Westend Box Office | London Tickets and Attractions » West End Musicals

The Mousetrap 60 years and around 25,000 performances

Alan — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 13:19:51 +0000

Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap is still in fine working order and going strong after 60 years and around 25,000 performances, a record that stands as the longest run of any play of any kind in modern history. It has become a British institution, on a par with Westminster Abbey and Big Ben as far as tourist attractions go, and the run at its current home, St Martin’s Theatre in the West End, is coming up on its 38^th year.

Why The Mousetrap has survived and thrived for so long is almost as much of a mystery as the play itself. Like the undertones in the plot, the enduring attraction for viewers has something to do with complicated human nature as well as pure entertainment value. As with all of Agatha Christie’s plays and novels, there are elements of comedy along with strong hints of darkness; here they are woven together so skillfully that they create a two-hour gem of a production.

The Mousetrap originated as a short play for BBC radio in 1947, written as an honorarium for the late Queen Mary’s 80^th birthday. It was actually based on a true story about the death of a boy in foster care at a farm in Shropshire. Christie wrote the full-length play later, and at the time of its production, she is quoted as saying it would probably have an eight-month run.

The plot is quintessential Christie, with a cast of only eight characters in a tightly confined situation.

All the action takes place in the Great Hall of Monkswell Manor, a guest house run by a young, newly married couple, Giles and Mollie Ralston. In the opening scenes we find out that there’s been a murder in London and the Ralston’s first four guests arrive, all with plausible references – and all with secrets.

In a few hours a snowstorm makes the roads impassable. Another guest turns up on foot claiming his car overturned in a snowdrift, and finally Detective Sergeant Trotter arrives on skis, reporting that the murderer is headed in their direction and may be already there. Then one of the guests is apparently murdered, and everyone is under suspicion.

At every performance, the audience was asked to keep the identify of the killer a secret and not reveal the ending to anyone who hadn’t seen the show; it wasn’t until 2010 that an article from The Independent gave it away in print.

After the last of the original cast members retired from the show, at the instigation of the original producer, Sir Peter Saunders, the entire cast is changed each year, usually around the anniversary of the play’s opening in November. Saunders was largely responsible for The Mousetrap‘s incredible longevity; he is the one who suspected that the play could become an icon of Christie’s talent and ‘Englishness’ in general.

As of today, there is still one voice from the original cast: the radio news bulletin read by Deryck Guyler (now deceased). One prop, the clock above the fireplace mantel in the Great Hall, is the same one that appeared in the first production.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Matilda the Musical attracting the crowds

Alan — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 06:23:51 +0000

While performances of the likes of Sleeping Beauty and Snow White are traditional pantomimes that offer typical English festive entertainment, this year there’s a new kid in town who’s proving to be a huge hit. Crowds are flocking to see Matilda the Musical, a jazzed up version of the famous novel by Roald Dahl that is now playing to packed houses in the West End.

This new production from the Royal Shakespeare Company has been proclaimed by critics as the best British musical to hit the stage for years. Despite the fact that the majority of the cast is under the age of 16, this show is certainly not only for the kids.

Matilda is a very unusual girl; she is a bookworm with abusive parents and a headmistress who can only be described as a battleaxe. Whilst all this sounds mightily depressing, the little girls determination to avoid repression is wowing the audiences. For this adaptation, the RSC hired Dennis Kelley, the British playwright, to adapt the novel for the stage, and top Australian comedian Tim Minchin wrote the music and the lyrics.

Anyone who is familiar with the work of Minchin will already know that music plays an essential role in his comedy. There is, however, a huge difference between putting together a 60 minute comedy routine and a full length musical that is telling a story, but Minchin said that he was ready to take on this great challenge.

He said that he loved the idea of spending 2 years making a kids story into one that would make both kids and adults laugh and cry, and as he was writing the 17 song score he realised how much he had in common with Roald Dahl. He said that the author liked to muck about with words, did stupid rhymes and was a bit naughty, all of the things that he himself did in his comedy routines.

Matt Wolf, who is a writer for the International Herald Tribune, says of Minchin that his approach was exactly what London critics and audiences had been looking for. He also says that audiences were tiring of Andrew Lloyd Webber and revivals. Wolf says that hiring Minchin was totally out of the field as it was incorporating the world of Australian comedy into a show that was quintessentially English on so many levels.

