Top Hat continues at continues at Kilworth House Theatre, Leicestershire until 17 September. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ This is a revival of the multi Olivier Award-winning 2013 Aldwych Theatre production, based in turn on the iconic 1935 film. The beautiful open-air theatre at Kilworth House is now in its tenth year […]
Tag Archives | Stephen Mear
42nd Street – Theatre du Chatelet, Paris
42nd Street continues at Theatre du Chatelet, Paris until 8 January. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Now here’s a great idea for a Christmas present (especially if someone else pays for it): best seats at the glorious 1,800-seater Chatelet on the banks of the Seine, Eurostar tickets (cheap right now) and […]
Double helping of 42nd Street – first stop Theatre du Chatelet in Paris
While London readies itself for a March revival of 42nd Street, the musical that propelled Catherine Zeta-Jones to stardom in 1984, Paris gets in first with a seven-week English-language run of the same show at the Theatre du Chatelet from 17 November to 8 January. Stephen Mear will be directing a Chatelet cast headed by […]
Thoroughly Modern Millie – Kilworth House Theatre
Thoroughly Modern Millie continues at the Kilworth House Theatre, Leicestershire until 11 September. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Kilworth House Theatre delivers yet another outstanding summer production at its Leicestershire open-air auditorium. One of two annual large scale stagings (the former being Matthew White’s excellent West Side Story) Stephen Mear’s Thoroughly Modern Millie […]
42nd Street at Theatre du Chatelet – Ria Jones leads the cast
Ria Jones, the supersub who played Norma Desmond to rave reviews and standing ovations when Glenn Close went sick for a number of performances of Sunset Boulevard at the London Coliseum at the end of April, gets a starring role in her own right in Paris in November. Jones plays Dorothy Brock in the Theatre […]
New Union Theatre patrons Ruthie Henshall and Stephen Mear back The Fix
New Union Theatre patrons, West End leading lady Ruthie Henshall and award-winning choreographer Stephen Mear, joined the cast and crew of Atomicus Entertainment’s production of The Fix to promote the first show to play the state-of-the-art theatre space. Commenting on her decision to take on the role of patron at the new Union, Henshall said: “The success of […]
Stephen Mear stages 42nd Street at Theatre du Chatelet
Stephen Mear, who danced in the original London production of 42nd Street in the 1980s, is to direct and choreograph a revival of the famed showbiz musical in Paris in November (he recently choreographed Singin’ in the Rain at the venue). The show launched Catherine Zeta-Jones’ career when, as a 17-year-old, she was pitched from the […]
Thoroughly Modern Millie at Kilworth House Theatre – more details
Casting details have been announced for Kilworth House Theatre’s production of Thoroughly Modern Millie which is due to open at the distinctive Leicestershire venue on 16 August. The second production in the theatre’s 10th anniversary season will be directed and choreographed by Stephen Mear. Mear and producer Celia Mackay this week announced the lead cast of Michelle Francis […]
Sunset Boulevard – London Coliseum
Sunset Boulevard continues at the London Coliseum until 7 May. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ The golden age of Hollywood, when silent pictures gave way to ‘talkies’, has been a fertile ground for storytelling in the past. Singin’ in the Rain gave us a comedic take on the screen starlet who […]
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang tour – Carrie Hope Fletcher and Shaun Williamson cast
West End star Carrie Hope Fletcher and ex EastEnder Shaun Williamson are to join the cast of the UK and Ireland touring production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. Hope Fletcher (The War of the Worlds, Les Misérables) will take over the role of Truly Scrumptious from 4 May until 2 October. The actress appeared in the original cast of […]
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at West Yorkshire Playhouse – Jon Robyns and Amy Griffiths head up cast
Casting has been announced for the West Yorkshire Playhouse and Music & Lyrics Limited production of the much-loved Sherman Brothers musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, opening at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds on 2 December, with a national press night on Thursday 10 December, for a nine-week season finishing on 30 January 2016. Jon Robyns (Memphis, […]
Mack & Mabel – Chichester Festival Theatre
Mack & Mabel continues at the Chichester Festival Theatre until 5 September, and then tours the UK and Ireland from 1 October–6 December. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart’s musical, telling of the early days of silent film-making and the relationship between film director Mack Sennett and his greatest star Mabel Normand, has […]
Mack and Mabel at Chichester Festival Theatre – full cast revealed
