DREAM CASTING: Hercules the Musical!

Hercules | Oliver Savile

Young Hercules | Benjamin Yates 

Phil | Michael Matus 

Michael Xaiver | Interview

Michael is currently leading the cast of The Pajama Game as Sid Sorokin at the Shaftesbury Theatre. his other credits include Captain Von Trap in The Sound of Music at The Open Air Theatre, Oliver in Love Story at The Duchess Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre (Olivier Award nomination for Best Actor in a Musical), Wolf/Cinderella’s Prince in Into The Woods at The Open Air Theatre (Olivier Award nomination for Best Supporting Performance in a Musical), Curly in Oklahoma! (Chichester Festival Theatre), Sir Galahad in Spamalot! (Palace Theatre), Rock Hudson in Rock (Manchester Library Theatre, Liverpool Unity Theatre and Oval House Theatre), Raoul in The Phantom of the Opera (Her Majesty’s Theatre), Sky in Mamma Mia! (International Tour Original Cast), Freddy Eynsford-Hill in My Fair Lady (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane), Miss Great Plains in Pageant (Vaudeville Theatre and King’s Head Theatre), Nankipoo in The Mikado (UK Tour), Chris in Miss Saigon (Original UK Tour) and Prince Florizel in Sleeping Beauty (Corn Exchange, Newbury). Michael is a proud ambassador of the charity Action for M.E. He is also director of the Musical Theatre Sunday school West End Masterclass.

How did rehearsals go for the Pajama Game?

Rehearsals went really well, we only had three weeks so it was pretty intense. Richard Eyre was brilliant and really supporting of me joining the company and so was Stephen Mear and Gareth Valentine. They were fab to work with. 

In one sentence, how would you sell The Pajama Game to audiences?

Fun, frivolous musical comedy with fantastic singing, dancing and acting! Its a great night out! 

15 of the Best West End Duos!

Following from last weeks feature (15 Most Memorable Performances I've seen) the Pocket team have been thinking about the best Duos that have been on the West End recently. 

So, in no particular order, here is our list... 

Sierra Boggess & Ramin Karimloo in Love Never Dies

Justin Lee Collins & Simon Lipkin in Rock of Ages

FIRST LOOK: The Pajama Game at the Shaftesbury Theatre

Richard Eyre’s sensational production of the Broadway classic The Pajama Game has transferred to the West End, it will open at the Shaftesbury Theatre on 13th May 2014 (previews from 1st May) for a limited season until 13th September 2014 following a critically acclaimed, sold out run at Chichester Festival Theatre, starring Olivier Award-winning Joanna Riding and Michael Xavier, and featuring Peter Polycarpou until 31 May and Gary Wilmot from 2 June.

The cast also features: Alexis Owen Hobbs (Gladys), Claire Machin (Mabel), Colin Stinton (Hasler/Pop), Eugene McCoy (Prez), Siôn Lloyd (Max), Jennie Dale (Mae), Sharon Wattis (Poopsie), Keisha Amponsa Banson (Brenda), Lauren Varnham (Charlene), Helen Ternent (Martha), Jo Morris (Rita), Nolan Frederick (Charley), Richard Jones (Frank), Dan Burton (Earl) and James O’Connell (Joe)

The Sound of Music, Regents Park Open Air Theatre: Review

Regents Park is one of my favorite venues, its a beautiful setting and is truly magical with the right production. The parks musical this year is the widely loved The Sound of Music, a film most remember from their childhoods. I must admit, I saw the film quite a few years ago and thought it was a little boring. I knew the stage show would be very different because from what I heard this production was very stripped back and was more of a play with the addition of the iconic music than a fluffy musical which, from what I hear, is what other productions have seemed to have portrayed. 

The Sound of Music follows the story of Maria Rainer who is sent from a convent to be the governess the seven children of Captain Von Trapp, after struggling with her relationship with him they finally fall for each other and get married. Set against the backdrop of the Nazi take over this story is very powerful and shows the true meaning of love and family. 

Wonderful Town the Musical: Theatre Review

Wonderful Town is based on the novel My Sister Eileen, which itself is based on a collection of short stories by Ruth McKenney. It was then made into a play, then a film, then the musical! The musical originally ran on Broadway in 1953 and closed the following year. A production then opened in London in 1955 and starred the likes of Shani Wallace and Sid James and a revival opened in 1986 at the Queens Theatre. A Broadway production opened in 2003 staring Donna Murphy (Later Brooke Shields) which earned her a Tony Award nomination.

Recently we saw the return of the show when it toured the UK, this production starred 'How do you solve a problem like Maria?' winner Connie Fisher.

Wonderful Town follows the story of two sisters, Eileen and Ruth both of which want to make it in New York. Ruth who is an aspiring journalist and Eileen who wants to be an Actress move into the city and end up having a very hard time, they can't seem to catch a break. Eileen uses her charm to try and help Ruth in her bid to become a professional journalist but that goes wrong as someone who claims to have been able to help was just using the situation to get to Eileen, the Marilyn Monroe type character.