This Is London 5 April 2019
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63 Years Informing International & UK Visitors<br />
Est. 1956 <strong>Is</strong>sue 3147<br />
Friday 5 <strong>April</strong>, <strong>2019</strong>
CONTENTS<br />
Events 4<br />
Sir Andy Murray Starts <strong>London</strong> Marathon<br />
Dinosaur World Roars into Wembley<br />
Dambusters at RAF Museum <strong>London</strong><br />
Music 8<br />
English Chamber Orchestra<br />
Celebrating Mozart’s Women!<br />
Bach Choir: St Matthew Passion<br />
Exhibitions 14<br />
200th Anniversary of Victoria’s Birth<br />
New Season of Hidden <strong>London</strong> Tours<br />
Theatre 16<br />
Admissions<br />
Downstate<br />
Mamma Mia! 20th Anniversary<br />
© <strong>This</strong> is <strong>London</strong> Magazine Limited<br />
<strong>This</strong> is <strong>London</strong> at the Olympic Park<br />
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Welcome to <strong>London</strong><br />
‘What country, friends, is this?’<br />
That is the question that Viola –<br />
finding herself in an unfamiliar new land<br />
after a devastating shipwreck – asks in<br />
the opening moments of Shakespeare’s<br />
comic masterpiece, Twelfth Night. We<br />
look forward to welcoming you to<br />
Shakespeare’s Globe this summer as we<br />
join Viola, and Shakespeare, in asking<br />
questions about national identity,<br />
belonging and refuge.<br />
The Globe Theatre season opens on 23 <strong>April</strong> – the date of Shakespeare’s<br />
birthday – with a trilogy of plays that reflect on English history and myths:<br />
Henry IV, Parts 1 and 2, and Henry V. Once again, we will have 700 tickets<br />
priced at £5 for every performance in the Globe Theatre season as part of our<br />
commitment to making Shakespeare accessible to all.<br />
Later in the season, we will also perform some of Shakespeare’s best-loved<br />
comedies, including A Midsummer Night’s Dream, as well as holding festivals<br />
on the themes of Women and Power and Shakespeare and Poland. Our lively<br />
family storytelling festival, Shakespeare’s Telling Tales, returns in July and,<br />
away from Bankside, you can also catch Emilia, our smash-hit new play from<br />
2018, at the Vaudeville Theatre in the West End.<br />
Our open-air theatre on the bank of the River Thames is a unique artistic<br />
and cultural venue, and a must-see <strong>London</strong> visitor attraction. If you’re<br />
interested to learn more about the space, we also run guided tours throughout<br />
the year.<br />
We look forward to seeing you on Bankside this summer!<br />
“AN ABSOLUTE<br />
BLAST.”<br />
© WLPL<br />
SW1V 1LG•<br />
The Guardian<br />
Neil Constable<br />
Chief Executive, Shakespeare’s Globe<br />
VICTORIA<br />
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SIR ANDY MURRAY TO START <strong>2019</strong><br />
VIRGIN MONEY LONDON MARATHON<br />
British sporting icon Sir Andy Murray<br />
will be the official starter of the <strong>2019</strong><br />
Virgin Money <strong>London</strong> Marathon. The<br />
tennis superstar, one of Britain’s greatest<br />
ever athletes, will start the world’s<br />
greatest marathon on Sunday 28 <strong>April</strong>.<br />
Andy became the first British man in<br />
77 years to win the Wimbledon singles<br />
title in 2013 and repeated the triumph<br />
again in 2016. He won successive<br />
Olympic gold medals in 2012 and 2016<br />
with the first of those coming at<br />
Wimbledon as part of the <strong>London</strong><br />
Olympic Games.<br />
The 31-year-old, who grew up in<br />
Dunblane, Scotland, also won the US<br />
Open in 2012 and in 2014 famously led<br />
Great Britain to a first Davis Cup title<br />
since 1936. He was the world’s number<br />
one ranked player from November 2016<br />
to August 2017. He was knighted in the<br />
2017 New Year’s Honours List.<br />
Andy, who is currently rehabilitating<br />
after surgery on his right hip, has a<br />
personal connection with the event as he<br />
was there to support his wife Kim when<br />
she ran in 2014.<br />
Last year, Her Majesty The Queen was<br />
the official race starter while in 2017 the<br />
Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and<br />
Prince Harry pressed the famous red<br />
button to get the marathon under way.<br />
The official starters over the years have<br />
also included five time Olympic<br />
champion Sir Steve Redgrave and<br />
double Olympic champions Helen<br />
Glover and Heather Stanning.<br />
Hugh Brasher, Event Director of the<br />
Virgin Money <strong>London</strong> Marathon, said:<br />
‘Sir Andy Murray is one of Britain’s<br />
greatest sporting superstars and it is<br />
so fitting that he will be the official<br />
starter for one of the country’s greatest<br />
sporting events and the world’s greatest<br />
marathon. Andy is renowned as one of<br />
the toughest and most competitive<br />
sportsmen on the planet and someone<br />
who does not recognise barriers in<br />
sport. We are delighted that he will be<br />
with us on Sunday 28 <strong>April</strong> to start the<br />
field of 42,000 runners undertaking the<br />
legendary 26.2 mile challenge –<br />
including both the very best marathon<br />
runners in the world and thousands of<br />
first-timers who have been inspired to<br />
get active and raise money for charity.’<br />
DAMBUSTERS: VIRTUAL REALITY<br />
EXPERIENCE AT RAF MUSEUM<br />
The Royal Air Force Museum is<br />
inviting visitors to take a seat on board a<br />
Lancaster during the legendary<br />
Dambusters raid of 1943, using Virtual<br />
Reality technology.<br />
The Dams Raid was the greatest feat of<br />
arms performed by the Royal Air Force<br />
and one of the key stories of the Second<br />
World War. Its success captured the<br />
public imagination at the time and over<br />
the next 70 years inspired a multitude of<br />
books, films and documentaries.<br />
Dambusters: Immersive Histories is<br />
the newest part of the Dambusters offer<br />
that also includes a replica of the<br />
‘bouncing bomb’, Barnes Wallis’ office<br />
and the original moulds of the first test<br />
bombs. The Virtual Reality Experience<br />
puts the user inside a moment in history.<br />
For the first time ever, visitors to the<br />
Museum can step inside the story of the<br />
iconic operation through an authentic,<br />
interactive recreation of the Dambusters’<br />
first mission on 16 May 1943 attacking<br />
the Möhne Dam.<br />
Lancaster during the Dambusters raid.<br />
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CHELSEA FC STADIUM TOURS<br />
OF STAMFORD BRIDGE<br />
For visitors to <strong>London</strong>, a tour of<br />
Stamford Bridge is not to be missed.<br />
Home of one of the world’s most iconic<br />
football clubs, its a fun, informative and<br />
unforgettable experience enjoyed by<br />
sports fans of all ages from all over the<br />
world. The guided hour-long tour will<br />
take you behind the scenes at one of the<br />
worlds greatest football clubs, giving<br />
visitors access to areas normally<br />
reserved for players and officials.<br />
Along the way you will visit various<br />
stands in the stadium, the press room,<br />
home and away dressing rooms, the<br />
tunnel and dug-out areas. All tours<br />
include entry to the Museum, giving the<br />
chance to see how Chelsea has evolved<br />
on and off the pitch over the years.<br />
Chelsea pride themselves on having<br />
guides who are both knowledgeable and<br />
enthusiastic about the club, and it's their<br />
passion that make the tours a truly<br />
memorable experience.<br />
Whilst at the Stadium, have lunch at<br />
Chelsea's very own Frankie's Sports Bar<br />
& Diner as part of the Tour and Lunch<br />
package. A combined Tour and Lunch<br />
package includes a full stadium tour,<br />
entrance to the Chelsea FC Museum and<br />
a two course lunch from a set menu in<br />
Frankie's Sports Bar & Diner.<br />
Visit www.chelseafc.com/tours<br />
CIRCUS 1903 RETURNS TO THE<br />
ROYAL FESTIVAL HALL<br />
Circus 1903 is back! Thousands of<br />