The full cast has been confirmed for Chichester’s forthcoming summer musical, Mack and Mabel, which will be led by Michael Ball and Rebecca LaChance in the title roles. Following the Chichester run (13 July to 5 September), this major new production will tour across the UK and Ireland. Based on the true romance between Hollywood legends Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand, […]
Chitty Chitty Bang Bang kicks off UK and Ireland tour at West Yorkshire Playhouse
West Yorkshire Playhouse and Music & Lyrics Limited will present a new production of the much-loved Sherman Brothers musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, opening at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds on 2 December, with a national press night on Thursday 10 December, for a nine-week season finishing on 30 January 2016. The UK and Ireland tour will then […]
Singin’ in the Rain – Theatre du Chatelet, Paris
Singin’ in the Rain continues at Theatre du Chatelet, Paris, until 26 March and returns there from 27 November 2015 to 15 January 2016. Star rating: 4 stars ★ ★ ★ ★ It’s raining Gene Kelly at the Chatelet with the pre-Christmas stage premiere of his 1951 masterpiece An American in Paris (now transferred to Broadway) quickly […]
Chichester season – A Damsel in Distress joins Mack and Mabel
Chichester marks its first full season following its major redevelopment with two major musicals in the Festival Theatre, the previously announced Michael Ball in Mack and Mabel, directed by Jonathan Church with choreography by Stephen Mear, and a new stage version of A Damsel in Distress, directed and choreographed by Rob Ashford. A Damsel in Distress (30 May–27 June) has music and lyrics […]
Mary Poppins begins UK and Ireland tour at Leicester Curve in October
Disney and Cameron Mackintosh have revealed that their multi award-winning musical Mary Poppins will embark on a tour of the UK and Ireland, opening at Leicester Curve on 13 October 2015. Mackintosh said today: “It’s hard to believe that it is already 11 years since Mary Poppins first landed on the London stage. My goodness… time flies even faster than our beloved Nanny! I’m […]
Michael Ball leads Mack and Mabel at Chichester and on tour
Michael Ball returns to Chichester this summer in a major new production of Mack and Mabel, directed by Jonathan Church, which opens at the Festival Theatre in July (press night is 21 July), followed by a UK tour from 1 October to 6 December. Based on the true romance between Hollywood legends Mack Sennett and Mabel Normand, this […]
Imelda Staunton leads West End transfer of Chichester’s Gypsy
Imelda Staunton will star as the indomitable Momma Rose in the West End transfer of Jonathan Kent’s sell-out Chichester Festival Theatre production of Gypsy, the first to be seen in London for 40 years. This strictly limited season opens at the Savoy Theatre on 15 April 2015 with previews from 28 March 2015. Further casting for Gypsy, which goes on sale today […]
Stephen Mear travels from Gypsy to the City of Angels in Part Two of our exclusive interview
Last week Gypsy opened at the Chichester Festival Theatre, and among the rave reviews were comments such as: “Stephen Mear’s choreography is a joy” (The Stage) and “Stephen Mear’s choreography has a bright-eyed wit” (London Evening Standard). Olivier Award-winning STEPHEN MEAR has become hugely respected in the industry as both a choreographer and director. At Chichester, where he is […]
Choreographer Stephen Mear reveals all about Gypsy at Chichester
Tonight is an important date in Olivier Award-winning choreographer STEPHEN MEAR’s diary – it’s the hotly anticipated official opening of Gypsy at the Chichester Festival Theatre, one of a line-up of shows he has collaborated on at the venue where he is an associate. In true Billy Elliot style, Mear began dancing at the age […]
The Pajama Game – Gary Wilmot joins cast at Shaftesbury Theatre
The Pajama Game continues at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London until 13 September. There was a little bit of musical chairs going on in the casting department last week at The Pajama Game. While the evening was all about actor Gary Wilmot taking over the role of Vernon Hines (the Sleep-Tite pajama factory’s time and motion […]
The Pajama Game – Shaftesbury Theatre
The Pajama Game continues at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London, until 13 September. A musical about union trouble at a pajama factory in a small Midwest town in 1950s America doesn’t immediately appeal as something worth dragging yourself away from the MasterChef final for. But then neither did one based on a book of twee TS […]
Polycarpou and Wilmot confirmed for The Pajama Game
Peter Polycarpou, Gary Wilmot and Colin Stinton join the cast of the West End transfer of Chichester Festival Theatre’s production of The Pajama Game, directed by Richard Eyre. Polycarpou and Stinton reprise their roles as Vernon Hines and Hasler, with Wilmot taking over the role of Vernon Hines from 2 June. They join the previously […]
