Friday Theatre Breaks and Plays

Two special notices for London Theatre Breaks, with news of a particularly good opportunity for London Theatre Breaks at Weekends and a roundup of some promising plays in the West End.

Theatre Breaks         Friday Night Theatre Breaks Offer October 2, 2010 at 5:01 PM   After another cold and dreary Friday night with nothing on the telly I couldn’t help but think wouldn’t it be lovely to be off to see a show in London instead? Well, Show and Stay think so too. They’ve got a really good new offer, just for Friday nights. They are calling it their Friday Night Club. You can choose from some of the most popular musicals in London and get a 3* hotel room as well for just £69 per person! Wow! Shows in the offer: There are a limited selection of shows in the offer but there’s bound to be something here that you might enjoy. It includes a last chance to see Oliver! the perfect show for this time of year, so that would probably be my pick of the bunch either that or join in the celebrations for Les Miz’s 25th anniversay. We Will Rock You Billy Elliot Blood Brothers Chicago Dreamboats and Petticoats Phantom of the Opera Les Miserables Oliver! Wicked Hotels Some of the hotels are a bit further out than you might think of being ideal for theatre breaks. This can be a good thing though if you are going by car. They are outside the congestion charge and won’t charge exorbitant parking fees. Use public transport to get you into and out of central London and leave the car safely at the hotel. If you are going by train then for an extra £10 per person you can upgrade to something 4* and be nearer the theatres. Things to do on the Saturday Friday night shows are a great idea at this time of year as you can spend Saturday morning doing a bit of shopping in town. The London shops are full of lovely clothes for the new season so why not indulge yourself? Maybe even pop down to Hamleys and get ahead with the present buying! Attractions like The London Eye are much quieter now than they were in the summer and you can usually add them on to your theatre break when you book. Selling Fast I think it is a great offer and these special prices mean that these breaks will sell quite fast. If you want one check now if your choice is available. The offer has only just become available so you have a really good chance of getting a bargain! Here’s the link again so you can check your choice of show and dates:         Autum Theatre Breaks to see Plays September 25, 2010 at 4:20 PM   Top Plays for Theatre breaks There are some excellent plays coming to the London stage in the next few weeks, well worth planning theatre breaks to see.  Here are just some of those that look particularly good. Blood and Gifts – National Theatre ” a hideously topical docudrama about the origins from 1981-91 of the present war in Afghanistan.” – full of insights into what is happening now in that troubled place this should be fascinating. Passion – Donmar Stephen Sondheim’s rather gothic story based on an Italian film has fewer songs than you might expect and a rather magnificent male chorus. Argentine actress Elena Roger is highly praised. Krapp’s Last Tape – The Duchess Theatre. Gambon and Beckett. Not much more to say except perhaps don’t forget to turn off your mobile! Tribes – Royal Court, Nina Raine’s new play revolves around Billy, who is profoundly deaf and his family. “a fascinating dissection of belonging, family and the limitations of communication” Hamlet- The Olivier, Rory Kinnear is directed by Nicholas Hytner. Should be well worth seeing what Kinnear makes of the morose Dane. Yes, Prime Minister – The Gielgud They are all there and yet not quite as we remember them in this up dated production, transferred from the Chichester Festival. Birdsong – The Comedy Theatre Sebastian Faulk’s 1993 World War I best-selling novel is in safe hands here adapted by Rachel Wagstaff and directed by Trevor Nunn The Donmar takes over Trafalgar Studios, beginning with a play about devastation in New Orleans, “Lower Ninth,” continuing with the story of a jazz great, “Novecento” and then Cocteau’s “Les Parents Terribles” “Onassis: The Play” by Martin Sherman, starring Robert Lindsay as the naughty Greek millionaire.

Carrie Sutton cast in The Wizard of Oz

Actress Carrie Sutton has been cast in The Wizard of Oz with a  contract up until early 2012 according to The Scunthorpe Telegraph .

“I’m looking forward to working with Andrew Lloyd Webber for the first time and Michael Crawford who is playing the wizard. The London Palladium feels like my second home. The Wizard of Oz will be my third performance here and I have a contract until early 2012.”

Carrie Sutton is currently in Sister Act and has been working with Sheila Hancock and Whoopi Goldberg at The London Palladium, the exact same theatre where The Wizard of Oz will open in 2011. She has also been in Cabaret, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and Imagine This.

Carrie has done a lot of chorus work and understudying lead roles so far in her career but what will be her role in The Wizard of Oz? If Hannah Waddigham is confirmed as the WIcked Witch then would probably leave Carrie the role of Glinda, the Good Witch.

Carrie Sutton is in Sister Act at the London Palladium

Share and Enjoy:

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

• 

via wizardofozlondon.co.uk

The Hackney Empire - London.

via flickr.com

Picture by Jim Linwood in the London Theatre Breaks pool

London Theatre Breaks What's On West End

Included here on the London Theatre breaks posterous is a hand post from the Usefulwiki theatre blog which lists in a nice clean box the current West End Shows. Only the musicals are listed, and the big west end ones at that so if you are looking for a serious play without music, or a comedy, or a fringe theater musical then you would need to look up one of our other posts such as the one about Theatre Breaks to see Plays on the magazine. After the What's On Now guide, there's a short list of musicals that are coming soon, and that's the exciting pat to watch if you have already seen quite a few London musicals. Ghost is teh one that Linda is keeping an eye on, and it still seems like an age before we get to see Danielle Hope in Dorothy, but coming soon is Love Story which Michael Ball has had a hand in so that could well be worth an autumnal evening in Theatreland.  

