Avenue Q at the Albery from 28th june
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 5/28/2006 6:51 PM
Avenue Q appears to be a particularly salubrious New York streets, and is about as far away from Park Avenue as you can get, but it is home to some lively, humorous and strange characters performed by both people and puppets says the advance blurb !
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Sinatra at the London Palladium
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 5/24/2006 5:35 PM
This is an up-to-the minute showcasing of Sinatra’s most popular songs in a multi-media production with amazing “technologically enhanced rare footage” with a 24 piece orchestra and a large company of singers and dancers.
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Evita at the Adelphi
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 5/21/2006 1:43 PM
Evita, one of the world's greatest musicals, returns to London's West End after 21 years. Directed by the award-winning Michael Grandage and featuring lyrics by Tim Rice and music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, Evita tells the story of the fabulous Eva Perón, the second wife of Argentine dictator Juan Perón. It follows her life as Argentina's most charismatics and powerful figure, against a backdrop of political unrest, until her tragic death of cancer in 1952.
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Whistle Down the Wind at the Palace
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 5/19/2006 2:07 PM
Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s musical is based on the 60’s film which starred Hayley Mills. Somewhat bizarrely though the original story was set in Sussex, Lloyd Webber has moved the setting to America’s Bible belt. However the story stays the same
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Mack and Mabel at the Criterion
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 5/12/2006 2:38 PM
Notable mainly for featuring David Soul (ex Starsky and Hutch for oldsters) in one of the lead roles, together with Janie Lee – this was originally at the Watermill theatre and is at the Criterion until mid July or so.
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The Pocket Orchestra at Trafalgar Studios 2 – This looks fun – but be quick !
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 5/9/2006 8:11 PM
The Pocket Orchestra is a musical comedy written by Goodies star Graeme Garden with Callum McLeod and featuring timelord Sylvester McCoy. Performances only until 20th May so be quick
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Footloose at the Novello
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 4/30/2006 12:34 PM
New in April, Footloose is the musical of the film (Starring Kevin Baker). Dean Pitchford, the Top-Ten hit supremo conceived the movie, which now has been adapted for the stage
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The Rat Pack at the Savoy Theatre
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 4/21/2006 3:35 PM
The Rat Pack Live from Las Vegas takes the audience back to a time when people really knew how to party! Featuring the amazing songs of Frank Sinatra, Sammy Davis Junior, and Dean Martin this high-energy production allows the audience
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Dancing in the Streets at the Cambridge then the Aldwich
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 4/17/2006 2:34 PM
If you like the sound of Motown, then this is for you. Home of black soul music – the music of The Four Tops, Marvin Gaye, Gladys Knight and the Pips, Diana Ross, Martha and the Vandellas and so many more.
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Les Miserables at the Queens Theatre
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 4/13/2006 5:47 PM
This is a musical adaptation of Victor Hugo's great novel followings a man's determined survival in the face of another's vengeance and persecution. The setting is the social and political upheavals of 19th century France.
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Fame at the Aldwych
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 4/12/2006 4:57 PM
Fame is the legendary musical based on the New York School of Performing Arts (and it was, so I am told, the subject of a TV soap some time ago as well as an Oscar winning film).
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Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward Theatre
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 4/10/2006 6:14 PM
There must be very few people who don’t know about Mary Poppins – the book and film have been around a long time, and the stage musical is as delightful as ever.
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We will Rock You at the Dominion Theatre
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 4/9/2006 12:21 PM
A musical with music by Ben Elton and Queen and featuring more than 30 Queen songs. Not a wonderful plot – underground rock in the globalised future, but with the advantage of some great Queen anthems in the second half. A must for Queen fans – and others who like some lively rock.
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Billy Elliot at the Victoria Palace Theatre
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 4/8/2006 2:59 PM
Billy Elliot the film becomes a musical with music by Sir Elton John. One of Britain's most successful films ever gets a stage makeover with music added by legendary tunester Sir Elton John. Billy Elliot is a fusion of the excellent writing of Lee Hall, the wonderful choreography of Peter Darling and the superb directing of Stephen Daldry, all of whom transferred from the film.
