All stories by Mark Shenton on BroadwayStars

Monday, October 6, 2014

Jerry Herman's The Grand Tour Will Make London Premiere in 2015 by Mark Shenton

Jerry Herman's 1979 Broadway flop The Grand Tour is to receive its European premiere, beginning performances Jan. 1, 2015, at London's Finborough Theatre prior to an official opening…

SOURCE: Playbill at 11:35AM[SHARE]

Elphaba Standby Will Take Over Lead Role in London's Wicked by Mark Shenton

London's current standby for the role of Elphaba, Emma Hatton, is to graduate to that lead role, beginning performances Feb. 2, 2015. She will succeed Kerry Ellis (who plays the role thr…

SOURCE: Playbill at 07:20AM[SHARE]

Ralph Fiennes Will Star in National's Man and Superman; Other Season Details Revealed by Mark Shenton

Further National Theatre plans for productions through April 2015 have been announced, including dates and casting for new plays by Shahid Nadeem and Sam Holcroft and a new production of Sha…

SOURCE: Playbill at 05:58AM[SHARE]

Copacabana , Harlow Playhouse, then touring by Mark Shenton

Harlow Playhouse, then touring: Barry Manilow's 1978 hit single Copacabana provided the springboard for a made-for-TV film, first aired in 1985, and then a stage musical, developed via …

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:57AM[SHARE]

Casting, Plot and Dates Announced for National Theatre Production of Tom Stoppard's The Hard Problem by Mark Shenton

Tom Stoppard, currently represented in the West End by a stage adaptation of Shakespeare in Love, for which he wrote the original screenplay, is to return to the National Theatre, where his …

SOURCE: Playbill at 05:30AM[SHARE]
Friday, October 3, 2014

London's National Reveals Title and Stars of New Tom Stoppard Play, Plus Casting for Shaw's Man and by Mark Shenton

London's National Theatre has revealed the title and casting for its previously announced world premiere of a play by Tom Stoppard.

SOURCE: Playbill at 10:03AM[SHARE]

Olivier Award-Winning The Railway Children to Return to London by Mark Shenton

The Railway Children, a Laurence Olivier Award-winning stage adaptation of E. Nesbit's novel of the same name that previously played at Waterloo Station for two seasons, is to return…

SOURCE: Playbill at 10:00AM[SHARE]

Shenton's View: LiLo marks a new low for the West End by Mark Shenton

After previews began for Speed-the-Plow at the Playhouse Theatre, I asked whether Lindsay Lohan would have learned her lines by the time press night came around? I was reporting reactions fr…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:08AM[SHARE]

Speed-the-Plow , Playhouse Theatre, London by Mark Shenton

Playhouse Theatre, London : David Mamet's 1988 play is an arresting but derivative satire on Hollywood's shallow values, but its staging now inadvertently provides its own commenta…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:05AM[SHARE]

Aaron Tveit Will Star in Menier Chocolate Factory's Assassins; Further Casting Announced by Mark Shenton

Broadway's Aaron Tveit is to make his U.K. theatre debut to play John Wilkes Booth in the Menier Chocolate Factory's production of Stephen Sondheim's Assassins, which begins perf…

SOURCE: Playbill at 04:05AM[SHARE]

Shenton's View: Broadway pedigree is no guarantee of West End success by Mark Shenton

Just the other day I was remarking on the number of musicals Broadway is sending us, and the number of plays the West End is sending to Broadway. Broadway plays, of course, also come to̷…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, October 2, 2014

Electra , The Old Vic, London by Mark Shenton

The Old Vic, London: Sophocles' intense and timeless Greek revenge tragedy affords Kristin Scott Thomas another important change of dramatic register in the title role. In the last few …

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:57AM[SHARE]

Shenton's View: No one ever built a statue to a critic, but on Broadway they're putting Frank Rich in the Hall of Fame by Mark Shenton

Critics are not in the business, by and large, of being famous. One or two may have become infamous and dreaded and feared in their time, but it invariably passes when they stop reviewing. N…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AM[SHARE]

Broadway-Aimed Tim Rice Musical From Here to Eternity Screened in Theatres Tonight by Adam Hetrick and Mark Shenton

The London stage musical From Here To Eternity, penned by Tim Rice, Stuart Brayson and Bill Oakes, is broadcast in cinemas across the U.S. beginning Oct. 2. A 2015 Broadway production may fo…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]

Lindsay Lohan Makes Stage Debut in West End's Speed-the-Plow, Opening Tonight by Mark Shenton

Lindsay Lohan makes her professional stage debut in the new West End production of David Mamet's Speed-the-Plow, which officially opens Oct. 2 following previews that began Sept.…

SOURCE: Playbill at 12:00AM[SHARE]
Wednesday, October 1, 2014

Pair of Solo Dickens Shows to Be Presented at London's Trafalgar Studios for Christmas Season by Mark Shenton

Miss Havisham's Expectations and Sikes & Nancy, a pair of solo shows based on Dickens characters, will be performed by Linda Marlowe and James Swanton, respectively, beginning pe…

SOURCE: Playbill at 09:45AM[SHARE]

Georgia Stitt to Showcase Work at London's Garrick Theatre by Mark Shenton

Composer Georgia Stitt will showcase her work at the West End's Garrick Theatre Oct. 26 in a concert entitled My Lifelong Love. She will be joined by guests Simon Bailey, Norman Bowman, …

