Move over Wicked! The stage production of Dirty Dancing has sold more than £3m worth of tickets. With seats costing up to £59.50 (£63 with booking fees – approx. $110) it's no wonder the gross is so large. Casting is yet to be unveiled, but in Australia the show starred Kym Valentine, who - thanks to her role in TV show Neighbours - is a known name in the UK so could be a possibility. The media are reporting that the first two months of performances are sold out, but a quick check on Seetickets or Ticketmaster proves this wrong; you can still get tickets, so fear not if you're desperate to see the show.
Buzz around the planned revival of Cabaret seems to be hotting up again. After all went quiet, Bill Kenwright recently revealed to Playbill.com that the show will open in the West End on September 26th. Festen director Rufus Norris will helm the production, which at the moment has no confirmed venue or cast. Despite mixed reviews on Broadway, Festen is a huge hit in Britain; currently touring the country after its extended West End season. Norris is an associate director at the Young Vic, which is currently undergoing extensive refurbishment, and Kenwright is the producer of Festen, and several other West End productions.
Paul Nicholls has been forced to withdraw from the Donmar Warehouse production of Phaedra due to a throat infection. As the Donmar has no understudies a week of performances had to be cancelled as the announcement came on the day of the first preview. Ben Meyjes was quickly drafted in to replace him (as Hippolytus) and according to audience reports he had a prompter in the front row for the first few previews, understandable given the short time scale he had to learn the part. The company of eight features Olivier Award winning actress Clare Higgins, Sean Campion, Michael Feast and Linda Bassett. It will now open for critics on April 21st.
There's been a lot of media reports surrounding Kevin Spacey's decision to axe the final week of performances of Resurrection Blues. It seemed the press were itching to find an excuse to report on his apparent 'failure' at the Old Vic – no sooner than the announcement came than reports appeared in several leading newspapers charting his mixed success at the theatre so far, news which quickly spread to American papers such as the Chicago Tribune and Washington Post after Spacey gave an illustrative interview to the Guardian, which can be read online here. The theatre will now go dark until September.
A West End transfer is already confirmed for the Royal Court production of Rock 'n' Roll, weeks before it starts performances. The new Tom Stoppard play, directed by Trevor Nunn, has already attracted much criticism from Royal Court regulars; William Gaskill pulled out of directing a play stating that 'Stoppard and Nunn have no connection with the Royal Court but they obviously feel they have a right to do a play there.' Rock 'n' Roll is Stoppard's first new play since The Coast of Utopia in 2002 and stars Rufus Sewell, Sinead Cusack and Brian Cox. It opens at the Royal Court on 3rd June and at the Duke of York's shortly after its limited run (dates to be confirmed).
