Review of 2014 - Best Play: Ballyturk, Enda Walsh

Ballyturk is like Waiting For Godot an acid. 

Performed superbly by a cast of three, Enda Walsh's Ballyturk was loud and physical, but there was an aching tenderness beneath the pulsing 80s score, the kind of sadness that only Mr Walsh can encapsulate.

When it opened at the National, the play received mixed reviews, with many critics feeling that it was too difficult to understand. But that was the problem: it wasn't until two, three weeks after I saw the show that I felt I had a remote grasp on what happened, and many of the reviews were just published too quickly. Like The Drowned Man, this is a play that demands concentration, everything is symbolic, and you get out only what you put in.

Unlike a sprawling, three hour theatrical marathon, Ballyturk is a sprint to the end, and while you may be exhausted by the curtain call, nothing can quite beat that feeling of crossing the finish line. 

Review of 2014 - Best Overall Theatre: The Almeida Theatre, Islington

When Rupert Goold took over as the artistic director of London's Almeida Theatre, he promised that the two words to describe his upcoming job would be risk and vision. 

It's fitting then, that in his first season there was a post-apocalyptic play about pop-culture, a "future-history" play about the reign of Charles III , a verbatim piece exploring the 2011 London Riots, a stripped down, metatheatrical retelling of a Thornton Wilder classic and to top it off a modern-dress Shakespeare production. 

The Almeida had always been popular to those who knew about it (for many productions, tickets are gold dust) , but Goold not only brought it to the 21st century, he did so with a sense of style and vitality that we will hopefully see more of over the coming years. Take his American Psycho - by casting Matt Smith in the title role, Goold exposed thousands of young audience members to the type of drama they just don't teach in schools.

We'd like to wish Rupert, the brilliant front of house team and what we're sure is a brilliant backstage crew the very best for what we're sure is going to be a very, very good year for the Almeida. 

Review: Almeida's Our Town

It's been said that since 1948, Thornton Wilder's seminal Our Town has been performed every single night, even on Sundays. In America, it's mega: amateur groups perform it because of the deliberately minimal staging, actors love it because of the naturalistic dialogue and directors worship it because of the bold metatheatrical devices, including having an on-stage 'Stage Manager' (played in this production by director David Cromer).

In the Almedia Theatre's new production, things have been stripped back even further: actors mime props, speak in thick regional English accents and David Cromer's stage manager oversees proceedings with a sense of casual ceremoniousness. When he enters, he describes the town of Grover's Corners. "The sky is beginning to show some sneaks of light" towards the back of the stalls and Main Street runs between rows A and B of the Almeida's new traverse auditorium.

And while this might sound like modernist mumbo-jumbo, it's actually good. Fantastic, even once it gets going. Cromer's simplistic staging ensures that the focus is always on the audience, and the theatrical revelation that comes in Act 3 filled the auditorium with gasps and even the odd teary eye. 

Marc Brenner

The cast, many of whom are making their professional stage debuts, give it their all, and special credit goes to Laura Elsworthy, David Cromer and Richard Lumsden as the everyman journalist Mr Webb. 

The lighting, while simple, is also standout. Performed mostly with the house-lights up, the gentle shifts to half-light and the sudden drop to black in third act did nothing but add to the startling intimacy and tenderness of this gripping production. 

With his production of Our Town, David Cromer has shone a light over the everyday. It is a play, and production, that asks us to not only look at the stage but also at each other; that young couple on the front row, the two pensioners at the back, me. While Wilder and Cromer share mayorship, it's still very much Our Town.

10/10

Carole King Musical to Hit West End in 2015

It has been announced that Carole King musical Beautiful will transfer from Broadway to London, opening at the Aldwych Theatre on 25 February 2015 with previews  from 10 February.

The show opened on Broadway in January to strong sales and critical reception. It tells the real-life story of King's childhood as a shy teenager, her rise to super stardom as part of a chart-topping songwriting duo with her husband Gerry Goffin, to her relationship with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in pop.

The production will feature an entirely English cast.

Photo: Sara Krulwich

Speaking today King said: "This show is an honest portrayal of my early life with Gerry Goffin and our friendship with our competitors Barry Mann and Cynthia Weil. It captures the essence of my emergence as a singer and my growth as a woman. I love that the next chapter of the Beautiful story is taking place in London's West End. I have so many good friends in London and warm memories of good times there. I can't wait to re-visit."

Public booking for the show opens today, 5 September 2014, and the production is currently booking to 13 June 2015.

