Rigg, Hamilton, Gabrielle, Jibson Flock to SheffieldDate: 15 October 2003
Diana Rigg, Victoria Hamilton, Josefina Gabrielle and Michael Jibson have joined the roll call of big names flocking to make their Sheffield debuts this winter (See News, 29 May 2003).
Gabrielle (who starred in Trevor Nunn's revival of Oklahoma! at the National, in the West End and on Broadway) and Jibson (who was Whatsonstage.com and Olivier-nominated this year for playing the lead in Our House in the West End) will play Broadway hopefuls Cassie and Bobby in the Sheffield revival of A Chorus Line. Directed by Nikolai Foster, it runs in the Crucible from 2 December 2003 to 24 January 2004 (previews from 27 November 2003).
The musical ran for 15 years (from 1975 to 1990) on Broadway, where it won nine Tony Awards and a Pulitzer Prize for Drama. In 1985, it was made into a Hollywood film directed by Richard Attenborough and starring Michael Douglas as the demanding director putting his dancers - including one ex-lover - through their paces.
A Chorus Line has a book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Date, with music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban. Its famous score includes numbers such "I Hope I Get It", "Sing!" and, most memorably, "One (Singular Sensation)".
In Sheffield, Gabrielle and Jibson are joined in the cast by Nikki Belsher (as Sheila Bryant), Nina French (Maggie Winslow] and Jason Durr (Zach). The production is choreographed by Karen Bruce and designed by Stephen Brimson-Lewis, with lighting by Tim Mitchell and musical direction by David Shrubsole.
In the new year, Rigg (pictured) and Hamilton will star in Michael Grandage's new production of Tennessee Williams' 1958 drama Suddenly Last Summer, which will play in the proscenium arch Lyceum Theatre from 17 to 28 February 2004 (previews from 12 February), before embarking on a regional tour continuing until 17 April 2004 to Malvern, Edinburgh, Salford, Norwich, Plymouth and Newcastle.
Sebastian died suddenly last summer and his distraught mother wants revenge on the girl she holds responsible. In 1959, Williams' stage play was memorably made into a film starring Katherine Hepburn, Elizabeth Taylor and Montgomery Clift.
Rigg was most recently seen on stage in Humble Boy at the National Theatre, where her other credits include Mother Courage, Phaedra and The Misanthrope. Among her West End highlights are Pygmalion, Follies and Medea (also in New York) for which she won the Evening Standard and Tony Awards for Best Actress. Her screen credits include Evil Under the Sun, On Her Majesty's Secret Service and, of course The Avengers.
Hamilton has recently returned from Broadway where she was nominated for her own Best Actress Tony for A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, which, during its West End run, won her the 2002 Whatsonstage.com Award for Best Actress. Her other recent stage credits have included As You Like It, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida and Home and Beauty. She's about to star opposite Jane Horrocks in the West End revival of Stephen Poliakoff's Sweet Panic (See News, 26 Sep 2003).
- by Terri Paddock
Related Content