people flocked to the Royal Festival Hall<br />
over Christmas last year to delight in the<br />
wonders of the Golden Age of Circus<br />
and the show will return to the UK for a<br />
repeat season at Southbank Centre’s<br />
Royal Festival Hall.<br />
<strong>This</strong> year’s show will feature many of<br />
the best loved acts from last year,<br />
including Peanut and Queenie,<br />
undoubtedly the most charming elephants<br />
on any stage around the world, alongside<br />
ringmaster David Williamson. A range of<br />
new acts from around the world join the<br />
troupe to delight audiences.<br />
ALL YOU CAN EAT BREAKFAST WITH<br />
BUNNY FOR EASTER<br />
Hard Rock Cafe <strong>London</strong> is hosting a<br />
hoppin’ Breakfast with Bunny feast on<br />
Sunday 14 <strong>April</strong>, for families looking for<br />
an entertaining experience everyone can<br />
enjoy. The Breakfast with Bunny buffet<br />
will take place from 10.00 through to<br />
12.00 and features an all you can eat<br />
spread of egg-cellent dishes such as<br />
scrambled eggs, bacon, pancakes,<br />
muffins and an assortment of juices.<br />
Future Roxstars Easter can also enjoy<br />
an Easter egg hunt, face painters and a<br />
surprise visit from the Easter bunny. As<br />
an egg-stra special Easter treat, Roxtars<br />
will receive an Easter Goodie Bag to<br />
take home.<br />
‘Hard Rock Cafe is creating a unique<br />
breakfast experience that caters to kids<br />
and adults alike this Easter,’ said Leigh<br />
Merritt, Vice President of Food &<br />
Beverage for Hard Rock International.<br />
‘Bringing families together through<br />
music, food and fun is what Hard Rock<br />
Cafe does best, and we’d love for<br />
everyone to join the fun at Hard Rock<br />
Cafe <strong>London</strong>.’ Beginning with an Eric<br />
Clapton guitar, Hard Rock owns the<br />
world's most valuable collection of<br />
music memorabilia, which is displayed<br />
at its locations around the globe.<br />
Booking is essential as spaces are<br />
limited. For more information, call<br />
020 7514 1700 or visit the website.<br />
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SUSAN CALMAN VOICE OF NEW<br />
CALEDONIAN SLEEPER<br />
Guests travelling on board the<br />
Caledonian Sleeper will soon be woken<br />
by one of Scotland’s most popular<br />
celebrities, after Susan Calman was<br />
named the voice of the new trains.<br />
The TV and radio star is no stranger<br />
to travelling to some of the nation’s<br />
best-loved destinations having recently<br />
presented Channel 5’s Secret Scotland.<br />
Now, her tour of Scotland will<br />
continue six nights a week as she<br />
‘travels’ on board the Caledonian Sleeper<br />
between <strong>London</strong> and various Scottish<br />
locations including Aberdeen,<br />
Edinburgh, Fort William, Glasgow and<br />
Inverness. Susan, who will voice all<br />
scheduled announcements, is a frequent<br />
guest on board and a huge advocate of<br />
sleeper travel. During her time on BBC<br />
One’s Strictly Come Dancing last year,<br />
she even filmed on the train as part of<br />
the show.<br />
The new Caledonian Sleeper trains<br />
will be introduced in May and for the<br />
first time will include rooms with double<br />
beds and en-suite toilet and showers.<br />
Ryan Flaherty, Serco’s Managing<br />
Director at Caledonian Sleeper, said:<br />
‘Susan is the perfect fit as the voice of<br />
Caledonian Sleeper. Like us, she has a<br />
real sense of adventure and is<br />
completely at home travelling around<br />
Scotland. Our ambition with our new<br />
trains is to deliver a timeless experience<br />
for guests and I know Susan is thrilled<br />
to be part of such a huge change to the<br />
service. We’re firmly on the final<br />
countdown now and I cannot wait for<br />
guests to step on board and see the new<br />
Caledonian Sleeper for the first time.’<br />
The new fleet, built at a cost of over<br />
£100m and part funded by a capital grant<br />
from the Scottish Ministers of £60m, has<br />
been designed to accommodate the<br />
modern-day traveller and cater for both<br />
business and leisure travel guests.<br />
It’s the perfect way to travel from the<br />
capital to Scotland without the<br />
inconveniences of flying or the long<br />
road journey.<br />
Susan Calman on the new Caledonian Sleeper.<br />
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ROYAL CHORAL SOCIETY’S 143rd<br />
GOOD FRIDAY MESSIAH<br />
There is no better way to kick off the<br />
Easter weekend than with the joyous,<br />
moving music of Handel’s choral<br />
masterpiece, Messiah. <strong>This</strong> year sees the<br />
Royal Choral Society’s 143rd annual<br />
Good Friday afternoon performance at<br />
the Royal Albert Hall; it’s an event that<br />
forms an important part of <strong>London</strong>’s<br />
Easter celebrations.<br />
The Royal Choral Society was formed<br />
for the opening of the Royal Albert Hall<br />
in 1871, and the choir performed<br />
Messiah in its first season in 1872 but is<br />
was in 1876 the great Easter tradition of<br />
singing Messiah every Good Friday<br />
afternoon at the Royal Albert Hall began.<br />
It is thought that this choir has sung this<br />
profound spiritual epic more times than<br />
any other choral ensemble, estimated at<br />
around 280 performances. Messiah is<br />
the perfect musical choice for<br />
Passiontide, with the moving and<br />
uplifting music illustrating Christ’s<br />
passion, redemption and resurrection.<br />
Messiah contains one of the greatest<br />
choruses in the choral repertoire – the<br />
The Royal Choral Society.<br />
‘Hallelujah Chorus’. It is thought that<br />
when King George II first heard the<br />
Hallelujah he stood up on his feet, and<br />
ever since, when the opening bars of<br />
this chorus are played, the audience<br />
rises to its feet: this is quite a sight in<br />
the sumptuous interior of a packed<br />
Royal Albert Hall on Good Friday<br />
afternoon.<br />
From the earliest days the finest<br />
orchestras, conductors and soloists<br />
have joined the RCS at the Royal Albert<br />
Hall on Good Friday and this year is no<br />
exception with the Royal Philharmonic<br />
Orchestra, soprano Mhairi Lawson,<br />
mezzo-soprano Madeleine Shaw, tenor<br />
Jamie MacDougall and bass Božidar<br />
Smiljani all joining the choir under the<br />
baton of conductor Richard Cooke.<br />
Be part of this great Easter tradition<br />
on Good Friday afternoon and enjoy<br />
Handel’s magnificent oratorio in one of<br />
the world’s greatest concert halls.<br />
Tickets are available from the website<br />
at www.royalalberthall.com or by<br />
telephone on 0845 401 5045.<br />
For further information visit<br />
www.royalchoralsociety.co.uk<br />
DELICA CHAMBER ORCHESTRA<br />
WITH SPECIAL GUESTS<br />
The Délica Chamber Orchestra will<br />
perform with Paula Duarte & Dante<br />
Culcuy tango dancers at Cadogan Hall<br />
on Thursday 11 <strong>April</strong> at 19.30. Visitors<br />
can experience classical music from a<br />
new perspective – Italian Melodies &<br />
Tangos arranged for string chamber<br />
orchestra, in works from Rossini and<br />
Puccini to tangos by Piazzolla and<br />
Albéniz and including leading tango<br />
dancers Paula Duarte and Dante Culcuy.<br />
Paula Duarte is currently world<br />
touring with tango dancer Michael<br />
Nadtochi, together they are known as<br />
‘Paulita y el Gato’. She is also Principle<br />
dancer of Revelacion Tango tango stage<br />
show by Adriano Mauriello.<br />
The Délica Chamber Orchestra was<br />
founded in June 2017 in Madrid and<br />
comprises musicians from some of<br />
Europe’s most prestigious universities.<br />
Their diverse backgrounds, views and<br />
cultures come together in a powerful<br />
union of talent and love of music. Their<br />
broad range of musical styles, from<br />
Baroque to contemporary, has delighted<br />
audiences wherever they have<br />
performed, with playing of passion,<br />
sensitivity and elegance.<br />
For tickets, telephone 020 7730 4500.<br />
