Tina Arena is adding to her varied musical career by joining the London production of Chicago, at the Cambridge theatre. She will take over the role of Roxie Hart from ‘How do you solve a problem like Maria?’ runner up Aofie Mulholland from 2nd April to 5th May.
The Australian pop star is no stranger to performing, she’s began her singing career at the age of seven on the TV programme ‘Young Talent Time’. Tina was not only one of the youngest performers on the show, but one of the longest running, as she appeared on it for an incredible nine years. After leaving the show, Tina toured with Lionel Richie and was finally offered a recording contract in 1990. Since then, her career has been varied with hits all over Australia and Europe. In 1998, she played the role of Esmerelda in the West End production of ‘Notre Dame de Paris’ and in 2000 she performed to the largest audience of her life at the Summer Olympics in Sydney.
Tina’s pretty excited about her return to the West End and has said, via her website, “Musicals are a different world… it’s really hard work but i’m so excited to be back in the West End. I love Chicago, it’s such a fabulous show and for me the opportunity to play Roxie and be a part of such a great production is awesome.”
Take a look at Chicago on stage… of course Tina’s not in it yet!
Spamalot, the musical, has announced the extension of its West End run by at least 3 months. The London show is now taking bookings until 3rd November 2007. Spamalot is playing at the Palace Theatre, London.
The hugely successful show is based on the Monty Python film - Monty Python and The Holy Grail which was written by comic legends: John Cleese, Eric Idle, Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones and Michael Palin. The stage show features a new score with music and lyrics by Eric Idle and John Du Prez. The stage show also includes three classic songs from the 1975 film.
Spamalot has had a fantastic reception in the West End with rave reviews from critics and theatre fans alike. The hilarious London show stars British actor, Tim Curry who gives an outstanding performance as King Arthur. Tim Curry just picked up the Whatsonstage Theatregoer’s Choice Award for Best Actor in a Musical. Tim’s co-star, Tom-Goodman Hill, picked up the award for Best Supporting Actor for his performances as Sir Lancelot.
Long live Spamalot and hurrah for King Arthur and Sir Lancelot!
Connie Fisher was recently voted Best Newcomer at the Whatsonstage Theatregoers Choice Awards. To celebrate Connie’s recent rise to West End stardom we’ve put together a little tribute for Britain’s favourite Maria! We’ve charted her success over the past years and even found a couple of video clips for your enjoyment! Congratulations Connie!
Having won the BBC’s talent show ‘How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria’ in September 2006, Connie Fisher was cast in the role of Maria Von Trapp in a West End revival of The Sound of Music, which is currently playing at the London Palladium Theatre.
Connie was born in Belfast in 1983. She then moved to Dorset where she lived until she was six years old. At the age of six, Connie moved to Pembrokeshire in Wales. Connie was classically trained in stage arts from the age of twelve. She won a scholarship to Mountview Academy of Theatre Arts where she received a first class BA in Musical Theatre. Her first job after graduation was as the Princess in a local pantomine version of Aladdin. However, she struggled to make her breakthrough in the West End, going to countless auditions and narrowly missing out on many roles. She worked in media sales whilst continuing to audition, a job which she claims to have hated as it destroyed her confidence. She explains that she lost hope of achieveing her dream while working in sales.
In August 2006 Connie made it through to the final 9 of BBC talent search, ‘How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria.’ Connie got through to the top 9 after a gruelly set of auditions. She beat off competition from 6,000 other hopefuls. The TV talent search was the brainchild of legendary British composer Andrew Lloyd Webber. Lloyd Webber wanted an unknown actress to fill one of the most famous roles in musical history, that of Maria von Trapp in The Sound of Music. This role was originall made famous by Julie Andrews in the award winning 1960s film.
Connie was up against nine other contestants, all vying for the part. The hugely successful show was hosted by Graham Norton and featured a panel of experts. However, the elimination process was entirely down to a public vote. Connie won the final, when over two million people cast telephone votes. Connie was understandably delighted to win the role, saying, ‘I feel on top of the world, thanks very much. I won’t let you down. Every night will be an opening night. Thanks for making my dreams come true.’
The Sound of Music opened to critical acclaim on the 15th of November 2006. The show has since received a number of prestigious awards and has played to sell out audiences night after night.
Watch Connie perform in How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria
A funky little collection of clips showing Connie’s How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria Experience
Take a sneaky peek at Connie performing in West End show, The Sound of Music
I’m off to see the Blue Man group in a few weeks so I thought I’d see if there was a video clip or two on YouTube. I was surprised to see just how many videos there were of the Blue Man Group - wow! These Blue Men just seem to be getting everywhere - America appears to love them! Check out the video clip to see the Blue Men perform on Jay Lenos show, they certainly get the crowd really involved in the show. Looks like a lot of fun - I can’t wait!
