Back to News & Press Pinter's Betrayal will open at Comedy Theatre in May Wednesday 6 April 2011 Betrayal, produced by Sonia Friedman Productions, will have its first preview at the Comedy Theatre on 27 May 2011 with press night on 16 June and is booking until 20 August 2011. “I’ve always rather liked Jerry. To be honest, I’ve always liked him rather more than I’ve liked you. Maybe I should have had an affair with him myself.” Sometimes you’ll find there can be three people in a marriage…… Over a period of nine years, we are shown the high price of passion and the damage inflicted by desire. Harold Pinter’s play explores how our loves and our losses echo and accumulate through time. Kristin Scott Thomas was last on stage playing Arkadina in Ian Rickson’s celebrated production of The Seagull at the Royal Court Theatre for which she won the 2008 Laurence Olivier Award for Best Actress, reprising the role on Broadway at the Walter Kerr Theater the following year. Her other theatre credits include Jonathan Kent’s production of As You Desire Me and Michael Blakemore’s production of Three Sisters both for the Playhouse Theatre in London. Her extensive film credits include most recently Sous Ton Emprise, Une Femme Parfaite and Nowhere Boy as well as Easy Virtue, The Other Boleyn Girl, the multi-award winning Gosford Park, The Horse Whisperer, The English Patient, Mission Impossible, Angels & Insects, for which she won the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress, and Four Weddings and a Funeral, for which she won a BAFTA Award for Best Actress in a supporting role and the Evening Standard British Film Award for Best Actress. She has just finished filming Bel Ami and Salmon Fishing in Yemen, both due for release later this year. On television her credits include Gulliver’s Travels, Belle Epoque, Body and Soul, Weep No More My Lady and The Secret Life of Ian Fleming. Douglas Henshall was last on stage playing Satan in The Last Days of Judas Iscariot at the Almeida Theatre. His other theatre credits include The Cryptogram for the Donmar Warehouse, Death of a Salesman at the Lyric Theatre, The Crucible for Sheffield Theatres, The Coast of Utopia for the National Theatre and American Buffalo for the Young Vic. He is best known on television for playing Nick Cutter in the long running ITV series Primeval. His other extensive television credits include Joe Astell in South Riding, Jim in The Silence and Conan Doyle in The Strange Case of Sherlock Holmes and Arthur Conan Doyle, all for the BBC, Alex Gansa in Lewis and D.I. John Tolin in Collision, both for ITV and Daniel Nash in Psychos for Channel 4. His many film credits include Dorian Gray, French Film, Flying Lessons, Dead Long Enough, Ripley Underground, It’s all About Love, The Lawless Heart, This Year’s Love, If Only, Fast Food, The Big Man and Angels and Insects in which he starred alongside Kristin Scott Thomas. Ben Miles was last on stage playing the Duke in Michael Attenborough’s production of Measure for Measure at the Almeida Theatre. Previously his theatre credits included Tom in Matthew Warchus’ multi award-winning production of The Norman Conquests both at the Old Vic and on Broadway, My Child for the Royal Court, Bolingbroke in Richard II for the Old Vic, The Cherry Orchard, The London Cuckolds and Mary Stuart for the National Theatre and Two Gentlemen of Verona, Hamlet and Romeo and Juliet for the Royal Shakespeare Company. His many television appearances include leading roles in Coupling, Lark Rise to Candleford, Freezing and Sex, The City and Me all for the BBC and Cold Feet for ITV as well as roles in Prime Suspect, Hustle, Sea of Souls and Trial and Retribution. His film credits include Speed Racer, V for Vendetta, The Affair of the Necklace and The Wings of a Dove. Written by Harold Pinter in 1978, the world premiere of Betrayal took place at the National Theatre, directed by Peter Hall with a cast comprising Daniel Massey, Michael Gambon and Penelope Wilton and went on to win the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Play. In 1983 David Jones directed the Academy Award and BAFTA nominated film of Betrayal with Patricia Hodge, Jeremy Irons and Ben Kingsley. Born in 1930 in East