Wicked: 15th Anniversary | Celebrating the incredible men who have played Fiyero!

Wicked has established itself as one of the biggest and best West End shows, originally opening on Broadway in 2003 it headed over here and opened at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in 2006. Today we're celebrating 15 years of the show, and after the slight 'pause' the show has taken, it's come back better than ever and what a good time to celebrate its Birthday! In this piece, we look back at all the wickedly talented Women who have played Glinda in the UK. From the London production to the tours! Which one was your favourite?!

Wicked in London

Adam Garcia 

September 7 2006 - July 14 2007

Oliver Tompsett 

July 16 2017 - March 27 2010

Lewis Bradley 

March 29 2010 - May 8 2010 

Lee Mead 

May 10 2010 - February 5 2011

REVIEW: The Show Must Go On at The Lost Alhambra

With these uncertain times, there are some people in our industry who are doing everything they can to bring theatre back in whatever way possible. With producers openly saying they might not make money back and with the recent Equity proposal, it's proving to be a very tricky time. One of the venues trying their very best to bring theatre to the people is The Lost Alhambra, in the heart of Leicester Square. 

The Show Must Go On is a new cabaret and dining experience; a full 3-hour show plus a 2-course meal and bottomless prosecco, this experience is truly delightful and heartwarming. 

With our host, drag artist Poppycock, and a cast of three Musical Theatre performers they guide us through the show with an ensemble of singers who sing through the score. At this event we had the pleasure of viewing the Chicago version but upcoming performances include Mamma Mia, Hairspray, Priscilla, Rocky Horror and a special Halloween themed evening. 

The premise is nothing new, its similar to those we have seen at The Piano Works but what this venue does is manages to cross over into a more theatrical experience rather than a simple cabaret. 

10 Year Challenge: Some of our Favourite West End Performers!

There's a craze going around at the moment called 'The 10 Year challenge' and as we're welcoming in the new decade, we looked back at some of our favourite performers and did it for them! Check our the list of amazing actors below and the journey they've gone on from 2010 to 2020 and tweet us your favourite 10 year challenge or send us ones we've left off!

Lucie Jones

As Cosette in the London production of Les Miserables and as Jenna in Waitress at the Adelphi Theatre. Other credits include Emily in A Christmas Carol (Lyceum); Lou in Girlfriends (LMTO); Elle Woods in Legally Blonde (UK tour); Maureen Johnson in RENT the Musical (The Other Palace and UK tour); Holly in The Wedding Singer (UK tour); Elle Woods in Legally Blonde (Leicester Curve/South Korea – DIMF Best Actress in a Musical Award); Molly Jensen in Ghost: The Musical (Asian tour); Victoria in American Psycho the Musical (Almeida) and Meatloaf in We Will Rock You (world arena tour).

Melanie La Barrie 

As Mrs Phelps in the original cast of Matilda and as the Nurse in the original London cast of & Juliet at the Shaftesbury Theatre. Other credits include Madame Morrible in Wicked (Apollo Victoria); Mrs Phelps in Matilda (RSC Stratford and Cambridge); The Lorax (Old Vic); Martha Watson in White Christmas (West Yorkshire Playhouse); General Cartwright in Guys & Dolls (Chichester Festival Theatre); Ma Rainey in Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (Liverpool Playhouse); Madame Thernardier in Les Miserables (Queens); Pearl in Daddy Cool (Shaftesbury) and Mrs Corry in Mary Poppins (Prince Edward).

THEN AND NOW: Wicked the Musical

Wicked has a huge place in the musical theatre hall of Fame now, being an international hit the show still runs on Broadway after 15 years and 12 years in the West End. Although the show hasn't changed very much from the original Broadway production, we look back at the years the show has been running across a few productions. The original Broadway production, one of the first West End companies, the non-replica production in Copenhagen, a few different companies along the West End run and the current cast we have here in London. Take a look and share your favourite moments of the show with us on Twitter! @PocketSizeBlog #PocketThenNow  

Elphaba

Idina Menzel (2003), Kerry Ellis (2007), Maria Lucia (2011), Louise Dearman (2012) & Alice Fearn (2018)

Glinda

Krsitin Chenoweth (2003), Helen Dallimore (2007), Annette Heick (2011), Chandra Lee Schwartz (2012) & Sophie Evans (2018) 

DREAM CASTING: Friends the Musical

If you're like me or the majority of people on my timeline, you'll have watched the entire series of Friends on Netflix a number of times. I think I may be on my 6th rerun of it?! But it got me thinking, If there was a musical who could be in it? So I took to the internet and made my dream cast list. Tweet us and let us know who you would like to see in the musical version of Friends! @PocketSizeBlog

Rachel Green | Emily Tierney 

Ross Geller | Gerard McCarthy 

STARLIGHT EXPRESS at The Other Palace

The Other Palace is set to do a concert-style workshop performances of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical STARLIGHT EXPRESS, in The Theatre at The Other Palace.

