LONDON CALLING : WEST END 2022-23 SEASON PREVIEW
Plus your weekly round-up of theatre news you may have missed this week!
Welcome to The Scene, your weekly round-up of theatre news you may have missed this week. In this week’s email:
HOT TOPICS: STEM vs. STEAM: Does Arts Education really benefit schools?, 5 books every Stage Management student should read, and 10 things every actor needs in their audition backpack
THE BROADWAY BEAT: Paula Vogel's Streaming Theatre Series Reveals Season, Rita Gardner, Original Luisa In The Fantasticks, Passes Away, and Watch Gavin Creel & Joshua Henry Sing ‘Agony’ From The Broadway Revival Of Into The Woods
SHOWS YOU SHOULD KNOW: Most-Produced Plays of the 2022-23 Theatre Season
LONDON CALLING: West End 2022-23 Season Preview
Calling all theatre fanatics!
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Hot Topics
STEM VS. STEAM: DOES ARTS EDUCATION REALLY BENEFIT SCHOOLS? - Discover more about the latest NEA study
5 BOOKS EVERY STAGE MANAGEMENT STUDENT SHOULD READ - Great reads for your SM and ASM!
10 THINGS EVERY ACTOR NEEDS IN THEIR AUDITION BACKPACK -Help your actors get through the madness of auditioning!
The Broadway Beat
PAULA VOGEL'S STREAMING THEATRE SERIES REVEALS SEASON Four plays by female playwrights including works by U.S. Poet Laureate Joy Harjo, Laura Schellhardt, and more
RITA GARDNER, ORIGINAL LUISA IN THE FANTASTICKS, PASSES AWAY Gardner made her stage debut Off-Broadway in Jerry Herman's musical review Nightcap before her breakout turn as Luisa in the original cast of The Fantasticks in 1960
WATCH GAVIN CREEL & JOSHUA HENRY SING ‘AGONY’ FROM THE BROADWAY REVIVAL OF INTO THE WOODS
Shows You Should Know
American Theatre’s most-produced plays and playwrights list is back after a two-year COVID hiatus. Below are the 2022-23 Theatre season’s most produced shows. The full article from American Theatre Magazine can be viewed here.
Most-Produced Plays of the 2022-23 Theatre Season
CLYDE’S by Lynn Nottage (11 productions)
CHICKEN & BISCUITS by Douglas Lyons (8 productions)
CLUE adapted by Sandy Rustin from the film by Jonathan Lynn (7 productions)
ONCE by Enda Walsh, Glen Hansard, and Markéta Irglová (7 productions)
SWEAT by Lynn Nottage (7 productions)
THE CHINESE LADY by Lloyd Suh (6 productions)
FAIRVIEW by Jackie Sibblies Drury (6 productions)
INTO THE WOODS by Stephen Sondheim & James Lapine (6 productions)
THE LIFESPAN OF A FACT by Jeremy Kareken, David Murrell & Gordon Farrell (6 productions)
LITTLE SHOP OF HORRORS by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken (6 productions)
NATIVE GARDENS by Karen Zacarias (6 productions)
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG by Henry Lewis, Jonathan Sayer & Henry Shields (6 productions)
STEEL MAGNOLIAS by Robert Harling (6 productions)
TROUBLE IN MIND by Alice Childress (6 productions)
LONDON CALLING - WEST END SEASON PREVIEW
This 2022-23 West End theatre season has started! In today’s West End season preview we highlight plays and musicals we think you should be aware of. For this preview, we did not include long-running shows such as The Women in Black or Matilda. Plays by Shakespeare were also not included.
1. BLUES FOR AN ALABAMA SKY BY PEARL CLEAGE
THEATRE: National Theatre (Lyttleton)
OPENING: September 27, 2022
DIRECTOR: Lynette Linton
ABOUT: Harlem, 1930. Where the Blues are getting bluer, and the gin is running dry. A free-spirited Cotton Club singer has just been fired with nowhere left to go but down. So, she turns to her best friend, an extravagant costume designer with plans to dress Josephine Baker in Paris. Maybe they can run away together. Or maybe the handsome southerner that just came knocking can offer an even better life. But the saxophone dreams of Harlem rarely end as smoothly as they start.
2. IPHIGENIA IN SPLOTT BY GARY OWEN
THEATRE: Lyric Theatre Hammersmith
OPENING: October 1, 2022
DIRECTOR: Rachel O'Riordan
ABOUT: Effie’s life spirals through a mess of drink, drugs, and drama every night, and a hangover worse than death the next day - till one night gives her the chance to be something more.