SOURCE: Playbill at 08:39AM[SHARE]

Shenton's View: More musicals should have an audience before they open on a grand scale by Mark Shenton

I've said it before and I'll say it again, new musicals are made, not born. They never arrive fully formed on the stage without a long preparation process. And even then there are endless pi…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AM[SHARE]
Tuesday, September 30, 2014

Here Lies Love Begins Performances at London's National Sept. 30 by Mark Shenton

Here Lies Love, currently running at Off-Broadway's Public Theater in an open-ended commercial run following its premiere there last year, begins performances at the new Dorfman …

SOURCE: Playbill at 08:29AM[SHARE]

Next Fall , Southwark Playhouse, London by Mark Shenton

Southwark Playhouse, London: Off-Broadway actor, director and playwright Geoffrey Nauffts was also formerly artistic director of the New York theatre company Naked Angels, under whose auspic…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:52AM[SHARE]

Shenton's View: Billy Elliot's live screening: good for publicity, but it's better on stage by Mark Shenton

We all pay, through our taxes, to support subsidised theatres, so there is a duty on those theatres to reach as many taxpayers as they possibly can. Of course, theatre is largely static (unl…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AM[SHARE]
Monday, September 29, 2014

Jonathan Harvey's Beautiful Thing To Be Revived for U.K. Tour with West End Return to Follow by Mark Shenton

Nikolai Foster's 21st anniversary production of Jonathan Harvey's Beautiful Thing, seen at London's Arts Theatre in 2013, is to be re-staged for an 18-week U.K. national …

SOURCE: Playbill at 07:17AM[SHARE]

Great Britain , Theatre Royal Haymarket, London by Mark Shenton

Theatre Royal Haymarket, London: It was a masterstroke by the National back in June to have this play waiting in the wings as the verdict in Rebekah Brooks' trial was announced, and the…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:23AM[SHARE]

Shenton's View: Broadway and the West End are trading shows and talent with gusto by Mark Shenton

Once again, the transatlantic exchange of shows is buzzing in both directions. They’re sending us a bunch of musicals, either in identical recreations of the original productions there…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AM[SHARE]
Sunday, September 28, 2014

Nicole Scherzinger to Make West End Debut as Grizabella in Return of Cats; Further Casting Announced by Mark Shenton

Nicole Scherzinger is set to make her West End stage debut as Grizabella in the return of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats, beginning performances Dec. 6 at the London Palladium prior …

SOURCE: Playbill at 05:39PM[SHARE]

Pussycat Dolls Star to Headline London Cats Revival by Mark Shenton

Nicole Scherzinger is set to make her West End stage debut as Grizabella in the return of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical Cats, beginning performances Dec. 6 at the London Palladium prior …

SOURCE: Playbill at 05:39PM[SHARE]
Saturday, September 27, 2014

Watch Lea Salonga, Jonathan Pryce Celebrate Miss Saigon Gala (Video) by Adam Hetrick and Mark Shenton

The London revival of Claude-Michel Schönberg and Alain Boublil's Miss Saigon celebrated the 25th anniversary of the Vietnam War-set musical's premiere with a Sept. …

SOURCE: Playbill at 03:19PM[SHARE]
Friday, September 26, 2014

London Production of Beautiful - The Carole King Musical Casts Its Leading Lady by Mark Shenton

Initial West End casting has been announced for Beautiful – the Carole King Musical that will begin performances Feb. 10, 2015, prior to an official opening Feb. 24 (a change from …

SOURCE: Playbill at 05:25AM[SHARE]

Shenton's View: Will Lindsay Lohan have learned her lines by the time Speed-the-Plow's press night comes around? by Mark Shenton

Theatre rehearsals are a safe and sacred place where actors and the people guiding them " directors, choreographers, musical directors, fight directors, dialogue coaches etc " can investigat…

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 02:00AM[SHARE]
Thursday, September 25, 2014

Historic Wolf Hall Double-Bill Will Play Broadway's Winter Garden with London Cast by Adam Hetrick and Mark Shenton

The London productions of Wolf Hall and its sequel Bring Up the Bodies, based on the history novels by Hilary Mantel about Henry VIII, will arrive on Broadway this spring at the Winter Garde…

SOURCE: Playbill at 02:45PM[SHARE]

Miss Hannigan in Drag? U.K. Annie Tour to Star Craig Revel Horwood by Mark Shenton

A brand-new production of the Broadway musical Annie is to launch a new U.K tour, beginning performances July 11 at Newcastle's Theatre Royal, starring Craig Revel Horwood as Miss Ha…

SOURCE: Playbill at 10:12AM[SHARE]

All that Chat

2025-2026 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 12, 2025: Call Me Izzy - Studio 54
Sep 16, 2025: Art - Music Box Theatre
Oct 08, 2025: Beetlejuice - Palace Theatre
Nov 13, 2025: Oedipus - Studio 54
Nov 16, 2025: Chess - Imperial Theatre
Mar 23, 2026: Giant - Music Box Theatre
Apr 06, 2026: Becky Shaw - Hayes Theater
Apr 16, 2026: Proof - Booth Theatre
Apr 26, 2026: Drama Desk Cut-Off