Joint winners of Theatre of the Year at The Stage Awards 2026 were London’s Royal Court Theatre and Newbury’s Watermill Theatre.
Tag Archives | Watermill Theatre Newbury
Watermill to stage 2026 summer production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Newbury’s Watermill Theatre will present a new production of the classic musical Chitty Chitty Bang Bang next summer.
Musical Theatre Review contributors pick their top shows of 2024
A selection of Musical Theatre Review critics were asked to choose their ‘show of the year’ from all the productions they had seen in 2024. As you can see below, some struggled to pick just one!
Newbury’s Watermill to stage Barnum revival
A revival of the classic American musical Barnum will be the centrepiece of the 2024 season at the Watermill Theatre this summer.
Cast and creatives for Watermill’s Whistle Down The Wind
The full cast and creative team have been unveiled for the first major UK revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jim Steinman’s Whistle Down The Wind at Newbury’s Watermill Theatre. Directed and choreographed by Tom Jackson Greaves, the production which features a company of actor-musicians alongside a cast of young people drawn from the local […]
Full cast for Watermill’s The Wicker Husband
Full casting has been unveiled for the highly-anticipated return of folk-flavoured musical The Wicker Husband to Newbury’s Watermill Theatre next month. Joseph Alessi (The Lorax, Old Vic and Toronto) will take on the role of Cobbler with Gemma Sutton (Sweet Charity, The Watermill) as Ugly Girl, Olivier Award winner George Maguire (Sunny Afternoon, West End) […]
Newbury’s Watermill to stage outdoor summer shows
The Watermill Theatre will reopen for outdoor performances next week with a new comedy version of The Hound of the Baskervilles and a special concert performance of classic musical Camelot. The distinctive Berkshire venue will open its gardens to socially distanced audiences for a pre-show dinner followed by performances of the new three-hander production of […]
‘It was a perfect fit that I came into musical theatre’: INTERVIEW: Strictly’s Oti Mabuse works her choreography magic
Best known as one of the most popular dancers on BBC1’s Strictly Come Dancing, OTI MABUSE has enjoyed a new move into musical theatre, having choreographed Ain’t Misbehavin’ at Colchester Mercury and Southwark Playhouse earlier this year, and recently working her magic on Kiss Me, Kate at the Watermill Theatre in Newbury. Born in Pretoria, […]
Amélie The Musical to premiere at the Watermill Theatre before tour
The musical version of hit French film Amélie will receive its UK premiere at Newbury’s Watermill Theatre in 2019 ahead of an extensive UK tour. Directed by Michael Fentiman, Amélie The Musical will debut at the distinctive Berkshire venue from 11 April until 18 May 2019 before heading out on the road from 20 May. […]
Teddy – Watermill Theatre, Newbury and Touring
Teddy continues at the Watermill Theatre, Bagnor until 10 February and will tour nationally before a London season at The Vaults, London (29 March to 5 May 2018). Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ For those of us who did not grow up in the height of the Teddy Boy era but […]
Cast for new production of Teddy revealed
Full casting has been announced for the new production of the award-winning Teddy which is due to open at the Watermill Theatre in January ahead of a UK tour and London season. Directed by Eleanor Rhode, the production will feature: Molly Chesworth (If and When, Soho Theatre); Andrew Gallo (Sunny Afternoon, UK tour); George Parker […]
Interview – Josefina Gabrielle on the pleasure of playing her latest Sondheim role in A Little Night Music
JOSEFINA GABRIELLE is playing Desiree Armfeldt in A Little Night Music, currently playing at the Watermill Theatre in Bagnor, near Newbury. Josefina is no stranger to Sondheim’s musical style – she has played Gussie Carnagie in Merrily We Roll Along (Menier Chocolate Factory) and Dot/Marie in Sunday in the Park With George (Leicester Haymarket). Her extensive musical theatre credits also […]
Murder For Two – Watermill Theatre, Newbury
Murder For Two continues at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury until 25 February before transferring to The Other Palace Studio, from 2-18 March. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ☆ Musical parody is hardly a new initiative but in the hands of Joe Kinosian and Kellen Blair it provides a quirky new genre of comedy. […]
Crazy For You – Watermill Theatre, Newbury
Crazy For You continues at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury until 17 September. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ It was in 1992 that I went to New York and got Upper Circle seats for Crazy For You from TKTS Times Square. My overriding memory from that Broadway spectacular was the glitz of the costumes […]
Tell Me On a Sunday – Watermill Theatre, Newbury and Touring
Tell Me On a Sunday continues at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury until 20 February, before touring until 8 June. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Returning to the Watermill stage following a national tour in the title role of Calamity Jane, Jodie Prenger restrains her natural effervescence to encapsulate the character of Emma as she […]
Oliver! – Watermill Theatre, Newbury
Oliver! continues at the Watermill Theatre, Bagnor, Newbury until 19 September. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ With embryonic rumours that Cameron Mackintosh has been trying to produce a film revival of Lionel Bart’s Oliver! and the previous national production having finished touring in 2013, it is as timely as Fagin’s collection of pocket […]
Interview – Luke Sheppard brings a new dimension to Oliver! at the Watermill Theatre
LUKE SHEPPARD, a young director with a varied – and critically lauded – handful of shows under his (relatively) newly-donned belt, talks to Musical Theatre Review’s Oliver Beatson about his latest production, the Watermill Theatre’s up-and-coming production of Oliver! In what looks to be Oliver! with a twist – the production (playing at the Newbury venue from 31 July to 19 September) will offer the theatre’s signature integrated-musician […]
Oliver! at the Watermill – full company revealed
The Watermill has announced its full company for its upcoming summer production of Lionel Bart’s multi-award winning musical Oliver!, opening on Friday 31 July and playing until Saturday 19 September. Directed by Luke Sheppard, this brand new production will bring an immersive and site responsive twist to Bart’s much-loved musical, with London’s murky Victorian underworld reimagined in and around the […]
Sophia Ragavelas joins touring cast of Calamity Jane
Sophia Ragavelas will be joining the touring production of Calamity Jane as Katie Brown from Tuesday 26 May. Ragavelas’ many West End credits include playing Eponine and Fantine in Les Misérables, Sophie in Mamma Mia!, Chloe in Never Forget and Marcy in The Witches of Eastwick. She most recently played Grizabella in the national tour of Cats. Sophia […]
The Watermill Theatre summer musical is Oliver!, directed by Luke Sheppard
The Watermill Theatre, Newbury’s summer musical will be a brand new production of Lionel Bart’s multi award-winning musical Oliver!, opening on Friday 31 July until Saturday 19 September (press night is Thursday 6 August). Tickets are on general sale from Monday 27 April. Directed by Luke Sheppard, The Watermill’s trademark actor-musicians will bring a new twist to Bart’s much-loved musical […]
Calamity Jane – Watermill Theatre, Newbury
Calamity Jane continues at the Watermill, Newbury until 6 September before touring to 20 June 2015. The Watermill is a renowned producing house whose shows have toured not only regionally but nationally with Sunset Boulevard in the West End and internationally with Sweeney Todd on Broadway. Despite the intimacy of the 220-seat auditorium and the confines […]