Review: National Theatre's Savage Medea

It would be easy going into the National Theatre's stunning new production of Euripides' Medea expecting a small budget affair. Remember their Mother Courage, with its minimalist, white-wall set, or Edward II, with the focus more on multimedia than sheer spectacle? Well, it's shocking how a £3 increase can so drastically affect a production, because Medea is big. Really big. Tom Scutt's two-storey design places the action in a dilapidated mansion, with peeling wallpaper and gaudy carpet. Visually, it's stunning, with the action taking place across both levels, often simultaneously. Upstairs, we can see a function room full of white chairs and a wedding cake from which the Chorus appear like ghosts. Downstairs, a window looks out into a forest of gnarled trees.

The floor, initially littered with the toys of Medea's two young sons, provides an ample arena for the fierce emotional intensity of the actors. The Olivier hasn't been this heated since last year's Othello. There's strong support from Martin Turner as a sadly underused and slimy Creon, and Michaela Cola is crushingly aware of the inevitable as the Nurse. Cole also manages to brilliantly navigate her way through both the opening and concluding monologues, even making Ben Power's sometimes flat dialogue seem natural and unforced. Cole has a bright future ahead of her. Also in the cast is Danny Sapani, who as Jason is both a smooth politician and loving father, devastatingly (and awkwardly) posing for a picture with his two small sons.

And then there's Helen McCrory who is a vicious and barbaric Medea. Dragging the bloody corpses of her two sons in sleeping bags, she appears more as a savage lioness than a mother descended from the Sun Gods. Her performance is richly nuanced, and despite her small stature she towers above the rest of the cast with wild-eyed power and control.

Helen McCrory in the title role
© Richard Hubert Smith

Even the music is stunning. In a brilliant design choice, Carrie Cracknell chooses to have the Chorus appear as bridesmaids, carrying boxes of flowers and dresses. They dance erratically to Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory's sinister, carnivalistic score, becoming more and more bloodied and messy as the show continues.

With hundreds of £15 now on sale, you have no choice. You have to see Medea. Despite some occasionally dull dialogue, this powerhouse production will go down in history as one of the best Medea's to ever grace the stage. The cast fire on all cylinders, performing on a stunning stage under the genius, focused direction of Carrie Cracknell.

9/10

The Drowned Man #2, 29th June 5pm

*THIS RECAP CONTAINS SPOILERS*

I have an agenda. 

This agenda is flawless. It is perfect down to the tiniest detail. Nothing can stop me from achieving my plan. This is a guaranteed fast-track to the perfect Temple Studios experience.

And as soon as I step out of the lift into the trailer park it’s scattered from my brain like dust into the wind.

Great.

- Sarah Sweeney’s Romola was fantastic. The perfect mixture of caution and childishness (the scene where she prepares her office was so sweet and sad at the same time.) From her office, she walks out into the corridor but stops dead in her tracks when she hears Oliver Sawyer as the Doctor behind her. “That’s a nice dress you got there.” He starts to walk towards her, and she runs away, but he catches up to her easily. They speak by the shrine, but I can’t hear.

- Romola leaving, I follow her with a small gaggle of white masks - who are all really small - one of whom is clutching an iPhone in her hands. I try my best to avoid her, sticking to the back. Here, my height truly is an advantage. From down the stairs we her maniacal laughter. “I’m Frankie Gardner! Remember my name!” Slowing down and visibly nervous, Romola peers around the handrail. Seeing Conor Doyle’s Frankie, she goes to leave but he’s already seen her. “Hey, get over here!” Romola steps down. “You, you tell Mr Stanford my name. Frankie. Frankie Gardner. Tell ‘im to remember Frankie Gardner!” And then, giggling at a joke only he knows, he saunters off.

- Romola, confused and nervous, continues her voyage, attempting to open locked doors. Soon, she turns into a plush, crimson room where Sam Booth’s Stanford is kneeling, deep in prayer. “Uh, Mr Stanford? I got a package for you.” He is silent, but his hands stretch out, beckoning Romola to place the package in his hands. Suddenly, he stands up and looks at her. They talk to each other, her confused yet excited, him ever omniscient. They begin to dance, getting closer and closer. He stops her and twirls her around viciously. It’s a tender scene, but becomes more and more strange as it continues, and Stanford knows something that she doesn’t. He lays a hand on her cheek: “Put them to shame, Romola. You put all humanity to shame.” 

