Anyone in the drama-know will tell you that some of the UK’s best theatre can be found on its many wonderful regional stages, venues like Liverpool’s Everyman and Playhouse, long famed as launching pads for groundbreaking drama and talent like Julie Walters, Jonathan Pryce and Bill Nighy. The E&P’s upcoming season has been proclaimed ‘a dream come true season’. It includes an eagerly awaited production of Fiddler on the Roof, a rock ‘n roll Beauty and the Beast and The Story Giant, marking the 50th anniversary of The Mersey Sound.
March winds blow in some thrilling regional premieres. One Love: The Bob Marley Musical debuts at the Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Sleepless in Seattle, the New Musical, opens with an all star cast at the Theatre Royal Plymouth before transferring to London’s West End.
Naturally, you’ll expect more than a few hot tickets to warm the London stage. An American in Paris, a gorgeous, award- winning reinvention of the Hollywood film and Gershwin musical, has its eagerly awaited UK premiere at the Dominion Theatre. 42nd Street, the classic song and dance American dream fable of Broadway comes to Theatre Royal Drury Lane, and Doctor Who and Broadchurch star David Tennant will play the title role in Don Juan in Soho at Wyndham’s Theatre.
At long last, Hamilton, the critically acclaimed Pulitzer Prize-winning play and multi-awarded Broadway musical, hits the Victoria Palace Theatre, with tickets on sale from January and an opening date in late 2017. Hamilton tells the story of America’s Founding Father Alexander Hamilton, an immigrant from the West Indies who became George Washington’s right-hand man during the Revolutionary War and was the nation’s first Treasury Secretary. The score blends hip-hop, jazz, blues, rap, R&B and Broadway and is described as “the story of America then, as told by America now”.
For something completely different as well as historic, beautiful and reasonably-priced, you’ll love an evening at Wilton’s Music Hall. This one-of-a-kind gem in the heart of London is the oldest Grand Music Hall in the world. Recently re-opened after a glorious restoration and re-design, Wilton’s offers a year round programme of exceptional productions and community events. Highlights of 2017’s first season are an electrifying Frankenstein and the renowned and hilarious Reduced Shakespeare Company in Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play. Wilton’s also has terrific stuff for the whole family, like time-travelling magicians Morgan & West’s Utterly Spiffing Spectacular Magic Show for Kids (and Childish Grown Ups!) and Silver Electra, an inspirational show about American pioneer aviator, Amelia Earhart.
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Image: An American in Paris comes to London. Photo Matthew Murphy.
Article by Judith Schrut. Email Judith judith0777@gmail.com
