In september 2012 opent in Londen in Palace Street op een steenworp afstand van Buckingham Palace en de theaters bij Victoria een nieuw off-West End theater.

Dit is Londen’s eerste nieuw gebouwde theater in 30 jaar en is een initiatief van Robert Mackintosh, de jongere broer van Cameron. Het theater kent een zaal met 312 plaatsen en een kleinere studio die plaats biedt aan zo’n 100 bezoekers. Daarnaast kent het complex een bar en brasserie.

In het eerste seizoen dat loopt tot maart 2013 zijn vier producties te zien waaronder ‘Daddy Long Legs’ een nieuwe musical gebaseerd op de roman van Jean Webster. De tekst en muziek zijn van Paul Gordon (‘Jane Eyre’) en het script en de regie van John Caird.

Meer info op http://www.stjamestheatre.co.uk

Impressie van het nieuwe St James Theatre

*edit* titel aangepast

In januari 2014 zijn in het St James Theatre twee interessante musicalproducties te zien Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tell Me On A Sunday met Marti Webb en Stephen Sondheim’s Putting It Together met David Bedella, Daniel Crossley, Janie Dee, Damian Humbley en Caroline Sheen.

Tell Me On a Sunday is a one-woman show that charts the course of an English girl newly arrived in New York. Brimming with optimism, she sets out to find success, companionship and love. But as she weaves her way through the maze of the city and her own anxieties, frustrations and heartaches she begins to wonder whether — in fact — she’s been looking for love in all the wrong places.

Marti Webb will perform the original production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black’s classic, for which she received huge critical acclaim. Tell Me On a Sunday was originally performed as an album and then a TV special and later on stage as one half of Song & Dance. The album Tell Me on a Sunday reached Number One in the charts and the single Take That Look Off Your Face reached Number Two.

Musical Supervisor — Simon Lee
Executive Producer — Robert Mackintosh

Tell Me On a Sunday will run at the St. James Theatre for eight performances only. The show will be supported by hits from theatreland’s latest and greatest shows, exclusive to the UK.

Putting It Together By Stephen Sondheim

First produced by Cameron Mackintosh in New York, with Julie Andrews over 20 years ago, the London premiere will be performed by a stellar, award-winning cast including: David Bedella, Daniel Crossley, Janie Dee, Damian Humbley and Caroline Sheen.

A revue with a difference… A revue that tells a story… Set at a cocktail party in New York City, two couples — one middle-aged and married, the other young lovers just starting out — reflect through the songs of Stephen Sondheim on the complexities that make up modern relationships.

Direct from a sell out run in Guilford, the London premiere of this dazzling Sondheim revue will play at St. James Theatre for three weeks only. Featuring Classics from Sweeney Todd, Merrily We Roll Along, Follies, Company, Sunday In The Park With George, Into The Woods and many more.

Directed by Alastair Knights, Choreographed by Matthew Rowland with Musical Supervision by Alex Parker

Zeker interessante producties als je tegen die tijd in Londen bent al deed de aankondiging van Marti Webb in ‘Tell Me On A Sunday’ me wel even fronzen omdat ze de rol meer dan 30 jaar geleden wel creëerde maar inmiddels 68 jaar is.

Meer info en kaarten via http://www.stjamestheatre.co.uk

Ik zat ook al te denken: Marti Webb? Zou die niet onderhand de oma kunnen zijn van dat personage qua leeftijd?

Ja zo ongeveer wel ... Het zal misschien meer een liedjesprogramma zijn denk ik ? Maar dan nog ...

St James Theatre wordt The Other Palace en opent de deuren in februari 2017. Meer info en de plannen voor het eerste seizoen staan in onderstaand bericht.

Info op http://www.theotherpalace.co.uk

Andrew Lloyd Webber today announces plans for The Other Palace, the newest addition to The Really Useful Theatres Group.  The Other Palace is situated less than 100 yards from Buckingham Palace and close to the Victoria Palace, hence its name.

Formerly the St. James Theatre, The Other Palace will officially open its doors in February 2017, and will be a home and breeding ground for musicals at various stages of development.  The Other Palace will focus on four key areas: programming, creative use of spaces, musical theatre development and audience engagement.