- Stanford departed, Romola leaves and heads up to the Domestic Set, where she is attended to by Chihiro Kawasaki as a young, quiet Seamstress. Leaving Miss Martin, I follow the Seamstress where she has a white mask apply bruising and blood to a diagram of a face. She then heads back into the set.

- Adam Burton’s Conrad stands, exhausted. “Conrad, please come to Studio 8.” Oh, shit.

- I’m not sure why, but the lighting is perfect. Everything just looks so cinematic and wonderful. The image of Conrad, shielding his eyes from the blinding golden light, treading his way towards the dilapidated shack is permanently etched into my brain. Taking the hand of another mask, he shines a torch across the dusty window, and taking a deep breath and a last look at the outside world, opens the door and vanishes.

- Jesse Kovarsky’s young, eager Grocer. I pick him up at the end of his loop and follow him to the birthday tent from there. 

- The birthday tent is my new favourite scene. Is it the music, or the setting, or the characters and the harsh undercurrent to it? The party over and Marshall alone, Pascale Burgess’ Alice slithers into the tent. Her manipulation of Eugene is horrible. He’s like putty in her hands, and is delighted when he gives him the script. He runs back, and puts on his apron and bow, and leads a mask into a 1:1.

- We’re into the second loop by now, so I head to the bar and catch the tail-end of Conrad and Andrea’s (Lily Ockwell) magic act. Sonya Cullingford is my favourite Exec, so it was nice to see her Telephone Man one last time. Then, she vanished backstage, leaving Studio 3 strangely Execless. I buy a Diet Coke, because hey, why now, it’s my last show and financially I’m now in the position to not only spend £48 on a ticket, but also £1.50 on a can of Coke. It was damn good. 

- Carl Harrison’s Tuttle. He’s quiet and reserved, but there’s an intelligence behind his eyes. Filling in the outline of a crescent moon with crimson paint, he looks up. “Store’s closing. Everyone out.” He picks a white mask for a 1:1 and I wait outside. The store looks so sinister in the dark. Slowly, the lights come on and around the corner comes Tuttle, but he’s stopped in his tracks by Simon Palmer’s Vaudevillian Harry. “Gee, what’s that on your hand?” Tuttle looks around nervously. “Uh, paint. I was…painting.” “Ah! Well, it sure was nice seein’ ya!” Harry strides off, and Tuttle watches on. Back in the shop, we hear Stanford’s announcement regarding Romola’s death. Tuttle takes out his notebook and next to Romola’s name writes “COULDN’T SAVE”.

- He looks up again. “Store’s closing.” Again, I wait. Because a) Carl Harrison’s great and b) I’m persistent. I was rejected again until the third time, when he announced the store’s closure and, as I stood outside, clutched my wrist tightly.

- The 1:1 was intense and terrifying and mysterious and tender and caring. At the end, when he pushed me out into the bar, he said: “Now you be safe, you’ll do that, won’tcha?” I nod. “Good.” The door slowly shuts, Tuttle smiling at me. 

- In the bar Miranda Mac Letten’s Faye sings the Shangri-Las. It’s sad and desperate and it seems as if in those two minutes she can see her whole life and dreams crumbling in front of her.

- Dazed and emotionally shocked, I stumble upstairs to the desert, where I manage to find a room in which moonshine was being brewed illegally and later the Dust Witch presiding over a strange ceremony to an audience of scarecrows. 

- Luke Murphy’s Dwayne arrives and does a desperate dance full of hatred and self-loathing. As I watch, I turn to my left. The Dust Witch is inches from my face, staring at me. 

- I follow her and Dwayne down the the church. She’s so desperate to calm Dwayne down that she holds his head underwater until he’s screaming for breath. And then, he falls, flipping himself back and causing a tsunami to flood the cramped room, soaking me and most of the other masks. They leave, we follow.

- I know that my time is nearly over. And I slowly walk towards the stairs, taking one last look at my favourite floor in the show. I walk down, slowly walking through the snow room, past the dressing tables, and down into the noise of the finale. The Gatekeeper dances on the stairs, looking like Vincent Vega in Pulp Fiction.

- I love the finale. It’s so surreal. There’s this upbeat party set against  backdrop of deceit, murder and hatred. 

- When the lights cut to black, the applause is vicious. It was one performers last show, and from one corner of the set comes the laddish chanting of a name. It was brilliant. 

- As the Masquerade Is Over plays, it hits me that the masquerade really is over. I can never come back to Temple Studios again, and that fills me with a sadness that just makes my happiness all the more happy and poignant. 

