UK Roundup - Chitty closes, Tom Stoppard, David Bedella

After the opening of the Broadway production last month, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has announced it will close in London/> on September 4th ahead of a UK/>/> tour in December. At the London/> Pa/>lladium, Chitty will be the longest running musical to play there and during its four year run has attracted a host of star names – Mich/>ael Ball, Brian Blessed, Jason Donovan, Gary/> Wilmot, Stephen Gately, Pau/>/>l O'Grady and Richard O'Brien to name a few. Being such an expensive musical means it would be impractical to recreate Anthony Ward's massive designs for a tour, so it makes better financial sense to close in London/>/> and tour that set. It will be interesting to see how the show fares on the road, given that the show had an extensive 'get-in' at the Palladium in order to accommodate the technicalities of the show's centrepiece car, the most expensive theatre prop ever. The final cast will include Australia/>/>n popstar Jason Donovan in the lead.

Tom Stoppard will premiere his new adaptation of Gera/>ld Sibleyras' French play Le Vent des Peupliers (The Wind in the Poplars) in the West End this Autumn, with a stellar West End/> cast. Hot on the success of his bevy of Best Actor wins for The History Boys is Richard Griffiths, sharing the billing with John Hurt and Ken Stott. Between them they have notched up an impressive array of film and stage work, most recently seen in Harry Potter (Griffith/>s/>/>), King Arthur (Stott) and Hellboy (Hurt). Their arrival on the West End/> stage, at the Wyndham's Theatre in October, has strong echoes of another long-running Wyndham's hit – Yazmina Reza's Art. With the same producer, cast of three actors and original French tex/>/>t, comparisons with Art are inevitable, and no doubt producer David Pugh is hoping for the same success – Art had 27 cast changes in its ten year history. Le Vent des Peupliers is about three first world war veterans in 1959 as they spend the last of their years together in an old people's home.

The Europe/>an premieres of plays by David Mamet and Sam Shepherd are featured in the Almeida Theatre's 2005/6 season. Mamet's new play Romance, which recently played at the Altantic Theater in New York/>/>, will be directed by Lindsay Posner and opens on September 8th, after which Posner directs the next play of the season – Richard Bean's new version of Moliere's The Hypochondriac. The first play of 2006 will be Sam Shepherd's The Late Henry Moss, directed by the Almeida's artistic director Mich/>ael Attenborough, followed by Howard Davies directing Tenn/>essee/>/> Williams' Period of Adjustment. The final play of the season will be Enemies, by Maxim Gorky in a version by David Hare, directed by Mich/>/>ael Attenborough. No casting has yet been announced. For more details on the season, click here.

The theatre which premiered some of the most important and influential plays in the history of British theatre in under threat of immediate closure. The Arts Theatre, in a prime central West End/> location, could be demolished in favour of hotel/office space, as the company who own it feel they could get a higher price for the space. Amongst other plays its notable premieres include Waiting for Godot by Samuel Beckett, Mourning Becomes Electra by Eugene/> O'Neill and The Caretaker by Harold Pinter, though in recent years it has become more of a home for transfers of smaller plays. The 340-seater is currently housing revue show Immodesty Blaize and Walter's Burlesque at a top price of £37.50, and due to the closure fears the theatre isn't programming past July 31st. It faces stiff competition from other small theatres such as the Trafalgar Studios, the Venue, the planned Sondheim Theatre and a new theatre opening in Leicester Square next month – with a production of The Laramie Project - called the Sound Theatre.

David Bedella, who created the role of Satan in Jerry/> Spring/>/>er the Opera, is to take the title role in a production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch. As part of the Pride Festival 2005, the production will open in the gay nightclub Heaven, which in 2003 staged a critically panned production of Dragula. Bedella won the 2004 Olivier Award for his performance in Jerry Springer, which was preserved on film when the BBC screened the show in January, and he  also took part in the workshop for It's a Wonderful Life playing – ironically – an angel. Offstage he was recently a recurring character in the long-running hospital drama Holby City. The thirteen performances from June 17th – July 1st are directed by John Mayer and designed by Ben M Rogers. Tickets and more information are available from Heaven's Hedwig page - http://www.heaven-london.com/events/hedwig.asp

In other news – Dominic Dromgoole, currently artistic director of the Oxford/>/> Stage Company, will succeed Mark Rylance as artistic director at the Globe Theatre. Rylance stands down after ten years at the end of the current season. Also, two theatres are going to be renamed – The Strand will become the Novello Theatre (after Ivor Novello) and The Albery Theatre will become the The Noël Coward Theatre.