Andrew Lloyd Webber said: “I very much hope that writers and producers will use The Other Palace as a space in the heart of London where they can try out and refine new material without the distraction of complicated sets and automation.  I had a great experience trying out “School of Rock” at the Gramercy Theatre in New York in this way.  It was a joy to work on the material without computers getting in the way.  I hope my experience will be repeated by others in these exciting spaces.  We hope to offer audiences the opportunity to observe early developmental work through to finished productions and look forward to welcoming both artists and audiences to our new home in SW1. I am also incredibly excited that Paul Taylor Mills, one of the most dynamic young producers working in musicals, is to become Artistic Director. ”

Paul Taylor Mills commented:  “I am absolutely honoured to have been appointed Artistic Director of the newly named The Other Palace. It’s a huge responsibility and one which I intend to embrace with fearlessness and openness. We are going to be flinging open the theatre’s doors and we want to hear from musical theatre makers from all backgrounds, whether they are established or new voices. It’s going to be a thrilling journey and one where we plan to take risks and make bold choices. I’m thrilled to be opening The Other Palace with Grammy and seven-time Tony Award nominated The Wild Party, directed by the unstoppable Drew McOnie in our first collaboration since In The Heights, and I couldn’t be more excited to have the honour of cutting the welcome ribbon to Andrew’s new theatre.”

Andrew Lloyd Webber has united with Joe and Margaux Sharratt, the husband and wife team who shot to fame in the restaurant world in 2015 with their Brixton hotspot, Naughty Piglets, which was awarded four star reviews from the Evening Standard and Time Out.  The Other Palace will house The Other Naughty Piglet, a fun modern restaurant serving fresh, seasonal and creative small plates, combined with an extensive choice of natural wines.

The main theatre will be the heart of The Other Palace, where the programme will consist of full productions, work in progress productions and festivals of new work. By day the studio will be available for composers, librettists, lyricists, directors and choreographers to discover and create new material. By night the space will build on the current St. James Studio model to offer a diverse programme including cabaret, music, musical theatre and crossover acts. A series of unique platforming opportunities for musical theatre in development will also be introduced in the studio; further details will be announced in due course.  The theatre will feature an open mic bar in the hope that it becomes a genuine hub for anyone interested in the musical.

The opening production in the main theatre will be Michael John LaChiusa’s Grammy and seven-time Tony Award nominated musical The Wild Party, directed by Olivier Award winning choreographer Drew McOnie and produced by Paul Taylor Mills. The UK premiere of Whisper House will follow in April 2017, a dark and thrilling musical ghost story from Duncan Sheik, the Tony award-winning composer of Spring Awakening and American Psycho. The world premiere production of Olivier Award nominee Sally Cookson’s adaptation of the Fellini classic La Strada will then take place from May to July.

The first work-in-progress production will be Bateman and Conley’s cautionary fairy-tale The Little Beasts produced by Perfect Pitch, a not-for-profit theatre company dedicated to creating new British musicals. With full cast and band but a less developed set, work-in-progress productions will offer the very first look at a new musical. Audiences will have the opportunity to contribute feedback, placing them at the heart of the development process.

Following The Little Beasts, National Youth Music Theatre will present two productions, a new musical about the wonder of childhood, Imaginary, and Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s ten-time Tony Award nominated musical, Sunday in the Park with George, during August 2017.

Completing the first season at The Other Palace is a three week summer festival of new international musical theatre, produced and curated by Katy Lipson’s acclaimed Aria Entertainment: From Page to Stage. Fifteen professionally produced new musicals will be performed at all stages of development, in every corner of The Other Palace: from talks and extracts of shows in the bar to semi-staged readings in the studio and one fully produced musical in the theatre.

The theatre will continue as the St. James Theatre until 28 January 2017, when RENT the musical completes its run.

Tickets for The Wild Party, Whisper House and La Strada will go on sale on Friday 7 October. Other shows in the season will go on sale in 2017.

De naam vind ik 3 x niks, de ontwikkeling bevalt me wel.