The Smeds and The Smoos, a stage adaptation of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s book, will arrive in London’s West End this summer.
Produced by Tall Stories, the show will run at the Lyric Theatre from July 20 – September 3 following its UK tour.
Featuring music, laughs, puppetry and interplanetary adventures for theatregoers aged three and above, The Smeds and The Smoos tells the story of two rival groups of aliens living on a far-off planet: the Smeds (who are red) and the Smoos (who are blue).
The two groups mistrust each other, and the children are told to never play with one another. So, when a young Smed and Smoo fall in love and zoom off into space together, how will their families get them back?
Directed by Tall Stories’ co-founder Toby Mitchell, the cast will include Felicia Akin-Tayo, Tom Capper, Robert Penny, Andrea Sadler and understudy Grace Liston.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane, the National Theatre’s award-winning show, will return to London’s West End this autumn at the end of its UK and Ireland tour.
Based on the novel by Neil Gaiman, adapted by Joel Horwood and directed by Katy Rudd, this thrilling adventure of fantasy, myth and friendship will play for a strictly limited 7-week run at the Noël Coward Theatre from October 11 – November 25, 2023.
This first major stage adaptation of Gaiman’s work blends magic with memory in a tour-de-force of storytelling that takes audiences on an epic journey to a childhood once forgotten and the darkness that lurks at the very edge of it.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane production received its world premiere at the National Theatre in 2019. It made its West End debut at the Duke of York’s Theatre in 2021.
Gaiman said: “Ten years since my novel was first published, The Ocean at the End of the Lane won lots of awards and people loved it, then the National Theatre turned it into the most amazing play. I am thrilled, overjoyed and absolutely delighted that this glorious adaptation of my book is going to be returning to the West End on St Martin’s Lane. It makes audiences laugh and cry and wonder. If you wanted to see it, now is your chance.”
The 17-strong ensemble cast currently on tour, who will all transfer with the show to the West End, are: Charlie Brooks (Ursula), Daniel Cornish (alternate Boy), Trevor Fox (Dad), Emma-Jane Goodwin (understudy), Paolo Guidi (ensemble), Millie Hikasa (Lettie Hempstock), Lewis Howard (understudy), Kemi-Bo Jacobs (Ginnie Hempstock), Jasmeen James (understudy), Ronnie Lee (ensemble), Aimee McGoldrick (ensemble), Laurie Ogden (Sis), Keir Ogilvy (Boy), Domonic Ramsden (ensemble), Joe Rawlinson-Hunt (understudy), Risha Silvera (understudy) and Finty Williams (Old Mrs Hempstock).
The creative team includes set designer Fly Davis, costume and puppet designer Samuel Wyer, movement director Steven Hoggett, composer Jherek Bischoff, lighting designer Paule Constable, sound designer Ian Dickinson, magic and illusions director and designer Jamie Harrison, puppetry director Finn Caldwell and casting director Naomi Downham.
The associate creative team includes associate director Sophie Dillon Moniram, associate set designer Tim Blazdell, associate movement director Jess Williams, associate lighting designers Rob Casey (for Ammonite) and Tom Turner, associate sound designer Chris Reid, associate magic and illusions director John Bulleid and associate puppetry director Gareth Aled.
The Ocean at the End of the Lane is currently on a 39-week UK and Ireland tour until October 7 before it transfers to the Noël Coward Theatre.
Producer Cameron Mackintosh has unveiled the full cast for Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, which is coming to the Gielgud Theatre.
Haydn Gwynne, Damian Humbley, Bradley Jaden, Gavin Lee and Jason Pennycooke have joined a line-up that includes Broadway legends Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga alongside Christine Allado, Janie Dee, Bonnie Langford, Joanna Riding, Jeremy Secomb, Jac Yarrow, Marley Fenton and Beatrice Penny-Touré.
The company will also include Harry Apps, Bella Brown and Monique Young.
Devised and produced by Mackintosh, Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends celebrates the life and work of the great Stephen Sondheim.
It is directed by Matthew Bourne, side by side with Julia McKenzie, with choreography by Stephen Mear, the Sondheim Orchestra conducted by Alfonso Casado Trigo, musical supervision is by Stephen Brooker, musical arrangements by Stephen Metcalfe, set design by Matt Kinley, projection design by George Reeve, costume design by Jill Parker, lighting design by Warren Letton and sound design by Mick Potter.
Mackintosh said: “To have gathered so many West End stars, as well as two legendary Broadway performers together for a new show such as this is rare outside a gala. Only the sublime talents of Sondheim could make this happen.
