COMING HOME: Emma Mullen, about to star in Mamma Mia at the Novello Theatre

Pocket Size Theatre and Liza Heinrichs (Captured by Liz) have teamed up again and created our new series 'Coming Home'. In this new piece, we look at the reopening of Theatres in London and around the country and celebrate our industry coming back. We got together some performers who will be some of the first to return to theatres and created this piece to bring some positivity to the theatre industry which has been through one of the toughest years in our lifetime. Whilst it is important to acknowledge the hardships we've all gone through, it's important we pull together as a community and celebrate our beloved industry finally coming back! 

In April of this year, MAMMA MIA! Hit the big ’21’. Opening at the Prince Edward Theatre in 1999 and later moving to the Prince of Wales Theatre, the current home of the show is the Novello Theatre in which the show will return to the West End and re-open its doors on the 25th August 2021. The show is currently the 7th longest-running show ever in London, and the West End wouldn’t feel right without it. 

Emma Mullen was playing the role of Sophie Sheridan in the UK touring production of the show and will open in the London production when it returns. She found out in March last year she would be making her West End debut in the show in June 2020 and a week later, all theatres across the UK closed their doors due to the pandemic. Almost a year on from her cancelled West End debut, she is preparing to finally get the chance to do it! 

INTERVIEW: Richard Trinder, currently playing Sam Carmichael in London's Mamma Mia!

Richard has been playing Sam Carmichael in the London production of Mamma Mia! since 2013. His other credits include Vince in Way Upstream (Salisbury Playhouse), Lignière in Cyrano de Bergerac and Brocklehurst in The Admirable Crichton (Chichester), Cornwall in Lear, Benvolio in Romeo and Juliet, Francisco in Hamlet (Sheffield Crucible), Burgundy in King Lear (Almeida) and Gruber in As You Desire Me (West End). He took some time off from the island to speak to us about his time in the hit West End show. 

When did you get into performing? What was your first exposure to theatre?

I grew up very close to Theatr Clwyd around the time it opened, and my first memory of theatre is being in the front row for a production of '3 Men In A Boat'. I must have been about 9 and I clearly remember the sudden realisation that here were grown-ups playing around pretending to be in a boat - and that was their job! It seemed too good to be true.

I did a couple of school plays but drama school wasn't really on the radar in an 80's comp so I drifted down to London and did terrible student shows instead of lectures. Then I went to the Poor School and realised how hard those 3 blokes had worked to be allowed to mess around in that boat.

FIRST LOOK: New cast joins MAMMA MIA! London

MAMMA MIA! originally opened in London at the Prince Edward Theatre on 6 April 1999, before transferring to the Prince of Wales Theatre in 2004. The musical re-opened at the Novello Theatre in 2012.

From West End to global phenomenon, the London production of MAMMA MIA! has been seen by more than 10% of the entire UK population. The show has celebrated over 6,300 performances in London and has broken box office records in all three of its London homes.  This summer, the MAMMA MIA! International Tour will play an exclusive UK Summer Season at the Blackpool Opera House from 20 June to 14 September 2014. Blackpool will be the only UK venue outside of London to host the worldwide hit musical this year.

The cast includes Dianne Pilkington as Donna, Rebecca Lock as Rosie, Kim Ismay as Tanya and Richard Trinder as Sam, Alasdair Harvey as Harry, Charles Daish as Bill, Alice Stokoe as Sophie Sheridan, Lloyd Green as Sky, Rosanna Bates as Ali, Brodie McBride as Lisa, James Alexander Gibbs as Pepper, James Evans as Eddie, Stephen John Davis as Father Alexander and Shona White as Alternate Donna/Ensemble. 

10 shows that closed too soon...

The 2006 Broadway revival production of A Chorus Line was brought over to London's West End in February 2013 and it had previously been announced that the show would only play a limited run at the London Palladium. After receiving numerous 4 ad 5 star reviews and being named 'Timless and Thrilling' by the Dail Mail the show closed the following August after previously booking until January 2014. The show takes a behind-the-scenes look at 17 hopefuls auditioning for just eight places in a new Broadway musical, it has a book by James Kirkwood and Nicholas Date, with music by Marvin Hamlisch and lyrics by Edward Kleban. The production will reportedly embark on a European tour before returning to the UK for a tour "beginning in autumn 2014".

Cameron Mackintosh's first original musical in over a decade was Betty Blue Eyes, opening at the Novello Theatre in April 2011 but closed the following September. The show is set in a Yorkshire village after the Second World War, where rationing presents a challenge for the locals who want to celebrate the Queen's Royal wedding to Prince Philip in style. Looking to slaughter an illegally raised pig (a blue-eyed creature named Betty) for the event, chaos ensues when the sow is stolen and a food inspector arrives, determined to stop such activities. The musical features a book by Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman with music and lyrics by  George Stile and Anthony Drewe. The show is currently touring the UK. 

New Cast of MAMMA MIA! announced

Following the recent 15th birthday celebrations for MAMMA MIA! in London, there will be major cast changes from Monday 9 June 2014. 

Rebecca Lock will be joining the cast as Rosie, Alasdair Harvey as Harry, Charles Daish as Bill and Alice Stokoe as Sophie Sheridan and Lloyd Green as Sky.

Also joining the cast from 9 June will be Rosanna Bates as Ali, Brodie McBride as Lisa, James Alexander Gibbs as Pepper and James Alan-Evans as Eddie. 

Dianne Pilkington will continue to star as Donna Sheridan, with Kim Ismay as Tanya and Richard Trinder as Sam. At certain performances, the role of Donna Sheridan will be played by Shona White.

Mamma Mia! the Musical: Theatre Review

Mamma Mia! is a musical based around the songs of ABBA, It first opened at the Prince Edward Theatre in 1999 and later transferred to the Prince of Wales Theatre in 2004. The musical will be moving to its third home in September to the Novello Theatre. A film version of the musical starring Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth, Amanda Seyfried and many more Hollywood names was released in 2008 and is the UKs highest ever grossing film.

The story follows Sophie, who is getting married to her Fiancé Sky, She wants her father to be present at her wedding but she doesn't know who he is. She steals her mother's diary and reads the entries from the time when she was conceived and she finds out she has three possible dads. She invites them all to the wedding and when her mother, Donna, finds out they are all at her hotel she goes mad! The production is directed by Phyllida Lloyd who does a brilliant job at working with the set which was designed by Mark Thompson, the set is two white curved walls that move around to create different locations. This clever piece of design makes the production for me; too much set would have ruined this musical so Marks designs work brilliantly within this show. Howard Harrison also produced a fantastic lighting design in this show; it worked remarkably with the other design aspects of the production. Although the design is very simple, it's perfect. Something that people often don't think about when watching this production is how such a simple design could work as great as it did.

Crazy for You the Musical: Theatre Review

Crazy for you is the Smash hit Gershwin Classic which has recently been revived in the West End after being a part of the 2011 Summer Season at Regents Park the production had transferred to the Novello Theatre where it's been running from the 7^thOctober and booking until July 28^th2012.
The production oases the classic Broadway quality that we all secretly love in a musical! It's one of those timeless musicals that will have you humming when you leave the theatre.

The musical is brought to life by using a Mamma Mia style set that twists and turns to transform each and every location, from Broadway to Nevada the set fits perfectly. The story line had all the qualities of the classic Broadway shows we love but I do feel it was a tad loose and could do with tightening up in some places. The characters seemed very unfinished and undeveloped, not due to the actors but due to the way the story was written. I can't really imagine why this musical was part of the Regents Park summer season because it doesn't really scream to me as a production that would work in a space like that, but in the Novello Theatre it works brilliantly.