London, playwright, screen writer, director, political activist and actor Harold Pinter wrote thirty-two plays, twenty-two screenplays and directed thirty-six theatre productions. He received the Nobel Prize for Literature in 2005, and was awarded the Companion of Honour in 2002. His many awards include the Laurence Olivier Award and the Moliere D'Honneur for Lifetime Achievement, the European Theatre Award and the Legion d’Honneur. In October 2006 Pinter performed Samuel Beckett’s monologue Krapp’s Last Tape at the Royal Court Theatre, directed by Ian Rickson. Harold Pinter was married to Antonia Fraser, with whom he lived from 1975 until his death in 2008. Ian Rickson most recently directed the critically acclaimed production of Lillian Hellman’s The Children’s Hour which continues its run at the Comedy Theatre until 7 May 2011. Rickson was Artistic Director of the Royal Court from 1998-2006 where his many productions included Krapp’s Last Tape which he also directed for BBC4, Fallout which he also directed as a film for Channel 4 and The Weir and Mojo both of which transferred to the West End and Broadway. He has directed Jez Butterworth’s The Winterling, The Night Heron, Mojo and Parlour Song as well as Jerusalem, which, following sell-out runs at the Royal Court and in the West End, will begin previews on Broadway on 2 April 2011 starring Mark Rylance. For the National Theatre he has directed The Hothouse and The Day I Stood Still. Up Up

Back to News & Press First look official production photographs for Lyndsey Turner's production of Hamlet Thursday 6 August 2015 Performances at the Barbican Theatre commenced this week on 5 August with opening night on 25 August at 7pm with critics previews from Thursday 20 August. Hamlet is produced by Sonia Friedman Productions and presented by the Barbican for an exclusive 12-week run, concluding 31 October 2015. Set designs are by Es Devlin with costume designs by Katrina Lindsay, video by Luke Halls, lighting by Jane Cox, music by Jon Hopkins, sound by Christopher Shutt, movement by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and fights by Bret Yount. Sonia Friedman Productions, in partnership with Sky Arts, has allocated 100 tickets at £10 for every public performance of the production. These tickets are spread throughout the auditorium totalling over 9,000 tickets during the run. In addition to the regular performances, four education matinees have been scheduled exclusively for school and university groups (aged 14+ and in full-time education only). For these performances there will be 100 tickets priced at £10, 300 at £25 and the remainder at £35. For ongoing ticket availability please check the Barbican website at hamlet.barbican.org.uk Hamlet will be broadcast to cinemas around the world on Thursday 15 October 2015 as part of National Theatre Live - the National Theatre’s ground-breaking project which broadcasts plays live from the stage to over 550 cinemas in the UK and over 44 countries internationally. Details of all screenings, including Encore performances, can be found at ntlive.com Joining Cumberbatch are Barry Aird (Soldier), Eddie Arnold (Danish Captain, Servant), Leo Bill (Horatio), Siân Brooke (Ophelia), Nigel Carrington (Servant, Cornelius), Ruairi Conaghan (Player King), Rudi Dharmalingam (Guildenstern), Colin Haigh (Priest, Messenger), Paul Ham (Official), Diveen Henry (Player Queen, Messenger), Anastasia Hille (Gertrude), Ciarán Hinds (Claudius), Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Laertes), Karl Johnson (Ghost of Hamlet’s father), Jim Norton (Polonius), Amaka Okafor (Official), Dan Parr (Barnardo), Jan Shepherd (Courtier), Morag Siller (Voltemand), Matthew Steer (Rosencrantz), Sergo Vares (Fortinbras) and Dwane Walcott (Marcellus). As a country arms itself for war, a family tears itself apart. Forced to avenge his father’s death but paralysed by the task ahead, Hamlet rages against the impossibility of his predicament, threatening both his sanity and the security of the state. Up Up