“Steve was always a Broadway Baby at heart, so I’m thrilled that this last show he and I started putting together during Covid is having a life beyond its triumphant gala. Featuring 39 of the greatest songs ever written for the musical theatre, performed by an incredible cast, staged by the incomparable Matthew Bourne, side-by-side with Julia McKenzie and choreographer Stephen Mear, audiences are in for a musical evening they will never forget in one great big Broadway show.”
Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends will run at the Gielgud Theatre for 16 weeks only from September 16, 2023 – January 6, 2024.
The Mongol Khan, which tells an epic historical story through music, theatre, dance and puppetry, has unveiled the creative team for its UK shows ahead of its London Coliseum run this November.
Working alongside Mongolian director Hero Baatar are playwright Timberlake Wertenbaker (Our Country’s Good), who will adapt a new translation by historian and Mongolian history expert John Man.
Nick Barnes (Life of Pi, The Lorax) will design and create new puppets specifically for the UK production including a fire-breathing dragon. Mike Roberston (Charlie & The Chocolate Factory) joins the team to redesign the lighting for the vast Coliseum stage and David Gregory (King John) is the sound designer.
Mongolia 2,000 years ago. A brutal succession battle threatens the very stability of the Empire. As the great Khan struggles to maintain his supremacy, a plot hatches that will forever alter the balance of power.
This epic production, featuring more than 70 performers, has run for more than 100 performances in Mongolia. Based on historical events, the show explores Mongolian culture and history through music, dance, dialogue and puppetry, with elaborate sets and costumes, all inspired by traditional nomadic culture and tradition.
The Mongol Khan was written in 1998 by renowned Mongolian writer and poet Lkhagvasuren Bavuu and was revived in April 2022 at the Mongolian State Academic Theatre of Drama, directed by Baatar.
The production has taken inspiration from historical events, archaeological findings, traditional nomadic dances, and the music of the ancient Hun culture of Central Asia from the Hunnu Empire period, and is produced by Hero Entertainment, Wild Yak Productions and Maktub Productions.
Arriving to mark the 60th annivesary of Anglo-Mongolian relations, performances will run from November 17-December 3.
Tim Sheader will take on the role, and that of joint chief executive alongside executive director Henny Finch.
He will take up the role in March 2024, replacing Michael Longhurst and joining from Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre where he has been artistic director since 2007.
Sheader has directed more 20 productions at Regent’s Park, including the Olivier and Evening Standard Award-winning musicals Into the Woods, Hello Dolly, Crazy For You and Jesus Christ Superstar.
He said: “What an absolute honour to follow in the footsteps of theatre giants and be asked to lead this remarkable theatre. The invitation live performance offers to share a moment in time together has never been more important, and I’m thrilled to have the opportunity to invite as many different audiences as possible to experience the life enhancing feeling of being in that unparalleled space, where our imaginations can soar and magic happen.
“As the Donmar continues on its path as a financially independent theatre I am very much looking forward to meeting and working with its many loyal members and supporters to create inclusive, accessible and must-see work on and beyond the stage.”
The original cast and writers of TV comedy Drop the Dead Donkey are reuniting for a new stage adaptation.
Drop the Dead Donkey: The Reawakening! – by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin – will star Stephen Tompkinson, Neil Pearson, Susannah Doyle, Robert Duncan, Ingrid Lacey, Jeff Rawle and Victoria Wicks.
The reunion comes 30 years after the launch of the trailblazing series, with the team performing on stage for the very first time. Directed by Lindsay Posner, the production opens at Richmond Theatre in 2024.
Drop The Dead Donkey: The Reawakening! exposes the underside of the broadcasting industry in all its riotous glory. Whether you’re one of the legions of die-hard fans of the TV sitcom that was watched by millions, or a British comedy fanatic, come and experience this hilarious revival of an all-time comedy classic.
Produced by Hat Trick and Simon Friend Entertainment, it is written by Andy Hamilton and Guy Jenkin, directed by Lindsay Posner and designed by Peter McIntosh, with lighting designs by Peter Mumford.
The show will run at Richmond Theatre from January 30-February 3, 2024.
Norman Jay is bringing his world-famous Good Times Soundsystem bus to Alexandra Palace, as part of the historic London venue’s 150th anniversary celebrations.
Jay will park his bus on the Palace’s terrace on Sunday, August 27 for an open-air, all day Bank Holiday party from 2-7.30pm.
For more than 25 years, the Good Times Soundsystem was an institution, often the face of Carnival and it now finds a new bank holiday weekend home in North London. With the iconic red Routemaster bus stage set against Ally Pally’s panoramic London skyline views, Norman and friends will be at the helm all-day-long to take you on a musical journey through house, rare groove, jazz, disco, hip-hop, and drum & bass.
