Carrie Dunn - Page 37

Our reviewer casts her eye over the recent BBC series looking at the rise of the British musical

We've found out that Andrew Lloyd Webber intends to search for a Jesus Christ Superstar in conjunction with an ITV1 series - but who will be joining him on the judging panel?

It's finally been confirmed that Andrew Lloyd Webber's next talent search will be for a Jesus Christ Superstar - after years of it being rumoured.

The playwright and creative team behind the Time Out Critics' Choice productions of Doig The Musical With No Singing, No Dancing and Very Little?Music and Beak Street, return to the Tabard Theatre to present the world premiere of Greg Freeman's No Picnic, an allegorical comedy that explores the crisis of conscience of teddy bears, from March 20 - April 7.

Waylon Jacobs (Japeth), Tom Pearce (Noah), Jamie Papanicolaou (Shem), Daniella Bowen (Aysha) and Daisy Tonge (Aphra) will join the previously announced Louise?Dearman, Brenda Edwards, Gareth Gates, Russell Grant, Laura Samuels, Aaron Sidwell, Anton Stephans, Oliver Thornton, John Wilding and special guest star Kerry Ellis.

Eddie Redmayne has revealed to the BBC that he is in 'hardcore singing lessons' ready for his role as Marius in Tom Hooper's movie version of Les Miserables.

West End star Louise?Dearman - best know for starring as Galinda in Wicked - and Aaron Sidwell - Stephen Beale in EastEnders - are the latest names added to the glittering cast of the Biblical-inspired musical Children of Eden, by Wicked composer Stephen Schwartz and John?Caird, which is being revived in the West End for one night only in a spectacular star-studded charity gala at the Prince of Wales?Theatre on Sunday 29 January.

Simon Callow will be returning to London's Trafalgar Studios 1 this March to reprise his highly acclaimed show BEING SHAKESPEARE for a strictly limited season from 7 to 31 March, before heading across the seas to appear at the Brooklyn Academy of Music in New York and then at the Chicago Shakespeare Theatre at the Broadway Playhouse. In BEING SHAKESPEARE, Simon brings to life Shakespeare's unforgettable characters as well as the real man behind the legend. The play had a record-breaking run in the West End last summer, following a hugely successful tour and staging at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2010.

We catch up with winners from the 2011 Awards!

Roll up, roll up! There are just three weeks left to catch the cabaret, variety, circus sensation that is La Soiree. Following a limited season at The Roundhouse, the show must close on January 29th 2012. Join the fabulous line-up of world-renowned artists as they bid farewell to London with a Last Hurrah performance. This will be the last ever opportunity to see the company perform at The Roundhouse. It also marks the very final performance by The Skating Willers, with Wanda hanging up her skates after 30 years of spinning at breakneck speeds with Jean-Pierre Poissonnet. We'll miss you Skating Willers!

DreamWorks Theatricals and Neal Street Productions are delighted to confirm full casting for SHREK THE MUSICAL® in 2012, with 11 new performers set to join the company.

Northern Stage and Live Theatre in Newcastle Upon Tyne are thrilled to announce that they are joining forces to revive Alan Plater's play CLOSE THE COALHOUSE DOOR as a memorial production following his death in 2010. Directed by Samuel West, the production will open at Northern Stage on Wednesday 18 April, with previews from 13 April and will then tour the UK until June. CLOSE THE COALHOUSE DOOR will tour the country whilst THE PITMEN PAINTERS, another Live Theatre production set in the mining community, continues to enjoy huge success in the West End. Writer Lee Hall, (best-known for his global smash hit musical Billy Elliot) has been commissioned to revisit the piece with a new ending and a new song to bring it up to date, especially as the play was written before the critical 1984 - 5 miners' strike.

With London busily preparing to welcome millions of tourists for the 2012 Olympic and Paralympic Games and The Queen's Diamond Jubilee, its world-beating theatre industry has come together to promote its unrivalled line-up of productions and fantastic special offers, to visitors as well as the capital's residents, through a new campaign: 'Don't Miss The Real Show in 2012'

Second Skin Theatre is proud to announce the return of the UK Premiere of LA CHUNGA, by Mario Vargas Llosa, 2010 Nobel Prize Winner for Literature. This dark and disturbing drama set in 1950s Peru runs from January 24th to February 19th 2012 at the Phoenix Artist Club in the West End.

This week on BWW:UK, we've been looking back at 2011 - and looking ahead to a very exciting 2012 in the West End and UK theatre!

Thanks to a successful bid in Stage One's 'West End Lots' charity auction, 20-year-old Lauren Paine from Kent experienced the once in a lifetime thrill of performing alongside Mark Rylance and Mackenzie Crook in the smash-hit play Jerusalem.

Some of our writers and reviewers give their thoughts about UK theatre this year!

We asked some of our favourite West End folk what they're looking forward to seeing on stage in 2012...

With the musical audacity of early Elton John, the acerbic humour of Chelsea Handler and the narrative grit of Gus Van Sant, American recording artist Ezra Axelrod will launch his debut album, Songs from the American Motel, with a month-long West End residency at Leicester Square Theatre.

Lyric Hammersmith Artistic Director Sean Holmes presents a new collaboration with Filter; exposing the heart of Shakespeare's most magical play in a production which will be designed by the 2011 Linbury Prize winner Hyemi Shin.