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London Theatre Magazine online: April edition

Immerse yourself in London's theatre world with our digital flip-through of the April edition of London Theatre Magazine, including interviews, reviews, and insights.

New British musical *Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)* has extended performances by seven weeks at the Criterion Theatre in the West End. The show is now booking until 31 August.

Jim Barne and Kit Buchan's musical transferred to the West End earlier this month, following a sold-out, extended run at London's Kiln Theatre.

The production stars Olivier Award winner Sam Tutty (*Dear Evan Hansen*) as Dougal and Dujonna Gift (*Hamilton, Caroline or Change, Motown: The Musical*) as Robin....

'Two Strangers (Carry a Cake Across New York)' extends performances through August 2024

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Olivier Award winner Sam Tutty and Dujonna Gift star in this adorable two-hander by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan. Performances have been extended to 31 August.

Again! Step, kick, kick, leap, kick, touch… Again! God, I hope I get it… Originally devised, directed, and choreographed by Michael Bennett with a score by Marvin Hamlisch, the 1975 musical *A Chorus Line* returns to London this summer in a fresh production directed by Nikolai Foster and starring Adam Cooper and Carly Mercedes Dyer.

Cooper plays Zach, the domineering director-choreographer casting the chorus for a new Broadway musical who puts the hopefuls through the wringer – physically and...

Learn all about the history of 'A Chorus Line' in London and New York

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The iconic musical plays at Sadler's Wells this summer in an exciting new production starring Adam Cooper and Carly Mercedes Dyer.

A musical version of a chick flick? With spectacular fashion shows, epic backstabbing and a diva who’ll chill your soul, it could well be groundbreaking. *The Devil Wears Prada* struts into the West End this autumn. With an original score by Elton John and a cast led by Vanessa Williams and Matt Henry, start planning your outfit for the most stylish show in town! 

Based on the bestselling novel by Lauren Weisberger and the film starring Meryl Streep and Anne Hathaway, protagonist Andrea “Andy”...

Everything you need to know about 'The Devil Wears Prada' in the West End

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Elton John's musical version of the hit novel and film arrives at London's Dominion Theatre this autumn, starring Vanessa Williams and Matt Henry.


We’re spoiled for choice when it comes to shows in London, and it can be hard to keep up with everything that’s opening – we all have busy lives and it isn’t possible to fit everything in. Fortunately, second chances do sometimes arise!

A whole host of plays and musicals are being reprised in the West End this spring and summer, from celebrated musicals to classic drama and exciting contemporary writing. If it’s a show you’ve loved before, different cast members and venues can provide a whole...

Catch these incredible theatre shows as they return to the stage in London

From *Sister Act* and *Hadestown* to *Standing at the Sky's Edge*, there's a wealth of fantastic shows coming into town – so don't miss out!

Make a joyful noise! West End favourite [Lee Mead](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/lee-mead) will join the cast of [*Sister Act*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/28926-sister-act) at the [Dominion Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/dominion-theatre) this June.

Mead is best known for his West End performances in *Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Legally Blonde*, [*Wicked*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/313-wicked-tickets), and, most...

Lee Mead to join 'Sister Act' West End cast

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The London theatre veteran will join Ruth Jones, Alexandra Burke, and more in the musical based on the hit movie, which currently stars Beverley Knight.

The magic returns! [*My Neighbour Totoro*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/25389-my-neighbour-totoro-tickets), the stage adaptation of Hayao Miyazaki's beloved same-named Studio Ghibli movie, will transfer to the West End in 2025. The [Gillian Lynne Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/gillian-lynne-theatre) will host the 34-week run from 8 March to 2 November 2025. Opening night is 20 March.

*My Neighbour Totoro* follows two sisters, Satsuki and Mei, who move to the...

'My Neighbour Totoro' sets West End transfer

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Following two seasons at the Barbican Centre, the acclaimed play adapted from the classic Studio Ghibli film will play a 34-week run at the Gillian Lynne Theatre.

All hail Macbeth! *Macbeth*, starring [David Tennant](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/david-tennant) in the title role and Cush Jumbo as Lady Macbeth, will play in the West End this autumn, with performances running at the Harold Pinter Theatre from 1 October to 14 December.