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Lucky Nurse And Other Short Musical Plays at the Finborough. Hurry up to see these !
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 4/7/2006 1:09 PM
If you fancy something a little different hurry down to the Finborough, where, for the next week or so they have some interesting musical plays. In fact it’s the UK premiere of a quartet of short musical plays by a Broadway composer Michael John LaChiusa.
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The Lion King at the Lyceum
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 4/6/2006 1:20 PM
My friend tells me this is a must for young families. Director is Julie Traynor responsible for all those wonderful masks and innovative ways of staging all those wonderful African animals. This is based on the Disney film and follows the story of Simba, the Lion Prince, and the baddie Uncle Scar who plots to kill both Simba and his father,
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The Producers at the Drury Lane Theatre
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 4/5/2006 1:09 PM
Based on the 1967 Mel Brooks movie you’re in for a comic treat if you are lucky enough to get a ticket for this show . The storyline involves a sleazy theatre producer, Max Bialstock and his accountant Leo Bloom who devise a cunning plan to make a fortune by putting on a major flop by utilising the appallingly offensive bad-taste delectation “Springtime for Hitler” and taking off with the money
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Chicago at the Adelphi
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 4/4/2006 1:54 PM
A night watching the musical Chicago was wonderfully enjoyable - a superb evening with this hit musical with its glamorous glittering staging, witty lines, exceptionally stylish choreography and such exciting and blood stirring music.
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Phantom of the opera at Her Majesty’s Theatre
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 3/26/2006 2:09 PM
Now the longest running show in the history of Her Majesty's Theatre, Andrew Lloyd Webber's "The Phantom Of The Opera" opened to enormous success in October 1986 and has been running to capacity ever since, but can this musical still deliver? This is Lloyd Webber at his best. And though the newspaper musical critics like to put Lloyd Webber down for what they think is superficial candy type music, the audiences
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Mamma Mia at the Prince of Wales Theatre
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 3/25/2006 1:08 PM
There is a very loose storyline to tie together the reason for including 27 Abba’s hits in the show. Because Abba’s songs are so much a part of all of our lives, this show is just sheer pleasure for most of us. Abba member Bjorn Ulvaeus is one of the producers. He says “: "This idea has been talked about for several years but it was only when I was
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Blood Brothers at the Phoenix
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 3/24/2006 3:05 PM
As this is now in its 16th year (and set to play for another year) it must be pretty good. The musical is a nature/nurture controversy, about two bothers separated at birth. Sociologically it is pretty formulaic stuff, but even if the plot is thin, the musical is really enjoyable !
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Theatreland
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 2/17/2006 4:08 PM
London's main theatre district is located in the heart of the West End of the city centre, and is traditionally defined by The Strand to the south, Oxford Street to the north, Regent Street to the west, and Kingsway to the east although The South Bank Complex is now considered by some to be part of it. Prominent theatre streets include Drury Lane, Shaftesbury Avenue, and The Strand. This area contains approximately forty large theatres and is often referred to as Theatreland. The works staged are predominantly musicals, classic or middle brow plays, and comedy performances.
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The World of Musicals – A History Pt2
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 2/9/2006 6:53 PM
The growing scale (and cost) of musicals led to some concern that musicals were eschewing substance in favor of style. The 1990s and 2000s have seen many writers create smaller musicals (Falsettoland, Passion); the topics vary widely and the music ranges from Sondheimesque to pop, but they generally are produced off-Broadway and feature much smaller casts (and thus much lower costs).
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Recent Overview of the World of Musicals Part 1
West End Musicals By westendmusicals on 2/9/2006 6:46 PM
1976 brought one of the great contemporary musicals to the stage. A Chorus Line emerged from recorded group therapy-style sessions Michael Bennett conducted with gypsies - those who sing and dance in support of the leading players - from the Broadway community. From hundreds of hours of tapes, James Kirkwood and Nick Dante fashioned a book about an audition for a musical, incorporating into it many of the real-life stories of those who had sat in on the sessions - and some of whom eventually played variations of themselves or each other in the show.
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