Friday 16th September 2011 by Will Langdale
A quick pick of what’s hot in the TicketTree.com office
What a glorious feeling!
There’s a smile on our face this week as Chichester Festival Theatre confirms Singin’ in the Rain is transferring to the West End’s Palace Theatre next February!
The Chichester’s production garnered 4 and 5 star reviews across the board, running from June 27th to September 10th, with critics having a lot of time for Adam Cooper’s exuberant Don Lockwood, the central character. Daniel Crossley, as best friend Cosmo, was also praised for his funny, fizzy performance, and Scarlett Strallen as chorus girl Kathy was wonderfully characterised by The Times’ Libby Purves as “evoking stroppiness and hurt as well as being able to leap from a champagne tower”. That’s pretty much what I look for in a woman. All three are reprising their roles.
Singin’ in the Rain is based on the classic MGM movie, which starred Gene Kelly as Don, an actor in silent movies just as “talkies” begin to take hold in Hollywood. As a 1952 musical film about making a musical film in 1927, this affords the movie some amusing in-jokes and references to real-life early films, actors, actresses and incidents. Singin’ in the Rain is widely regarded as one of the greatest musical films ever made, and the scene where Gene Kelly’s singin’ and dancin’ in the rain is one of the iconic sequences of 50s cinema – a scene shot while the poor guy had a 103 degree fever!
The Chichester production takes over at the Palace after the recently-confirmed closure of Priscilla Queen of the Desert at the end of December. With a month to settle in, Singin’ in the Rain has previews from February 4th and opens for real on February 15th. Tickets will be on sale from Monday 26th September, so remember to check back and see what packages we can put together for you in a few weeks’ time.
Dust off your dance shoes
Wednesday this week saw a fantastic announcement for am-dram fans across the UK. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Group announced that to mark the 25th anniversary of Phantom of the Opera, the musical can now be performed by academic schools and colleges for the first time. Joining Phantom in this announcement was also the phenomenally popular Cats, which first opened in the West End in 1981.
The company’s statement added that this is the start of many more musicals being made available for amateur performance, including Starlight Express and Whistle Down the Wind. In the meantime, if you’re interested in putting on either Phantom of the Opera or Cats, get in touch with Really Useful Group.
Wicked, Wicked, ex-jungler is Ma(tt Willi)ssive
We didn’t mention this on the blog, but eagle-eyed followers of the news section will have seen a looming cast shakeup announced in early August for Wicked. We knew Rachel Tucker was staying on as Elphaba into 2012, but several other key roles needed filling. Well, from December 12th we can now confirm Phantom of the Opera and Les Miserables veteran Gina Beck is taking over as Elphaba’s roommate, “good witch”, and friend Glinda, and Matt Willis – uh, yeah, of course the Matt Willis from Busted and I’m A Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here, who else could we mean? – is taking over as love interest Fiyero. Willis isn’t actually as bizarre a choice as he might seem to those who only know him from Busted. He’s been touring the UK with the cast of Footloose, and debuted in the West End with Flashdance. He’s also a graduate of the very well-known Sylvia Young Theatre School.
Time for a trip this Fall?
Finally, because when we see a good article we can’t help but share, Whatsonstage.com’s Autumn Season highlights were released this week, and it’s shaping up to be a very cool time to be in London, both figuratively and literally. A joke about the weather, geddit? There’s too many interesting things to point out (although Doctor Who actress Karen Gillan’s stage debut at the Donmar Warehouse might be one of them) so have a look at their full list.
Deal of the week
With Really Useful Group being so darned nice about the rights to Phantom of the Opera, how could we possibly not jump on the upcoming 25th anniversary celebrations for October 1st and 2nd as a chance for a bit of a deal? Sadly we are way, way out of tickets for those particular dates, but if you’d like to go and see it and fancy booking in the next week, use the voucher code PHANTOMBLOG for a tasty 5% discount on your package.