Members of the original creative team of STARLIGHT EXPRESS will collaborate again, along with a group of carefully chosen actors and musicians to explore the piece. Focussing on the score and lyrics, and working for a week before the public showings, Andrew and the team will continue to work on the show in the daytime before evening performances, responding to audience reaction and feedback as they navigate the exciting process of revisiting this classic work.

The cast includes Christina Bennington (Pearl), George Ure (Rusty), Oliver Tompsett (Greaseball), Liam Tamne (Electra), Patrick Sullivan (Caboose), Natalie McQeen (Dinah) Sabrina Aloueche (Belle), Laila Zaidi (Tassita), Mica Paris (Mamma, formerly Papa), Anthony Selwyn, Michael James Stewart, Parisa Shahmir, Jamal Andreas, Carl Man & Divine Cresswell with Jude Harper-Wrobel as Control.

DREAM CASTING: The Devil Wears Prada the musical!

Today (noticeable nay anyone with snapchat!), The Devil Wears Prada celebrates its 11th Anniversary. We have heard rumours of a possible musical adaptation and we would LOVE to see it in London and this got us thinking who our dream casting would be! Who would be yours?! Tweets us your ideas! @PocketSizeBlog

Andrea (Andy) Sachs

Lauren Samuels

Miranda Priestly

Harriet Thorpe

Goodbye WE WILL ROCK YOU! A look back at the productions history...

Having rocked over 6.5 million people in a record-breaking 12 years at London's Dominion Theatre, the smash hit Queen & Ben Elton musical We Will Rock You is due to close on 31 May 2014. Now the longest running show ever at the Dominion by a margin of nine years, the show takes its rightful place in West End history, sitting proudly in the Top 10 longest running musicals of all time.

The show has now been performed in 28 countries around the globe, and has been seen by a more than 16 million people.

From its opening night at the Dominion on 14 May 2002, We Will Rock You quickly became the overwhelming people’s choice of musical in the UK and overseas. In its second year at the Dominion it won top honours in five categories in the Theatregoers Choice awards presented by whatsonstage.com, including Best New Musical. In 2011, nine years after the curtain first went up, the show won the prestigious Olivier Audience Award, the only category voted for entirely by the public. The show went on to win a number of international awards for productions around the globe.

We Will Rock You the Musical: Theatre Review

After almost 11 years after it originally opened, We Will Rock You is one of London’s longest running musicals to date. Receiving mostly bad reviews when it first opened back in 2002 it’s proved to be an audience favourite and still rocks the Dominion Theatre night after night. Over the years since its original premier its had loads of productions open all over the world; places include Australia, Japan, Las Vegas, Spain, Germany, Canada, Italy, Norway and plenty of other places with a 10^th Anniversary Arena Tour opening at the end of February. 

We Will Rock You follows the story of Scaramouche and Galileo who are outcasts in a world where clones are produced, music is made by computers and all the GaGa kids watch the same thing and learn the same moves. Meat and Brit (two ‘bohemians’) find Galileo and Scaramouche and take them to the heartbreak hotel but they get found out by Khashoggi who is the right hand man to the leader of the iPlanet, the Killer Queen. In the end they find an electric guitar and find real rock music and save the world. 

Rock of Ages the Musical: Theatre Review

 

Rock of Ages first premiered in Los Angeles in 2006 with later productions taking place in Melbourne, Broadway, Off-Broadway and a film coming out in 2012. Rock of Ages started previews in London on 31^stAugust with an opening night on 27^thSeptember.The story is exactly what you would expect from an 80's musical, Boy with big dreams meets girl with big dreams, they fall in love, boy ruins the relationship, girl turns to stripping, boy regrets this, boy meets girl again, boy and girl get together and everyone lives happily ever after.

Ok, so the show is a lot better than I'm making it sound! The thing i really liked about this show is that it makes fun of itself; they pull out a programme for the show in the second act and occasionally break the fourth wall. From the audiences point of view it was fantastic, it's such a refreshing break from conventional musical theatre.