At the recent Lord of the Rings launch, director, Mathhew Warchus described the new show as “Shakespeare meets Cirque du Soleil.” It sounds like the actors in this stage show are going to be acrobats as well! A few casually dressed orcs demonstrated their skills at the launch by showing off their stunts on spring loaded stilts. Laura Michelle Kelly who plays elven Queen, Galadriel, has said that she is particularly excited about the groundbreaking elements of the show and the new skills required of the actors. Kelly has enthused about the show claiming that they are doing things she has never before seen done on stage - I guess we’ll have to wait until May to find out exactly what she means!
Warchus has promised theatre-goers that when the show opens in May, it will have the most highly skilled and hard working ensemble in the entire West End. A bold claim indeed, but then again, this is a man who has successfully directed a stage show based on some of the most famous and successful books of the last 100 years in the wake of the runaway success of the film trilogy. Not an easy task, especially when you consider the expectations of the millions of Lord of the Rings fans around the world.
So how has Matthew Warchus managed to turn this famous trilogy into a stage show lasting three hours? Warchus claims that he has taken the essence of the novels and reduced the plot back to the basic essentials to give viewers a different experience to the film. He claims that the Lord of the Rings show will be a more emotional experience for audience members. The audience will be completely immersed in all the action. They will be able to feel the wind through the trees, smell the smoke and be surrounded by the atmosphere. There is no doubt in my mind that theatre experiences are more intense than film experiences. With a story this powerful the Lord of the Rings has the potential to conjur up a range of human emotions among audience members.
The creative team of the Lord of the Rings claim that they have assessed and reassessed every aspect of the show in the nine months since the Toronto run came to an end. The team are said to be very proud of their efforts and have learnt a lot from their experiences in Canada to make the London show even better!
Let’s see how the show fares with the critics and the theatre fans when it opens in May.
The Whatsonstage Theatregoer’s Choice winners have been announced…Unsurprisingly new shows Wicked and The Sound of Music topped the polls with Spamalot hot on their heels.
Wicked stole the show with four awards including the Best Show Award which it won in a landslide victory with over half the votes! Wicked also scooped the awards for Best New Musical and Best Actress in a Musical for Idina Menzel who was the original Elphaba. Idina’s West End run ended just before the New Year when young British actress, Kerry Ellis took on the role - we’re sure to see her name in the award winners list next year!
Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Sound of Music took home 3 awards, including Newcomer of the Year and Best Musical Revival. The Newcomer of the Year award was presented to Connie Fisher who won the role of Maria on BBC talent search, “How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?” The BBC show itself received an award for ‘Now Theatre Event of the Year.’ You can read more aout Connie’s rise to West End stardom in her biography.
It was also a good night for West End comedy shows. Spamalot and Avenue Q both picked up awards. Tim Curry won the prestigious Best Actor in a Musical award for Spamalot with his co-star, Tom Goodman Hill, collecting the award for Best Supporting Actor in a Musical. Avenue Q, the hilarious show with a huge cast of puppets and actors, was awarded the Whatsonstage Theatregoer’s Choice Award for Best Ensemble Performance.
All in all, the Whatsonstage Theatregoer’s Choice Award was a fantastic night for British Theatre. These awards recognised the shows that real theatre fans have loved and the performances that have impressed them in this past year. Well done to Wicked, The Sound of Music, Spamalot and Avenue Q and well done theatre fans for picking some fabulous winners!
Grease is coming to town! Everyone’s favourite high school musical is coming back to the West End this August. And that’s not all, ITV are running a high-profile talent show, ‘Grease is the Word’, hosted by Zoe Ball, to search for two unknowns to take on the roles of Danny Zuko and Sandra Dee. The show is produced by Simon Cowell’s production company, Syco, and judges on the show will be David Gest, top theatre producer David Ian and West End star Sinitta. Look out for the show from 7th April, it runs for 10 weeks until 9th June - I for one can’t wait! The stage show will preview from 17th July at London’s Piccadilly Theatre and open properly from the first week in August.
Grease has been around for ages, but has never lost it’s popularity. The 1978 movie cemented it’s reputation as a classic, with it’s raw energy and fantastic performances from John Travolta and Olivia Newton John. Interestingly, Henry Winkler (aka Fonzie from Happy Days) was originally offered the role of Danny, but turned it down for fear being typecast.
It’s going to be a summer of Grease, so dust off those skintight pedal-pushers, get a perm and enjoy the ride!
Pop onto ITV.com to find out more about the search for lead performers.
The other day Melvin Bragg’s Southbank Show had all the surviving members of Monty Python giving a really interesting behind the scenes look into what it took to get Spamalot off the ground.
In the old world of TV when there were only 4 terrestrial channels this information would only add to the frustration that you missed it. Ahh but fear not you can nip over to ITV.com and grab your self a free copy to watch again.
However, if you are just too lazy to grab your own copy just sit back and relax in front of this 9 minute preview from Youtube.