Back to News & Press Additional official production photographs for Lyndsey Turner's production of Hamlet with Benedict Cumberbatch Monday 24 August 2015 Performances at the Barbican Theatre commenced earlier this month on 5 August, with opening night this evening. Hamlet is produced by Sonia Friedman Productions and presented by the Barbican for an exclusive 12-week run, concluding 31 October 2015. Set designs are by Es Devlin with costume designs by Katrina Lindsay, video by Luke Halls, lighting by Jane Cox, music by Jon Hopkins, sound by Christopher Shutt, movement by Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui and fights by Bret Yount. In partnership with Sky Arts, 100 tickets at £10 have been allocated for every public performance. These tickets are spread throughout the auditorium totalling over 9,000 tickets during the run. In addition to the regular performances, four education matinees have been scheduled exclusively for school and university groups (aged 14+ and in full-time education only). For these performances there will be 100 tickets priced at £10, 300 at £25 and the remainder at £35. For ongoing ticket availability please check the Barbican website at hamlet.barbican.org.uk Hamlet will be broadcast to cinemas around the world on Thursday 15 October 2015 as part of National Theatre Live - the National Theatre’s ground-breaking project which broadcasts plays live from the stage to over 550 cinemas in the UK and over 44 countries internationally. Details of all screenings, including Encore performances, can be found at ntlive.com Performing alongside Cumberbatch are Barry Aird (Soldier), Eddie Arnold (Danish Captain, Servant), Leo Bill (Horatio), Siân Brooke (Ophelia), Nigel Carrington (Servant, Cornelius), Ruairi Conaghan (Player King), Rudi Dharmalingam (Guildenstern), Colin Haigh (Priest, Messenger), Paul Ham (Official), Diveen Henry (Player Queen, Messenger), Anastasia Hille (Gertrude), Ciarán Hinds (Claudius), Kobna Holdbrook-Smith (Laertes), Karl Johnson (Ghost of Hamlet’s father), Jim Norton (Polonius), Amaka Okafor (Official), Dan Parr (Barnardo), Jan Shepherd (Courtier), Morag Siller (Voltemand), Matthew Steer (Rosencrantz), Sergo Vares (Fortinbras) and Dwane Walcott (Marcellus). Up Up

Back to News & Press Peter Morgan Turns His Pen From ‘The Crown’ to the Kremlin Saturday 20 April 2024 Original article by Maureen Dowd for New York Times. Going from Princess Diana, a lovely icon who generated waves of sympathy, to Vladimir Putin, an icy villain who generates waves of disdain, might be difficult for some writers. Not Peter Morgan. After pulling back the curtain on the British royal family for six seasons of “The Crown,” Morgan was keen to move on. He had an idea for a play about the oligarchs who, in the 1990s, helped propel an obscure Putin to power and then had to watch as their Frankenstein changed the course of Russian history in a disastrous way. The resulting drama, “Patriots,” which opens on Broadway on April 22, offered Morgan a different way to approach recent history, and a new challenge: switching from the royals, who are household names but not ultimately very powerful, to oligarchs, who are super powerful but not generally household names. Morgan enjoys writing about the vilified, giving them a fighting chance. In “Patriots,” he creates a jigsaw of four Russian men, their fates intertwining in the post-Soviet era, who represent a Byzantine spectrum of moral values. “It’s just a delicious combination of characters,” Morgan, 60, told me, in an interview at the Ethel Barrymore Theater in Times Square. “There’s a sort of violence, whereas in ‘The Crown,’ there’s this politeness and there’s repression, and it’s very female. There’s something very male, very violent about this play. It felt like a natural thing to do, having spent so much time in the one world to go into another world just to relax a little.” There were several oligarchs who helped Putin rise from a K.G.B. apparatchik in Leningrad to autocrat in the Kremlin. Morgan chose the most colorful of them for his protagonist: Boris Berezovsky, who cast himself as “the Jew behind the czar.” Morgan tailors the tale to do one of the things he does best: One character self-destructs, and another exploits that spiral. Michael Sheen, who played Tony Blair onscreen in a trilogy of Morgan opuses, “The Queen” with Helen Mirren, “The Deal” and “The Special Relationship,” told me that Morgan “finds a moment that is able to ripple out in front and behind, and illuminate what matters.” Morgan said he loves “riveting personal interactions” with a backdrop of history, when you see the impetus for an event and realize “it’s because of envy, or it’s because of persecution or it’s because of jealousy or because of love.” Despite the model of Shakespeare, he thinks that we too often tend to separate the emotional and psychological from our reading of history and politics. “In a sense, I enjoy painting with a brush that is not too realistic, because that’s what drama can do,” he said. “We have cameras for verisimilitude and for likeness.” Morgan is known — and oft chided — for mixing research and invention, looking for an underlying dramatic truth rather than pure accuracy. As with “The Crown,” he turned to a flock of advisers, this time Russian ones, for “Patriots.” He said he wanted to be careful not to demonize Russia. And he spent time with people who were close to Berezovsky. He traces the rise and fall of Berezovsky (Michael Stuhlbarg), a math prodigy — “a golden child,” as a teacher calls him in the play — who built a fortune in cars, oil and TV and became a political power. He even had his own exclusive private club in Moscow. “If there was a rock star of that era,” Morgan said, “if there was an iconic character who most typified the indulgence, the excess, in a sense the lawlessness of oligarchy, it would be him. I was interested in somebody that everybody felt was magnetic.” Nina L. Khrushcheva, a professor of international affairs at the New School in Manhattan and Nikita S. Khrushchev’s great-granddaughter, was one of Morgan’s advisers on Russian history. Sitting with us, she offered her gloss on Berezovsky: “He’s the King Lear. He’s the most tragic figure you can imagine.” Berezovsky blithely bribed and plundered. One security official told my colleague Steven Lee Myers for his biography of Putin, “The New Tsar: The Rise and Reign of Vladimir Putin ,” that Berezovsky divided people into two categories: “A condom in its packaging and a condom that has been used.” Once in power, Putin, who had been Berezovsky’s protégé, checked the power of oligarchs, including him. And Berezovsky came to see Putin as a killer who was snuffing out reforms implemented by Boris Yeltsin. “The thing that sent me straight to my laptop, as it were,” Morgan told me, “was the tragedy of Berezovsky, something about having all those ideals and then being shattered and outmaneuvered.” Khrushcheva interjected dryly: “Berezovsky and ideals. There’s a little bit of a stretch, right?” Morgan defended his antihero: “The thing that Boris had to take to his grave is that he weaponized Putin through his own transgressions, being so voraciously greedy, stealing from the Russian state.” Once Putin got to the top and clamped down on the oligarchs, Berezovsky, stripped of power, became “a reluctant revolutionary.” Other historic figures are brought into the mix. There is Alexander Litvinenko (Alex Hurt), who worked for the federal security service and investigated the bombing of Berezovsky’s car in 1994 , which left his chauffeur decapitated. He grew close to Berezovsky, became disillusioned with Putin and defected to Britain, where, in 2006, he was poisoned with polonium-210 , a radioactive isotope, and died. Then there is the luxe oligarch Roman Abramovich (Luke Thallon), described as “the kid” when Berezovsky first meets him in the play and agrees to go into the oil business with him and become his protector. They too fall out, and in 2011 Berezovsky sues Abramovich in London, seeking billions, and loses. The judge calls Berezovsky “an unimpressive and inherently unreliable witness who regarded truth as transitory.” Sonia Friedman , the play’s producer, said that while Morgan had initially set out to write the story of “Boris as a kingmaker,” he made Putin more central because “as the play was developing, the world was changing around the play.” Read the rest of the article here. Up Up

