Fiddler on the Roof will open in the West End at the Savoy Theatre from May 14th, although not an import of David Leveaux's recent Broadway production, but a regional revival from the Sheffield Crucible instead. Directed by Lindsay Posner, and starring Henry Goodman (who is outstanding as Tevye), the musical played at the Crucible Theatre over the recent Christmas period and had been tipped to transfer ever since. Despite a slightly delayed move to London, almost its entire cast will transfer intact, although Beverley Klein will miss some performances due to her commitments in the Royal Opera House's production of Into the Woods. The choreography will also have to be redone for its London outing, as in Sheffield it did not recreate Jerome Robbins' original; in London this is a necessity.
But, unfortunately - as it goes in musical theatre - for Fiddler to move in, the Olivier Award nominated Porgy and Bess will have to move out, although that's actually good news for any Americans reading, as the production is heading to New York in Spring 2008. Trevor Nunn's production was recently nominated for Best New Musical at the Oliviers following his own revisions that cut it down from a four hour opera to a two and a half hour musical. Its title stars - Clarke Peters and Nicola Hughes - also received nominations. Despite top price tickets of £60, with a 40 strong cast and 20 in the orchestra, it was always going to be a tough musical to survive economically. The musical will now close after just six months.
Hairspray and Jersey Boys both look set to come to London, if top London columnist Baz Bamigboye proves correct (he usually does, and breaks the news of most major productions). The well-informed journalist has recently tipped that both Broadway smashes are preparing for their London debuts; Hairspray some five years after it opened on Broadway, Jersey Boys just two. Cameron Mackintosh is said to be considering closing Mary Poppins (ahead of touring) to make way for Jersey Boys at the Prince Edward Theatre, with Hairspray opening at the usually doomed flop-house the Shaftesbury Theatre late this Autumn.
Continuing the vein of major West End openings and closures, two revivals will close in favour of two musicals cast by reality TV shows. Lloyd Webber's Evita has succumbed to closure after a somewhat disappointing West End run (11 months), rumoured to be making way for his TV cast production of Joseph and his Technicolor Dreamcoat, whilst Guys and Dolls – with the same creative team as Evita – will close to make way for David Ian's production of Grease, cast through TV voting too. Guys and Dolls, which opened amid much fanfare with Ewan McGregor in June 2005, is also set to go to Broadway next year.
And finally, lots of high profile castings have recently been confirmed. Replacing Helen Dallimore as Glinda in Wicked is Dianne Pilkington, who recently toured the UK as Grizabella in Cats but has a string of West End credits to her name. Ian 'H' Watkins – formerly of pop group Steps – and TV actress Natalie Casey will play lovers Nick and Serena in the limited London season of the tour of Fame over the summer and Aoife Mulholland, who has just finished playing Roxie Hart in Chicago, will be Connie Fisher's alternate in The Sound of Music after Connie was recently advised to only perform 6 shows a week after illness. Aoife, a runner up on the same reality TV programme that made Connie its winner, will now play Maria on Mondays and Wednesday afternoons.
