Friday 4th November 2011 by Will Langdale
A quick pick of what’s hot in the TicketTree.com office
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| Christmas tree in Trafalgar Square by Mike_fleming on flickr. The tree has been given each year since 1947 as a gift from Norway. |
It’s been quite a quiet couple of the weeks in the West End – eagle-eyed readers will have noticed a distinct lack of a blog post last week. We’ve very little in the way of big news, with the smaller theatres opening and closing a few shows here and there for short runs. There’s a bit of a buildup to The Old Vic’s 24-hour event on November 13th, Horrible Histories is running a daytime slot at the Garrick, a few bits and bobs at the National and Trafalgar Studios... while not under the radar, it’s not huge news for us.
There’s been quite a few big casting announcements recently, including Ramin Karimloo coming straight out of Love Never Dies as the Phantom and replacing Alfie Boe at the end of the month in Les Miserables. We’ve mentioned America Ferrera in the about-to-reopen Chicago and Darius Campbell (formerly Pop Idol Darius Danesh) is set to star opposite her in a production opening Monday. Plus the distinguished Mark Benton will be joining The Railway Children as the station porter.
So, in the absence of something to make a big song and dance about – and as a purveyor of West End musicals we mean this in a strictly literal sense, of course – we thought we’d pick out the crème de la crème of family shows for the Christmas season. With November upon us, the cold realisation that the kids will need something to distract them between school and Christmas should be upon you right about… now!
It can be a bit of a pain taking younger kids to the theatre as many of the shows that are great for 6-12s are barred to toddlers and babies – here’s looking at you, The Wizard of Oz, The Lion King and Wicked. But for those of you with pint-sized people in tow, the name Peppa Pig will no doubt be notorious. If there’s one thing that’ll excite your kids enough to briefly forget that they’re getting presents in the near future, it’s got to be Peppa Pig in real life.
Want to keep the panto tradition alive but find the profit-mongering local celeb-fests a bit of a bore? Want to keep your kids happy but can’t stand another “he’s behind you” delivered without any sense of self-awareness? How about a bit of Christmas shopping followed by Potted Panto, a glorious little piece from CBBC’s Dan and Jeff, whose previous show, Potted Potter, was nominated for an Olivier and had a West End run of its own. Eight pantos in eighty minutes? What could go wrong?
And lastly, for the Christmas traditionalist with slightly older sprogs, A Christmas Carol with Simon Callow is one of the founding myths of the Victorian Christmas presented by a deeply talented actor. No Christmas could really be complete without a tale that helped define the very meaning of Christmas, so if you’re lacking a DVD of the Muppet version, take a weekend off with the family and see it in London.
Deal of the week
To make up for last week’s absence and to kick of the festive season, we’re giving you 5% off all our recommended seasonal shows this week. Use PIGBLOG for Peppa Pig, POTTEDBLOG for Potted Panto, or CAROLBLOG for A Christmas Carol with Simon Callow. Just pop the voucher code in at the end for a bit of money off a fantastic West End theatre break!