Mixed Bag of NY Productions Head to London

London is preparing to receive several New York transfers over the coming months, starting this week with Full Gallop. The hit off-Broadway play starring Mary Louise Wilson as Vogue fashion editor and personality Diana Vreeland, opens at north London's Hampstead Theatre today, 3 September, following previews from 26 August. Wilson, most recently seen in the Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway production of Cabaret as Fraulein Schneider, will recreate her Obie and Drama Desk award winning performance in this, her London debut. The play, which she co-wrote with Mark Hampton, is directed by Nicholas Martin.

Also due on the boards soon is the British premiere of Moises Kaufman's off-Broadway hit, Gross Indecency: The Three Trials of Oscar Wilde. Corin Redgrave, actor brother of Vanessa Redgrave who most recently starred in the National Theatre's world premiere production of Tennessee Williams' Not About Nightingales and before that Snoo Wilson's HRH in the West End, will play Oscar Wilde. Kaufman, who also directs, uses original transcripts, letters and biographies written by and about Wilde in the script. The play was first seen at New York's Greenwich House Theatre in February 1997 and subsequently transferred to the Minetta Lane, where it has been running ever since. It has also been seen in extended seasons in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Fort Lauderdale. The British premiere production runs at Plymouth's Theatre Royal 18 to 26 September, with a transfer to London expected afterwards.

Finally, Gip Hoppe's Broadway farce, Jackie: An American Life, chronicling the life of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis, is coming to London following its early closure in March at Broadway's Belasco Theatre, where it had a run of 128 performances. It has announced an opening night of 22 October 1998 at the Queen's Theatre, Shaftesbury Avenue. Margaret Colin, who starred in the title role on Broadway, is expected to reprise her performance here.

Mark Shenton

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