Backstage For those of us who love theatre.
More INsidE:
THE THEATRE EXPERIENCE BOOK OF MORMON REVIEW
WEST SIDE STORY REVIEW DARREN CRISS RETURNS TO BROADWAY
CATS WEST END REVIVAL
HIT MUSICAL ‘WICKED’ THE PAST, THE PRESENT AND THE FUTURE.
ANYTHING GOES: A P RODUCTION JOURNEY
Contents What’s in this issue: SHOWBIZ NEWS:
- Darren Criss returns to Broadway - 2015 Olivier Awards Nominations - Cats Revival - Jonanthan Groff takes to the stage - On The Twentieth opening postponed
ANYTHING GOES:
Producing a musical can be tough. Follow Amateur Dramatic group Our Ladies Musical Society and how they put on a production of ‘Anything Goes’
WICKED:
Editor’s note
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always been something that has intrigued me. From a very young age I would watch any and every musical and theatre produciton I could get my hands on and it has grown into something of an obsession for me. Theatre gives you so many emotions that you didn’t know you were capable of feeling. You can travel from one world to the next and escape the reality that is ‘life’. It draws you back in, wanting more and you’ll never get tired of it. Believe me, not one little bit. To me, theatre is connecting with that people you wouldn’t normally talk to. That’s why I love theatre and that’s where the idea for this magazine came from. This edition will be focussing on the musical side of theatre producitons. We even have a feature about what it’s like to produce a musical. So sit back, enjoy and relive the emotions you had when you first saw these shows.
Alison Kyle
A feature on one of the longest runing musicals of all time. Wicked continues to be popular and in high demand. Read about how it came to be.
Reviews:
- West Side Story - The Book of Mormon - The Carole King Musical - The Lion King
heatre has
Jonathan Groff as King George III Best known for his roles in Spring Awakening and Glee, Jonathan Groff returns to the stage as King George III in the production of Hamilton. He will be taking over the role from Brian d'Arcy James in ten performances that are scheduled to begin on July 13. The musical follows an immigrant who changed America and made an untrusting world believe in the American economy. It has yet to be confirmed if Groff will be part of the cast for its Broadway run.
Cats West End Revival
Twelve years after it closed it's curtains on its 8,949th performance, Cats is back! After Harry Hill's X Factor musical, I Can't Sing, flopped after just two months, it left Andrew Lloyd Webber with an opening and what a better way to use that space than to revive a hit musical. Perhaps the most well known name taking part is that of Nicole Sherzinger, who will be portraying Grizabella. Cats is set for a 12 week run at the Palladium from December 6. Get your tickets while you still can!
SHOWBIZ NEWS
Darren Criss returns to Broadway
Glee star Darren Criss is taking to Broadway yet again in his new role in Hedwig and the Angry Inch. The star is not long off Broadway as he made his debut in 2012 as J. Pierrepont Finch in How to Succeed in Business. But it seems that once is not enough for this man. He will be replacing John Cameron Mitchell on April 29 for a limited 12 week run. Rehearsals have not yet begun for the show but if previous work is anything to go by it is guaranteed that he will bring the house down. Hedwig and the Angry Inch has won four Tony Awards and has been nominated for a Grammy for Cast Album.
2015 Olivier Awards Nominees Announced
Nominees for 2015 Olivier Awards Announced The moment every theatre lover loves is here. The Olivier Awards nominee list has been finalised and published. Some of those nominees include; Beautiful: the Carole King Musical, Cats, A View From the Bridge, Shakespeare in Love and, not surprisingly, Wicked. Imelda Staunton has been nominated for her role in Good People. This years Olivier Awards will take place at London's Royal Opera House on April 12. Good luck to them all!
On the Twentieth Postpones Opening
The opening of the Broadway revival of On The Twentieth has been pushed back by a couple of days. The show marks Kristin Chenoweth's return to Broadway alongside Peter Gallagher. The story follows a down and out Broadway producer trying to convince his muse and former lover to return to Broadway to better his career as a producer. The reason behind it being postponed was due to Peter Gallagher catching a sinus infection. On The Twentieth premiered on Broadway in 1978 and won Tony Awards for Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical.
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roducing a show can be a difficult thing to do.