Back to News & Press The Inheritance, The Jungle and Summer and Smoke nominated in the WhatsOnStage Awards Wednesday 5 December 2018 The Inheritance is the most nominated play of 2018, with 7 nominations – Best New Play, Best Direction (Stephen Daldry ), Best Actor in a Play (Kyle Soller ), Best Supporting Actor in a Play (Andrew Burnap ), Best Supporting Actor in a Play (Paul Hilton ), Best Supporting Actress in a Play (Vanessa Redgrave ) and Best Show Poster. The Jungle is also nominated in the Best New Play category, as well as Best Set Design (Mirium Buether ) and Best Show Poster. Summer and Smoke is up for Best Play Revival and Best Actress in a Play (Patsy Ferran ). Both The Inheritance and Summer and Smoke must end their strictly limited runs in the West End on 19th January. Audiences can now see The Jungle at St Ann's Warehouse in New York, where it began previews last night. Up Up

Back to News & Press The Ferryman and The Jungle nominated for The South Bank Arts Awards 2018 Monday 28 May 2018 A host of outstanding performers, artists, musicians, authors and films have been nominated for The South Bank Sky Arts Awards 2018. Now in its 22nd year, the prestigious annual awards ceremony will take place at The Savoy Hotel in London on Sunday 1 July 2018, celebrating the wide range of creative talent Britain has to offer, from Stormzy to Paddington 2. Hosted by Melvyn Bragg, The South Bank Sky Arts Awards this year will continue its legacy as the only awards ceremony in the world to represent the entire spectrum of the arts, with categories for TV Drama, Classical Music, Theatre, Comedy, Dance, Film, Visual Art, Pop, Literature and Opera. Christopher Nolan’s nail-biting war epic Dunkirk is nominated in an incredibly strong Film category, which includes the hilarious Paddington 2 and independent filmmaking success Lady Macbeth. Meanwhile, Olivier Award-winning productions The Ferryman and Follies are nominated in the Theatre category alongside The Jungle, while newcomer Dua Lipa caps off a barnstorming breakthrough year in the Pop category, alongside Stormzy for Gang Signs & Prayer and Loyle Carner for Yesterday’s Gone. The TV Drama category pitches the explosive Line of Duty against period pieces The Crown and Howards End. The celebration also includes The Times Breakthrough Award, recognising achievements made by newcomers across the full range of the arts; previous winners include Amma Asante, Tom Hiddleston, Billie Piper and Sheku Kanneh-Mason, a cellist whose star is on the rise following his captivating performance at the Royal Wedding of the Duke and Duchess of Sussex. The climax of the event is the Outstanding Achievement Award, presented for continued excellence in British culture; previous winners include Harold Pinter, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Tracey Emin, J K Rowling and Helen Mirren. Melvyn Bragg said: “The Creative Industries generate £92 billion a year, and yet the funding cuts in the arts in schools are very worrying. A recent study of 1,200 secondary schools found that 90% had cut back on arts teachers, facilities and equipment. Since 2010, there has been a 28% drop in pupils taking arts GCSEs, with a corresponding drop in the number of arts teachers being trained. This means that the future of everything we stand for and everything we’re good at is being threatened. But what we also stand for are events like these awards, which show how rich and diverse the arts in this country are.” Phil Edgar-Jones, director of Sky Arts, said: “With funding for the arts and arts education facing challenging times, Sky Arts’ work supporting artists and the creative industries is more important than ever. We are proud to host The South Bank Sky Arts Awards which reflect the breadth and diversity of talent and voices in the creative industries.” Artist Yinka Shonibare MBE, Fellow of the Royal Academy, has been commissioned to design this year’s award, which he describes as an expression of how he supports the importance of the Arts as they remain of value to our humanity. An unmissable event in the British awards calendar, the ceremony will be held at The Savoy Hotel in London on Sunday 1 July 2018, and will be broadcast on Sky Arts later in the week. Up Up