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ENGLISH CHAMBER ORCHESTRA<br />
PLAYS MENDELSSOHN AND SCHUBERT<br />
Experience the intimacy and energy of<br />
live classical music performed without a<br />
conductor with the English Chamber<br />
Orchestra at Cadogan Hall (Sloane Square)<br />
on 16 <strong>April</strong> (19.30).<br />
The ECO’s leader Stephanie Gonley<br />
directs from the violin in a concert that’s<br />
been designed to show the ECO at its very<br />
best: chamber music on the most allembracing<br />
scale. Bartók’s Divertimento is<br />
one of the 20th Century’s greatest<br />
masterpieces for strings: a premonition of<br />
the Second World War, charged with a<br />
fierce, burning vitality that simply won’t roll<br />
over and be polite. Suk’s Serenade comes<br />
from a happier world: a song of summer,<br />
drenched in romantic melody and glowing<br />
with Bohemian sunshine. In other words,<br />
exactly what you’d hope for from Dvořák’s<br />
favourite pupil.<br />
In between, Stephanie steps into the<br />
spotlight, as soloist not just in the teenage<br />
Mendelssohn’s surprisingly dramatic ‘other’<br />
violin concerto, but also in Schubert’s<br />
deliciously tuneful and virtuosic Rondo.<br />
The world’s most-recorded chamber<br />
orchestra, the ECO has long been an<br />
integral part of the UK’s orchestral heritage,<br />
with almost 60 years of music making<br />
across the globe. The illustrious history of<br />
the orchestra features many major musical<br />
figures including Benjamin Britten (the<br />
orchestra’s first patron), Mstislav<br />
Rostropovich, Pinchas Zukerman and<br />
Daniel Barenboim and many others. Under<br />
the patronage of HRH Prince Charles, the<br />
ECO has been honoured to participate in a<br />
number of royal occasions over the years,<br />
most recently for the wedding of Prince<br />
Harry and Meghan Markle.<br />
Later in the season, hear the ECO again<br />
on 22 May (at Cadogan Hall) with the<br />
phenomenal Uzbek pianist Behzod<br />
Abduraimov directing Beethoven's First<br />
Piano Concerto from the keyboard.<br />
Cadogan Hall is a two-minute walk from<br />
Sloane Square tube station (District and<br />
Circle Line), in the heart of Chelsea.<br />
Box Office telephone 020 7730 4500 or<br />
visit www.cadoganhall.com<br />
The English Chamber Orchestra<br />
Photo: Chris Christodoulou.<br />
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THE BACH CHOIR: ST MATTHEW<br />
PASSION<br />
On Sunday 7 <strong>April</strong>, The Bach Choir<br />
and conductor David Hill will perform<br />
Bach’s St Matthew Passion at the Royal<br />
Festival Hall – an event that is a muchanticipated<br />
fixture in <strong>London</strong>’s musical<br />
calendar. The Choir’s conductor David<br />
Hill was recently made a Member of the<br />
Order of the British Empire in the New<br />
Year Honours for his services to music.<br />
The performance comes 125 years after<br />
the Choir first performed the St Matthew<br />
Passion. James Gilchrist returns to the<br />
role of the Evangelist and Matthew Rose<br />
sings Christ alongside Sophie Bevan,<br />
Hilary Summers, Ed Lyon, and Neal<br />
Davies.<br />
The annual performance now begins<br />
at 11.00, breaking for a long lunch at the<br />
moment where the congregants in Bach’s<br />
own Thomaskirche would have heard<br />
their Good Friday sermon, between the<br />
two parts. The Choir sings in English,<br />
conveying the directness and the drama<br />
as found in the German-texted original.<br />
Members of the Bach Choir now<br />
return to the work year on year with a<br />
sense of devotion and unbroken tradition<br />
that recalls the zeal of the amateur<br />
societies that first unearthed and began<br />
to perform Bach’s works nearly 200<br />
years ago. Tickets tel: 020 3879 9555.<br />
TALLULAH RENDALL COMES TO THE<br />
TABERNACLE<br />
Spirited rock singer turned sound<br />
therapist, Tallulah Rendall, will be<br />
playing at The Tabernacle in Notting Hill<br />
on Saturday 6 <strong>April</strong>, as part of a tour<br />
celebrating the launch of her landmark<br />
new album The Liminal.<br />
Launching on Thursday 4 <strong>April</strong>, The<br />
Liminal is Tallulah’s fourth album.<br />
Drawing on her life experience, the<br />
album’s collection of uplifting lyrical<br />
anthems were created to inspire and<br />
heal, abetted by the sonic reverberations<br />
of her gongs and singing bowls. Tallulah<br />
is now eager to initiate others into this<br />
this tranquil, creative dimension. To<br />
achieve this, she has cooked up an<br />
immersive, sensory experience for her<br />
concerts where she will transport her<br />
audience from deep stillness via an<br />
opening sound bath, into an enlivening<br />
live performance.<br />
AMATIS PIANO TRIO IN CONCERT<br />
The Amatis Trio won The Parkhouse<br />
Award in 2015, were then chosen for the<br />
BBC New Generation Artists scheme<br />
2016-18 and are now ECHO Rising<br />
Stars giving performances worldwide.<br />
They have always championed new<br />
music in addition to the well-loved<br />
repertoire and continue with a concert<br />
on 15 <strong>April</strong> at Southbank Centre.<br />
‘Moorlands’ by the young Swedish<br />
composer, Andrea Tarrodi, was<br />
commissioned by ECHO and adds the<br />
piano trio to the extensive range of<br />
ensembles she writes for. In 2010,<br />
Tarrodi’s piece Zephyros for orchestra<br />
received 1st prize in the Uppsala<br />
Composition Competition, which led to<br />
several performances of the piece by<br />
different orchestras around the world.<br />
During 2011-2013, she was Radio<br />
Sweden P2’s composer-in-residence and<br />
in Spring 2012 she was appointed<br />
‘Composer of the Spring Season’ in the<br />
Berwald Concert Hall.<br />
Performances of piano trios by<br />
Brahms and Mendelssohn follow, both<br />
second trios for these composers, the<br />
former in C major and the latter in C<br />
minor. Brahms’s was written in the<br />
1880s which was considered a most<br />
fruitful period for his chamber music<br />
and Mendelssohn, writing about his trio<br />
to sister Fanny, commented that it was<br />
‘a trifle nasty to play, but not really<br />
difficult’. He dedicated it to one of the<br />
great musicians of the age, the<br />
composer and violinist Louis Spohr,<br />
who is known to have taken part in at<br />
least one performance with<br />
Mendelssohn himself at the piano.<br />
For tickets, telephone 020 3879 9555.<br />
P<br />
T<br />
The Amatis Trio.<br />
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CELEBRATING MOZART’S WOMEN!<br />
<strong>This</strong> year the <strong>London</strong> Mozart Players<br />
and their former Artistic Director, Jane<br />
Glover, celebrate their 70th birthdays.<br />
To mark these milestones, they are<br />
reuniting for a concert at <strong>London</strong>’s<br />
fabulous St John’s Smith Square concert<br />
hall on 11 <strong>April</strong> at 19.30, with a very<br />
special programme that celebrates the<br />
women who touched Mozart’s life and<br />
inspired him to compose some of his<br />
greatest works.<br />
‘Mozart’s Women’ included piano<br />
virtuoso Victoire Jenamy, who would<br />
have performed his Piano Concerto No.<br />
9 in E flat K.271; his first love, soprano<br />
Aloysia Weber – inspiration for the<br />
ravishing aria ‘Vorrei spiegarvi, oh Dio’<br />
(which reaches top E); Aloysia’s sister<br />
Constanze – later Mozart’s wife, for<br />
whom he composed the soprano part of<br />
his Mass in C Minor; and English<br />
soprano Nancy Storace, the muse<br />
behind the aria ‘Ch’io mi scordi di te?’<br />
(which includes a solo piano). Not<br />
forgetting the composer’s sister Maria<br />
Anna – ‘Nannerl’, and his mother, Maria,<br />
who accompanied Mozart through<br />
Europe in 1778, dying shortly after the<br />
performance of his ‘Paris’ Symphony No.<br />
31, K.297.<br />
It’s a line-up of top musicians, all<br />
Mozart experts. Alongside the <strong>London</strong><br />
Mozart Players under the baton of<br />
conductor Jane Glover, coloratura<br />
