Sunday 13th January 2013 by Will Langdale
A quick pick of what’s hot in the TicketTree.com office
Looking forward to this year’s theatre
2013 looks like it’s going to be a fantastic year in the West End, with loads of fresh shows to enjoy. We thought we’d kick the year off by having a quick peek into the next few months to share some of the shows we’re most looking forward to.
With the incredible success of Matilda the Musical, the forthcoming Charlie and the Chocolate Factory – replacing Shrek the Musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane – promises to be an absolute treat. Based on the much-loved children’s book, written by Roald Dahl in 1964, it follows the story of a young boy who wins a trip to a fantastical sweet factory, along with several other children who display a variety of repulsive habits. We’re particularly looking forward to Skyfall director Sam Mendes’ work, and if the musical can capture some of the creepiness Gene Wilder imbued in Willy Wonka in 1971’s Willa Wonka and the Chocolate Factory then it should make for a terrific show! Charlie and the Chocolate Factory opens in May.
The Michael Grandage Company has already begun its first series of productions with Simon Russell Beale in Privates on Parade, but there’s still a many more plays to get excited about. Beginning in March, Peter And Alice, starring Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw, is about the real children that Peter Pan and Alice in Wonderland were based on. Then in June, Daniel Radcliffe plays an Irish cripple headed for Hollywood in The Cripple of Inishmaan, and in September Sheridan Smith and David Walliams play Titania and Bottom in A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Finally, Jude Law rounds off the year in November with a hotly-anticipated Henry V. It’s going to be an exceptional year at the Noel Coward Theatre, with a vast range of subject material and some stunning actors to bring it to life.
Based on the award-winning film, Once is the story of an Irish busker who’s trying to forget a lost love through his music, when he meets a Czech woman who turns his life upside down. Having already gone down a storm of Broadway, the West End version arrives at the Phoenix Theatre in March, and is currently scheduled to run through to November. With the loss of film-to-musical adaptation Ghost, which left the West End at the end of last year, there’s a big love-story shaped hole in the West End, and Once is the musical to fill it!
New Year’s bargain
To get you as excited as we are for the new year, we’d like to offer blog readers 5% off a Charlie and the Chocolate Factory booking during January. Just put a package together and enter CHARLIEBLOG as your discount code, then reap the rewards! We’ll see you at the theatre!