Back to Productions THE DUMB WAITER This production began performances on 2nd February with press night on 8th February and ended its strictly-limited seven week run on 24th March 2007. Groundbreaking... Outstanding performances. Daily Telegraph In an airless basement room, two killers await confirmation of the identity of their next 'hit.' They're a team from way back. Today something has disturbed their normally efficient routine. Unseen forces bear down on them in their precarious and darkly funny world. Meanwhile, increasingly bizarre orders keep arriving via a serving hatch? It's Tarantino meets Tony Hancock in a comedy of menace played for truth. The Times To coincide with the play's 50th anniversary, Lee Evans and Jason Isaacs will star in a major West End revival of Harold Pinter 's classic comedy of menace, The Dumb Waiter . The Dumb Waiter was first produced at Hampstead Theatre Club in 1960, directed by James Roose Evans with Nicholas Selby as Ben and George Tovey as Gus. More recently, in 2004, Douglas Hodge directed Toby Jones and Jason Watkins in the Oxford Playhouse Production. In 1987 Robert Altman directed John Travolta and Tom Conti in the film version of Pinter 's one act play. Menace and absurdity, delivered with panache Financial Times CAST LEE EVANS – Gus JASON ISAACS – Ben CREATIVES HAROLD PINTER – Playwright HARRY BURTON – Director PETER MCKINTOSH – Designer

Back to Productions SEE YOU NEXT TUESDAY This production began performances on 15th September 2003 and closed on 11th Jan 2004. Wealthy Parisian publisher Pierre ( Nigel Havers - Manchild, Art) has the career, the wife, the friends and the mistress - and the most unusual pastime. Once a week, his friends meet for dinner and invite the most idiotic person they can find. By chance, Pierre comes across Francois Pignon ( Ardal O'Hanlon - Father Ted, My Hero) - the finest nincompoop ever. When the paths of these two unlikely dinner companions collide, the result is gloriously chaotic! This hilariously entertaining comedy is adapted by Oscar-winning writer Ronald Harwood (The Pianist ), from Francis Veber 's award-winning play and film Le Diner de Cons. CAST NIGEL HAVERS – Pierre Brochant CAROL ROYLE – Christine Brochant ROY SAMPSON – Archambaud ARDAL O'HANLON – Francois Pignon PATRICK RYECART – Just Leblanc PATSY KENSIT – Marlene GEOFFREY HUTCHINGS – Lucien Cheval IAN SOUNDY – Voice of Pascal Menaux CREATIVES FRANCIS VEBER – Playwright ROBIN LEFEVRE – Director LIZ ASHCROFT – Designer MICK HUGHES – Lighting Designer SIMON WHITEHORN – Sound Designer ANNA LUNSTRUM – Associate Director

Back to News & Press Full cast announced for the tour of Funny Girl across the UK & Ireland Wednesday 11 January 2017 Playing opposite Sheridan Smith is Chris Peluso as Nick Arnstein - they will perform in Manchester, Milton Keynes, Liverpool, Bristol, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Newcastle, Southampton, Bradford, Southend, Cardiff and Dublin. Also announced today, the run will extend for a further two weeks, returning to Manchester to complete its run with Smith and Peluso playing the final dates. Natasha J Barnes and Darius Campbell will play Fanny Brice and Nick Arnstein in Stoke, Aberdeen, Woking, Canterbury, Glasgow, Nottingham, Norwich, Llandudno, Wolverhampton and Plymouth. Patrons should check with venues for the performance playing schedule. They are joined by Nigel Barber (Florenz Ziegfeld), Zoë Ann Bown (Mrs. Meeker), Martin Callaghan (Mr. Keeney), Jennifer Harding (Emma), Rachel Izen (Mrs Brice), Joshua Lay (Eddie) and Myra Sands (Mrs. Strakosh); with Rhianne Alleyne, Kit Benjamin, Lloyd Davies, Flora Dawson, Joseph Dockree, Abigayle Honeywill, Brontë Lavine, David Mcintosh, Peter Nash, Gillian Parkhouse, Tom Partridge, Nova Skipp, Alexandra Waite-Roberts, Sam Wingfield and Alexandra Wright. ★★★★★ ‘Don’t believe this five-star hype? Go see for yourselves… if you can get in.’ Daily Telegraph Funny Girl brought global fame to Barbra Streisand 50 years ago and boasts some of the most iconic songs in film and theatre history, including People and Don’t Rain On My Parade. This ‘iconic, legendary, laugh-out-loud’ (The Times) musical tells the story of Fanny Brice, whose vocal talents and comedic ability see her rise from Brooklyn music hall singer to Broadway star. ‘Michael Mayer’s vivacious production has wit, charm and energy, sparkly choreography, and a strong, ebullient cast.’ Financial Times Sheridan Smith reprises her smash hit performance in the role of Fanny Brice. Her other theatre work includes A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Michael Grandage Company at the Noel Coward Theatre), Hedda Gabler (Old Vic), Flare Path (Theatre Royal Haymarket – Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress, Evening Standard Theatre Award and Critics’ Circle Theatre Award for Best Actress), Legally Blonde (Savoy Theatre – Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Musical), Tinderbox (Bush Theatre), The People are Friendly (Royal Court) and Into the Woods (Donmar Warehouse). For television, her credits include The Moorside Project , Blackwork , The C Word , Cilla , The Widower , The 7.39 , Dates , Mr Stink , Mrs Biggs (BAFTA Award for Best Actress), Accused , Scapegoat , Little Crackers , Jonathan Creek , Gavin & Stacey , Larkrise to Candleford , Grown Ups , Love Soup , Two Pints of Larger and a Packet of Crisps , The Royle Family and Wives and Daughters ; and for film, The Huntsman , Powder Room , Quartet , Tower Block and Hysteria . Chris Peluso plays Nick Arnstein. His theatre work in the UK includes Show Boat (New London Theatre) and Miss Saigon (Prince Edward Theatre); and in the US, Mamma Mia! (Winter Garden Theater), Beautiful (Stephen Sondheim Theater), Wicked (tour), The Glorious One (The Lincoln Center), Assassins (Studio 54) and Lestat (Palace Theater). Natasha J Barnes returns to play Fanny Brice, a role she performed to critical acclaim as alternate to Sheridan Smith during the West End run. She is currently playing the title role in the all-star Cinderella at the London Palladium. Her other theatre work includes American Idiot (Arts Theatre), The Boy Who Fell Into a Book (Stephen Joseph Theatre), Chess (Union Theatre), Snow White (Old Vic Theatre and tour), Come Dancing , I Was Looking at the Ceiling and Then I Saw the Sky (Theatre Royal Stratford East), Lend Me a Tenor (Gielgud Theatre) and Spring Awakening (Lyric Hammersmith and Novello Theatre). Following runs at the Menier and in the West End, Darius Campbell returns to play Nick Arnstein. His theatre work includes in the West End, Chicago , Guys and Dolls , Gone with the Wind , and From Here to Eternity ; Carmen (Europe and 02) and The History of the Big Bands (tour). Also a recording artist, his first single Colourblind went to #1 in the UK singles chart. Director Michael Mayer’s West End credits include Spring Awakening (Lyric Hammersmith and Novello Theatre) and Thoroughly Modern Millie (Shaftesbury Theatre). For Broadway his work includes Hedwig and the Angry Inch (Tony Award nomination for Best Director), On a Clear Day You Can See Forever , American Idiot (Drama Desk Award for Best Director of a Musical), Spring Awakening (Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical), Thoroughly Modern Millie (Drama Desk Award for Best Direction of a Musical) and You're a Good Man Charlie Brown (Drama Desk Award nomination for Best Direction of a Musical). For television, his work includes Smash and Alpha House , and for film his credits include A Home at the End of the World , Flicka and currently in post-production, Chekhov's The Seagull . He made his Metropolitan Opera debut with a celebrated new production of Rigoletto . Up Up

Back to Productions LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL This production began performances on 13th January 2010 and closed on 7th April 2012. ★★★★★ An irresistibly exuberant evening, expertly performed, a box office smash hit Metro College sweetheart and homecoming queen Elle Woods doesn't take no for an answer. So when her boyfriend, Warner, dumps her for someone serious, Elle puts down the credit card, hits the books, and heads for Harvard Law School! ★★★★ Ridiculously enjoyable from start to finish. Perfection. The Independent The international award-winning hit Legally Blonde The Musical is now on tour! Winner of 7 major awards including Best Musical 2011 (Olivier Awards) this all-singing, all-dancing romantic comedy is about knowing who you are and showing what you’ve got! Based on the hit movie of the same name, Legally Blonde the Musical is the Broadway sensation created by a top-of-their-class creative