Harry Potter to release 60,000 more tickets for end of 2017.
Every single time tickets are put on sale for Harry Potter and the Cursed Child at the Palace Theatre, they sell out almost instantaneously—the last release of 250,000 tickets sold out in a single day. Now a further 60,000 tickets are being released November 22, for performances from December 13-February 4, 2018.
With Broadway plans still under wraps, London remains the only place to see this highly anticipated production that also received rave reviews from the U.K. and international press.
Royal Court announces slate of new plays for 2017.
London’s Royal Court Theatre, one of the premiere new writing venues in the capital, has announced a slate of new plays for 2017 that include the latest from Jez Butterworth (The Ferryman, to be directed by Sam Mendes in a break from Ian Rickson, Butterworth’s usual directorial collaborator), and a new play from Simon Stephens (currently represented on Broadway by Heisenberg, who will return to the Royal Court with Nuclear War).
Other new work will include the premiere of The Kid Stays in the Picture, based on the life story of legendary film producer Robert Evans that is to be directed by Simon McBurney, currently on Broadway in The Encounter; and John Tiffany—director of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child—returning to the Royal Court to direct a revival of Jim Cartwright’s Road, a play that originally premiered at this address in 1986.
Jim Steinman to bring Bat Out of Hell to the stage as a musical.
The best-selling Meat Loaf album Bat Out of Hell, first released in 1977, is being brought to the London stage by its creator Jim Steinman, also incorporating songs from the album’s sequel Bat Out of Hell II: Back Into Hell. It is set to begin previews in Manchester in February, prior to transferring to the London Coliseum in June—usually the home of English National Opera.
More casting and production news…
In other musical news, The Life, the 1997 Broadway musical that has a score by Cy Coleman (music) and Ira Gasman (lyrics), and book by David Newman, Coleman, and Gasman, is to receive its London premiere. It will be helmed by Michael Blakemore, who also directed its original Broadway outing. The Life will begin performances March 25 at Southwark Playhouse, with a cast led by Olivier winner Sharon D. Clarke (Ghost The Musical) and Cornell S. John.
Casting has also been announced for the London revival of 42nd Street, returning the backstage musical to its original London home at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, from March 20. The cast will be led by international recording star Sheena Easton, making her West End debut as Dorothy Brock, with Tom Lister as Julian Marsh, and Clare Halse as Peggy Sawyer.
And Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, still ongoing at the West End’s Aldwych Theatre, has announced that it will embark on a U.K. tour, launching at Bradford’s Alhambra Theatre from September 9, 2017.
Finally, David Tennant is to return to the London stage in a revival of Patrick Marber’s Don Juan in Soho, first seen at the Donmar Warehouse a decade ago, that will begin performances March 17 at Wyndham’s Theatre, directed by the author. Marber will have a busy West End early spring: his production of Tom Stoppard’s Travesties, currently at the Menier Chocolate Factory, will also transfer to the West End from February 15.
For further news…
Stay tuned to Playbill.com—and follow me on Twitter at @shentonstage for rolling news updates as they happen.
