THEATRE TALK: WICKED Comes Down Hard On Fanatical Followers

Something Wicked This Way Comes

We all know it goes on, whether by dictaphone, iPhone or digital camera, but the illegal recording of theatre productions, whether large or small, has long been a thorn in the side of theatre companies. It's especially prevalent at the big musicals, with audios and videos from the likes of Legally Blonde, Next To Normal and Priscilla, Queen Of The Desert littering YouTube and being swapped furtively via email. Wicked, as one of the biggest musicals around, suffers from the same obsession phenomenon as Phantom, We Will Rock You and others - large numbers of overly-loving fans, who see the show countless times for their favourite understudy or swing, who enjoy spending time at stage door with the actors...and who sneak in recording devices to make sure the performance is captured forever.

After what must have been a spate of illegal recordings posted on its official Facebook page, Wicked finally cracked today and posted this message: "IMPORTANT MESSAGE: The posting of film and audio recordings from performances is ILLEGAL and strictly prohibited. All such posts will be removed and the FANatic banned from future performances. By honouring this request you will also be honouring the artists committed to creating the magic of the WICKED London live experience every single performance."

It's about time.

Hair Preps For West End Return

Hippie musical Hair starts previewing on Thursday evening at the Gielgud Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue. Its Broadway cast are slowly acclimatising to the English weather and to London, completing an invited dress rehearsal on Wednesday evening and performing on GMTV with 'Aquarius' on Tuesday. The cast had to get up at 6am and star Gavin Creel says this, followed by a full day of rehearsals, was his longest day yet. Of his return to these shores (he was previously Bert in the West End Mary Poppins) he Tweeted: "it's like being home again. this town is incredible. show is in tech. cast is pumped. so exciting. god is good." Creel has also been rediscovering some lovely things about London - "salt&pepper cashews from M&S" and "gordon's wine bar (incredible)".

The show is still trying to gather momentum and has just added a lastminute.com deal to a pile of its seats, with tickets starting from £17.50. Considering you can pay up to $120 in America to see this production, it's certainly an option to consider. The energy and vigour of the cast cannot be denied, and the sound of Sasha Allen belting out 'Aquarius' is something you'll never be able to get out of your head (and for more Sasha fabulousness, check out her rendition of How Shall I See You Through My Tears from the film Camp).

Must-see Shows

The rave-reviewEd Kursk (the Evening Standard gave it no less than five out of five) is on at the Young Vic - if you're 25 and under, you can get £10 tickets. Eigengrau at the Bush is still loitering and whilst flawed, is a very funny ninety minutes. A friend whose opinion I trust says Spring Storm at the National is worth an evening of your time.

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