PICS: WhatsOnStage Awards 2016 winners

The 2016 WhatsOnStage Awards took place last night (21st February) at the Prince of Wales Theatre. Click here to find out who won what. Check out some of the winners with their awards below (click picture to enlarge).

Kinky Boots' Matt Henry & Amy Lennox 

PICS: Andrew Lloyd Webber & Cameron Mackintosh visit Cats in Blackpool

Last night (12th August) Andrew Lloyd Webber and Cameron Mackintosh visited Cats at the Blackpool Opera House and met with the cast, led by Jane McDonald as Grizabella, on stage after the performance. Check out the images below (click picture to enlarge).

Cats runs at the Blackpool Opera House until 5th September 2015. The production then returns to the London Palladium for a strictly limited eight week season from 23rd October 2015 with Beverley Knight playing the role of Grizabella.

Jonathan Church to launch new production company following Chichester departure

Following the announcement of his departure from Chichester Festival Theatre after the 2016 Season, Jonathan Church has announced that he will be establishing a new, independent production company, Jonathan Church Productions Limited (JCPL), as a platform to continue the development of both his producing and directing output in the future.

Church new company is being supported by Delfont Mackintosh Theatres (DMT) who, as well as becoming a minority shareholder in the Company, will be providing JCPL with a development fund to enable Jonathan to create new work for West End theatres and beyond.

Church intends to build on the commercial and artistic success of his tenure at Chichester - whose latest London transfer is Gypsy starring Imelda Staunton - by creating artistically ambitious work in the West End, on tour across the UK and internationally. He will also continue the exploration of his directing career in tandem with his work as a producer, and aims to develop further creative relationships in the commercial sector.

Review: Miss Saigon at the Prince Edward Theatre

Miss Saigon
Prince Edward Theatre
Reviewed on Thursday 22nd May 2014

Miss Saigon is quite simply musical theatre perfection. It's not often I sit in a theatre and physically feel as if I am watching a classic piece of theatre. I've heard various comparisons between this new revival and the original West End production, but you don’t miss what you don't know.

Sir Cameron Mackintosh takes over Victoria Palace & Ambassadors Theatres & reveals renovation plans

It has been announced that Sir Cameron Mackintosh will take over ownership of two more West End theatres.

He will take over the Victoria Palace Theatre (current home of Billy Elliot) in June this year and the Ambassadors Theatre (current home of Stomp) by 2015, renaming it The Sondheim Theatre.

Please find full statements from the producers of Billy Elliot, Cameron Mackintosh, Stephen Waley-Cohen and Stephen Sondheim below.

Mackintosh has ambitious plans to significantly improve the 1,500 seat Victoria Palace Theatre. The theatre will close for around twelve months from autumn 2016, to tie in with surrounding redevelopment work. The stage will be extended by six metres, the front of house enlarged and completely overhauled and the auditorium and exterior restored to its full glory.

Julie Atherton, Joanna Riding, Hannah Waddingham & Michael Xavier for charity concert at the Queens Theatre

Stars of the stage and screen will come together for a special one-night-only concert You’ll Never Walk Alone at the Queen’s Theatre (current home to Les Mis) on Sunday 2nd March 2014 at 7.30pm in aid of the Philippines Typhoon Appeal. Tickets are now on sale with all proceeds going directly to the Disasters Emergency Committee.

On 7th November 2013 Typhoon Haiyan, one of the most intense tropical storms ever to make landfall anywhere in the world, struck the Philippines. Millions were affected by torrential rain, winds of over 140mph and flooding of up to 15 feet, devastating coastal areas. Over 14 million people have had their lives torn apart, with approximately 590,000 homes completely destroyed and well over 4 million people forcibly displaced due to the destruction.

Casting announced for West End revival of Miss Saigon

Baz Bamigboye has revealed that Eva Noblezada will star as Kim in Cameron Mackintosh's West End revival of Miss Saigon. The 17 year old was spotted by Broadway casting director Tara Rubin when she attended an awards show in New York for U.S. high school singers, she has never appeared in a professional musical before.

The Daily Mail has claimed that Mackintosh is helping to ensure she continues her studies in London. Noblezada will do four performances a week, and two understudies will cover the remaining shows.

The production will also star: Jon Jon Briones as the Engineer, Alistair Brammer as Chris, Hugh Maynard as John, and Tamsin Carroll as Ellen. Rachelle Ann Go will play GiGi.

Theatre Gossip: Samantha Barks to star in Broadway revival and new film adaptation of Oliver!?

According to the Daily Mail, Cameron Mackintosh wants to make another film adaptation of Lionel Bart's Oliver!, following the success of Tom Hooper's Les Miserables film adaptation, which has officially surpassed the $400 million mark in worldwide sales, making it the second highest-grossing movie musical of all time. It is rumoured that Cameron wants Stephen Daldry to direct the film.

It is also rumoured that Samantha Barks, who appeared as 'Eponine' in the Les Miserables film and recently finished playing Nancy in the UK tour of Oliver!, is in the spotlight to play Nancy in the possible film adaptation. However, the Daily Mail also reports that Cameron Mackintosh is looking to stage a revival of Oliver! on Broadway with Samantha starring as Nancy before the film adaptation is made!

Based on the novel Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens, Oliver! premiered in the West End in 1960, directed by Peter Coe and featuring Ron Moody as Fagin, Georgia Brown as Nancy and Keith Hamshere as Oliver. The musical debuted on Broadway in 1963 at the Imperial Theatre, with Bruce Prochnik as Oliver, Georgia Brown, reprising her West End role as Nancy, and Clive Revill as Fagin. The Broadway production received 10 Tony nominations. It was revived very shortly after in 1965, and then again in London in 1977. The subsequent London revival in 1983-produced by Mackintosh-transferred to Broadway in 1984, starring Patti LuPone alongside Ron Moody. Mackintosh then produced another revival in 1994, directed by Sam Mendes, leading up to the most recent 2009 record breaking revival of Oliver! at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane which starred Jody Prenger as Nancy and Rowan Atkinson as Fagin.