team, led by Tony Award-winning director and Olivier-nominated choreographer Jerry Mitchell (Hairspray ). Legally Blonde the Musical will take you from the social whirl of California Campus life to Harvard's Halls of Justice with the West End's brightest new heroine (and of course, her Chihuahua, Bruiser). The verdict? This much fun shouldn't be legal! Sonia Freidman Productions , Robert G Bartner , Ambassador Theatre Group , Bud Martin , Adam Zotovich , Jamie Hendry Productions , Matthew Byam Shaw and Act Productions in association with MGM ON STAGE , Darcie Denkert and Dean Stolber present “LEGALLY BLONDE THE MUSICAL ”. ★★★★ A sassy story of self empowerment. Legally Blonde is a winner. Evening Standard CAST CARLEY STENSON – Elle Woods JON TSOURAS – Padmadan/Nikos GEORGIE ASHFORD – Gabbu/Stenographer LUCY MILLER – Serena NATHAN PINNELL – Carlos NATALIE CASEY – Paulette Buonufonté PETER DAVISON – Professor Callahan TRICIA ADELE TURNER – Vivienne Kensington CHRIS ELLIS-STAUNTON – Grandmaster Chad/Dewey/Kyle DANIELLE STEERS – Judge/Saleswoman ABIONA OMONUA – Pilar ELLIE KIRK – Margot GEMMA STRRON – Enid SORELLE MARSH – Courtney/Mom/Whitney STEPHEN ASHFIELD – Emmett Forrest NICK HAYES – Pforzheimer CHLOË BROOKS – Kate/Chutney LINCOLN STONE – Dad/Winthrop/Reporter BEN FREEMAN – Warner Huntington III ROBBIE TOWNS – Aaron GREGORY SIMS – Kiki TANARA WAKK – Brooke Wyndham ROSS HUNTER – Lowell TARA YOUNG – Cece/District Attorney FABIAN ALOISE – Swing HENRY DAVIS – Swing JANE MCMURTIE – Swing RUTHIE STEPHENSON – Swing CAROLYN MAITLAND – Swing CREATIVES LAURENCE O'KEEFE – Lyrics and Music NELL BENJAMIN – Lyrics and Music HEATHER HACH – Book JERRY MITCHELL – Director/Choreographer DAVID ROCKWELL – Scenic Designer GREGG BARNES – Costume Designer KENNETH POSNER – Lighting Designer PAUL MILLER – Lighting Designer ACME SOUND PARTNERS – Sound Designer CHRISTOPHER JAHNKE – Orchestrations

Back to Productions DEAD OUTLAW The production is set to begin preview performances at Broadway’s Longacre Theatre on 12 April 2025. 'BEST OF THE YEAR. Brilliant. Dead Outlaw is the kind of musical you’d never find on Broadway— except that you might.' The New York Times The New York Times and New York Magazine list Dead Outlaw among “The Best Theater of 2024,” with the former raving, “Brilliant and gorgeous!” and the latter calling it, “A raucous, rip-roaring, bourbon-and-arsenic-tinged musical!” Winner of four Best Musical Awards, including the Drama Desk, New York Drama Critics’ Circle, Outer Critics Circle, and Off Broadway Alliance Awards, Dead Outlaw is “as much fun as any respectable grownup is likely to have in public” (New York Sun ). The Wrap calls it, “An instant classic! You have to see it to believe it.” 'BEST OF THE YEAR.A raucous, rip-roaring new musical!' New York Magazine DEAD OUTLAW is the darkly hilarious and wildly inventive musical about the bizarre true story of outlaw-turned-corpse-turned-celebrity Elmer McCurdy. As Elmer’s body finds even more outlandish adventures in death than it could have ever hoped for in life, the show explores fame, failure, and the meaning—or, utter meaninglessness—of legacy. Dying is no reason to stop living life to its fullest. 'A wild and crazy ride— you have to see it to believe it!' The Wrap CAST To be announced. CREATIVES ITMAR MOSES – Writer DAVID YAZBEK and ERIK DELLA PENNA – Music and Lyrics DAVID CROMER – Director Further Creatives to be announced.

Back to News & Press Sonia Friedman: "None of my success is down to luck" Tuesday 4 April 2017 The Olivier Awards, theatreland’s equivalent of the Oscars, are fast approaching. At the Royal Albert Hall on Sunday, the stars will be out in force, social media will be a-twitter. But all eyes in particular will be on Sonia Friedman, the 51-year-old producer who has emerged in the past year as almost a star in her own right: the most sought-after, talked-about, in-vogue weaver of theatrical magic in Britain thanks to Harry Potter and the Cursed Child , very much her “baby” (albeit she must share the credit with co-producer Colin Callender, and, it goes without saying the creative team of playwright Jack Thorne, director John Tiffany and one J.K. Rowling). Read the full article on the Telegraph's website . Up Up