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Articles
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Articles |
Well, there goes 2000...Dateline: 31st December, 2000 It began with a lot of hype - and those scare stories that the Millennium Bug would bring the world as we know it crashing around our ears! Of course, nothing could live up to all the hype, especially since it wasn't really the start of the new millennium at all. But we'll not go into all that yet again! So let's just look at it from the theatre point of view: it's much less contentious that way! Musicals It's just possible that, in years to come, we might see 2000 as the year in which the dominance of the big musical in London's West End began to fade. The old stalwarts are still there, of course - Cats, Phantom, Les Mis, and the about-to-be old stalwart The Lion King - but many another went the way of all flesh, some within the course of the year. The Witches of Eastwick opened in June and The Beautiful Game in September, but whether they have real staying power remains to be seen. The critics do seem to think the latter is the best ALW show for a long time, but they've been wrong before. Quite often, really! Mamma Mia! is still doing good business and the popularity of Abba is such that it will probably keep going, but whether it will run for as long as, for instance, Cats, is open to question. Perhaps The King and I may make it, fuelled by memories of the Yul Brynner film, but the record of closures (and openings and closures) during the year don't give a great deal of encouragement. Fosse announced its closure, and Spend Spend Spend departed. Tess died in January after only nine weeks, and left behind a nasty taste over unpaid bills and possible insolvency for the production company. The Dickens musical Hard Times came and went, which was hardly surprising - how anyone could consider it a suitable novel to turn into a musical is beyond me! Lautrec opened and closed in eleven weeks and Notre Dame de Paris staggered along. Napoleon opened in September and is still going, but for how long no one would be prepared to hazard a guess. La Cava, after many valiant attempts to keep it going (reminiscent of Martin Guerre!), is to close in February 2001. ALW's Whistle Down the Wind is to close early in the new year, too, whilst American imports Pageant and Hedwig and the Angry Inch came and went pretty damned quickly. The National built on its success with Oklahoma! in '98 with its co-production of Singin' in the Rain, but its attempt to revive The Beggar's Opera as The Villain's Opera was emphatically not in the same league, at least as far as the box office was concerned. It announced the next of its musicals, My Fair Lady, with some interesting casting. Jonathan Pryce as Henry Higgins was no surprise to anyone who had seen him in Miss Saigon, but the inclusion of former EastEnders star turned pop singer Martine McCutcheon and Dennis Waterman, ex-Minder and The Sweeney, raised some eyebrows. Plays It was, however, a good year for plays. The Woman in Black kept going strongly, as did Copenhagen, although it is to close soon. Marber's Closer got another outing at the National, Simon Russell Beale's Hamlet got much critical acclaim, and Noises Off hit the spot, with a national tour and a transfer to the West End in prospect. And, of course, hardy perennial Art continues, now with its sixteenth cast. The Graduate arrived in April, with Kathleen Turner packing them in at the Gieldgud, although her replacement, Jerry Hall, failed to live up to the standard Turner had set, "wooden as a toothpick" being one of the kinder comments from the critics. The surprise hit of the year, however, was a play which featured two virtually unknown Irishmen, a bare stage and a few somewhat tatty props. Marie Jones' Stones in his Pockets made the journey from Kilburn to the New Ambassadors in May, where it stayed for twelve weeks before moving on to the Duke of York's. Now there is talk of a Broadway production. Alan Bennett's Lady in the Van closed after great critical and popular success and Peter Nichols'Passion Play was revived, first at the Donmar and then the Comedy. Other revivals included The Guardsman with Greta Scacchi, which, as they say in the much ruder world of light entertainment, died on its arse, and very quickly too. New plays included Sarah Kane's 4.48 Psychosis, David Hare's My Zinc Bed and Caryl Churchill's Far Away, all at the Royal Court which continues to build on its reputation for new writing. The Court's production of Sarah Kane's last play completed her transformation from hated iconoclast to respectable playwright, which began the previous year with Paines Plough's Traverse production of Crave. Oh such a joy to see so many critics having to make such a feast of their own words! There was a new play from Steven Berkoff, too, which premiered at the Edinburgh Fringe. Messiah: Scenes from a Crucifixion had all the Berkoff trademarks but bore a striking resemblance to the proverbial curate's egg. Still, at least it was real theatre, which is more than could be said for the other Fringe success (which did transfer to the West End, something which Messiah has yet to do), Puppetry of the Penis. NEXT >> Plays (continued); People Articles Indices:
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