The Friday musical round-up: 1st August

After a complete absence of any musical theatre news last week, these are a plethora of items to update you on this time around. For some reason, a number of shows have made casting announcements in the same week…

• The Wizard of Oz opened at the Royal Festival Hall to lukewarm reviews. See my review here, which includes links to the best of the mainstream press.
• Kelly Price joins Chicago as Roxie Hart (see The Stage for original news). She has previously been in Guys and Dolls, and Desperately Seeking Susan.
• Samantha Barks, who made it to the final three of BBC series ‘I’d Do Anything’, is to play Sally Bowles in Bill Kenwright’s touring production of Kander & Ebb’s Cabaret  – see the WOS article or my blog response for more
• The Sound of Music cast is getting a new Captain Von Trapp in the shape of Simon MacCorkindale, apparently well-known through his time in the TV series ‘Casualty’ – see WOS for more news
• Ray Davies will be joining the cast of the musical he has written. Not content with merely writing Come Dancing, he will now also be in the cast when the show opens at the Theatre Royal Stratford East in September. You can see the original news on the Official London Theatre website
• The Harder They Come has posted closing notices. According to WOS, its final performance at the Playhouse Theatre will be on 13th September, nearly 6 weeks earlier than originally planned. No news yet on what show is coming next, so look out for that announcement in the coming weeks.
• Siobhan Dillon, one the finalists of ‘How Do You Solve A Problem Like Maria?’, the first series of the BBC ’search for a star’ format, has been cast in the latest jukebox musical to make its way round the country on tour – Barry Manilow’s Can’t Smile Without You. Remarkably, she’ll be joined in the cast by 80s pop star Chesney Hawkes. See The Stage for the original news.

 

I’ll be on Broadway by next weekend, ready to see A Chorus Line in its final week… fantastic!

Have a great weekend.