All stories by Chris Wiegand on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, May 26, 2021

Gemma Arterton play resumes in West End after Covid-related cancellation by Chris Wiegand

A performance of Walden at the Harold Pinter theatre in London was cancelled on Tuesday but all cast and crew ‘remain negative for Covid’ after the alert The West End play Walden, starri…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:33AM
Tuesday, May 25, 2021

The Muppets Take Manhattan: an irresistible tribute to Broadway dreamers by Chris Wiegand

Our series on films about theatre ends with Kermit staging a musical spectacular with the help of some famous friends The stage on screen: read the full series Two classic New York musicals …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18AM
Friday, May 21, 2021

Herding Cats review – the super-slick return of a play that still stings by Chris Wiegand

Soho theatre, London, and onlineAn impressive cast – including Greg Germann via video link – deliver a revival of Lucinda Coxon’s jittery examination of intimacy and exploitation Lucin…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:03AM

Eddie Redmayne to return to London theatre in Cabaret with Jessie Buckley by Chris Wiegand

The actor’s first West End role in 10 years will be directed by Rebecca Frecknall in a bespoke recreated Kit Kat Club Eddie Redmayne will return to London theatre, for his first West End r…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:48AM

You Are Here review – 1969 moon landings spark musical midlife adventure by Chris Wiegand

Southwark Playhouse, LondonWendi Peters seizes the role of a suburbanite who is inspired by the lunar broadcast to embark on a spontaneous trip Two men walked on the moon in the summer of 19…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:24AM

Saoirse Ronan to make UK stage debut in feminist Macbeth by Chris Wiegand

Four-time Oscar nominee reunited with James McArdle in the Almeida theatre’s staging of the Shakespeare tragedy The four-time Oscar nominee Saoirse Ronan is to make her UK stage debut as L…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:24AM
Tuesday, May 18, 2021

Stage Struck: Gloria Swanson before the pictures got small by Chris Wiegand

Twenty-five years before the hard-bitten Hollywood tale Sunset Boulevard, Swanson played a small-town waitress with a dream to act The stage on screen: more films about theatre Gloria Swanso…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:06AM
Thursday, May 13, 2021

The Dame and the Showgirl review – when Edith Sitwell met Marilyn Monroe by Chris Wiegand

AudibleEmma Thompson plays the poet and Sinead Matthews is the breathy movie star in Simon Berry’s compelling audio play Truman Capote called Sunset Tower, an art deco triumph on Hollywood…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:18PM

New play Mum aims to make theatre industry more parent-friendly by Chris Wiegand

Flexibility and childcare are ‘part of the conversation’ for the team behind Morgan Lloyd Malcolm’s psychological drama about motherhood A new theatre production about motherhood and m…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:06AM
Wednesday, May 12, 2021

New theatre in Reading opens with modern take on Oscar Wilde play by Chris Wiegand

In the town where the playwright was imprisoned, a new venue for the Reading Rep company is to run a ‘radical’ version of The Picture of Dorian Gray A new theatre is to open in Reading t…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:24AM
Tuesday, May 11, 2021

‘There are lots of feelings!’ Michelle Terry on reopening Shakespeare’s Globe by Chris Wiegand

The artistic director looks back at a year of crisis for the arts and ahead to a celebratory, livestreamed summer season When Shakespeare’s Globe announced its reopening plans for spring, …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:24AM

The Salesman: Arthur Miller’s American classic reframed in Iran by Chris Wiegand

Asghar Farhadi’s Oscar-winning film about two married actors has intriguing parallels with the play they are performing The stage on screen: more films about theatre At the start of Death…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AM
Thursday, May 6, 2021

Matthew Bourne: dance isn’t ‘taken as seriously as I’d thought’ by Chris Wiegand

Freelance performers ‘forgotten’ during the pandemic says top choreographer as he launches Cygnet School training programme to diversify industry Sir Matthew Bourne, one of Britain’s m…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:33AM
Tuesday, May 4, 2021

Under the Pavement Lies the Strand: Berliners build a feminist future by Chris Wiegand

Part of the New German Cinema boom, Helma Sanders-Brahms’ 1975 film about two actors asks if theatre still has revolutionary potential The stage on screen: more films about theatre Grischa…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:24AM
Tuesday, April 27, 2021

Noviembre: explosive manifesto takes theatre to the streets by Chris Wiegand

Actors roam Madrid, springing provocative performances on passersby, in Achero Mañas’s vibrant faux-documentary The stage on screen: more films about theatre Can theatre change the world?…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:32AM
Tuesday, April 20, 2021

Nanni Moretti’s I Am Self Sufficient: a joke-filled fringe lampoon by Chris Wiegand