Sherlock and Fleabag star Andrew Scott will headline Vanya, a new adaptation of Anton Chekhov’s masterpiece by Simon Stephens.
Directed by Andrew Yates and designed by Rosanna Vize, it will be performed at the Duke of York’s Theatre between September 15-October 21, following previews at Richmond Theatre between August 28-September 2..
Presented by Wessex Grove, Gavin Kalin Productions and Kater Gordon, the production reunites Scott and Stephens, who previously partnered on Sea Wall and Birdland; and Scott with Yates following their work together on the short film, The Hope Rooms.
Producers Benjamin Lowy and Emily Vaughan-Barratt from Wessex Grove also worked with Scott on Sea Wall and Hamlet, respectively.
Scott said: “Heartbreaking, hilarious, sexy, devastating- the genius and extraordinary humanity of Mr Chekhov just knocks me out. It’s a genuine honour and a singular challenge to bring this giant of a play to life in the West End in this new way and I’m so excited to be doing it alongside such brilliant, playful and talented people.”
Take a look at the rehearsals of Beneatha’s Place, a satire written and directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah that will have its UK premiere at the Young Vic.
Inspired by the groundbreaking civil rights drama A Raisin in the Sun, Beneatha’s Place is about the power of knowing your history and the cost of letting it go.
1959. The first wave of independence is sweeping across Africa and Beneatha has left the prejudice of 1950s America for a brighter future with her Nigerian husband in Lagos. But on the day they move into their new house in the white suburbs, it doesn’t take long for cracks to appear, changing the course of the rest of their lives.
Present day. Now a renowned Dean whose colleagues are questioning the role of African American studies for future generations, Beneatha returns to the same house in search of answers.
Cherrelle Skeete (Harry Potter and the Cursed Child) stars in the title role as Beneatha Younger, with Zackary Momoh (Seven Seconds) as Joseph Asagai/Wale Oguns, Sebastian Armesto (Leopoldstadt) as Daniel Barnes/Prof Mark Bond, Jumoké Fashola (The High Table) as Prof Shirley Jones/Aunty Fola, Tom Godwin (Best of Enemies) as Mr Nelson/Prof Gary Jacobs and Nia Gwynne (Tolkien) as Mrs Nelson/Dr Harriet Banks.
Set and costume design is by Debbie Duru, lighting design by Mark Henderson, sound design by Tony Gayle, voice and dialect coach Esi Acquaah-Harrison, casting director Heather Basten, Jerwood assistant director Ellis and Jerwood trainee assistant director Tia-zakura Camilleri.
Written and directed by Kwei-Armah, the Young Vic Theatre Artistic Director, it plays in the Young Vic Main House from June 27-August 5.
Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick will bring Broadway smash Plaza Suite to London for a strictly limited season at the Savoy Theatre.
Written by Neil Simon and directed by John Benjamin Hickey, Plaza Suite will run from January 15-March 31, 2024. Tickets go on sale in September.
The show sees these both actors play three different couples in one famous hotel room. Broderick plays Sam Nash/Jesse Kiplinger/Roy Hubley and Parker plays Karen Nash/Muriel Tate/Norma Hubley.
Karen and Sam are a long-married pair whose relationship may be headed for an early checkout. Muriel and Jesse are former high school sweethearts who seem destined for an extended stay. And Norma and Roy are the mother and father of the bride, ready to celebrate their daughter’s nuptials – if only they can get her out of the bathroom.
Plaza Suite marks Broderick’s return to the West End stage following his acclaimed run in The Starry Messenger in 2019. Meanwhile, the show will be Parker’s West End debut.
The creative team includes John Lee Beatty (set design), Jane Greenwood (costume design), Brian MacDevitt (lighting design), Scott Lehrer (sound design), Marc Shaiman (incidental music) and Jim Carnahan (casting director).
In New York, Plaza Suite played to sold-out houses and shattered multiple box-office records at the Hudson Theatre, becoming the third-highest grossing play revival in Broadway history during its limited 19-week engagement.
Plaza Suite is produced by Ambassador Theatre Group Productions, Gavin Kalin Productions, Hal Luftig, with James L Nederlander, Douglas L Meyer, Elizabeth Armstrong, Hunter Arnold, Caitlin Clements, Eilene Davidson Productions, Jeffrey Finn, Terry Schnuck, Smith and Brant Theatricals, Sherry and Kirk Wright and Mike Isaacson.
