Shirley Jones Makes UK Debut at Arts, Late Nights

Veteran Hollywood and Broadway leading lady Shirley Jones will make her West End and UK debut at the Arts Theatre next month, performing her solo show Shirley Jones in Concert from 22 March to 3 April 2010.
Jones, who was dubbed “the first lady of American song” by Bob Hope, has been a household name since 1955, when Richard Rodgers and Oscar Hammerstein cast her as Laurie in the movie version of Oklahoma!.

She followed this up with the films of The Music Man and Carousel, before winning the 1960 Academy Award for Elmer Ganty. On TV, she was the matriarch of The Partridge Family, and her Broadway credits inclube South Pacific, Maggie Flynn and 42nd Street.

According to publicity material, “Shirley Jones in Concert promises to be a very special event and marks the first time this living legend has ever performed in the UK”.

Shirley Jones in Concert is produced by Barry J Mishon in association with the Arts Theatre. Currently at the Arts, Denise Deegan’s schoolgirl comedy Daisy Pulls it Off opened last night (21 January, previews from 19 January), and continues until 6 February 2010.

The Arts Theatre has also announced a new late night line-up. From 25 January to 27 March, musical comedy Naked Boys Singing and spoof Nunsense A-Men will run in rep in the 10pm slot.

Naked Boys Singing, which ran at the Arts last year, is a comedy revue featuring “16 original songs, 8 gorgeous guys and no clothes”. The same cast will don habits for Nunsense A-Men, billed as “Mrs Doubtfire Enters the Convent”. Both shows are directed by Phil Willmott.