Blog / Robert Hastie
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.
2020
Composers are being asked to write ‘A Song for our Time’, an original song to be recorded by West End stars and a huge virtual choir with all proceeds going to Acting For Others. The final song will be chosen by Tony Award-winning composer Jason Robert Brown.
2020
Molly Lynch and Oli Higginson will star as Cathy and Jamie in Jonathan O’Boyle’s new production of Jason Robert Brown’s Drama Desk Award-winning musical The Last Five Years when it plays at Southwark Playhouse from 28 February to 28 March 2020.
2019
As building work continues on Southwark Playhouse’s new purpose-built theatre in London’s Elephant and Castle, the venue’s spring 2020 season has been announced, including a major revival of Jason Robert Brown’s musical The Last Five Years directed by Jonathan O’Boyle.
The popularity of Disney’s Frozen goes from strength to strength, with the recent movie release of Frozen 2, and now a few more on sale details about the arrival of Frozen the Musical to the newly refurbished Theatre Royal Drury Lane in October 2020. The cold never bothered us anyway…
2019
Sleepless in Seattle-inspired musical receives world premiere at the Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre
SLEEPLESS, A Musical Romance, based on the original screenplay Sleepless in Seattle, will premiere in London on 31 March 2020 at London’s newly opened Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre. Three special preview performances in December 2019 will star Michael D Xavier and Kimberley Walsh.
Richard Hawley and Chris Bush’s Standing At The Sky’s Edge at the Crucible Theatre is named Best Musical at the UK Theatre Awards 2019, while Rebecca Trehearn’s title role in Nottingham Playhouse’s Sweet Charity wins the actress Best Performance in a Musical.
Ready to step in time? Amy Griffiths, Claire Moore, Claire Machin, Jack North and Barry James are doing just that as they join Zizi Strallen, Charlie Stemp, Joseph Millson and Petula Clark in the new production of Mary Poppins which returns to its original West End home, the Prince Edward Theatre, from 23 October 2019.
2019
Ed Baker-Duly will play Robert to Jenna Russell’s Francesca in the Menier Chocolate Factory’s UK premiere production of The Bridges of Madison County, Jason Robert Brown and Marsha Norman’s musical adaptation of Robert James Waller’s bestselling novel, directed by Trevor Nunn. Romance is in the air.
Great Scott! It was and remains a classic movie from the 1980s and now it’s going to be reinvented as a stage musical. Grab your hoverboard because Back To The Future The Musical is introducing itself at the Manchester Opera House on 20 February 2020 for a 12-week season before the cast (including Olly Dobson as Marty) and crew squeeze into the DeLorean to travel to the West End.
Jenna Russell left us with wonderful memories when she played Dot in Sunday in the Park With George at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory. Now she is heading back in July 2019 for Trevor Nunn’s UK premiere production of Jason Robert Brown and Marsha Norman’s musical The Bridges of Madison County. So who will be her Clint Eastwood?
Jenna Russell left us with wonderful memories when she played Dot in Sunday in the Park With George at London’s Menier Chocolate Factory. Now she is heading back in July 2019 for Trevor Nunn’s UK premiere production of Jason Robert Brown and Marsha Norman’s musical The Bridges of Madison County. So who will be her Clint Eastwood?
It’s taken a while to travel across the pond, but now Jason Robert Brown and Marsha Norman’s Tony Award-winning musical adaptation of Robert James Waller’s bestselling novel The Bridges of Madison County will have its European premiere at the Menier Chocolate Factory from 12 July to 14 September 2019, directed by Trevor Nunn. It could be a bit of a tearfest.
Wrap up warm because Kristen Anderson-Lopez, Robert Lopez and Jennifer Lee’s stage adaptation of the Disney favourite Frozen is on its way with the West End production named as the first to open at the newly refurbished Theatre Royal Drury Lane in autumn 2020. Are you ready to let it go?
It’s shaping into quite a cast and we still have several months to wait before the opening! Joining Zizi Strallen’s Mary and Charlie Stemp’s Bert will be Joseph Millson, as Mr George Banks, and the music and stage legend that is Petula Clark, as the Bird Woman (and rumour is Petula’s role may be extended in this staging). Mary Poppins returns home to the West End’s Prince Edward Theatre from 23 October 2019 to 29 March 2020 so get ready.
2019
Could there be a better time for Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s new production of Mary Poppins to return to the West End, with the movie sequel starring Emily Blunt having been such a hit? Now you can put the confirmed dates in your diary with news that the production starring Zizi Strallen and Charlie Stemp will open for previews at the Prince Edward Theatre from 23 October 2019 with opening night on 13 November. Are you booking your flight?
2018
The naughtiest puppets in town are coming to a venue near you as comedy musical Avenue Q returns to tour the UK, opening at Portsmouth’s Kings Theatre on 25 January 2019. Will you be checking out your favourite fuzzy friends?
Fifteen years after its critically-acclaimed stage premiere, Mary Poppins is flying back to its original West End home, the Prince Edward Theatre, when Disney’s Aladdin ends its run in August 2019. We can't wait to see Zizi Strallen & Charlie Stemp step in time!
2018
It’s the biggest occasion in the theatre industry calendar and, slowly but surely, we are finding out which artists will be presenting those life-changing 2018 Olivier Awards this Sunday 8 April at the Royal Albert Hall.
2017
Here at StageFaves we LOVE to geek out about our favourite musicals and if there's one thing we know from office rants (our editor is constantly listing the reasons WICKED is one of the the greatest shows ever...) and heated musical theatre-themed debates it's that everyone has their own opinions on what shows are the best, the most underrated, or just plain unlistenable! We've compiled our #TopFive videos...of Top 5 lists!