The production comes to the West End from a critically acclaimed premiere at the Donmar Warehouse in fall 2023, with the entire original cast returning. Alongside Tennant (*Doctor Who*) and Jumbo (*The Good...

David Tennant and Cush Jumbo-led 'Macbeth' to transfer to the West End

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The critically acclaimed production played the Donmar Warehouse in 2023, also starring Tennant and Jumbo, and will now have a two-month run in the West End.

Truth is, no one can do what he does. Born Reginald Kenneth Dwight in 1947, Elton John has been one of the world’s most successful pop stars and songwriters since he released “Your Song” in 1970. 

Collaborating with lyricist Bernie Taupin, some of his greatest hits include “Tiny Dancer”, “Rocket Man”, “Goodbye Yellow Brick Road”, “I’m Still Standing”, “Are You Ready for Love”, and, of course, “Candle in the Wind”, which was revised as a tribute to Princess Diana following her death and became a...

Explore the fantastic stage musicals of Elton John ahead of 'The Devil Wears Prada'

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Follow our guide to the shows composed by legendary pop star Elton John, including *The Lion King, Billy Elliot, Tammy Faye*, and the forthcoming West End musical *The Devil Wears Prada*.  

Revivals of musicals are often every bit as revelatory as new takes on classic plays. In recent years, Daniel Fish’s *Oklahoma!* imbued the 1943 Rodgers and Hammerstein classic with a chillingly contemporary significance without changing a word, and Jamie Lloyd’s stripped back *Sunset Boulevard* recently swept the Olivier Awards.

This summer, *Starlight Express* makes a spectacular return in a specially designed auditorium. There’s star casting aplenty as Imelda Staunton leads *Hello, Dolly!*...

Experience London shows in a new light with tickets to West End musical revivals

Starlight Express 1200 LT Photo credit Pamela Raith

Relive all the joy of classic West End musicals as they return to London in 2024, including *Hello, Dolly!*, *Starlight Express*, and *Kiss Me, Kate*.

God bless us, everyone! Find out further casting for [*A Christmas Carol*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/24716-a-christmas-carol-or-old-vic) at the [Old Vic](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/old-vic-theatre) this winter. *A Christmas Carol* begins previews at the Old Vic on 12 November, ahead of an opening night on 23 November, and performances to 7 Jan. 2023. Book *A Christmas Carol* tickets on London Theatre.

[Owen Teale](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/owen-teale) stars as Ebenezer Scrooge, joining an acclaimed list of actors including Stephen Mangan and Andrew Lincoln who have played the role. 

The cast includes Melissa Allan as Little Fan, Merryl Ansah as Jess, Raffaella Covino as Dance Captain/Swing, Billy Cullum as Nicholas/Swing, Roger Dipper as Bob Cratchit, Geraint Downing as Ferdy/George, Jenny Fitzpatrick as Ghost of Christmas Present/Mrs Fezziwig, Julie Jupp as Ghost of Christmas Past, Alastair Parker as Fezziwig, Dominic Sibanda as Fred, Sebastien Torkia as Father/Marley, Samuel Townsend as Young Ebenezer, Meesha Turner as Mrs Cratchit and Lydia White as Belle. Further casting will be announced.

Based on Charles Dickens's beloved work, Jack Thorne's play follows Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve. As three ghosts visit Scrooge in one evening, the miser is forced to take stock on his life. Jack Thorne's adaptation of *A Christmas Carol* is now in its sixth consecutive year at the Old Vic.

Matthew Warchus directs *A Christmas Carol*. The show features set and costume design by Rob Howell, composition by Christopher Nightingale, lighting design by Hugh Vanstone, sound design by Simon Baker, and movement by Lizzi Gee.

Book *A Christmas Carol* tickets on London Theatre.

[![LT - CTA - 250](//images.ctfassets.net/6pezt69ih962/1t6HRGmhlYl70k6PmR0mOZ/3caac861bc1d4233cd7844652c925623/LT-CTA-250.png) ](https://ticket.londontheatre.co.uk/booking/calendar?product_id=24716&content_product_id=24716&venue_id=191)

*Photo credit: A Christmas Carol 2021 (Photo courtesy of production)*

‘A Christmas Carol’, starring Owen Teale, announces further casting

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A Christmas Carol | Old Vic - LON [24716] 

Genre: Play

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Esteemed writer Jack Thorne's joyous, atmospheric adaptation of the timeless Charles Dickens classic returns to The Old Vic following a successful run last Christmas. *A Christmas Carol* returns to The Old Vic in 2023. Book *A Christmas Carol* tickets on London Theatre.