There's a lot to think about; who's going to direct it? Who will be the main cast? These can be pretty stressful moments for anyone producing a musical. They can't always juggle daytime jobs and the show. The cast are normally there all day everyday for rehearsals (at least in Broadway shows). Our Ladies Musical Society is an amateur dramatics group that managed to do just that. The cast would meet up once a week to rehearse and the closer it got to showtime, they were rehearsing for a full days. It's unbelievable but it's true. John Fleming, the President of the Society said: “For an amateur group it’s quite difficult to put on a show. The cost of our show is around £32,000 and the income is derived from ticket sales and fundraisers.”
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From star
The cast performs ‘No Cure Like Travel’ ehearsals started two months before the show which
gave a lot of people the time to get accustomed to the hectic life they would have until then. John told us: “A big commitment is required from everybody. Music rehearsals are interesting as you begin to learn new music and raise the challenge of learning musical parts. But of course it is necessary to have some discipline and commitment. Dress rehearsals are exciting as you see it all coming together.” After a couple of weeks of getting the hang of the schedule, the society held open auditions to find out who would play the main cast and the supporting cast. This wasn't just open to the members of the society, it was open to the general public and that is how student Laura Adam came to be in the musical society. “I spent some time on the internet looking for local productions to be involved in and I found out that the rehearsals for this were just up the street from me so I went for an audition.” Soon full rehearsals were underway with everybody doing their own parts. Once the society members were feeling more confident on their pitch and which notes they had to hit and perfect, along came the choreography. Professional dancers were brought in to make the cast look better and to fill up the stage on the big numbers like 'Anything Goes' and 'Blow Gabriel Blow'.
The da were br help
aura said: “On all the breaks you looked around and
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he time came and went for the final dress rehearsal
seen little groups with some people helping others on dancing and voice.” Most of the people that were brought in from the outside to help the cast, done it for free.
rt to finsh
ancers that rought in to the cast.
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and the week of the show was upon them. Nerves were running high on opening night but they were soon gone as the thrill of the stage overtook them. The cast put on an amazing performance and the main cast were phenomenal in their portrayals of their characters. With the last show over and done with John said: “Closing night is a high. On stage because it’s the last night, most people really enjoy it. Afterwards in the bar is great. It takes a few days to ‘come down’ because there has been so much adrenalin in the system. There is a flat feeling for a few days then it’s back to rehearsal for the next show.”
Heather Slamin and Chris Morris as Hope Harcourt and BIlly Crocker
Cast members rehearsing
A
mateur dramatic groups seem to be popping up all
over the place and both John and Laura agree that it is something people should be getting involved in. Even if there might be difficult times with finding the funds, set design and costume and as Laura said: “It is great fun and the experience of a lifetime.”
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unning for going on 12 years, Wicked has become one of the most popular
musicals to ever grace the stage. Based on the novel ‘Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West’ by Gregory Maguir, it was originally planned to be a live-action feature film but composer and lyricist, Stephen Schwartz convinced Maguire to release it for stage production. A lot of changes were made to the script. For those of you who have not yet read the book, SPOILER ALERT: Doctor Dillamond is not murdered, Boq becomes the Tin Man, and perhaps most important of all, Elphaba and Glinda aren’t enemies. They are in fact friends that attended university together. By the year 2000, the lyrics and score were developed and Kristin Chenoweth was brought on to play Glinda and Idina Menzel was cast for the role of Elphaba. By April 2003, the cast had been cast and the show was ready to go on. And so Wicked began.
(Left) Idina Menzel
(Right) Kristin Chenoweth
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icked became so big that it wasn’t enough for Broadway to handle.
It expanded to Britain to take its place on the West End at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in the heart of London in late 2006. By June 2014 it made its way into the 10th longest running shows of the West End. And with eight shows a week, it continues to attract a big crowd with people travelling from all over Britain to see the jaw-dropping musical. Kerry Ellis succeeded Idina Menzel in her role as Elphaba for the London production and Helen Dallimore played Glinda. As of February 2015, Emma Haton has picked up the role of Elphaba. So far there have been seven actresses who portrayed Elphaba, well technically there were eight. Kerry Ellis returned to the stage for a 12-week engagement. The show started a national tour of the UK and Ireland in September 2013 in Manchester and is scheduled to end in July 2015 in Salford. It has visited theatres in Dublin, Cardiff, Milton Keynes, Birmingham, Southampton, Leeds, Glasgow and Edinburgh. It plans to visit Bristol, Sunderland and Aberdeen in 2015.
