Friday 8th July 2011 by Will Langdale
A quick pick of what’s hot in the TicketTree.com office
Opening this week
We’ve been looking forward to this ever since it cruelly left the West End behind last year, but gaffing and spinning its way into the Apollo Theatre for 10 weeks is Yes, Prime Minister. The West End run follows hot on the heels of a national tour that followed the campaign trail from Cardiff to Northampton to Aberdeen.
The principal roles of Prime Minister Jim Hacker and conniving civil servant Sir Humphrey Appleby are now played by Richard McCabe and Simon Williams respectively, with Antony Jay and Jonathan Lynn’s writing dragging the show into the 21st century, where national debt, global warming and joining the Euro are the backdrop for a witty, satirical farce. Yes, Prime Minister opened on July 7th with previews from July 6th, and runs until September 17th.
Also opening this week was Frank Stausser’s Park Avenue Cat, which includes plenty of people off the telly, like Coronation Street’s Gray O’Brien alongside Daniel Weyman as Philip and Dorian, the two potential lovers of Lily (Josefina Gabrielle). Tessa Peake-Jone, best known for Only Fools and Horses, is Nancy, an expensive therapist who has to sort out all this Sex-and-the-City-esque ribaldry. Not completely up our street, but after opening on July 7th we’re sure it’ll be tickling plenty of fancies at the Arts Theatre until August 20th.
Twenty-five years, still going strong
In the dying hours of last week, details were confirmed for the concerts celebrating 25 years of Phantom of the Opera. Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess, who currently play the Phantom and Christine in Love Never Dies at the Adelphi, will star in the extravaganza, the date and time of which has now been revealed as the Royal Albert Hall on October 1st and 2nd.
Phantom of the Opera has won over 50 major theatre awards and has grossed more than £3.2 billion worldwide. In a press release, Cameron Mackintosh, the show’s producer, said: “The success of the show has become the stuff of theatrical legend so Andrew [Lloyd-Webber] and I felt we needed to create a really special performance to celebrate the 25th anniversary.” Here here!
A farewell to Dirty Dancing
Lastly, sad times this weekend as Dirty Dancing exits stage left from the Aldwych theatre. Its final performance will be tomorrow night, July 9th. We remember fondly when it first went on sale and promptly had zero tickets available for the first six months of its run! We wish it well for the national tour it’s going on, which picks up at Sunderland Empire from September 18th. Godspeed.
Deal of the week
To console you through the long, dark Dirty Dancingless nights, why not take us up on this week’s offer – 5% off any Jersey Boys package when using the voucher code JBBLOG. Just arrange your break, then enter the code at the end along with your details. It’s a simple, fun, free discount, available exclusively to blog readers until next Friday!