Theatre News

Opening: Carousel, Night, Cinderella, WOS Awards


Amongst the major openings in London this week are:

OPENING TONIGHT, Monday 1 December 2008, Harry Burton directs Jasper Rees and Jonathan Guy Lewis’ new play I Found My Horn at the Tristan Bates Theatre, about a man whose discovery of his old French horn helps him through his mid-life crisis. Until 20 December.


OPENING TUESDAY, 2 December 2008 (previews from 22 November), Lesley Garrett, Jeremiah James and Alexandra Silber star in Lindsay Posner’s revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel at the Savoy Theatre, following an extensive regional tour (See News, 9 Jul 2008).

Carousel is a romantic fantasy from both Heaven and Earth, tracking the tragic New England love story of fast-talking carousel barker Billy Bigelow and naïve mill worker Julie Jordan. The score includes hits “Mister Snow”, “You’ll Never Walk Alone” and “What’s the Use of Wond’rin”.

** DON’T MISS the chance to get top-price tickets to Carousel (normally £61), for JUST £44. Offer ends 19 December – Click here for more info.

ALSO ON TUESDAY (previews from 1 December), Catherine Wheels Theatre Company present their take on Hansel and Gretel at the Barbican Theatre, until 4 January.

ALSO ON TUESDAY (previews from 1 December), after an acclaimed London run in September, Filter’s radical interpretation of Twelfth Night opens at the Tricycle Theatre, for a short run to 6 December.

ALSO ON TUESDAY, Pilot Theatre’s touring stage adaptation of William Golding’s Lord of the Flies opens at the Art Depot, until 6 December.

ALSO ON TUESDAY John Ramm plays Ebenezer Scrooge in Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol at the Rose Theatre Kingston, directed by Stephen Unwin. Until 3 January 2009.


OPENING WEDNESDAY, 3 December 2008 (previews from 22 November), Hannah Waddingham, Maureen Lipman, Alexander Hanson, Gabriel Vick and I’d Do Anything’s Jessie Buckley head the cast in Trevor Nunn’s new production of Stephen Sondheim’s A Little Night Music at the Menier Chocolate Factory, where it runs until 8 March 2009 (See News, 18 Sep 2008).

Inspired by Ingmar Bergman’s 1955 Swedish film and written largely in waltz time, A Little Night Music concerns the tangled romantic lives of several couples in Sweden at the turn of the 20th century, with a score including the Grammy Award-winning ballad “Send in the Clowns”.

** Our Whatsonstage.com Outing to A Little Night Music on 26 November 2008 – including a FREE programme and access to our EXCLUSIVE post-show Q&A – has now SOLD OUT. Click here to join the waiting list **

ALSO ON WEDNESDAY, Raymond Briggs’ The Snowman returns to the Peacock Theatre for another Christmas season. Until 11 January.


OPENING THURSDAY, 4 December 2008 (previews from 27 November), Maria Friedman brings her recent hit solo show Maria Friedman Re-arranged to Trafalgar Studios 1, for a festive run until 4 January 2009.

ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 1 December), Potted Potter – The Unauthorised Harry Potter Experience, written, directed and performed by Dan Clarkson and Jeff Turner, opens at Trafalgar Studio 2. Until 3 January.

ALSO ON THURSDAY (previews from 29 November), Clive Rowe and Sharon D Clarke star in Hackney Empire’s pantomime Mother Goose, written and directed by Susie McKenna. Until 10 January.


OPENING FRIDAY, 5 December 2008 (previews from 28 November), Ben Power and Coram Boy director Melly Still’s adaptation of Cinderella opens at the Lyric Hammersmith, where it runs until 3 January. The show includes an original score composed and performed live by renowned Norwegian ice-musician Terje Isungset, using instruments crafted from natural elements such as arctic birch, sheep bells and glacial ice.

ALSO ON FRIDAY, in a star-studded lunchtime ceremony held at the London Hippodrome, the nominations are announced – and voting for the final winners launches – in the 2009 Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers’ Choice Awards, the only major theatre prize-giving decided by the audience (See News, 30 Oct 2008).


OPENING SUNDAY, 7 December 2008, Maria Friedman, Julie Atherton, Oliver Tompsett, Ashleigh Gray and Michael Xavier lead the company in Christmas in New York, a celebration of classic carols and seasonal show-stoppers for one night only at the Lyric Theatre.

– by Theo Bosanquet