Blog / West Side Story

Check here for the latest musical news with links to all your #StageFaves performers, shows and theatres. Also look out for our regular #GetSocial features and contributions from our syndicate media partners including MyTheatreMates.com and the Musical Theatre Appreciation Society.

24 Nov
2016

Theatre Royal Stratford East's 2017 season will include the European premiere of The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, Kirsten Childs' award-winning musical about a young black girl battling racism and sexism in the US...

22 Nov
2016

BREAKING UP IS HARD TO DO ... you know it! And so did Neil Sedaka. The musical of the same name, featuring other top easy-listening tunes by Sedaka, will get its London premiere in the new year....

20 Nov
2016

Jessica Russell was the lucky winner in our #KerryIsMyFave competition. Her killer prize? Not only tickets for two to MURDER BALLAD at Cadogan Hall, but a chance to meet star Kerry Ellis one-one-one for hugs, pics and video after the show... and a signed Kerry Ellis #StageFaves t-shirt, of course. Be sure to follow @StageFaves on Twitter and like us on Facebook, where we'll be announcing our next competition in the next few days....

Our #FirstNightTakeover series continues with Perry O'Bree attending the West End opening (on 17 November 2016) of HALF A SIXPENCE, now transferred to the Noel Coward Theatre after winning rave reviews at Chichester Festival Theatre. See his blue-carpet and backstage selfies and videos with the creators and stars of the show...

18 Nov
2016

Rock on and on and on. After reviews like it got this week, it's no surprise that Andrew Lloyd Webber has extended West End booking for SCHOOL OF ROCK at the New London theatre...

18 Nov
2016

Another reason to visit Regent's Park next summer. Not only will artistic director Timothy Sheader's Evening Standard Award-winning revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Jesus Christ Superstar return; the Open Air is also mounting its bigger-ever dance musical, Broadway classic ON THE TOWN, directed and choreographed by hotter-than-hot Drew McOnie...

17 Nov
2016

We were live on Facebook and Twitter at the press launch today (17 November 2016) for 42nd STREET, which high-kicks into the West End's Theatre Royal Drury Lane in March. Watch all our videos of the launch itself plus break-out interviews with stars Sheena Easton, Tom Lister, Bruce Montague, Norman Bowman, Jasna Ivir and Christopher Howell, plus director Mark Bramble. And loadsa live-tweeting! With thanks to our friends at the Musical Theatre Appreciation Society and cameraman Lewis Snell...

17 Nov
2016

Cheeky! ADAM & EVE... AND STEVE The American musical farce' which gives the Garden of Eden story a modern (three-way) twist, receives its London premiere at the King's Head Theatre in March, after success at this year's Edinburgh Festival...

16 Nov
2016

Did Lizzie Borden wield the axe or not? It's an international four-strong cast of strong women for the UK premiere of rock musical LIZZIE, including Broadway Ciara Renee and the West End's Jodie Jacobs. Chop, chop...

16 Nov
2016

What would the Village People make of Stephen Schwartz's WORKING? The genre-breaking 1978 Broadway musical - based on interviews with a cross-section of the American workforce and featuring songs from Grammy winner James Taylor and, more recently added, Lin-Manuel Miranda - gets its European premiere at Southwark Playhouse next June...

16 Nov
2016

In its new POWER season of politically charged productions for spring 2017, the Donmar Warehouse will premiere a new musical based on the 2015 collapse of controversial charity KIDS COMPANY and its 'relationship with Whitehall'. Who's accountable when something goes wrong? Consider the evidence...

15 Nov
2016

Can you write a 'light-hearted musical' about male suicide? Two recent Mountview graduates have done just that, and the show, supported by various mental health charities, will now have a limited season in the heart of the West End. Catch CATCH ME at Above the Arts Theatre next week...

15 Nov
2016

Aussie stage star Hayden Tee will make his West End debut in LES MISERABLES, reprising his recent Broadway run as Javert, while current Brit Javert Jeremy Secomb takes a New York run at Sweeney Todd. And other #StageFaves joining the cast of the West End's longest-running musical include...

15 Nov
2016

London audiences will get a sneak-peek at Broadway musical DISASTER! in a semi-staged, charity concert presentation this Sunday at the Charing Cross Theatre, where the stellar cast of #StageFaves includes Simon Lipkin, Oliver Tompsett, Sally Ann Triplett , Jodie Jacobs, Alice Fearn and Sandra Marvin...

We tried to limit our choices to just ten but we just couldn't, even after we separated out the kids' excellent tweets from the show account into a second blog. Opening night of SCHOOL OF ROCK just looked like too much fun. So here are top twenty (ish) tweets that encapsulate the night - from the cast and others working on the show, from celebs, from other punters in the audience and from the Lord himself, Andrew Lloyd Webber. Are you in the band on Twitter?

These kids rule the school. They know how to stick it to the man. They can rock on all night... And so, on opening night, the official SCHOOL OF ROCK social media accounts were handed over to young 'band members' including Isabelle and Jobe, who did a phenomenal job spotting the celebs on the red carpet. Watch what they got up and with who (including Andrew Lloyd Webber, Julian Fellowes, director Laurence Connor, Arlene Phillips, Jimmy Carr, Jodie Kidd and Myleene Klass in that dress)...

14 Nov
2016

The four-strong cast of #StageFaves for the return of satirical West End review JEST END are: Bronte Barbe, Daniel Buckley, Jemma Alexander and Adam Bailey. The show returns to the Off-West End Waterloo East Theatre this month..

14 Nov
2016

What a night for Andrew Lloyd Webber at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards. He snapped pics with Joan Collins and Elizabeth Hurley and got to celebrate three times over for a clean sweep of musical gongs for revivals of JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR and SUNSET BOULEVARD. See pics of all the stars plus Amber Riley, giving it some on behalf of Dreamgirls...

13 Nov
2016

Glenn Close, Tyrone Huntley and Jesus Christ Superstars were the musical winners at the 2016 Evening Standard Theatre Awards, announced tonight at the Old Vic Theatre, where guests also got a sneak-peek of Amber Riley's forthcoming Dreamgirls performance. Watch video highlights...

Slightly belated - as 8 November 2016 will go down in the history books for other reasons thanks to Donald Trump - we've rounded up our favourite fan and #StageFaves tweets from Tuesday's opening of LAZARUS. The late David Bowie's musical, with a book by Enda Walsh and direction by Ivo van Hove, got its London premiere this week at King's Cross Theatre after its debut earlier this year in New York. We think these ten #LazarusMusical tweets from the last few days really capture how special an occasion it was...