]
Black British Theatre Awards 2020 to air on Sky Arts
Hamilton, Thriller Live and Tina – The Tina Turner Musical are in the running for the Best Musical Production Award at the 2020 Black British Theatre Awards in late October. Following on from last year’s inaugural live ceremony, the winner of the Best Musical category will be announced during a special socially distanced event at […]