- The Drowned Man was wonderful. It was dark and sad and twisted and ruthless, but it was also happy and hopeful and funny and rude and lively. It was exciting and fun and interesting, just like any good theatre piece should be. But The Drowned Man was so much more than that, wasn’t it?

National Theatre Announce New Phone-Hacking Play

Great Britain, a new satirical play written by Richard Bean (One Man, Two Guvnors and Made in Dagenham) and directed by Nicholas Hytner based around the recent phone-hacking scandal, was announced today and is due to open next Monday on 30 June in the Lyttleton Theatre after no previews.

Billie Piper stars in the 'anarchic' play as 'Paige Britain, [an] ambitious young news editor of The Free Press, a tabloid newspaper locked in a never-ending battle for more readers.'

Tickets for performances from 30 June - 12 July are on sale now, with tickets from 14 July - 23 August going on sale at 9.30am on 30 June.

My Final Trip to The Drowned Man is This Sunday!

I'll make sure to post a full, detailed recap soon after I get home, which should be up by the following Monday at noon.

A Message from Leland Stanford on The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable

Punchdrunk's The Drowned Man, one of the most ground-breaking pieces of theatre to ever play, will close it's red shutter doors forever on 6 July 2014. I gave the staggering epic a 10/10 in my review, there are still tickets available. Book with haste. It would be most foolish to disappoint Mr Stanford...

Casting Announced for West End The Scottsboro Boys

Casting has been announced for the West End transfer of the Young Vic's acclaimed musical The Scottsboro Boys. 

Amongst the cast is Brandon Victor Dixon, who originated the role of Haywood Patterson in the originial US production and is currently starring in Motown The Musical on Broadway. This will be his West End debut.

Reprising their acclaimed performances from the Young Vic are American cast members Colman Domingo as Mr Bones, Forrest McClendon as Mr Tambo and James T Lane as Ozie Powell. Game of Thrones star Julian Glover will reprise his well-received  role as the sinister Interlocutor - who is the only white actor to be in the show in an acclaimed creative decision from writer David Thompson, who wrote the book for the show.

They will appear alongside cast members Dawn Hope, Rohan Pinnock-Hamilton, Richard Pitt, and Carl Spencer at the Garrick Theatre from 4 October 2014.

.

Almeida Theatre Autumn 2014 Season Announced

26 August – 4 October
World premiere
Little Revolution
A world premiere by Alecky Blythe
Directed by Joe Hill-Gibbins

In the summer of 2011, London was burning. Alecky Blythe took her dictaphone to the streets.
Little Revolution explores the stories of a community brought together and divided.

See the Almeida’s space transformed as the audience are placed at the heart of the action.
Little Revolution is Alecky Blythe's first new London production after her success of London Road at the National Theatre.

9 October – 29 November
Our Town
by Thornton Wilder
Directed by David Cromer

We all grow-up, we fall in love, we have families and we all die. That is our story.

Award-winning US actor-director David Cromer directs this intimate and new version of Wilder’s iconic American play.

This deceptively simple story exposes the stark truth of human existence as two people fall in love, marry, and live out their lives as a small American town becomes an allegory for everyday life.

“David Cromer’s rethinking of Thornton Wilder’s masterpiece is a landmark” Wall Street Journal

Following a sold-out run at the Almeida King Charles III by Mike Bartlett will transfer to the Wyndham's Theatre on 2 September for a strictly limited run.

Review: RSC's Henry IV Part One. A Triumph.

As you walk into the Royal Shakespeare Theatre, you’ll immediately be struck by the large wooden crucifix hanging above the bare, dimly-lit wooden stage.  It’s a strong image, both on a physical level and a metaphorical one when placed in the wider context of the play; Henry Bolingbroke is now king and Richard II is dead. Henry, wracked with guilt, wishes to make a pilgrimage to the Holy Land, but a political uprising helmed by Richard’s heir Mortimer and the Percy family means that he is forced to delay this trip and risk incurring the wrath of God. Meanwhile, his son, Prince Hal, played by Alex Hassell, is refusing to accept his responsibility of prince and instead spends his time with Sir John Falstaff – an incredible performance by Bard veteran Anthony Sher – in the taverns of Eastcheap generally being badly behaved.

Boys behaving badly

The play is easily one of Shakespeare’s best. I was hugely disappointed with Richard II last year, but I found the seamless juxtaposition of family drama and political thriller taut and gripping. The narrative is told from the perspective of various politically and socially aligned groups. It’s almost like Game of Thrones: Live, and both sides are determined to be the victor.

