Mikhail Baryshnikov to star in West End show

Dancer and actor Mikhail Baryshnikov will bring his one-man show to the Apollo Theatre this May.

The show, Brodsky/Baryshnikov is based on the poems of Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky. Baryshnikov met the poet at a party in New York, just after his exile from the Soviet Union in 1972. They were friends for 22 years, and even opened a resturant together, until Brodsky's death in 1996.

Brodsky/Baryshnikov is a mix of performance art and poetry recital as Baryshnikov pays tribute to his friend.

Baryshnikov is a renowned dancer who was the artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre for a decade. He received Oscar and Golden Globe nominations for his role in the 1977 film The Turning Point, and played Aleksandr Petrovsky in the last series of Sex and the City.

Joseph Brodsky was a Russian and American poet who was awarded the 1987 Nobel Prize in Literature, and was appointed United States Poet Laureate in 1991.

The production gets its UK premiere after it opened in Riga, Latvia in 2015. The production is conceived and directed by Alvis Hermanis, and is a co-production between The New Riga Theatre and Baryshnikov Productions.

Brodsky/Baryshnikov runs at the Apollo Theatre from 3 to 6 May.