Soprano Jennifer France will hold<br />
audiences spellbound with a couple of<br />
Mozart’s most beautiful arias, while<br />
hugely acclaimed 17-year-old pianist<br />
and current BBC Young Musician Lauren<br />
Zhang will breathe fresh life into<br />
Mozart’s Piano Concerto No. 9 in E flat.<br />
<strong>This</strong> will be a glorious evening of music<br />
that no Mozart aficionado should miss.<br />
St John’s Smith Square is a short<br />
walk from Westminster station, which is<br />
on the Jubilee Line. There is a restaurant<br />
which serves dinner as well as cakes<br />
and hot beverages.<br />
For more information visit<br />
www.sjss.org.uk/events/mozarts-women<br />
<strong>London</strong> Mozart Players.<br />
Photo: Kevin Day.<br />
11<br />
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12<br />
Kensington Palace © Historic Royal Palaces<br />
HISTORIC ROYAL PALACES MARK<br />
200TH ANNIVERSARY OF QUEEN<br />
VICTORIA’S BIRTH<br />
Historic Royal Palaces are to mark the<br />
200th anniversary of Queen Victoria’s<br />
birth with major new exhibition at<br />
Kensington Palace. The new exhibition<br />
and re-presented visitor route will open<br />
on 24 May at the birthplace of the<br />
Victorian era.<br />
On 24 May 1819, Princess Victoria<br />
was born at Kensington Palace, an infant<br />
who as Queen would one day rule over<br />
the largest empire the world had ever<br />
known. To mark the bicentenary of this<br />
historic event, Historic Royal Palaces are<br />
presenting a major new exhibition at<br />
Kensington Palace, alongside a<br />
re-presentation of the rooms the young<br />
Victoria called home.<br />
As the birthplace of the Victorian era,<br />
Kensington Palace played a central role<br />
in the shaping of this important<br />
monarch. It was at the palace that<br />
Victoria spent her formative years under<br />
the gaze of her ever-present mother the<br />
Duchess of Kent, and it was in her<br />
apartment at Kensington that she went to<br />
bed a princess and woke up a queen.<br />
Now, using new research by curators at<br />
Historic Royal Palaces – the<br />
independent charity which cares for<br />
Kensington Palace – the suite of rooms<br />
Victoria and her mother occupied will be<br />
reimagined in an evocative and familyfriendly<br />
exploration of royal childhood.<br />
Through a display of remarkable<br />
objects relating to her early years –<br />
including a poignant scrapbook of<br />
mementos created by her German<br />
governess, Baroness Lehzen, which<br />
goes on public display for the first time -<br />
this newly presented route will reveal the<br />
story of the girl destined to be queen.<br />
From the rapid conversion of a dining<br />
room into a birthing room, visitors will<br />
follow the Princess’s journey to the<br />
crown, experiencing how an idyllic<br />
childhood became governed by the strict<br />
rules of the ‘Kensington System’, and<br />
how Victoria escaped isolation and<br />
family feuding into a fantasy world of<br />
story writing, doll making and drawing<br />
inspired by her love of opera and ballet.<br />
Meanwhile, in the palace’s Pigott<br />
Gallery, a new exhibition will consider<br />
the private woman behind the public<br />
monarch, and re-examine her later life<br />
and legacy. As head of an ever-growing<br />
family, Victoria had the unique challenge<br />
of balancing the role of wife and mother<br />
with that of Queen of an expanding<br />
empire.<br />
The exhibition will assess her power<br />
and influence following the death of her<br />
beloved Albert, and how she carefully<br />
curated her own public image. As the<br />
most famous woman in the world at the<br />
dawn of the photographic age, Victoria<br />
understood and consciously harnessed<br />
this new technology, using it both to<br />
project an image of Imperial power<br />
across continents and document the<br />
minutiae of family life. Similarly, the<br />
display will consider how her<br />
organisation of the marriages of her nine<br />
children – and those of her 42<br />
grandchildren – into the ruling families<br />
of Europe marked a deliberate exercise<br />
in shaping dynastic politics across the<br />
continent, and earned her the nickname<br />
‘the Grandmother of Europe’.<br />
Looking further afield, Victoria’s<br />
complex love affair with India will also<br />
be explored, from her Anglicisation of<br />
the deposed Maharajah Duleep Singh to<br />
the role played by her Indian servant<br />
Abdul Karim, on whom the Queen<br />
bestowed the title of ‘Munshi’ or<br />
‘teacher’.<br />
www.hrp.org.uk/Victoria<strong>2019</strong><br />
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14<br />
Vincent van Gogh – Self-portrait 1887.<br />
THE EY EXHIBITION: VAN GOGH<br />
AND BRITAIN<br />
Last week, Tate Britain opened a<br />
major exhibition about Vincent van Gogh<br />
(1853- 1890). The EY Exhibition: Van<br />
Gogh and Britain is the first exhibition to<br />
take a new look at the artist through his<br />
relationship with Britain. It explores both<br />
how Van Gogh was inspired by British<br />
art, literature and culture and how he, in<br />
turn, inspired British artists, from<br />
Vanessa Bell to Francis Bacon.<br />
Bringing together the largest group of<br />
Van Gogh paintings shown in the UK for<br />
nearly a decade, The EY Exhibition: Van<br />
Gogh and Britain includes over 50 works<br />
by the artist from public and private<br />
collections around the world. They<br />
include Self-Portrait 1889 from the<br />
National Gallery of Art, Washington, The<br />
Arlésienne 1890 from Museu de Arte de<br />
Säo Paolo, Starry Night 1888 from the<br />
Musée d'Orsay, Paris, Shoes from the<br />
Van Gogh Museum, Amsterdam, and the<br />
rarely loaned Sunflowers 1888 from the<br />
National Gallery, <strong>London</strong>.<br />
Van Gogh spent several crucial years<br />
in <strong>London</strong> between 1873 and 1876,<br />
writing to his brother Theo, 'I love<br />
<strong>London</strong>'. Arriving as a young trainee art<br />
dealer, the vast modern city prompted<br />
him to explore new avenues of life, art<br />
and love. The exhibition reveals Van<br />
Gogh's enthusiasm for British culture<br />
during his stay and his subsequent<br />
artistic career. It shows how he<br />
responded to the art he saw, including<br />
works by John Constable and John<br />
Everett Millais as well as his love of<br />
British writers from William Shakespeare<br />
to Christina Rossetti. Charles Dickens in<br />
particular influenced Van Gogh's style<br />
and subject matter throughout his career.<br />
The Arlésienne 1890, a portrait he<br />
created in the last year of his life in the<br />
south of France, features a favourite<br />
book by Dickens in the foreground.<br />
The exhibition also explores Van<br />
Gogh's passion for British graphic artists<br />
and prints. Despite his poverty, he<br />
searched out and collected around 2,000<br />
engravings, most from English magazines<br />
such as the Illustrated <strong>London</strong> News.<br />
Tracing Van Gogh from his obscure<br />
years in <strong>London</strong> to the extraordinary<br />
fame he achieved in Britain in the 1950s,<br />
the exhibition shows how his<br />
uncompromising art and life paved the<br />
way for modern British artists like<br />
Matthew Smith, Christopher Wood and<br />
David Bomberg. It concludes with an<br />
important group of portraits by Francis<br />
Bacon based on a Van Gogh self-portrait<br />
known only from photographs since its<br />
destruction during the Second World<br />
War. The exhibition provides an<br />
opportunity to look afresh at well-known<br />
works by Van Gogh, through the eyes of<br />
the British artists he so inspired, in a<br />
period when he epitomised the idea of<br />
the embattled, misunderstood artist, set<br />
apart from mainstream society.<br />
Van Gogh – Sunflowers 1888.<br />
NEW SEASON OF HIDDEN LONDON<br />
DISUSED STATION TOURS<br />
Hidden <strong>London</strong> is bringing some<br />
movie magic to its historic Aldwych<br />