Jasper Britton is fantastic as a guilt-wracked Henry. This is a man fully aware of the religious implications of his actions, and someone determined to avoid a repeat of the previous King’s disastrous reign. He is further aided by Alex Hassell as a leather-clad, sex-bomb. We first see him under the covers with two women, and as they leave he cops a feel of one of them and coolly chucks the other a pouch of coins. Not only is Hal in denial of his future role as king, he seems to be completely unaware.

When we first see Anthony Sher’s Falstaff, he is passed out in an alcohol-induced stupor. When he awakens, he treats Hal with a sense of paternal caring, but soon, his darker nature starts to appear. He treats Paula Dionisotti’s Mistress Quickly with a misogynistic bluntness, and he even sinks to pillaging the corpses of his fallen allies in the Shrewsbury battle, gleefully plucking a ring from a fleshly slain corpse. This is a man used to manipulating the world for his own gain. He even calls the men he is leading into battle "food for powder, they'll fill a pit as well as better". Prince Hal is horrified, and it is from this moment that we know that this friendship is quickly approaching an inevitable demise.

That’s the best thing about this production: the sense of change. Falstaff is an old-school conman, a swindler, and the sadness in his eyes knows that pretty soon, there won’t be a place in the world for people like him. Mistress Quickly presides over her tavern with a sense of world-weariness, and she seems to be constantly asking herself the immortal question: how long left?

The rest of the cast are strong too, especially Trevor White’s relentlessly unhinged Hotspur. He’d rather be in bed with his wife than acting like a husband, and is blinded by rage towards Henry.

The problem with the production is that it feels very safe. Ivo Van Hove this isn’t. It’s a standard, risk-free production of a Shakespeare play, and Greg Doran needs to be careful or else his formula of purist, traditional dress productions will quickly grow thin.

Next year, Doran will presumably direct Henry V. I can’t wait. This is a triumphant production of one of Shakespeare’s greatest plays. Simply unmissable.

8/10

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels to Extends to March 2015

Jerry Mitchell's West End production of Dirty Rotten Scoundrels has been extended to March 2015.

Rufus Hound and
Robert Lindsay.

The show's principles Robert Lindsay, Rufus Hound and Katherine Kingsley will continue with their performances throughout the extension.

In a statement released today, the show's cast and producers said that they are "thrilled" with audience response to the show and the extension. 

The musical also received positive critical reception, which no doubt helped give ticket sales a boost.

The musical stars Robert Lindsay and Rufus hound as two conmen with differing methods, both fighting to win the affection of a glamorous heiress. 

"We are thrilled with the audience and critical reaction to Dirty Rotten Scoundrels," said ATG's Harold Panter. "We have found the perfect home for this production in the lavish Savoy Theatre."

Here Lies Love to Open at Dorfman in October

Here Lies Love, a new rock musical detailing the rise of Philippinian First Lady Imelda Marcos is set to open at the National Theatre in newly renovated Dorfman Theatre. Director Alex Timbers confirmed the transfer to the Hollywood Reporter in October. The piece takes place in a nightclub setting, with the audience standing and dancing for the duration of the performance. 

The musical is written by David Byrne and Fatboy Slim, and is currently at the Public Theatre in New York, having received rave reviews and warm audience reception.

The musical is based on a concept album written by Byrne and Slim released in 2010, featuring the like of Florence Welch, Tori Amos and Cyndi Lauper.

2014 Tony Awards Nominees Announced

The nominations for the 2014 Tony Awards, hosted by Hugh Jackman on June 8, have been announced.

Best Play
"Act One"
"All the Way"
"Casa Valentina"
"Mothers and Sons"
"Outside Mullingar"

Best Musical
"After Midnight"
"Aladdin"
"Beautiful - The Carole King Musical"
"A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder"

Best Revival of a Play
"The Cripple of Inishmaan"
"The Glass Menagerie"
"A Raisin in the Sun"
"Twelfth Night"

