On The Boards and In The Wings 2006

Issue #198: August 15, 2007
next issue September 15.

As with other stage to screen musicals in the recent past (Chicago, The Producers, etc) the Broadway production tends to benefit with a remarkable boost in box office. And so the trend continues with the release of Hairspray the movie. One producer recently indicated that the movie has given it a whole new life which bodes well both on Broadway and for touring productions.

Harold Pinter’s The Homecoming opens at the Cort Theater on November 16 with Raul Exparaza in the starring role.

The Police Concert Tickets are hot as well as Broadway theater shows like Jersey Boys Tickets, Disney's Mary Poppins on Broadway and classics like Wicked Tickets.

A trimmed down version of Monty Python’s Spamalot opened at the Wynn Las Vegas Resort recently. Early reviews are great….however only time will tell since Vegas has not been too kindly to Broadway musicals recently with Avenue Q and Hairspray leaving town way before the original plan for them to run with no end date in sight.

Canadian writer Margaret Atwood recently had the distinction of having the first-ever co-production between the Royal Shakespeare Company and Canada’s National Arts Centre mount an adaptation of her book The Penelopiad. Currently at The Swan Theatre at Stratford-upon-Avon they will then move to Newcastle-upon-Tyne for a September 3 opening then will head to Ottawa’s National Arts Centre for a limited run from September 19 to October 7.

At the National Theatre look for director Nicholas Hytner’s Much Ado About Nothing to begin previews on December 10 with Zoe Wanamaker and Simon Russell Beale headlining.

Trevor Nunn’s production of King Lear starring Sir Ian McKellen is set to open at the New London Theatre on November 12.

Elaine Campbell was a member of the team behind one of Canada’s most enduring musicals, Anne of Green Gables. Campbell died on August 10 in Charlottetown. In 1965 Elaine along with her husband Norman, Don Harron and Canadian theatre legend Mavor Moore wrote the lyrics for the beloved L.M. Montgomery novel. The musical has played in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island at the Charlottetown Festival ever since. Campbell also created another Charlottetown Festival property Turvey as well as writing lyrics for a number of other musicals and she served on the board of the National Ballet of Canada. But it is the freckle faced red headed precocious little girl she will always be remembered for.