The Italian auteur’s debut feature spoofs experimental theatre with its tale of a group of friends launching a heavy-handed Beckettian show The stage on screen: more films about theatre �…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:06AM
Thursday, April 15, 2021

Leeds Playhouse marks 50 years with dramas rolling back the decades by Chris Wiegand

Alice Nutter, Simon Armitage and Maxine Peake will contribute to season offering a ‘northern perspective’ on how life has changed since the 1970s A series of new plays about Yorkshire li…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:54AM
Tuesday, April 13, 2021

The Band Wagon: Minnelli’s musical is perfect curtain-raiser to theatre’s return by Chris Wiegand

Fred Astaire and Cyd Charisse, standout song and dance numbers, a clever fusion of stage and cinema … that’s entertainment! The stage on screen: more films about theatre Vincente Minnell…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:24AM
Friday, April 9, 2021

Peter Capaldi and Sheila Atim among rotating cast in Constellations revival by Chris Wiegand

Star-studded new run of acclaimed two-hander will use four pairs of actors, with Zoë Wanamaker and Chris O’Dowd also signed up Nick Payne’s two-hander play Constellations is to be given…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AM
Thursday, April 8, 2021

Regent’s Park Open Air theatre to launch summer season with Romeo and Juliet by Chris Wiegand

Rodgers and Hammerstein musical Carousel will also be staged along with two children’s plays as industry begins to reopen Regent’s Park Open Air theatre in London has confirmed the lineu…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12AM

Manchester to open a new outdoor theatre for summer by Chris Wiegand

The socially distanced 400-seat venue will stage Alice in Wonderland with contemporary Manchester songs A new outdoor theatre in Manchester is to present productions of A Midsummer Night’s…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12AM
Tuesday, April 6, 2021

Beware the actoplasm! Spoof thespian Nicholas Craig returns by Chris Wiegand

The mock classical actor created by Nigel Planer and Christopher Douglas scaled the heights at the RSC and the ‘Nash’. Now, he’s ready for a comeback If you’ve ever marvelled at an a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AM

Love on the Ground: the intimate illusions of Jacques Rivette’s chateau mystery by Chris Wiegand

Jane Birkin and Geraldine Chaplin star in the French director’s enthralling and perplexing drama about rehearsals for a one-off performance The stage on screen: more films about theatre A…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:24AM
Tuesday, March 30, 2021

Shakespeare Wallah: Merchant Ivory's bittersweet tale of Bollywood and the Bard by Chris Wiegand

The Kendal family of actors star in a story inspired by their travels around India, whose booming film industry upstages their theatrical troupe The stage on screen: more films about theatre…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:06AM
Friday, March 26, 2021

Rafe Spall to star in West End premiere of To Kill a Mockingbird by Chris Wiegand

Spall will replace Rhys Ifans as Atticus Finch in production opening at the Gielgud theatre in March 2022 Rafe Spall is to play Atticus Finch in the West End premiere of To Kill a Mockingbir…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:48AM
Thursday, March 25, 2021

Michael Sheen to star in Under Milk Wood at the National Theatre by Chris Wiegand

Reconfigured Olivier theatre will show Dylan Thomas classic in June reopening with Jack Thorne play set for Dorfman stage The National Theatre in London is set to reopen in June with a new v…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36AM
Tuesday, March 23, 2021

'My father thought actors were one step above cat burglars!': Alfred Molina meets David Oyelowo by Chris Wiegand

The actors talk about applause, auditions, how they fell in love with the theatre – and the extraordinary high of delivering the perfect line David Oyelowo and Alfred Molina have been frie…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:36AM

An Actor's Revenge: Kon Ichikawa's phenomenal kabuki thriller by Chris Wiegand

In this stylish Japanese classic, a performer uses theatrical techniques to engineer the deaths of his enemies The stage on screen: more films about theatre We sometimes talk of scene-steale…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:36AM
Friday, March 19, 2021

From Gnomeo & Juliet to Baz Luhrmann: 10 of the best Romeo and Juliets by Chris Wiegand

Shakespeare’s star-crossed lovers have provided inspiration across stage and screen, via slang-singing gangs and warring garden ornaments Modern Toss on Shakespeare’s classic romance S…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:12PM

Ian McKellen's long-awaited return as Hamlet set for June by Chris Wiegand

Shakespeare tragedy will be followed by The Cherry Orchard with a cast including Steven Berkoff and Jenny Seagrove Sir Ian McKellen’s return to the role of Hamlet, 50 years after he first …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:42AM
Wednesday, March 17, 2021

Ralph Fiennes to direct and star in TS Eliot's Four Quartets by Chris Wiegand

A solo theatre adaptation, co-produced by Theatre Royal Bath and the Royal & Derngate, will tour the UK this summer Ralph Fiennes is to direct and star in a solo theatre adaptation of TS…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:48PM

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