Best Revival of a Musical
"Hedwig and the Angry Inch"
"Les Miserables"
"Violet"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play
Samuel Barnett, "Twelfth Night"
Bryan Cranston, "All the Way"
Chris O'Dowd, "Of Mice and Men"
Mark Rylance, "Richard III"
Tony Shalhoub, "Act One"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play
Tyne Daly, "Mothers and Sons"
LaTanya Richardson Jackson, "A Raisin in the Sun"
Cherry Jones, "The Glass Menagerie"
Audra McDonald, "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill"
Estelle Parsons, "The Velocity of Autumn"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Musical
Neil Patrick Harris, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"
Ramin Karimloo, "Les Miserables"
Andy Karl, "Rocky"
Jefferson Mays, "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder"
Bryce Pinkham, "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Musical
Mary Bridget Davies, "A Night with Janis Joplin"
Sutton Foster, "Violet"
Idina Menzel, "If/Then"
Jesse Mueller, "Beautiful - The Carole King Musical"
Kelly O'Hara, "The Bridges of Madison County"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play
Reed Birney, "Casa Valentina"
Paul Chahidi, "Twelfth Night"
Stephen Fry, "Twelfth Night"
Mark Rylance, "Twelfth Night"
Brian J. Smith, "The Glass Menagerie"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Play
Sarah Green, "The Cripple of Inishmaan"
Celia Keenan-Bolger, "The Glass Menagerie"
Sophie Okonedo, "A Raisin in the Sun"
Anika Noni Rose, "A Raisin in the Sun"
Mare Winningham, "Casa Valentina"

Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Musical
Danny Burstein, "Cabaret"
Nick Codero, "Bullets Over Broadway"
Joshua Henry, "Violet"
James M. Iglehart, "Aladdin"
Jarrod Specter, "Bullets Over Broadway"

Best Performance by an Actress in a Featured Role in a Musical
Linda Emond, "Cabaret"
Lena Hall, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"
Anika Larson, "Beautiful - The Carole King Musical"
Adriane Lenox, "After Midnight"
Lauren Worsham, "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder"

Best Direction of a Play
Tim Carroll, "Twelfth Night"
Michael Grandage, "The Cripple of Inishmaan"
Kenny Leon, "A Raisin in the Sun"
John Tiffany, "The Glass Menagerie"

Best Direction of a Musical
Warren Carlyle, "After Midnight"
Michael Mayer, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"
Leigh Silverman, "Violet"
Darko Tresnjak, "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder"

Best Book of a Musical
Chad Beguelin, "Aladdin"
Douglas McGrath, "Beautiful - The Carole King Musical"
Woody Allen, "Bullets Over Broadway"
Robert L. Friedman, "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder"

Best Original Score (Music and/or Lyrics) Written for the Theater
"Aladdin" (Music: Alan Menkin; Lyrics: Howard Ashman, Tim Rice and Chad Begeulin)
"The Bridges of Madison County" (Music & Lyrics: Jason Robert Brown)
"A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder" (Music: Steven Lutvak; Lyrics: Robert L. Freedman and Steven Lutvak)
"If/Then" (Music: Tom Kitt; Lyrics: Brian Yorkey)

Best Choreography
Warren Carlyle, "After Midnight"
Steven Hoggett and Kelly Devine, "Rocky"
Casey Nicholaw, "Aladdin"
Susan Stroman, "Bullets Over Broadway"

Best Orchestrations
Doug Besterman, "Bullets Over Broadway"
Jason Robert Brown, "The Bridges of Madison County"
Steve Sidwell, "Beautiful - The Carole King Musical"
Jonathan Tunick, "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder"

Best Scenic Design of a Play
Beowulf Boritt, "Act One"
Bob Crowley, "The Glass Menagerie"
Es Devlin, "Machinal"
Christopher Oram, "The Cripple of Inishmaan" (show to the right)

Best Scenic Design of a Musical
Christopher Barreca, "Rocky"
Julian Crouch, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"
Alexander Dodge, "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder"
Santo Loquasto, "Bullets Over Broadway"

Best Costume Design of a Play
Jane Greenwood, "Act One"
Michael Krass, "Machinal"
Rita Ryack, "Casa Valentina"
Jenny Tiramani, "Twelfth Night"

Best Costume Design of a Musical
Linda Cho, "A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder"
William Ivey Long, "Bullets Over Broadway"
Arianne Philips, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"
Isabel Toledo, "After Midnight"

Best Sound Design of a Play
Alex Baranowski, "The Cripple of Inishmaan"
Steve Canyon Kennedy, "Lady Day at Emerson's Bar & Grill"
Dan Moses Schreier, "Act One"
Matt Tierney, "Machinal"

Best Sound Design of a Musical
Peter Hylenski, "After Midnight"
Tim O'Heir, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"
Mick Potter, "Les Miserables"
Brian Ronan, "Beautiful - The Carole King Musical"