Anybody who wants to adapt any of Dahl’s work for either stage or screen must first get permission from hi widow, who has set a strict criteria. Despite the success of Matilda, Amanda Conquy, the MD of the Dahl estate says that at first they were cautious about giving the go ahead.

She says that this is due to the fact that they had been very busy with films being developed over the past 10 years, and has always steered clear of musical because they had an incredible capacity for going badly wrong. She says, however, that they were glad they had taken the risk with this production, and that everyone was delighted with its success.

Matilda transfers to West End Matilda has made the transition from Stratford-upon-Avon to London’s West...
Royal Shakespeare Company’s musical Matilda Matilda the Royal Shakespeare Company’s musical adaptation of the children’s...
West End may pay host to Hamlet!………… The Musical Hamlet! – The Musical, following award winning success in Edinburgh...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Greta Scacchi and Anita Dobson as Joan Crawford and Bette Davis

Alan — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 02:16:19 +0000

Greta Scacchi and Anita Dobson are going to be performing again as Joan Crawford and Bette Davis as they go on tour as Bette and Joan by Anton Burge. The play tells the story of two actors who are at the low point in their career and they meet on the set of the film. Unexpectedly the film becomes a massive success and propels the two stars back into the spotlight. The play was performed first in May last year and ran for a month as it was just on a limited run.

Now the play is going to go on tour and is going to be starting in Guildford in March this year at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre. After this it is going to be moving to Richmond, Darlington, Malden, Cambridge, Swansea, Northampton, Bromley, Coventry, Truro and Brighton. The tour taking in all of these places is going to take nearly 4 months and the production is going to finish on 2 June in Brighton.

Anita Dobson was performing at the Edinburgh fringe last year in Oedipus by Stephen Berkoff. One of best performances, however, was on the West End in Calendar Girls by Tim Firth, this production took place at the Noel Coward Theatre. Her previous credits include having the title role in Hello Dolly As Well as Thoroughly Modern Millie which was on at the Shaftesbury Theatre.

The latter of these productions was in 2004 and won an award from Whatsonstage.com. Despite these theatre performances she is probably best known for her role in Eastenders, where she played Angie Watts, the alcoholic co-owner of the Queen Vic pub, a role she held until 1988. Greta Scacchi has recently been involved in a production of Private Lives as well as the West End play Uncle Vanya.

End of the Rainbow on the move End of the Rainbow will be coming to the Norwich...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Matilda transfers to West End

Alan — Wed, 21 Dec 2011 05:36:37 +0000

Matilda has made the transition from Stratford-upon-Avon to London’s West End with perfect aplomb, and it is getting yet more enthusiastic reviews from all directions. Australian comedian Tim Minchin wrote the songs and playwright Dennis Kelly adapted the script for this musical version of Roald Dahl’s classic children’s book by the same name.

The show ran from December 2010 to January 2011 at the Courtyard Theatre in Stratford, and was named Best Musical of the Year at the Evening Standard Awards. Theatre Awards UK named Matilda Best Musical Production and Bertie Carvel (in drag) Best Performance in the role of sadistic headmistress.

Matilda‘s story is about a gifted and spunky schoolgirl who is being ‘raised’ in a home environment of disinterest and even verbal abuse, whilst attending school where a mean-spirited and downright vicious headmistress goes way past verbal abuse in her treatment of Matilda and her classmates.

Another teacher at the school, Miss Honey, tries to intervene only to be stymied by both the headmistress, Miss Trunchbull, and Matilda’s parents, Mr. and Mrs. Wormwood, who refuse to acknowledge Matilda’s advanced and precocious abilities. Matilda retaliates with such ‘naughty’ behaviour as super-gluing Mr. Wormwood’s hat to his head and dumping a jug of water-with-newt on Miss Trunchbull, but the punishment always far outweighs the crime.

The show does, finally, have a happy ending, but on the way there is plenty of conflict and a sense that not every story ends up on that note. Matilda is also full of dark humour, wonderful music and lyrics and an underlying feeling of joy and magic. It appeals to both children and adults, making it one of the season’s best family offerings and a treat for any theatre-goer.

Critics across the board have given Matilda rave reviews, and comments like “exhilarating”, “thrilling”, “glorious” and “stonking” are flying about in a whirlwind of praise.

Royal Shakespeare Company’s musical Matilda Matilda the Royal Shakespeare Company’s musical adaptation of the children’s...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Eve Best treads the boards again

Alan — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 08:48:06 +0000

The actress Eve Best is going to be returning to the theatre in the UK which launched her successful career in the United States. She has recently enjoyed great success in the movie The King’s Speech in the role of Wallis Simpson. She will be returning to London to perform at the Old Vic as the Duchess of Malfi.

