Robert Hands

After much-anticipation actors Sheila Atim and Giles Terera announced the nominations for the Olivier Awards 2019 today and it wasn’t long before the celebrations began for two West End musicals in particular. The acclaimed gender-bending revival of Sondheim’s Company and powerful Canadian show Come From Away are recognised in nine categories each. The King and I and the Queens of Six The Musical are close behind with six and five nominations respectively. Who do you think will come out top on the night?

Our #FirstNightTakeover series continues with Perry O’Bree attending the West End opening of Tony Award-winning Canadian musical Come From Away at the Phoenix Theatre. Perry was there at the after-party to catch up with several members of the cast including Rachel Tucker and Jenna Boyd, plus he also caught up with original stranded passenger Kevin Tuerff, and Janice Goudie – one of the islanders who expressed such love and compassion to the 7,000 people diverted to their hometown during the wake of 9/11. Welcome to the Rock…

Tony Award-winning Canadian musical Come From Away will land at London’s Phoenix Theatre for its UK premiere from 30 January 2019, with a pre-West End stop-off at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin from 6 December 2018 to 19 January. Now we know which performers are on the journey, are you going to join them?

All the #StageFaves in the company of Committee...A New Musical are gearing up for their first preview this weekend, so we're pleased to be able to share this video clip of them rehearsing the song 'We Want To Learn'. Hadley Fraser, Josie Rourke and composer Tom Deering have transformed part of an inquiry into ‘The collapse of Kids Company’ in to a brand-new musical which looks very interesting indeed.

As their real-life counterparts gear up towards the snap election, a cast of highly electable #StageFaves are preparing to play the Parliamentarians in the Donmar Warehouse's premiere of Tom Deering and Hadley Fraser's new documentary musical with the impossibly long full title: The Public Administration and Constitution Affairs Committee Take Oral Evidence on Whitehall’s Relationship with Kids Company. And we can't wait to see Sandra Marvin's choice of Camila Batmanghelidjh-style colourful kaftan...