London Theatre Breaks                       What’s On In The West End – Musicals   September 25, 2010 at 12:02 PM   What’s On Now In The West End We thought it might be useful to provide a quick reference of musicals in alphabetical order to help show what’s on in the West End as we go into the winter season. Starting with just the top musicals for London theatre breaks Avenue Q Billy Elliot Blood Brothers Chicago Dirty Dancing Dreamboats And Petticoats Flashdance Grease The Jersey Boys Love Never Dies Legally Blonde Les Miserables The Lion King Mamma Mia Oliver Phantom of the Opera Priscilla Queen of the Desert Sister Act Stomp Sweet Charity Thriller Live We Will Rock You Wicked   Last Chance to see: Avenue Q finishes on October 30th 2010 then embarks on a UK tour. Sister Act also finishes on October 30th 2010 Sweet Charity closes on November 6th 2010 Oliver! finishes 8th January 2011 Grease with Lauren Samuels closes on 30 April 2011 What’s on *Soon* in the West End: There are lots of short run plays and comedy acts coming up but these are the confirmed musicals in the pipeline: Love Story A new musical version for the stage produced by Michael Ball, opens Saturday, 27 November 2010 Shrek The Musical Replaces Oliver! at the New London Theatre January 2011 The Wizard of Oz – with Danielle Hope as Dorothy and Michael Crawford as The Wizard opens March 1st 2011 Ghost the Musical a stage adaptation of the sensational film opening in July 2011 Viva Forever A brand new musical story using the songs of the Spice Girls opening in 2012   What's on in the West End What’s On In The West End – Musicals was originally posted at London Theatre Breaks blog

It's interesting to see which musicals are ending isn't it? Farewell to Oliver then, after what seems like a short run but was in fact at least average for the West End I think. Sweet Charity was great, and it's a shame the Whoopi Goldberg run in Sister Act couldn't have been extended but I suppose they need the theatre to start all the changes to the stage in time for Wizard of Oz. As for Avenue Q, well I don't realy have an opinion worth sharing on that one. Enjoy your London Theatre Breaks!

A Tour of Coney Island

Coney Island, New York is the setting for Love Never Dies

The Coney Island chapter

We started the tour exactly where the second chapter of The Wonder City begins, and Justin filled us in:

The Coney Island you see now is physically very different from the one our main characters were looking at back then. A lot has changed, whether by the wrecking ball or fire. Coney Island today has been whittled down from America’s playland (think the Disney World of the 19th and early 20th centuries) to its lowest common denominator: a beach and a carnival spirit that still refuses to die.

Justin interlaced the sites, stories, and history of Coney Island with plot details of The Wonder City alongside a packet of charming draft illustrations by Courtney. 

September 24 2010 | Comments (View)

via blog.kickstarter.com

Coney Island as it was in the time that Love Never Die is set in. A lot has changed in New York island since then.

Posted via email from Love Never Dies

Theatre Breaks in London for 2011

Two Shows for Theatre Breaks In London 2011

I’m going to suggest two shows that I think will be very popular for theatre breaks in London by the end of 2011. The first has already been mentioned in passing at the end of the previous post about New Season Theatre Breaks in London and that show is The Wizard of Oz. The new musical of The Wizard of Oz just has so many things going for it that it’s hard to see how it can fail. The first thing is the timeless popularity of the film and the book and all of the amateur and professional adaptations of the Wizard of Oz that have been produced over the years. Building on a heritage such as this is unadventurous, sure but it gives the venture a head a shoulders start. The next cunning ploy was to use a TV casting show to gain loads of pre-publicity and to guarantee that you already have a star who the public adores! That star is Danielle Hope and she shone through with a wonderful natural talent in all departments despite being up against a host of really high quality competitors. In fact the Dorothy who came a close second, Sophie Evans is set to play Dorothy as understudy every Tuesday, so it’s two TV selected Dorothy stars for the price of one. Well, it would be for the price of two if you wanted to book theatre breaks in London to see both of them, but you know what I mean. Just being an Andrew Lloyd Webber production is another huge factor in the show’s favour, but this is more than that since it’s the reunion of the formidable music and lyrics team of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber no less. Tim Rice is writing the lyrics for about four new songs including one for, wait for it…..   Michael Crawford.

Casting Michael Crawford as the Wizard has to be the piece de la resistance but there could well be more. Who will be the Tin Man, Scarecrow or the cowardly Lion?

Ghost London Theatre Breaks

Ghost London Musical

The second show is one you may not have heard of yet, but rest assured you will have done by 2011. It’s Ghost the Musical, an adaptation of Ghost the movie, but with a solid rock music soundtrack supplied by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics. Another film to stage adaptation, Ghost London is sure to be a hot ticket in 2011.

Dates for Ghost And Wizard of Oz Theatre Breaks in London

Theatre breaks in London to see The Wizard of Oz can be booked for dates from March 2011 while Ghost will arrive in London for theatre breaks from June 2011 after a run in the Manchester Opera House first.

via theatrebreaksinlondon.co.uk

Two good choices for London Theatre Breaks in 2011 but I just get the feeling one of the outsiders might possibly come in from behind and garner even more interest and theatre breaks sales than these two giants of the musical theatre world.

9/13 Deathtrap London Theatre Breaks

London Theatre Breaks         Deathtrap September 12, 2010 at 3:04 PM   Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre Deathtrap The Play Yesterday I wrote a glowing review for the revival of Ira Lewin’s comedy thriller Deathtrap at the Noel Coward Theatre. But when I read it back, I thought how unexciting it was compared to the play! So I thought maybe I’d do something a little different. Instead of a written review, here’s a quick audioboo file in which I talk about the play, it’s less than 5 minutes long, and a bit more interesting perhaps? ** book Deathtrap Theatre Breaks ** Deathtrap The Play – wiki Deathtrap was originally posted at London Theatre Breaks blog