Based on Charles Dickens's beloved work, the play follows Ebenezer Scrooge on Christmas Eve. He is visited by three ghosts, showing him either scenes from his past, a view of the present, or a peek into the future. Can Scrooge reevaluate his priorities and take stock on his life in time for Christmas morning? 

Jack Thorne's adaptation of *A Christmas Carol* is now a London institution. *A Christmas Carol* premiered at the Old Vic in 2017, starring Rhys Ifans as Ebenezer Scrooge. It immediately became a must-see piece of festive theatre, and *A Christmas Carol*'s returned to the Old Vic every year since. Actors to play Ebenezer Scrooge include Owen Teale, Stephen Mangan, Andrew Lincoln, and Paterson Joseph. This year, Doctor Who’s Christopher Eccleston leads the cast. 


A Christmas Carol - LON - London Theatre [24716]

Jack Throne's adaptation of the Charles Dickens timeless story returns to the Old Vic this Christmas. See Ebenezer Scrooge's transformation as he encounters the spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come, discovering the true meaning of Christmas along the way.

Jack Thorne’s treatment of this seasonal staple is moody, thoughtful, and heartfelt. Thorne is a master of bringing much-loved stories to life onstage, also working on *Harry Potter and the Cursed Child*. Thorne’s script, coupled with Matthew Warchus’s atmospheric direction, delivers the perfect blend of Dickensian mirth and Gothic darkness. Though the story is internationally known, this production breathes wintery life into the beloved masterpiece.

## What To Watch For
- Jack Thorne also writes for television. His credits include The Fades, and This Is England.
- *A Christmas Carol* won five Tony Awards in 2019. *A Christmas Carol* won all the categories it was nominated in.
- Hymns in *A Christmas Carol* include “O Holy Night,” “Joy to the World,” “Ding Dony Merrily on High,” and “I Saw Three Ships.”

A Christmas Carol - LON - TodayTix LON [24716]

Bah humbug! The Christmas classic by Charles Dickens returns to the Old Vic this winter, directed by Matthew Warchus. Follow the transformation of the miserable Ebenezer Scrooge as he is visited by the ghosts of of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come, and learns the true meaning of Christmas.

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There’s no more welcome theatrical perennial these days than Jack Thorne’s take on [*A Christmas Carol*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/24716-a-christmas-carol-or-old-vic-tickets) at the [Old Vic](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/old-vic-theatre), which I have now seen six times and will happily revisit for as long as that venue’s artistic director, Matthew Warchus, cares to put it on. 

Warchus’s own production of Charles Dickens’s malleable 1843 novella has boasted a different Ebenezer Scrooge each time, all the while bringing to bear a matchless aural component that won’t ever grow stale.

I envy playgoers their first exposure to composer-arranger Christopher Nightingale’s soundscape, which contains enough original composition to have won Nightingale a Tony for his incidental music: a rare victory in this category for a non-musical. But it’s the absorption into the rending whole of numerous seasonal standards that sets this production apart, whether that be the beloved French carol “Il est  né, le divin enfant”, or the most shimmering version imaginable of “In the Bleak Midwinter”. 

The use of bells lends a joyous tang to proceedings, and musical director Katharine Woolley and her band — seen perched to one side of this large-scale jewel box of a venue — deserve the cheers with which they are met at the end.

[Owen Teale](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/stars-on-stage/owen-teale), a Tony-winner a quarter-century ago for *A Doll’s House* who has gone on to TV renown, is the latest Scrooge, following where Rhys Ifans first led; Campbell Scott took the part on Broadway, and Andrew Lincoln persuasively stepped up to the plate for an online version during the pandemic. 

Teale makes a gruff, bluff Scrooge, making clear at the outset that this miserly stay-at-home has no time for revellers and even less patience for appeals to charity. Is Christmas “cause for trespass” he asks the hapless Bob Cratchit (Roger Dipper), who is later fired in any case for poor time-keeping. 