disused station tours with a<br />
complimentary film screening of the<br />
award-winning film Darkest Hour (2017)<br />
starring Academy Award winning actor<br />
Gary Oldman and Dame Kristin Scott<br />
Thomas. After exploring one of <strong>London</strong>’s<br />
most secret spaces deep underground,<br />
guests can enjoy the war-time<br />
blockbuster in the comfortable Cubic<br />
Theatre at <strong>London</strong> Transport Museum.<br />
Film fans will also have the chance to<br />
walk in the footsteps of James Bond<br />
during the Charing Cross tour and<br />
complimentary Skyfall (2012) screening.<br />
Charing Cross disused station is one of<br />
the Bond filming locations. Guests can<br />
enjoy a martini – shaken not stirred – as<br />
they watch actor Daniel Craig as the<br />
famous spy in action in the Cubic Theatre.<br />
Visitors to the Clapham South –<br />
Subterranean shelter tour will hear about<br />
the extraordinary stories of <strong>London</strong>ers<br />
seeking refuge in this labyrinth of<br />
underground passages during the<br />
Second World War as well as Caribbean<br />
migrants arriving on the Empire<br />
Windrush who, temporarily, made this<br />
deep-level underground shelter their<br />
home.<br />
The Down Street tour gives Churchill<br />
enthusiasts the opportunity to discover<br />
where this great war-time leader took<br />
refuge during the height of the Blitz,<br />
while art deco fans will love the 55<br />
Broadway tour. Opened in 1929, this<br />
Grade I listed building was <strong>London</strong>’s<br />
first skyscraper and celebrates its 90th<br />
birthday this year. Warmer weather<br />
means the green and wild area around<br />
Highgate station, and its disused<br />
platforms can be explored. Find out why<br />
the station now lies in a secluded vale.<br />
The Euston tour offers visitors a glimpse<br />
of quiet and spooky passageways below<br />
Euston’s bustling station.<br />
Organised by <strong>London</strong> Transport<br />
Museum, the new season runs from<br />
1 <strong>April</strong> to 27 September.<br />
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Roie Galitz, <strong>Is</strong>rael. Special mention, natural world. Svalbard, Norway. A mother Polar<br />
bear and her two young cubs are migrating north, as the sea ice melts quicker than<br />
previous years.<br />
TRAVEL PHOTOGRAPHER OF THE<br />
YEAR FLIES INTO LONDON<br />
<strong>London</strong> gains a stunning open-air<br />
photography attraction when the latest<br />
winning images from the international<br />
Travel Photographer of the Year awards<br />
go on display this week at <strong>London</strong><br />
Bridge City, adjacent to City Hall and the<br />
Scoop and opposite the Tower of<br />
<strong>London</strong>. <strong>This</strong> vibrant and evocative<br />
exhibition of world-class contemporary<br />
travel photography will be on view<br />
24 hours a day and run until 30 <strong>April</strong>.<br />
The exhibition is the first public<br />
showing of the winning shots from the<br />
2018 Travel Photographer of the Year<br />
competition. Amateur and professional<br />
photographers from 142 countries<br />
submitted over 20,000 images, and<br />
photographers from 22 countries feature<br />
amongst the winners. The <strong>2019</strong> awards<br />
open on 11 <strong>April</strong>. Shot on everything<br />
from high-end mobile phones to<br />
professional cameras, the images<br />
present a glorious, intriguing, at times<br />
poignant, thought-provoking view of this<br />
planet and its human and wild inhabitants.<br />
Exhibition visitors can vote for their<br />
favourite image at tpoty.photo, and<br />
everybody who votes will be entered<br />
into a draw for the chance to win a<br />
range of prizes.<br />
THE ART OF PERSUASION: WARTIME<br />
POSTERS BY ABRAM GAMES<br />
The art of persuasion: Wartime<br />
posters by Abram Games is a major<br />
retrospective of the pioneering work of<br />
graphic artist Abram Games, opening at<br />
the National Army Museum on 6 <strong>April</strong>.<br />
The show presents over 100 posters<br />
Games created during his employment<br />
as a poster artist for the Public Relations<br />
Department at the War Office from 1941<br />
until 1945. The exhibition explores how<br />
his Jewish refugee heritage, experiences<br />
as a soldier and the turbulent politics of<br />
wartime Britain shaped the career of a<br />
man who continues to influence design<br />
industry professionals today.<br />
At a time of immense social unrest,<br />
after the 'war to end all wars' had left<br />
hundreds of thousands of veterans and<br />
civilians on the poverty line, the country<br />
was to embark on a second world war<br />
with National Service an unthinkable<br />
necessity. Abram Games, a staunch<br />
socialist who had himself joined the Army<br />
in 1940, saw an opportunity to<br />
communicate ideas which might help win<br />
the war, as well as bring about social<br />
change in Britain. He did this by creating<br />
posters that recruited, educated, informed<br />
and influenced soldiers and civilians alike.<br />
The exhibition explores his masterful<br />
use of the airbrush, a limited colour<br />
palette, bold hand-rendered typography<br />
and often stark imagery, in covering<br />
difficult subjects like saving lives and<br />
censorship. Leading with a mantra of<br />
'maximum meaning, minimum means',<br />
Games was the master of reductive<br />
design.<br />
THE MASTER OF LIGHT SOROLLA AT THE NATIONAL GALLERY<br />
From the vivid seascapes, garden views, and bather scenes for which he is most<br />
renowned, to portraits, landscapes and genre scenes of Spanish life, the new exhibition<br />
at the National Gallery features 60 works spanning Joaquín Sorolla's career.<br />
15<br />
Joaquín Sorolla, Sewing the Sail, 1896 Oil on canvas, 222 × 300 cm<br />
Galleria Internazionale d'Arte Moderna di Ca' Pesaro, Venice 2018<br />
© Photo Archive - Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia<br />
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16<br />
© Michael Brosilow.<br />
DOWNSTATE<br />
Dorfman<br />
The consequences of a crime can last<br />
a life time – and not just for the victim.<br />
In Bruce Norris’s provocative new play<br />
(a co-production between Steppenwolf<br />
and the National Theatre which<br />
premiered in Chicago last year) Tim<br />
Hopper’s Andy, who was sexually abused<br />
as a 12 year old, has come, 30 years<br />
later, to confront the man who ruined his<br />
childhood, and his life, hoping that a<br />
reconciliation statement will finally give<br />
him closure. Fred (Francis Guinan), his<br />
former piano teacher, is mild-mannered,<br />
seemingly harmless and now confined to<br />
a wheelchair. Yet there is something<br />
creepily, subtly coercive about this<br />
Chopin-playing old man. Like the three<br />
former prisoners with whom he shares a<br />
house in downstate Illinois, he has<br />
served his jail sentence, but still fails to<br />
acknowledge the wrongness – or the<br />
extent of the damage caused by – past<br />
behaviour. Ankle–tagged and on the sex<br />
offenders register, they are all banned<br />
from using smart phones or the internet,<br />
or crossing defined local boundaries.<br />
It’s a brave subject to tackle – audience<br />
sympathy is automatically with the<br />
victim. But Norris (who wrote the multi<br />
award-winning Clybourne Park) takes us<br />
inside the heads of these men who will<br />
probably be ostracised for life, making<br />
each one an individual, from Glenn<br />
Davis’s obnoxiously loudmouthed Gio<br />
(his ‘Level 1’ crime the statutory rape of<br />
a girl who lied about her age) to<br />
reclusive Felix (Eddie Torres) who<br />
breaks down in tears because he is<br />
forbidden to communicate with the<br />
daughter he abused yet professes to care<br />
about deeply. Then there’s the excellent<br />
K Todd Freeman’s elderly African<br />
American Dee, once a show biz<br />
performer who still maintains that his<br />
long-lasting sexual relationship with a<br />
14 year old boy on tour (when he<br />
