Dateline 31st March, 2000
£1m advance for the Globe
Shakespeare's Globe has already taken over £1m in advance bookings for its new season which opens on 12th May and runs to 24th September, heralding its best ever season. Last year it played to an average 89% house.
In this year's season director Mark Rylance will play Hamlet and, in another piece of cross-gender casting which is becoming a characteristic of the Globe, Vanessa Redgrave plays Prospero in The Tempest.
Side Man extends and Priestley stays
Tony-winning Side Man, by Warren Leight, has extended its booking period to 10th June, and ex-Beverley Hills 90210 star Jason Priestley will continue in his role up to then, in spite of a conviction for drink driving earlier this week. He was sentenced to five days in a detention centre, but that sentence can be served at any time up to a year later, so it will not affect his London contract, which runs until the end of the new booking period.
Buddy booking till October
The musical Buddy, currently playing at the Strand, has extended its booking period to 7th October. From 15th May it will replace the current Sunday afternoon matinee with a Monday evening performance. The show is one of the few in the UK to follow the Broadway tradition of Sunday performances and closure on Monday evening.
Polish musical for the West End?
Plans have been announced to bring the Polish Tony-nominated musical Metro to the UK in March 2001, first touring the regions before a hoped-for West End opening. The rock musical has been playing for ten years in Warsaw, toured France and had a three month run on broadway (in 1992), and has been running in Moscow for six months.