Best Lighting Design of a Play
Paule Constable, "The Cripple of Inishmaan"
Jane Cox, "Machinal"
Natasha Katz, "The Glass Menagerie"
Japhy Wideman, "Of Mice and Men"

Best Lighting Design of a Musical
Kevin Adams, "Hedwig and the Angry Inch"
Christopher Akerlind, "Rocky"
Howell Binkley, "After Midnight"
Donald Holder, "The Bridges of Madison County"

Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the TheatreJane Greenwood

Regional Theatre Award
Signature Theatre

Isabelle Stevenson Award
Rosie O'Donnell

Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre
Joseph P. Benincasa
Joan Marcus
Charlotte Wilcox

Full Casting Announced for Mr Burns: A Post-Electric Play at the Almeida Theatre

Casting has been announced for Mr Burns at the Almeida Theatre which plays from 5 June to 26 July 2014.

The company includes Jenna Russell (currently performing in Urinetown at St James Theatre). She won has also won an Olivier Award for her performance in Sunday in the Park with George at the Menier Chocolate Factory which subsequently transferred to the Roundabout Theater Company, New York where she was nominated for a Tony Award, a Drama Desk Award and a Drama League Award.

Also in the cast are:  

Adrian der Gregorian. Previous West End credits include La Cage Aux Folles at the Playhouse Theatre and The Woman in White at the Palace Theatre. TV credits include the recent BBC comedy W1A.

Demetri Goritsas whose National Theatre credits include His Girl Friday, A Prayer for Owen Meany and Finding the Sun.

Adey Grummet’s opera and musical theatre credits include Dr Dee and The Big Barber Bash with the ENO, and also with The Cradle Will Rock at the Arcola.

The company also includes: Justine Mitchell, whose theatre credits include Gastronauts and The Stone at Sloane Square's Royal Court, as well as Shakespeare's Twelfth Night with the RSC and King Lear at the Donmar; Wunmi Mosaku who has appeared in Truth and Reconciliation and The Vertical Hour at the Royal Court; Annabel Scholey who was last seen in the West End production of Passion Play at the Duke of York's Theatre; Michael Shaeffer was last on stage in Godchild at the Hampstead Theatre. Mr Burns also stars Fiona Digney and Michael Henry.

Mr Burns is written by Anne Washburn and is directed by Almeida Theatre Associate Director Robert Icke. It features designs by Tom Scutt, lighting by Philip Gladwel, sound design by Tom Gibbons, and joint composition and musical direction by Orlando Gough and Michael Henry.

X-Factor Musical: I Can't Sing! to Close on May 10 after Two Months on the West End!

Much like the talent show it's based around, the West End is a cut-throat world of profits and competition. 

In a statement released last night Rebecca Quigley, CEO of Stage Entertainment UK, said: “We are sad to be bringing I Can’t Sing! to a close but are immensely proud to have co-produced the show. The West End can be an unpredictable place as the closure of a number of high profile productions recently has shown. I Can’t Sing! has had audiences on their feet night after night, four and five star reviews from the critics and an amazing company and creative team, but it seems that isn’t always enough."

She then added:

“To open any big musical, and particularly a brand new British musical comedy at the London Palladium, is no mean feat and hundreds of dedicated people have played a part in bringing this unique and wonderful show to the stage. I thank every one of those people and the audiences who have come to see the production.”

Nigel Hall, who works the Simon Cowell's Syco Entertainment, added: “From the moment Harry Hill and Steve Brown told us their idea for I Can’t Sing we knew this was going to be a fun project. Alongside Stage Entertainment we’d like to thank the cast and crew who have worked so hard on this show. To everyone at Really Useful Theatres and the ever supportive staff at the London Palladium, and everyone involved in I Can’t Sing! I’d like to say a huge thanks and the very best of luck with their next venture.”

People who have already bought tickets for the show that had been due to be held after May 10 were urged to “contact their original point of purchase”.

An anonymous source claimed that the show will be closing because of poor ticket sales due to the current economic climate. 

That Theatre Thing would like to extend our best wishes to the cast and crew of I Can't Sing!, and wish them the best of luck in the future. 

Review: Punchdrunk's The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable

I can't really begin to even explain the plot of Punchdrunk's new multi-sensory epic, 'The Drowned Man: A Hollywood Fable'. Well, I could, but it would take me a very long time, and I'd probably spoil some of the show, taking away some of the magic. Instead I'll say this: just go. Book. Now. Because since I saw this wonderful piece of theatre on the 18th of April it's completely and utterly taken over my brain. It's all I can think of. I've discovered and have been researching some wonderful things; I've begun to read Buchner's fragmented masterpiece 'Woyzeck', the book and DVD's of 'The Day of the Locust' are on order and I'm currently reading about the infamous Stanford Prison Experiment. Who would've known a three hour trip to the theatre could result in so much voluntary background research?