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umours have been realised that a Wicked movie is in the works.
In 2012 it was rumoured that Universal Studios were producing the film and since the end of 2012, it was announced that it would soon be entering the developmental stage. It is now going ahead and is aiming to be released sometime in 2016. No official cast announcements have been made as of yet but there are a lot of rumours that Glee’s Lea Michelle is up for the part of Elphaba and either One Direction’s Harry Styles or Divergent’s Theo James are up for the role of Fiyero. There is still no exact release date for the film.
(Left)Lea Michelle
(Left)Theo James
(Right) Harry Styles
Wicked has been nominated for ten Tony Awards including Best Musical, book, orchestrations, original score, choreography, costume design, lighting design and scenic design. It got two nominations for Best Actress for both Menzel and Chenoweth. The production won six Drama Desk Awards, four Outer Circle Awards and a Grammy Award. The West End production won the Audience Award for Most Popular Show. Entertainment Weekly have named it as the best Musical of the decade and Variety magazine have called it a “cultural phenomenon.”
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Editors view his musical is considered one of the
best musicals ever because of one reason: It makes you smile so much that your cheeks hurt. Speaking from personal experience, Wicked is one of the best musicals I’ve ever seen (and I’ve seen a lot of musicals). There’s just something about this one that sticks with you long after you leave the theatre and it has a tendancy to draw you back to see it multiple times and still not get sick of it. The songs are amazing with iconic ones like Defying Gravity, For Good, No Good Deed to name but a few. But the storyline itself is beautifully written (even though it’s different from the book). It makes you think that anything you dream to be or do can be true, that you shouldn’t stop reaching for it.
That you should Defy Gravity!
ReViews The Book of mormon
The Book of Mormon isn’t one to see if you are easily offended. It makes fun of religion but not in a cruel way. It’s very clever and somehow respectful of it. Not many people can live up to Andrew Rannels playing Elder Price but so far Nic Rouleau has done a great job. The show is a huge hit on Broadway so it makes sense that it would be a hug hit over here. The songs make you want to laugh, especially ones like ‘You and Me(But Mostly Me) and ‘Hasa Diga Eebowai’. It has a general upbeat feel about it. Even though you may find them offensive but it’s one of the best parts of the show and you can’t help but finding yourself listening to it and actually enjoying it. The Book of Mormon on London’s West End is in such high demand. So if you wish to see it, you better hurry up and buy your tickets.
Carole King musi cal
If it wasn’t clear from the title, this musical tells the story of the singer Carole King. ‘Beautiful’ is the name of the show and it starts with her releasing her solo album ‘Tapestry’ and then it flashes back to the teenage years of her life where she is writing her own music. This is a beautifully put together musical about one of the best singers on this world and anyone would be priviledged to lay their eyes on this masterpiece. There is so much passion in the show that you can’t help but feel overwhelmed with emotion as you watch someone else’s life come together on stage. She may not be one of the most well known artists but she should get credit where credit is due. Perhaps she will gain some more fans after people see this musical. It is a must see for everyone, so go see it.
West Side Story
The Lion king
What don’t we have to say about this? It’s an amazing musical and everyone should make time to see it. Not only are the songs great but the costomes are breath takingly good. Somehow they’ve managed to captivate the feeling of The Lion King movie in a way that you can’t help but feel happy about and enjoy. It is clear to see why this show has had so much success. It’s the musical adaption of a Disney movie, I would be very surprised if kids decided not to drag their parents to see it. That being said, The Lion King story can get a little tedious after a while and once you know the story front and back, it loses some of its appeal. There is only one way to prove me wrong and that is to go and see the show for yourselves.
West Side Story is a musical that has been around since I can remember but it has been one I’ve seen only recently. Overall, the performace was amazing from the build up in ‘Maria’ to the death scene. It was almost enough to forgive the questionable accents that had to be put on to portray the Puerto Rican characters. Many would argue that the ultimate part of the show is Tony’s death scene. It was so intense that you felt yourself grieving along with the characters as if you had just lost a loved one. It was so emotional that you couldn’t help but hold your breath and hope that he would get back up and everything would be fine. I’m not one to give away spoilers so if you want to know what happens at the end, go and see it for yourself. Unfortunatley, because of the accents, we’re only giving it three tickets.