She has previously performed at the Old Vic back in 2006 in a production of A Moon for the Misbegotten where she played opposite Kevin Spacey. This production was then moved to Broadway in New York where she gained the role of Dr O’Hara on the American television show Nurse Jackie.

About the move back to the UK she has commented, “Coming back to work in London is going to be a new chapter for me and am very much looking forward to it. This new production it’s very exciting and many people regard Webster is the Tarantino of his era. In the production the Duchess is a very good person but someone who is filled with a great deal of chaos. I’m very grateful to Kevin Spacey for letting me come back to the Old Vic for another performance in the theatre as it feels like a second home for me.”

While she was in the US she tried to sell her UK home but was unable to and now she has said she is grateful for actually have somewhere to live. During her time at the US she came back to the UK on several occasions and has performed most notably in a production of Much Ado About Nothing at the Globe Theatre last summer.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Zach Braff West End dreaming

Alan — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 07:31:51 +0000

Zach Braff is about to have a dream come true when he stars in the play he also wrote, All New People, in London’s West End Duke of York’s Theatre, opening February 22, 2012. In an interview Zach said he’s always hoped to perform in the West End, and never imagined that he he would get to do so with his own play as a vehicle.

The author/actor starred in Scrubs and The Last Kiss, and he wrote, directed and starred in the film Garden State in 2004. All New People is the first stage play he has written; it has been running at The Second Stage theatre in New York but Braff was not in it; although his New York credits include Macbeth and Twelfth Night, at the Public Theatre. The West End production will be his London acting debut.

All New People is set on Long Beach Island in New Jersey, at a beach house in mid-winter. The star is Charlie, a suicidal 35-year-old who is planning to end his heartbreak by doing away with himself at a high-end summer home on the Jersey Shore.

Charlie’s plans are interrupted by uninvited guests, beginning with a young English estate agent bringing clients to look at possible summer rentals, then the local fireman who is also the local drug dealer and a ‘party girl’ hired by Charlie’s friend to cheer him up. Charlie does not wish to be cheered up; he spends most of the time imploring them all to go away so he can get on with his suicide.

The West End production will be directed by Peter DuBois, who also directed the New York show and got high marks from critics in the American press. The play’s black and often raunchy humour has had mixed reviews; what Londoners will think remains to be seen.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

One Man Two Guvnors in the West End

Alan — Thu, 24 Nov 2011 15:51:43 +0000

One Man, Two Guvnors has just come to theWest Endafter being performed at the National Theatre. The production is an excellent comedy and for three hours the audience will be absorbed into a hilarious story which will have them forgetting all of their worries.

The production is based on an Italian comedy called The Servant of Two Masters. The original comedy is also funny but Richard Bean has transformed it into something that is utterly hilarious. The play has been set in 1963 inBrightonand the dialogue will cause the audience to be in stitches.

Beans’ script is incredibly well crafted and is a wonderful blend of sight gags, wisecracks and even involves the odd bit of audience participation. Those on stage seem to be enjoying themselves almost as much as the audience are but they never slip into self-indulgence that can have the ability to take the comedy out of any production.

James Corden is in the main role and plays an overweight and always hungry man who finds himself working for two different people. He breaks the fourth wall by talking to the audience and he does so in a way as if they were old friends. He plays the role in a very funny way and the audience will find themselves very endeared towards him.

The show has, arguably, one of the funniest scenes ever seen in theatre. It is the scene where he is preparing dinner for his boss and you are sure to find it hilarious. The only reason you wouldn’t laugh at this point in the production has because you have already laughed too much at the previous jokes. Cordon does a spectacular job in the lead role, but it is by no means a one-man show and the rest of the cast perform exceptionally.

One Man, Two Guvnors at the National Theatre The staging of One Man, Two Guvnors by the National...
West End may pay host to Hamlet!………… The Musical Hamlet! – The Musical, following award winning success in Edinburgh...
The Ladykillers sneak into the West End The Ladykillers a classic Ealing comedy that centres around a...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

West End musicals might be shut down during the London Olympics

Alan — Tue, 08 Nov 2011 08:31:03 +0000

This Is Money is a financial website that has recently released information that musicals being shown on the West End might be shut down during the London Olympics next year. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s company has considered closing shows as famous as The Wizard Of Oz and the Phantom of the Opera, mainly due to an expected fall in sales. The decision will ultimately rest with individual producers and nothing has yet been confirmed.