Scrooge visibly chafes at the very notion of beneficence and is at a scowlingly low ebb when a portent arrives like something out of Shakespeare that he will face up to three separate spirits before this parable of psychic balm has played itself out.

The production makes plain the violence doled out to the young Scrooge by his debt-ridden scold of a father (Sebastian Torkia) and the extent to which the parade of Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present, and Future represents turning points in a therapeutic reckoning with psychic damage. (Jenny Fitzpatrick’s Christmas Present, a mysterious figure in sunglasses, gets a great moment late on in this spectre’s desire to be known as Brenda.)

A bewhiskered Teale posits Scrooge’s steadfast refusal to learn even as the story pivots on his capacity for change. That very quality “is in all of us,” notes his onetime defender Belle (a charming Lydia White), for whom Scrooge has long harboured romantic feelings. 

Before you know it, Scrooge professes real love for his nephew Fred (Dominic Sibanda) and is getting out of the way of a turkey that comes hurtling along the same cruciform walkway – designed by Tony-winner Rob Howell – where we have earlier seen Jacob Marley trailed by more chains than one would have thought possible.

At its limitlessly moving core, this story is one of a necessary emotional awakening that has resonances for us all, not least in an era newly gripped by near-Dickensian levels of want and need as Teale’s finely calibrated appeal to the audience following the curtain call makes clear. 

The actor finds more laughs in the role than I remember: “you can’t have too many potatoes,” he notes in a second act that replaces bleakness with bounty and showers delighted playgoers with fast-melting snow. Teale’s avuncularity is at first a tad offputting, as if he were holding the depths of the part at arm’s length in a way that last year’s leading man, the matchless Stephen Mangan, never did.

But as the narrative shifts towards inclusion, Teale digs further down and was seen daubing an eye during his climactic exchange with Tiny Tim (played at the performance caught by Casey-Indigo Blackwood-Lashley). A smile from Scrooge looks to be as hard-won as laughter was once deemed to be from Greta Garbo, but this production succeeds in wresting from playgoers far more than just a grin. 

As the auditorium erupts in the final sequence into song, dance, snow, and merriment, one’s joy is tempered only by the prospect of its absence. That duality sends playgoers tearfully into the night, their empathy reinforced just as Scrooge himself is spiritually restored.

[*A Christmas Carol is at the Old Vic to 7 January.*](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/show/24716-a-christmas-carol-or-old-vic-tickets)

*Photo credit: Owen Teale as Scrooge (Photo by Manuel Harlan)*

'A Christmas Carol' review — a festive story that serves as an emotional awakening

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A Christmas Carol fills the auditorium to the brim with mince pies, music and merriment. A unique staging immerses the audience in London’s longest running adaptation of this beloved festive favourite.

The Old Vic, originally named the Royal Coburg Theatre, was designed in 1818 by Rudolph Cabanel. Its name was later changed to the Royal Victoria Theatre, then the Royal Victoria Hall, before it took on its nickname of 'The Old Vic' as its official name in 1925. 

The Old Vic has housed acclaimed performances with such celebrated actors as John Gielgud’s *Hamlet*, Laurence Olivier’s *Macbeth* and *Othello* in 1937, and Judi Dench’s Juliet in *Romeo and Juliet*, which was privately performed for The Queen in 1957.

In 1963, the Old Vic became the home base of the [National Theatre](https://www.londontheatre.co.uk/theatres/national-theatre) of Great Britain during its formation under Laurence Olivier. The theatre continued to host the National Theatre until the move to South Bank in 1976. 

There are two entrances to the Old Vic: one on The Cut and the other on Waterloo Road, which is an accessible entrance. In 2019, 'Penny', an accessible basement cafe and bar was opened, offering drinks, sandwiches and snacks. 

## Old Vic Seating Information

The auditorium has three levels - Stalls, Dress Circle, and the Lilian Baylis Circle.

Despite the Dress Circle overhang, this doesn’t affect the view due to pillars. There is also a staggered rake that will be noticeable from row J to allow better viewing.

The Lilian Baylis Circle is high above the ground and overhangs the Dress Circle at row C meaning row E will miss the top of the stage. There are also standing seats available at the sides of this circle.

‘A Christmas Carol’, starring Owen Teale, announces further casting

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