himself was 37) was love.<br />
Pam MacKinnon’s first rate<br />
production grips (uncomfortably) from<br />
start to finish. It has its moments of<br />
humour, but, as Cecilia Noble’s weary,<br />
seen-it-all, gun-toting parole officer Ivy<br />
knows – there are no easy solutions to<br />
this disturbing and contentious matter.<br />
Louise Kingsley<br />
DAVID BLAINE TAKES HIS MAGIC<br />
ON THE ROAD<br />
Having revolutionised modern magic<br />
and mesmerised audiences unlike any<br />
performer in history, magician,<br />
illusionist and stunt artist, David Blaine<br />
is to embark on his first-ever UK and<br />
Ireland tour.<br />
Blaine’s one-man show brings his<br />
unique brand of entertainment,<br />
promising to be an unforgettable<br />
interactive experience that both shocks<br />
and amazes. An experiment in and of<br />
itself, his perfomance combines his<br />
world-famous sleight of hand with his<br />
death-defying endurance acts.<br />
Blaine was buried alive in a clear<br />
coffin in New York City for one week.<br />
The following year he stood inside a<br />
six-ton block of ice for 63 hours with no<br />
food or sleep. Blaine endured 44 days of<br />
starvation inside a glass box suspended<br />
by a crane near the River Thames in<br />
<strong>London</strong>. In 2006, he lived underwater for<br />
a week in a sphere shaped aquarium at<br />
thLincoln Centre in New York City. He<br />
then attempted to break the world record<br />
for breath holding, resulting in<br />
emergency divers pulling him out to<br />
save his life.<br />
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THIS ‘ IS THE SHOW<br />
WE ALL NEED<br />
RIGHT NOW ’<br />
nick Curtis , the Sunday Times<br />
THE NEW MUSICAL BASED ON<br />
A REMARKABLE TRUE STORY<br />
COME FROM AWAY. Book, Music and Lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein.<br />
Musical Staging by Kelly Devine. Directed by Christopher Ashley.<br />
NOW PLAYING AT THE PHOENIX THEATRE<br />
COMEFROMAWAY.CO.UK
18<br />
JAC YARROW’S PROFESSIONAL<br />
STAGE DEBUT IN ROLE OF JOSEPH<br />
Jac Yarrow will take the lead role in<br />
the new production of Joseph and the<br />
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the<br />
world famous <strong>London</strong> Palladium. Jac,<br />
who will be making his professional<br />
stage debut in the iconic role, will star<br />
alongside Jason Donovan and Sheridan<br />
Smith, as Pharaoh and The Narrator.<br />
Jac created a sensation at the<br />
beginning of the year when he starred in<br />
the production of Disney’s Newsies at<br />
the Arts Educational School. Jac, who is<br />
21 and from Cardiff, took the role of<br />
Jack Kelly and gave a breath-taking<br />
performance, marking himself out as an<br />
outstanding talent in the new generation<br />
of theatre stars and creating huge<br />
excitement in anticipation of embarking<br />
upon a professional stage career.<br />
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor<br />
Dreamcoat will play a limited 11-week<br />
season from Thursday 27 June.<br />
Released as a concept album in 1969,<br />
the stage version of Joseph and the<br />
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat has<br />
become one of the world’s most beloved<br />
family musicals. The show features<br />
songs that have gone on to become pop<br />
and musical theatre standards, including<br />
Any Dream Will Do, Close Every Door<br />
To Me, Jacob and Sons, There’s One<br />
More Angel In Heaven and Go Go Go<br />
Joseph.<br />
Told entirely through song with the<br />
help of the Narrator, Joseph and the<br />
Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat follows<br />
the story of Jacob’s favourite son Joseph<br />
and his eleven brothers. After being sold<br />
into slavery by the brothers, he<br />
ingratiates himself with Egyptian noble<br />
Potiphar, but ends up in jail after<br />
refusing the advances of Potiphar’s wife.<br />
While imprisoned, Joseph discovers his<br />
ability to interpret dreams, and he soon<br />
finds himself in front of the mighty but<br />
troubled showman, the Pharaoh. As<br />
Joseph strives to resolve Egypt’s famine,<br />
he becomes Pharaoh’s right-hand man<br />
and eventually reunites with his family.<br />
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor<br />
Dreamcoat is produced by Michael<br />
Harrison.<br />
www.josephthemusical.com<br />
Alex Kingston (Sherri) and Sarah<br />
Hadland (Ginnie) in Admissions.<br />
Photo: Johan Persson.<br />
ADMISSIONS Trafalgar Studios<br />
Head of admissions, Sherri Rosen-<br />
Mason, has devoted the last 15 years of<br />
her career to increasing the intake ratio of<br />
students of colour to privileged white<br />
pupils at the elite New Hampshire school<br />
where her husband Bill is principal. We<br />
meet her first berating flustered longserving<br />
colleague Roberta (Margot<br />
Leicester) who repeatedly fails to grasp<br />
exactly who qualifies as, or looks<br />
sufficiently, black in the photos she’s<br />
selected for the new brochure. They don’t<br />
,in Sherri’s view, reflect the true ethnic and<br />
cultural diversity of the establishment.<br />
But when Charlie, her high-achieving<br />
17 year-old son fails to gain an immediate<br />
place at Yale, and Perry the unseen mixed<br />
race son of her (white) best friend does,<br />
her liberal principles are jettisoned as she<br />
pulls out all the stops in a determined<br />
effort to get her boy the Ivy league<br />
education she believes, probably correctly,<br />
will set him up for life.<br />
Having tackled the question of Jewish<br />
identity in Bad Jews, American playwright<br />
Josh Harman here now spreads his net<br />
further – though one can’t fail to notice that<br />
every onstage member of the cast is white,<br />
the black characters rendered (presumably<br />
deliberately) invisible.<br />
The production (directed by Daniel<br />
Aukin who was also responsible for the<br />
successful 2018 off-Broadway premiere)<br />
can’t quite disguise the sometimes<br />
repetitious nature of dialogue which doesn’t<br />
always sparkle. But in a provocative play<br />
which raises controversial issues, Alex<br />
Kingston (of ER fame) effectively conveys<br />
the unsettling injection of doubt into<br />
Sherri’s absolute certainty whilst Andrew<br />
Woodall’s unemotional Bill explodes into<br />
anger in their pristine kitchen. And,<br />
reprising the role he played in New York,<br />
Ben Edelman rants impressively as Charlie,<br />
initially furious that his privileged white<br />
background meant that he didn’t tick the<br />
right boxes but then causing even more<br />
disruption by taking the values which his<br />
parents brought him up on to what he<br />
decides is their logical conclusion.<br />
Louise Kingsley<br />
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OSCAR WILDE’S THE HAPPY<br />
PRINCE AT THE PLACE<br />
A new musical based on Oscar<br />
Wilde’s classic fairy tale will be<br />
presented in three showcase<br />
performances at The Place from 3-4<br />
May. The Happy Prince stars Janie Dee<br />
as Mrs Bentley, Phil Daniels as The<br />
Mayor, Sophia Hurdley as The Swallow<br />
and Sam Archer as The Prince. <strong>This</strong><br />
heart-rending story about a Swallow's<br />
faithful love for the golden statue of a<br />
Prince is told through a seamless fusion<br />
of dance and song. The rest of the cast<br />
includes David Burt, Louis Gaunt,<br />
Sammy Graham, Jessica Pardoe, Edwin<br />
Ray, Ronald Samm, Cilla Silvia, Gemma<br />
Wardle and Alfie Wickham.<br />
<strong>This</strong> modern musical adaptation is set<br />
in an unpleasant 1920's Laundry House<br />
from which the potent technicolour<br />
world of the fairy tale evolves. Dark<br />
humour, greed and corruption are at<br />
work as the malevolent designs of a<br />
despot Mayor drive a town into<br />
bankruptcy and ruin. Drawing parallels<br />
to the world today, walls are being built<br />
to divide societies, so the Statue of a<br />
Prince, trapped behind the walls of his<br />
