Dateline 22nd July, 2001
Penhall to script Quadrophenia
Joe Penhall (Blue/Orange) is to write the script for a musical theatre version of Peter Townsend's rock opera albun Quadrophenia, which was made into a film in 1979. Trevor Nunn has commissioned the script but no date or venue for the actual production has yet been given.
Seven Brides national tour
A new production of Seven Brides for Seven Brothers opens at Bromley's Churchill Theatre on 27th August, and will then go on a national tour, taking in Woking, Liverpool, Darlington, Rhyl, Swansea, Stoke, Birmingham, Richmond, Oxford, Torquay, Edinburgh, Belfast and Blackpool. The tour will last well into 2002 but later dates have yet to be finalised.
Sam Kane and Shona Lindsay star, but Kane will be replaced by Dave Willetts for the second part of the tour from February 2002.
Firth Hamlet cancelled
Colin Firth has had to pull out of a production of Hamlet at the Riverside Studios due to a change in filming schedules. Concentric Circles, a new production company which was behind the venture, have said that they knew there was always a possibility that the actor's film commitments could prevent his taking part.
The entire production has been cancelled, and Concentric Circles' first play will now be Phedre with Sheila Gish in the spring of 2002.
Refunds are available for those who have already bought tickets for the Firth production, and no announcement has yet been made as to what will replace it at the Riverside.
Priestley fest for WYP
The West Yorkshire Playhouse's autumn season will feature three plays by J.B. Priestley, himself a Yorkshireman: Johnson Over Jordan (with Patrick Stewart: 28th August to 19th September), Dangerous Corner (with Dervla Kirwan: 7th September to 13 October) and Eden End (26th October to 24th November).
Little known Weill for King's Head
Kurt Weill's little known (in the UK, at any rate) musical, One Touch of Venus gets its first ever major UK outing at the King's Head, Islington, from 24th July. Although performed on Broadway in 1943, it has not had a full production in the UK until now, although it did feature nine years ago in the Lost Musicals season at the Barbican and received a one-night only performance in the Royal Opera House's Lindbury Studio last year.
Lipman and daughter
Maureen Lipman is to play the lead in Sitting Pretty, the first play by her daughter Amy Rosenthal. It will open at the Nuffield, Southampton, on 6th september, before embarking on a regional tour.
Keith and Stubbs together for Coward premiere
Penelope Keith and Una Stubbs are to co-star in a stage adaptation of a Noel Coward short story, Star Quality, which begins a tour at Guildford's Yvonne Arnaud on 20th August before opening in London on 29th October. No London venue has yet been announced.
5000 not out!
The Woman in Black, Stephen Mallatratt's stage version of the Susan Hill story at the Fortune Theatre, reaches its 5000th performance this week. Premiered at Scarborough's Stephen Joseph in 1987, it transferred to the West End's Strand Theatre in 1989 and moved two months later to the Playhouse.