UK Roundup - Rob Lowe, Billy Elliot, Chichester Festival

The West Wing's Rob Lowe is to star in the West End premiere of the 1989 play A Few Good Men, which was subsequently made into a film with Jack Nicholson and Tom Cruise. At the Theatre Royal Haymarket, Lowe – who played the role of Sam Seaborn in the hit US drama - will star in the play about a neo military lawyer defending two Marines accused of murder. Produced by Bill Kenwright and directed by Broadway director David Esbjornson – best known for his work on The Goat, or Who is Sylvia – the play, by Aaron Sorkin, will open on September 6th, one of the first plays of the autumn/winter West End season. No further cast has yet been announced and the play is booking up until December 17th. Currently at the Theatre Royal Haymarket is Acorn Antiques, which ends on May 21st.

With just days to go before opening night for Billy Elliot the Musical, the boy who will play the lead on press night has yet to be decided. According to the Daily Mail the boys are still deciding on who will play Billy for the critics (Weds 11th) and who will play for the celebrities on opening night (Thurs 12th). The three alternates George Maguire, James Lomas and Liam Mower have not only been busy tweaking the show - which I hear is getting a tremendous reception complete with standing ovations - but are also busy promoting the show; to the point where I've lost count of how many interviews there has been! The buzz in Britain is similar to that surrounding Mary Poppins, if not more so. The reviews come out on Thursday morning and Broadwayworld.com will be there to review as well.

The Birmingham Rep is currently on a roll with transfers to the West End. Currently represented by Pinter's The Birthday Party, in the past year they've had four major productions transfer including Pinter-directed The Old Masters at the Comedy. Add to that list two more – On The Ceiling, a debut comedy by actor Nigel Planer about painting the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, and Glorious, a comedy with Maureen Lipman about Florence Foster Jenkins, the opera singer who.. couldn't sing a note! On The Ceiling stars regular stage and screen actor Ron Cook and the younger talent of Ralf Little, best known for his work on TV comedy The Royle Family, and opens in May before transferring to a West End venue, to be confirmed soon. Lipman's Glorious opens in Birmingham in September.

The Chichester Festival Theatre's 2005 season got underway last week with their opening production of Frank Loesser's How To Succeed in Business Without Really Trying. Artistic director Martin Duncan directs the show with choreography by Mary Poppins co-choreographer Stephen Mear. Tomorrow – in the smaller Minerva Theatre - Stephen Pimlott's highly anticipated production of King Lear with David Warner starts previews. 40 years ago Warner was the youngest actor to play Hamlet at the RSC, a production which ran for nearly two years and had audiences queuing round the block. Other highlights of the theatre's programme – with eight shows in total – is a new version of The Government Inspector penned by political comedy writer Alistair Beaton starring impressionist Alistair McGowan. Full details and more information at www.cft.org.uk.

Lots of off-West End plays are swapping houses or planning comebacks. The Arab Israeli Cookbook, a play based on a series of interviews with Israelis whilst they cooked, will be revived at the Tricycle Theatre in July following a highly successful run at the Gate with a cast including Sheila Hancock, though it's not yet known if she'll return. Kathy Burke's production of The Quare Fellow – praised highly by the critics - returns to the same Tricycle venue with a 17 member male cast, Marc Salem brings his Mind Games back to London after a weekly show on Broadway recently, and My Name is Rachel Corrie, the harrowing docu-drama about the American peace activist, will return to the Royal Court Theatre in October after a sell-out run. It will now play the larger Downstairs venue.

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