own palace, must win over the heart of a<br />
Swallow to save his people.<br />
Although outwardly beautiful, the<br />
omniscient Prince is troubled by the<br />
poverty and suffering surrounding him.<br />
He persuades the Swallow to become<br />
his messenger and distribute his<br />
treasures to the townspeople who are<br />
most in need. In a race against time, and<br />
as the Swallow gradually removes his<br />
sapphire eyes and his gold leaf,<br />
outwardly the statue looks dull and<br />
shabby but the Prince is inwardly<br />
renewed and freed of his torment.<br />
The creative team includes Hal<br />
Cazalet (Direction, Music and Lyrics),<br />
Michael Barry (Book and Movement<br />
Director), David Howe (Lighting), Sophia<br />
Hurdley (Choreography) and Sam Archer<br />
(Choreography). The original workshop<br />
for the production was developed<br />
alongside Maria Friedman and Drew<br />
McOnie.<br />
GRINGOTTS WIZARDING BANK<br />
OPENS FOR SPRING<br />
Officially opening on 6 <strong>April</strong>, the<br />
16,500sqft Gringotts Wizarding Bank<br />
will be Warner Bros. Studio Tour’s<br />
biggest addition to date. Walking<br />
through the imposing marble columns,<br />
visitors will discover the costumes and<br />
prosthetics belonging to Bogrod,<br />
Griphook and many other goblin<br />
bankers as well as other new exhibits<br />
including the Sword of Gryffindor and<br />
Helga Hufflepuff’s Cup.<br />
Warner Bros. Studio Tour <strong>London</strong> –<br />
The Making of Harry Potter offers<br />
visitors the chance to explore the<br />
behind-the-scenes secrets of the Harry<br />
Potter film series.<br />
MICHAEL LONGHURST ARTISTIC<br />
DIRECTOR OF DONMAR<br />
A revival of David Greig’s visionary<br />
early play Europe, directed by Michael<br />
Longhurst in his first production as<br />
Artistic Director of the Donmar opens on<br />
27 June. Written 25 years ago, it is<br />
prophetic in its vision of Europe today.<br />
Photo: Helen Maybanks.<br />
19<br />
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20<br />
PLAYS<br />
TWILIGHT ZONE<br />
Adapted by Anne Washburn and directed by<br />
Olivier Award-winner Richard Jones, the<br />
acclaimed CBS Television production arrives<br />
in the West End fresh from a rapturously<br />
received, sell-out run at the Almeida.<br />
AMBASSADORS THEATRE<br />
West Street, WC2 (020 7395 5405)<br />
A GERMAN LIFE<br />
A new play by Christopher Hampton, drawn<br />
from the life and testimony of Brunhilde<br />
Pomsel, directed by Jonathan Kent. Maggie<br />
Smith, alone on stage, plays the title character.<br />
BRIDGE THEATRE<br />
One Tower Bridge, SE1 (0843 208 1846)<br />
WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION<br />
The acclaimed production of Agatha Christie’s<br />
classic courtroom play has captured the<br />
imagination of audiences inside the unique<br />
setting of County Hall’s ornate Chamber on<br />
the South Bank.<br />
COUNTY HALL<br />
South Bank, SE1 (0844 815 7141)<br />
THE COMEDY ABOUT A BANK ROBBERY<br />
One enormous diamond, eight incompetent<br />
crooks and a snoozing security guard. What<br />
could possibly go right?<br />
CRITERION THEATRE<br />
Piccadilly Circus, (020 7492 0810)<br />
THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG<br />
A Polytechnic amateur drama group are<br />
putting on a 1920s murder mystery and<br />
everything that can go wrong... does!<br />
DUCHESS THEATRE<br />
Catherine Street, WC2 (0330 333 4810)<br />
HOME, I’M DARLING<br />
The National Theatre and Theatr Clwyd’s<br />
critically acclaimed co-production of a new<br />
play by Laura Wade, directed by Tamara<br />
Harvey.<br />
DUKE OF YORK’S THEATRE<br />
St Martin’s Lane, WC2 (020 7492 1552)<br />
THE WOMAN IN BLACK<br />
An innocent outsider, a suspicious rural<br />
community, a gothic house and a misty marsh<br />
are the ingredients of this Victorian ghost story.<br />
FORTUNE THEATRE<br />
Russell Street, WC2 (0844 871 7626)<br />
BETRAYAL<br />
Golden Globe and Olivier Award winner Tom<br />
Hiddleston stars in the Jamie Lloyd<br />
Company’s revival for a 12 week season.<br />
HAROLD PINTER THEATRE<br />
Panton Street, SW1 (0844 871 7627)<br />
Royal National Theatre<br />
Plays in repertory<br />
OLIVIER THEATRE<br />
FOLLIES<br />
After a sold-out run, winner of the Olivier<br />
Award for Best Musical Revival returns to the<br />
National Theatre. Stephen Sondheim’s<br />
legendary musical includes such classic<br />
songs as Broadway Baby.<br />
LYTTELTON THEATRE<br />
TARTUFFE<br />
A ferocious new version of Molière’s comic<br />
masterpiece. A scalpel-sharp comedy looking<br />
at the lengths we go to find meaning – and<br />
what happens when we find chaos instead.<br />
TOP GIRLS<br />
For the first time, the National Theatre stages<br />
Caryl Churchill’s wildly innovative play about<br />
a country divided by its own ambitions.<br />
DORFMAN THEATRE<br />
DOWNSTATE<br />
Provocative new play focuses on the limits of<br />
our compassion and what happens when<br />
society deems anyone beyond forgiveness.<br />
NATIONAL THEATRE<br />
South Bank, SE1 (020 7452 3000)<br />
ALL ABOUT EVE<br />
Based on the 1950 Academy Award-winning<br />
film, Gillian Anderson stars as Margo<br />
Channing. Director Ivo van Hove explores our<br />
fascination with celebrity, youth and identity.<br />
NOEL COWARD THEATRE<br />
St. Martin’s Lane, WC2 (0844 482 5140)<br />
HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED<br />
CHILD PARTS I & II<br />
Stage play based on the Harry Potter franchise<br />
written by Jack Thorne, based on an original<br />
story by J.K Rowling.<br />
PALACE THEATRE<br />
Shaftesbury Avenue, W1 (0330 333 4813)<br />
THE CURIOUS INCIDENT OF THE DOG<br />
IN THE NIGHT-TIME<br />
Acclaimed National Theatre production returns<br />
to the West End. Winner of 7 Olivier Awards,<br />
the play is based on Mark Haddon’s multiaward<br />
winning and best selling novel.<br />
PICCADILLY THEATRE<br />
Denman Street, W1 (020 7492 1566)<br />
FAULTY TOWERS DINING EXPERIENCE<br />
Inspired by one of Britain's greatest ever<br />
comedy series, this 2 hour interactive<br />
production is set in a restaurant where you the<br />
audience are the diners.<br />
RADISSON BLU EDWARDIAN<br />
Bloomsbury Street, (0845 1544 145)<br />
THE MOUSETRAP<br />
Agatha Christie’s whodunnit is the longest<br />
running play of its kind in the history of<br />
British theatre.<br />
ST MARTIN’S THEATRE<br />
West Street, WC2 (0844 499 1515)<br />
ADMISSIONS<br />
Alex Kingston stars in the award-winning new<br />
comedy from the writer of acclaimed hit Bad<br />
Jews, direct from New York's Lincoln Center<br />
Theater, producers of Oslo.<br />
TRAFALGAR STUDIOS<br />
Northumberland Ave WC2· (0844) 871 7631)<br />
EMILIA<br />
400 years ago Emilia Bassano wanted her<br />
voice to be heard. It wasn’t. Could she have<br />
been the ‘Dark Lady’ of Shakespeare’s<br />
sonnets?<br />
VAUDEVILLE THEATRE<br />
Strand, WC2 (020 7400 1257)<br />
THE PRICE<br />
David Suchet delivers a comic tour de force<br />
as a silver-tongued 90 year old furniture<br />
dealer in Arthur Miller’s masterpiece.<br />
WYNDHAM’S THEATRE<br />
Charing Cross Road, WC2 (0844 482 5120)<br />
MUSICALS<br />
WAITRESS<br />
Hit Broadway musical brought to life by a<br />
ground breaking all-female creative team,<br />
featuring original music and lyrics by 6-time<br />
Grammy® nominee Sara Bareilles.<br />
ADELPHI THEATRE<br />
Strand, WC2 (020 3725 7060)<br />
TINA<br />
New stage musical reveals the untold story of<br />
Tina Turner, a woman who dared to defy the<br />
bounds of her age, gender and race.<br />
ALDWYCH THEATRE<br />
The Aldwych, WC2 (0845 2007981)<br />
WICKED<br />
Hit Broadway story of how a clever,<br />
misunderstood girl with emerald green skin<br />
and a girl who is beautiful and popular turn<br />
into the Wicked Witch of the West and Glinda<br />
the Good Witch in the Land of Oz.<br />
APOLLO VICTORIA THEATRE<br />
Wilton Road, SW1 (0844 826 8000)<br />
EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE<br />
New feel good musical – supported by his<br />
