Happy Friday! Here’s your weekly round-up of all the latest news in the world of London theatre.
Christmas Carol – a fairytale (a reimagining of A Christmas Carol with a female Scrooge) comes to Wilton’s Music Hall. Written by Piers Torday and directed by Stephanie Street, Christmas Carol tells the story of Scrooge’s sister Fan, now Jacob Marley’s widow. A darkly funny musical, Christmas Carol runs 29 November 2019 to 4 January 2020.
Tom Brooke, Lloyd Hutchinson, Michael Shaeffer, Peter Polycarpou and Reece Shearsmith will star in A Very Expensive Poison at the Old Vic. The cast will also include Thomas Arnold, MyAnna Buring, Callum Coates, Marc Graham, Amanda Hadingue, Yasmine Holness-Dove, Robyn Moore, Sarah Seggari, Gavin Spokes and Bea Svistunenko. Written by Lucy Prebble and directed by John Crowley, A Very Expensive Poison runs at the Old Vic from 20 August.
Luke Mullins, George Fletcher, Michael Burrows, Annabel Leventon and Fiona Marr will star in Southern Belles at the King’s Head Theatre. Southern Belles unites two rarely performed one-act plays by Tennessee Williams (And Tell Sad Stories of the Deaths of Queens and Something Unspoken), and runs from 24 July to 24 August.
Jermyn Street Theatre will present Somerset Maugham’s For Services Rendered. The production, revived for the first time since its performance at the Old Vic in 1993, will launch the theatre’s season of memory plays. For Services Rendered runs 4 September to 5 October, with casting to be announced later.
Arcola Theatre’s autumn season will feature seven productions written or adapted by female writers. The shows will include Dael Orlandersmith’s Until The Flood, Lisa D’Amour’s Anna Bella Eema, Zinnie Harris’ Meet Me At Dawn, Maxine Peake’s Beryl, Amanda Lomas’ adaptation of Knut Hamsun’s Hunger and Winsome Pinnock’s One Under. Arcola Theatre will also collaborate with the Royal Shakespeare Company for the London premiere of Can Dündar’s #WeAreArrested, adapted by Pippa Hill and Sophie Ivatts.
Waitress will present its next karaoke night on 17 July. Hosts for the event have yet to be announced.
The Queen’s Theatre will be renamed the Sondheim Theatre. The Queen’s Theatre, home to Les Misérables, will close for renovations until December. When it reopens, it will be known as the Sondheim Theatre.
I am more aware of theatre news over in the US. It is July now- still hope to see two more musicals.