3. THE CAUCASIAN CHALK CIRCLE BY BERTOLT BRECHT, ADAPTED BY STEVE WATERS
THEATRE: Rose Theatre
OPENING: October 6, 2022
DIRECTOR: Christopher Haydon
ABOUT: In a refugee camp, a fight breaks out over lost land. To seek resolution, a singer tells the fable of ‘The Chalk Circle’: in the midst of a bloody revolution, a servant girl risks all to raise the abandoned child of the Governor and his wife. Years later, when the Governor’s wife returns seeking her son, a rogue judge turns justice on its head. Can the test of the Chalk Circle determine which of the two women is the boy’s real mother?
4. MY NEIGHBOUR TOTORO BY TOM MORTON-SMITH & JOE HISAISHI
THEATRE: Barbican Theatre
OPENING: October 8, 2022
DIRECTOR: Phelim McDermott
ABOUT: Exploring the magical fantasy world of childhood and the transformative power of imagination, My Neighbour Totoro follows one extraordinary summer in the lives of sisters Satsuki and Mei as they are swept up in exciting adventures with their new neighbours – transported to a long-forgotten realm of spirits, sprites, and natural wonder.
5. THE DOCTOR BY ROBERT ICKE, ADAPTED FROM ARTHUR SCHITZLER
THEATRE: Duke Of York's Theatre
OPENING: October 9, 2022
DIRECTOR: Robert Icke
ABOUT: On an ordinary day, at a private hospital, a young woman fights for her life. A priest arrives to save her soul. Her doctor refuses him entry. In a divisive time, in a divided nation, a society takes sides.
6. BUT I'M A CHEERLEADER BY BILL AUGUSTIN & ANDREW ABRAMS
THEATRE: The Turbine Theatre
OPENING: October 11, 2022
DIRECTOR: Tania Azavedo
ABOUT: Megan is an all-American high school cheerleader with a perfect life—until her friends and family reveal they suspect her of being a lesbian and send her to True Directions rehabilitation camp to set her straight.
7. A SINGLE MAN BY SIMON READE, ADAPTED FROM THE BOOK BY CHRISTOPHER ISHERWOOD
THEATRE: Park Theatre
OPENING: October 21, 2022
DIRECTOR: Philip Wilson
ABOUT: California, 1962. College professor George is grieving the death of his long-term partner Jim. As a middle-aged gay Englishman living in the Los Angeles suburbs, he is an outsider in every way. Haunted by his past and unable to move forward, we follow him on one very ordinary day. But for George, this is going to be a day like no other…
8. TAMMY FAYE BY JAMES GRAHAM, ELTON JOHN, & JAKE SHEARS
THEATRE: Almeida Theatre
OPENING: October 26, 2022
DIRECTOR: Rupert Goold
ABOUT: From a studio in South Carolina, Tammy Faye and Jim Bakker revolutionized religion. Preaching to millions 24 hours a day, Tammy just wants to put the fun back into faith. But a new wave of ministers wants you not to just feel God in your heart, but in your homes, in your schools and in the law too. This true story is a testament of faith, resilience, and the temptations of success.
9. PEAKY BLINDERS: THE REDEMPTION OF THOMAS SHELBY BY STEVEN KNIGHT
THEATRE: Troubadour Wembley Park
OPENING: October 12, 2022
DIRECTOR: Benoit Swan Pouffer
ABOUT: A new dance theatre event, delving into the story of Tommy Shelby and the Peaky Blinders, written by the creator of the global hit television series.
10. FROM HERE TO ETERNITY BY BILL OAKES, STUART BRAYSON & TIM RICE
THEATRE: Charing Cross Theatre
OPENING: October 29, 2022
DIRECTOR: Philip Wilson
ABOUT: Set in Hawaii in the weeks before the 1941 attack on Pearl Harbor, this epic tale follows the powerful story of two U.S soldiers, the soulful Private Prewitt and ardent Sergeant Warden, as they embark on doomed and dangerous love affairs with the wrong women. As the infamous date of December 7th approaches, the claustrophobic world of the four lovers and the desperation of the soldiers of G Company splinter amidst an escalating war.
