Sierra Boggess and Ramin Karimloo, who are pretty much set now to open as the leads in Love Never Dies, the sequel to Phantom Of The Opera. Andrew Lloyd Webber's wide-ranging score has a mix of soaring romantic songs, vaudeville and old-time Americanstyle show songs. Love Never Dies will open at the Adelphi Theatre in London's Strand with an official first night on October 26 (no word yet on when previews will begin), and will have its marketing launch in the middle of June, with tickets going on sale at that time. After the London launch, the show will open in Toronto in early November and Shanghai in February 2010. That Far Eastern production will later find its way to Melbourne, Australia. Director Jack O'Brien will rehearse three companies at once, taking over several floors of rehearsal space at a facility in South-East London.
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1166879/BAZ-BAMIGBOYE-Wizard-Of-Oz-set-massive-musical-makeover.html
Saturday, April 4, 2009
BAZ BAMIGBOYE on how the Wizard Of Oz is set for a massive musical makeover
By Baz Bamigboye
Last updated at 11:29 AM on 03rd April 2009
The Wizard Of Oz, one of the most famous movies in the history of cinema, is getting a top-to-bottom overhaul, including new songs and score, for a stage production that will hit London late next year.
Andrew Lloyd Webber and his associates have spent months seeking permission from those who control the rights to the film and to L. Frank Baum's original story to be allowed to add five or six new songs.
These will be added to the classic E. Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen numbers that include Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Follow The Yellow Brick Road and If I Only Had A Brain.
Lloyd Webber explained that when The Wizard Of Oz has been done on stage in the past 'they attempt to do it exactly the same as the movie. That's completely wrong! You've got to think of it as a theatre piece, which just happens to have three or four of the greatest songs of all time.'
The composer has enjoined New Yorker Glenn Slater (with whom he is also working on Love Never Dies, see above left) to write the lyrics for the new numbers. Slater pointed out that there are many 'obvious' slots in the Wizard Of Oz where new songs could fit.
'It doesn't have an opening number; it doesn't have a song for the witch,' the lyricist told me, adding that even the poor old wizard doesn't have a number of his own. 'It's missing what it needs to become an actual theatrical piece.'
Jeremy Sams has been asked to direct the new Wizard. But what about venues? There had been rumours about the Palladium.
When I pointed out to Andrew that Sister Act is due to open there soon, he responded: 'Well, it's not going there now. There are other theatres.' Then he laughed, adding: 'We haven't written anything yet!'
There's some talk about Dorothy being chosen through a TV casting show (although I hope that's not the case), and that Liza Minnelli was going to be wooed to be on the judging panel.
Maybe I'll move to Kansas if they start casting on the box...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1166879/BAZ-BAMIGBOYE-Wizard-Of-Oz-set-massive-musical-makeover.html
Last updated at 11:29 AM on 03rd April 2009
The Wizard Of Oz, one of the most famous movies in the history of cinema, is getting a top-to-bottom overhaul, including new songs and score, for a stage production that will hit London late next year.
Andrew Lloyd Webber and his associates have spent months seeking permission from those who control the rights to the film and to L. Frank Baum's original story to be allowed to add five or six new songs.
These will be added to the classic E. Y. Harburg and Harold Arlen numbers that include Somewhere Over The Rainbow, Follow The Yellow Brick Road and If I Only Had A Brain.
Lloyd Webber explained that when The Wizard Of Oz has been done on stage in the past 'they attempt to do it exactly the same as the movie. That's completely wrong! You've got to think of it as a theatre piece, which just happens to have three or four of the greatest songs of all time.'
The composer has enjoined New Yorker Glenn Slater (with whom he is also working on Love Never Dies, see above left) to write the lyrics for the new numbers. Slater pointed out that there are many 'obvious' slots in the Wizard Of Oz where new songs could fit.
'It doesn't have an opening number; it doesn't have a song for the witch,' the lyricist told me, adding that even the poor old wizard doesn't have a number of his own. 'It's missing what it needs to become an actual theatrical piece.'
Jeremy Sams has been asked to direct the new Wizard. But what about venues? There had been rumours about the Palladium.
When I pointed out to Andrew that Sister Act is due to open there soon, he responded: 'Well, it's not going there now. There are other theatres.' Then he laughed, adding: 'We haven't written anything yet!'
There's some talk about Dorothy being chosen through a TV casting show (although I hope that's not the case), and that Liza Minnelli was going to be wooed to be on the judging panel.
Maybe I'll move to Kansas if they start casting on the box...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1166879/BAZ-BAMIGBOYE-Wizard-Of-Oz-set-massive-musical-makeover.html
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