Punchdrunk do, because making layered, self-contained universes is their speciality. In 'Faust', they played Goethe in deep-south America, and more recently took the New York nightlife scene by storm with 'Sleep No More', an interpretation of Shakespeare's 'Macbeth' set in a dark, Hitchcockian dream-scape. Told mostly through stylised, graceful interpretive dance, Punchdrunk force us to work. Donning Venetian, orgy masks, we must chase after actors and rummage through dimly lit rooms to look for letters and notes which form the backstory of this fractured world. The dancers move quick, and hard work is often met with a reward: actors may take an audience member's hand and lead them into a private room for a one-on-one performance. 

With 'The Drowned Man', Punchdrunk have taken Buchner's 'Woyzeck' and set it in a 60's film studio knows as 'Temple Studios' and the surrounding areas: the town outside the gates, a seedy trailer park and an empty desert at midnight. They have transformed four floors of an old postal sorting office and transformed it into a small slice of Hollywood hell.

The attention to detail is staggering. The experience lasts three hours, and it would be entirely to spend this whole time in a single room, examining documents and watching scenes. In a room belonging to a fading Hollywood starlet, I found drawers full of love-letters, each one handwritten. Another was full of pieces of ominous red string, each crimson thread representing each of the characters doomed lives. All of this is set to a brilliant soundtrack: the Shangri-Las can often be heard, yet there are also surreal moments too: a grimy tune from 'Twin Peaks' plays over a seedy basement orgy as characters writhe and grind while the omnipotent Mr Stanford (played incredibly by the immensely talented Adam Burton) watches over in his wheelchair.

It's also a highly physical piece, and the talented cast rise to the challenge admirably. Leslie Kraus' Wendy and Rob McNeill's Fool were particular highlights, but all of the cast were stellar, with Fania Grioriou's PA containing brilliant amounts of ice-cold bitchiness and ignorance. There were also strong turns from Lily Ockwell as Faye Greener, Omar Gordon as William (the male Woyzeck) and Kate McGuiness as the Seamstress. 

'The Drowned Man' will be spoken of for years to come. Much like Lesley Manville's Olivier-winning performance as Helene Alving in Ibsen's 'Ghosts', in five years time when you're sitting at dinner you'll be able to proudly announce, "well, I saw 'The Drowned Man'..." as your companions listen in jealousy and awe.

Drop whatever you're doing and book. Do no research. Wear comfy shoes. Be bold. Explore. 'The Drowned Man' shines light on the darkest recesses of human emotion: lust, greed, hate. It invites us to stare into a dark world, and that world stares back. 

10/10

National's King Lear is a Runaway Sellout - IN THE PRE-SALE!

The National Theatre's hotly anticipated production of Shakespeare's King Lear, directed by Sam Mendes and starring Simon Russell Beale, has sold out in the initial pre-sale. 

While this does raise questions about how fair the whole concept of "pre-saleing" is, the National have confirmed more dates are to be announced in March, and hopefully things will be a bit less hectic then. 

Did you get tickets or where you left disappointed?

King Lear plays in the Olivier Theatre from 14 January – 25 March

Jude Law's Henry V 'reigns supreme'

"This is one of the richest and most detailed performances of Henry V that I have ever seen," enthuses The Telegraph's Charles Spencer in his five-star review.

Awarding the play four stars, The Guardian's Michael Billington says Law delivers "a fine portrait of a flawed hero".

"Like the recent Donmar Anna Christie, it also shows Jude Law maturing with age and getting under the skin of a character. His complex portrait of a national hero-cum-war criminal is, you could say, the very antithesis of a hooray Henry."

The Independent's Paul Taylor also picks up on Law's maturity as an actor.

"You could argue that Law has left it not a moment too soon to tackle the part," he says in a four-star review.

"With his receding hairline and the bags under the eyes, he's looking a bit lived-in for the warrior monarch whose youthfulness is mocked by the Dauphin of France.

"But in his leather jerkin and distractingly tight trousers, he cuts a commanding figure and Law here vividly blends the kind of natural charisma that can rouse tired troops with a brooding spiritual uneasiness that has its affinities with Hamlet."

I'm seeing this production on the 28th of December and I'll make sure to post a review.