11. BEST OF ENEMIES BY JAMES GRAHAM
THEATRE: Noel Coward Theatre
OPENING: November 28, 2022
DIRECTOR: Jeremy Herrin
ABOUT: 1968 – a year of protest that divided America. As two men fight to become the next President, all eyes are on the battle between two others: the cunningly conservative William F. Buckley Jr., and the iconoclastic liberal Gore Vidal. Beliefs are challenged and slurs slung as these political idols feud nightly in a new television format, debating the moral landscape of a shattered nation. Little do they know they’re about to open up a new frontier in American politics, and transform television news forever…
12. WICKIES: THE VANISHING MEN OF EILEAN MOR BY PAUL MORRISSEY
THEATRE: Park Theatre
OPENING: December 3, 2022
DIRECTOR: Shilpa T-Hyland
ABOUT: On 26th December 1900, a small ship was making its way to the Flannan Islands in the remote Outer Hebrides. Its destination was the lighthouse at Eilean Mor; a remote island which (apart from its lighthouse keepers) was completely uninhabited. When the ship arrived on the island, the lighthouse was unlocked and two of three oil skinned coats belonging to the men were missing. The fire was out – and had been for some days – the kitchen area had half eaten food, the chairs were overturned, and the clock had stopped. More importantly, the lighthouse lamp was out. The three men had vanished. Wickies is based on the true story of James Ducat, Thomas Marshall and Donald MacArthur: a supernatural thriller that seeks to unravel the enduring mystery of the Vanishing Men of Eilean Mor.
13. HEX BY TANYA RONDER, JIM FORTUNE & RUFUS NORRIS
THEATRE: National Theatre (Olivier)
OPENING: December 6, 2022
DIRECTOR: Rufus Norris
ABOUT: Deep in the wood, a lonely fairy longs for someone to bless. When she is summoned to the palace to help the princess sleep, her dream turns into a nightmare and her blessing becomes a curse. Soon, she is plunged into a frantic, hundred-year quest to somehow make everything right.
14. DOLLY PARTON'S SMOKY MOUNTAIN CHRISTMAS CAROL BY DOLLY PARTON & DAVID H. BELL
THEATRE: Queen Elizabeth Hall @ Southbank Centre
OPENING: December 8, 2022
ABOUT: Set during the 1930s in the Smoky Mountains of East Tennessee, this incredibly heartwarming and truly unforgettable production imagines Ebenezer Scrooge as the owner of a mining company town, where his callous greed blinds him to the joys and gifts of the season. As a Christmas Eve snowstorm approaches, Scrooge is visited by his deceased business partner and three ghosts who compel him to see life anew and discover that love is the greatest and most precious gift we have.
15. ALLEGIANCE BY JAY KUO, LORENZO THIONE, & MARC ACITO
THEATRE: Charing Cross Theatre
OPENING: January 17, 2023
DIRECTOR: Tara Overfield Wilkinson
ABOUT: Inspired by the childhood of George Takei, Allegiance is a moving and uplifting story of love, war, and heroism set during the Japanese American internment of World War II. It follows the story of the Kimura family in the weeks and years after the attack on Pearl Harbor, as they are relocated from their farm in Salinas, California to the Heart Mountain internment camp in the rural plains of Wyoming.
16. WOMEN, BEWARE THE DEVIL BY LULU RACZKA
THEATRE: Almeida Theatre
OPENING: February 22, 2022
DIRECTOR: Rupert Goold
ABOUT: England, 1640. A war is brewing. Rumors are flying. A household is in crisis…and the Devil’s having some fun. For Lady Elizabeth nothing is more important than protecting her family’s legacy and their ancestral home. When that comes under threat, she elicits the help of Agnes, a young servant suspected of witchcraft. But Agnes doesn’t want to be a witch, she wants to be a Lady, and no one will get in her way.
17. CHARLOTTE & THEODORE BY RYAN CRAIG
THEATRE: Theatre Royal Bath
OPENING: February 22, 2023
DIRECTOR: Terry Johnson
ABOUT: Cancel culture, gender politics, trans rights, online abuse and power struggles are all at play on a University campus which is more like a battleground, where every well-intentioned thought and deed can have unexpected and long-lasting consequences. It is here that we meet two idealistic academics, Lotty and Teddy, as they pick their way through the political and social minefield to embark on a decade long romance.
18. THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES BY LYNN NOTTAGE, DUNCAN SHEIK, & SUSAN BIRKENHEAD
THEATRE: Almeida Theatre
PREVIEWS BEGIN: April 4, 2023
ABOUT: South Carolina, 1964. Lily Owens, a restless white teenager, struggles with her merciless father and the haunting memory of her mother's death. When Rosaleen, her black caregiver, is beaten and jailed for asserting her right to vote, Lily's rebellious spirit is ignited. She and Rosaleen escape on an adventure where they are taken in by a trio of black beekeeping sisters. While Lily tries to unlock the secrets of her past, she and Rosaleen find solace in the mesmerizing world of bees and spirituality in this extraordinary tale of awakening, fellowship, and healing.