A significant decrease of over 95% is expected on West End bookings in the period and John Wales who runs Encore Tickets expects sales to drop 40% compared with this year. The executive director of the European Tour Operations Association is Tom Jenkins and he said, “It’s fairly common for ticket sellers to see a decline when the Olympics are being hosted in a city. During the Olympic Games that has a history of being almost no demand from ordinary tourists.”

Andrew Lloyds Webber’s company announced profits of nearly £18 million earlier this year. They currently own six theatres in the West End including the New London Theatre, Theatre Royal Drury Lane and the London Palladium. They also have a 50% interest in the Adelphi Theatre.

West End LIVE London’s largest free entertainment festival West End LIVE London’s largest free entertainment festival was launched...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Ugly Betty America Ferrara comes to West End

Alan — Tue, 01 Nov 2011 11:32:40 +0000

America Ferrara became famous after taking on the role of Ugly Betty in the TV series named after her character, but according to Ferrera taking on the role of Roxie in the Chicago musical will help turn just about anyone into somewhat of a vamp.

Ferrera met London crowds at her debut, and stated in an interview that playing Roxie would bring out the inner sex kitten in anyone because it’s so much fun to get into the character and become driven by desire, emotions, and gut.

Aged 27, the American actress has been practicing for four weeks prior to joining the cast of Chicago in London when it moves onto a new stage this coming week. She claims that it is the largest thing she has ever wanted to do in London and with such a rich history of theatre in London it is exciting to be a part of it.

However, the work that came with it was admittedly tough as Ferrera admits that six to seven hour rehearsals on a daily basis were hard and somewhat like boot camp for her as every day left her with a new type of ache.

She also is grateful for her shot in the limelight as Ugly Betty explaining that she opened up many opportunities for her and as such a beloved character it is likely that she will remain in the heart of Ferrea for the rest of her life. Plus, conveniently for the actress who had to wear the astoundingly ugly teeth braces all the time, a great deal of people do not recognise her from the show on the streets allowing her to slip through most places unnoticed.

America Ferrera starring as Roxie Hart in West End America Ferrera is best known for playing the role of...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Backbeat just doesn’t work

Alan — Fri, 28 Oct 2011 07:15:18 +0000

London’s West End is currently awash with ‘jukebox’ musicals and shows that have been based on old films, now we have one that encompasses both. Backbeat is a mix of pop hits of the 1960′s and is a production inspired by the 1994 Britflick of the same name which was based on the early days that the Beatles spent in Hamburg.

The millions a of Beatles fans out there are the obvious target audience, and there are millions who bought t their first single ‘From Me to You’ back in 1963 and were instantly hooked. The music is legendary, as are the tales of these lads from Liverpool who served their apprenticeship in seedy German clubs before conquering the world.

If ever there was a perfect subject for a West End musical this is it, so why doesn’t it work? What should have been a firecracker of a show turns out to be a damp squib, but knowing where to point the finger of blame is tricky. To start with, this David Leveaux production is far to arts, and fails miserably at recapturing the atmosphere of the sleazy Hamburg clubs the story relies so heavily on.

It doesn’t help either that the actors chosen to play the young Beatles bear so little physical resemblance to who they are trying to portray and are less convincing than a bunch of waxworks at a third rate Madame Tussaud’s.

The fifth Beatle, Stu Sutcliffe is the main focus of the show, the inept bass player who was at art school with John Lennon. It centres on the relationship between Sutcliffe and Astrid Kirchher, the German photographer responsible for the famous mop top hairstyles and some of the superb early images taken of the group.

One poignant scene is when Sutcliffe dies in 1962 from a brain haemorrhage. This is one of the best scenes in the show, but doesn’t come close to how well done it was in the film, mainly due of course to the fact that these raw young men were so much better cast.

As far as the music goes, don’t come along expecting to hear all your Beatles favourites live. At this time the Beatles were a covers band, and while we do get a rendition of Love Me Do, most of the songs are the American rock and roll and Tamla Motown, tunes that made up their repertoire at the time.

Overall this is a huge disappointment to Beatles fans, and many will wish when they leave the theatre that they had saved on the price of a ticket and stayed at home with their old 45′s and their memories.

Backbeat opening in October at the Duke of York’s Theatre Even hard-core Beatles fans may not know the story behind...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.