Blog / From: My Theatre Mates

Check here for the latest musical news with links to all your #StageFaves performers, shows and theatres. Also look out for our regular #GetSocial features and contributions from our syndicate media partners including MyTheatreMates.com and the Musical Theatre Appreciation Society.

06 Jun
2016

A major new musical based on the life and career of Frank Sinatra is in the works, care of the Ambassador Theatre Group, and aiming for a 2018 world premiere. But the big question on our mind - apart from when exactly and where it will run - is: which of your #StageFaves should play Ol' Blue Eyes? Any ideas?

06 Jun
2016

Is Tyrone Huntley the most in-demand actor in West End musical theatre at the moment? From Memphis to The Book of Mormon and, come the autumn, Dreamgirls, in the commercial West End in 12 months, he's also sneaking in some sunshine work this summer in Regent's Park to play Judas to Declan Bennett's Jesus in Timothy Sheader's Open Air Theatre revival of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR. Also cast: jazz singer Anoushka Lucas, Olivier Award winner David Thaxton and many other #StageFaves stalwarts....

03 Jun
2016

Ibanabo Jack and Liisi LaFontaine join Glee's Amber Riley as the Dreams in DREAMGIRLS, with other #StageFaves casting including Tyrone Huntley, Joe Aaron Reid and Adam J Bernard. The Broadway classic receives its long-awaited West End premiere in December at the Savoy Theatre...

31 May
2016

No paparazzi fears here! Soap stars Michael Greco (EastEnders) and Natalie Anderson (Emmerdale) join stage regulars including Niamh Perry and, in the starring role, David Albury of EXPOSURE THE MUSICAL - Life Through a Lens, the photo-mad musical supported by Getty Images...

26 May
2016

Samantha Barks and Tom Chambers back in the West End, Beverley Knight and Matt Cardle reuniting post-Memphis, sneak-peeks of new shows including Murder Ballad and The Secret Garden, plus TONS of other #StageFaves shows (25!) and performers (too many to count?!) will take part in this year's WEST END LIVE...

24 May
2016

We can't wait to witness this busty blonde bombshell's version of "Miss Adelaide's Lament"... Or better yet, her "Bushel and a Peck". The Hot Box won't know what hit it! Australian comedian turned Hollywood film star Rebel Wilson makes her West End debut, getting a cold as Miss Adelaide in GUYS AND DOLLS for a strictly limited eight-week season this summer...

23 May
2016

If you love the Sherman Brothers, then you must check out the work of the family's next generation: Robert J Sherman. After his critically acclaimed Love Birds (about penguins and parrots) was a hit at last year's Edinburgh Fringe, Sherman's new musical BUMBLESCRATCH (about rats!) arrives in the West End, for one night only, on Sunday 4 September 2016...

20 May
2016

She's coming home! After wowing Broadway audiences, Rachel Tucker returns to the UK to help celebrate the 10th anniversary of WICKED in the West End. She'll reprise her role as Elphaba alongside Australian import Suzie Mathers as Glinda from 5 September. Also joining the cast is Anita Dobson as Madame Morrible and some other familiar names return to mark the milestone...

20 May
2016

Already a mega-hit in New York, Andrew Lloyd Webber's screen-to-stage adaptation of SCHOOL OF ROCK will receive its West End premiere in November at the New London Theatre, following the early closure of Show Boat...

18 May
2016

The Menier Chocolate Factory has made its name in the US by transferring acclaimed Sondheim revivals - including Sunday in the Park with George and A Little Night Music - but the Sondheim traffic is coming the other way with Fiasco Theater's award-winning INTO THE WOODS...

13 May
2016

Two British talents spotted on rival British reality TV shows, The Voice and The X Factor, will cover American Glee star Amber Riley in DREAMGIRLS. Singer-songwriters Ruth Brown and Karen Mav will alternate as Effie White on Wednesday evening performances once the show commences at the West End's Savoy Theatre in November...

13 May
2016

After touring in Guys and Dolls and delivering Flowers for Mrs Harris in Sheffield, respectively, #StageFaves favourites Louise Dearman and Laura Pitt-Pulford will return to the London stage, working very closely together... as conjoined twins in the UK premiere of Broadway musical SIDE SHOW in October at Southwark Playhouse...

12 May
2016

Sheridan Smith is taking a leave of absence from FUNNY GIRL over the next few weeks. We know there will be many Sherifans out there disappointed that they won't get a chance to see her in the show. But we're sending the stressed-out star all our best for a much-needed rest and speedy recovery. And in the meantime, we are cheering to the rafters Smith's understudy who has stepped heroically into the limelight...

10 May
2016

We've waited a long time to catch six-time Tony Award winner Audra McDonald's West End debut... and unfortunately, we're all going to have to wait a little longer. She and her husband, fellow Broadway star Will Swenson, have just announced their having a baby. So the summer transfer of LADY DAY AT EMERSON'S BAR & GRILL has been unavoidably postponed...

10 May
2016

We are not happy. Mrs Henderson Presents announced its premature closure last week and now, just two weeks after opening to a new round of rave reviews, Daniel Evans Sheffield Crucible revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein classic SHOW BOAT has posted closing notices too.

09 May
2016

Chichester Festival Theatre and Cameron Mackintosh’s new production of HALF A SIXPENCE will introduce two young actors – Charlie Stemp as Arthur Kipps (replacing Bryan Dick*) and Devon-Elise Johnson as Ann Pornick – alongside three times Olivier-nominated actor Ian Bartholomew as Chitterlow, three times Olivier-nominated actress Emma Williams as Helen Walsingham, and Vivien Parry as Mrs Walsingham...

09 May
2016

Remember Bill Murray and Andie MacDowell falling in love over and over again in GROUNDHOG DAY onscreeen? They'll be brought to live - again and again - onstage in Tim Minchin's new musical adaptation by Broadway's Andy Karl and recent RADA graduate Carlyss Peer. And they'll be joined by several other regular #StageFaves in the full cast, now announced for Matthew Warchus' premiere production, soon opening at London's Old Vic Theatre.

06 May
2016

Not content with taking over Charing Cross Theatre and helming a season of major musicals there, director Thom Southerland and producer Danielle Tarento return to Southwark Playhouse with another major coup: the European premiere of Rodgers & Hammerstein's ALLEGRO, nearly 70 years after its Broadway premiere.

03 May
2016

We hate it when musicals post early closing notices, but we especially hate it when it happens to a homegrown British musical that we absolutely adore. Sad but true: Mrs Henderson Presents will close at the West End's Noel Coward Theatre on 18 June 2016...

03 May
2016

The UK premiere of THE SECRET GARDEN was a big-budget production, transferred to the West End care of the Royal Shakespeare Company. What will a 75-minute version of the same musical, performed by 300 kids be like? We can't wait to see...