mum and friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice,<br />
beats the bullies and steps into the spotlight.<br />
APOLLO THEATRE<br />
Shaftesbury Avenue, W1 (0330 333 4809)<br />
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SIX THE MUSICAL<br />
Tudor Queens meet Pop Princesses in a<br />
musical retelling of the six wives of Henry<br />
VIII. A celebration of sisterly sass-itude,<br />
powered by an all-female band.<br />
ARTS THEATRE<br />
Great Newport Street, WC2 (020 7836 8463)<br />
21<br />
MATILDA<br />
Critically acclaimed Royal Shakespeare<br />
Company production of Roald Dahl’s book,<br />
directed by Matthew Warchus.<br />
CAMBRIDGE THEATRE<br />
Earlham Street, WC2 (0844 800 1110)<br />
RIP IT UP<br />
Strictly Come Dancing’s champions are back,<br />
bringing the swinging sixties straight to the<br />
21st century.<br />
GARRICK THEATRE<br />
Charing Cross Road, WC2 (0330 333 4811)<br />
THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA<br />
Long running epic romance by Andrew Lloyd<br />
Webber, set in Paris opera house where a<br />
deformed phantom stalks his prey.<br />
HER MAJESTY’S THEATRE<br />
Haymarket, SW1 (0844 412 2707)<br />
THE LION KING<br />
Disney‘s phenomenally successful animated<br />
film is transformed into a spectacular stage<br />
musical, a superb evening of visual delight.<br />
LYCEUM THEATRE<br />
Wellington Street, WC2 (0844 871 3000)<br />
Damien Buhagiar as Pepper (centre) with the cast of MAMMA MIA!<br />
MAMMA MIA! CELEBRATES 20 YEARS IN LONDON<br />
The global smash hit musical Mamma Mia! celebrates its 20th anniversary in<br />
<strong>London</strong>’s West End at the Novello Theatre on Saturday 6 <strong>April</strong>. Since premiering in<br />
<strong>London</strong> in 1999, the irresistible feelgood musical has captured the hearts of millions<br />
around the globe. The sunny, funny tale of a mother, a daughter and three possible<br />
dads on a Greek island idyll, all unfolding to the magic of ABBA’s timeless pop<br />
masterpieces, has now been seen live on stage by 65 million people across the<br />
world, and turned into two record-breaking movies – Mamma Mia! The Movie and<br />
Mamma Mia! Here We Go Again.<br />
Photo: Brinkhoff & Mogenburg.<br />
THRILLER – LIVE<br />
Over two hours of the non-stop hit songs that<br />
marked Michael Jackson’s legendary live<br />
performances.<br />
LYRIC THEATRE<br />
Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2 (0330 333 4812)<br />
SCHOOL OF ROCK<br />
Andrew Lloyd Webber's new stage musical with<br />
lyrics by Glenn Slater and book by Julian<br />
Fellowes, adapted from the film.<br />
GILLIAN LYNNE THEATRE<br />
Drury Lane, WC2 (020 7492 0810)<br />
MAMMA MIA!<br />
Hit musical based on the songs of ABBA, set<br />
around the story of a mother and daughter on<br />
the eve of the daughter’s wedding.<br />
NOVELLO THEATRE<br />
Aldwych, WC2 (0844 482 5170)<br />
COME FROM AWAY<br />
UK Premiere of the Tony Award-winning<br />
musical which tells the remarkable true story<br />
of 7,000 stranded air passengers in the wake<br />
of 9/11, and the small town in Newfoundland<br />
that welcomed them.<br />
PHOENIX THEATRE<br />
Charing Cross Road, WC2 (0844 871 7627)<br />
FIDDLER ON THE ROOF<br />
West End transfer of the revival played at the<br />
Menier Chocolate Factory, directed by Trevor<br />
Nunn and starring Andy Nyman as Tevye and<br />
Judy Kuhn as Golde.<br />
PLAYHOUSE THEATRE<br />
Northumberland Ave WC2· (0844) 871 7631)<br />
ALADDIN<br />
The classic hit film has been brought to thrilling<br />
life onstage by Disney, featuring all the songs<br />
from the Academy Award winning score.<br />
PRINCE EDWARD THEATRE<br />
Old Compton Street, W1 (0844 482 5151)<br />
LES MISERABLES<br />
A spectacularly staged version of Victor Hugo’s<br />
epic novel about an escaped convict’s<br />
search for redemption in Revolutionary France.<br />
QUEEN’S THEATRE<br />
Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2 (0844 482 5160)<br />
9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL<br />
Based on the much loved movie and making its<br />
West End debut, Dolly Parton’s musical comes<br />
to <strong>London</strong> for a strictly limited season.<br />
SAVOY THEATRE<br />
Strand, WC2 (020 7492 0810)<br />
MOTOWN THE MUSICAL<br />
Featuring all the much loved classics from<br />
Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder, and the Jackson 5,<br />
the show tells the story behind the hits.<br />
SHAFTESBURY THEATRE<br />
Shaftesbury Avenue, WC2 (020 7492 0810)<br />
ONLY FOOLS AND HORSES<br />
The landmark, record-breaking and top-rated<br />
television series written by the late, great John<br />
Sullivan, becomes a brand-new, home-grown<br />
British musical.<br />
THEATRE ROYAL HAYMARKET<br />
Haymarket SW1 (020 7930 8800)<br />
HAMILTON<br />
Lin-Manuel Miranda's multi award-winning<br />
musical, based on one of America’s Founding<br />
Father, Alexander Hamilton.<br />
VICTORIA PALACE THEATRE<br />
Victoria Street, SW1 (0844 248 5000)<br />
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FUNICULAR’S ‘THE MURDÉR<br />
EXPRESS: JEWEL OF THE EMPIRE'<br />
Funicular is turning back the clock to<br />
1937 this Spring. After a successful<br />
second run of The Murdér Express, the<br />
immersive dining and experience experts<br />
have created a whole new adventure set<br />
on <strong>London</strong>’s favourite (and most crimeridden!)<br />
train. Ticket holders will join<br />
<strong>London</strong>’s wealthiest socialites for an<br />
evening of glitz, glamour, and fine<br />
dining, all in the company of the world’s<br />
largest cut diamond. What could<br />
possibly go wrong?<br />
The year is 1937 and Europe is in<br />
upheaval. Conflict continues to rage in<br />
Spain and another World War looms, but<br />
the beating of the war drums is not to be<br />
heard on the glamorous Murdér Express,<br />
where the wealthiest socialites and most<br />
successful celebrities converge for luxury<br />
travel and indulgent dining between<br />
<strong>London</strong> and the Southern French town of<br />
Murdér. When the largest cut diamond in<br />
the world is stolen and murder strikes,<br />
everyone becomes a suspect. Guests<br />
must pull up their velvet sleeves, find the<br />
culprit and recover the Jewel of the<br />
Empire before the train reaches its<br />
destination and they escape forever.<br />
Jewel of the culinary world, Laurence<br />
Henry crowned MasterChef: The<br />
Professionals 2018 champion is<br />
onboard to curate a special four-course<br />
meal for the evening, suitable for all<br />
dietary requirements. Having worked<br />
under some of the biggest names in<br />
food including the Michelin-starred<br />
Gordon Ramsay and Jason Atherton, his<br />
passion for Asian food informs his<br />
simple dishes that are packed with<br />
complex flavours and will keep hungrydetectives<br />
sharp throughout the evening.<br />
Funicular is a passionate collective of<br />
creators specialising in creating truly<br />
immersive experiences. Co-founded by<br />
entrepreneur, actor and scriptwriter Craig<br />
Wilkinson and production director Ed<br />
Borgnis, the Funicular team boasts years<br />
of experience bringing events and<br />
theatre to life all over the world.<br />
Previous themes include the original<br />
‘The Murdér Express’, the spooky<br />
mystery ‘Journey To The Underworld’<br />
and the festive adventure ‘The Greatest<br />
Snowman’. ‘The Murdér Express: Jewel<br />
of the Empire' opens on Thursday<br />
2 May, and will run until 31 August.<br />
funicularproductions.com<br />
LIVE AT THE SAVOY MUSICIAN IN<br />
RESIDENCE JUDI JACKSON<br />
Live at The Savoy is the new evening<br />
entertainment series taking place at The<br />
Savoy’s Thames Foyer every night of the<br />
week. Highly-acclaimed jazz vocalist,<br />
Judi Jackson will launch the series as<br />
The Savoy’s Musician in Residence,<br />
playing on Wednesday 24 <strong>April</strong> and on<br />
three further dates.<br />
Having recently launched her debut<br />
album ‘Live in <strong>London</strong>’, the Virginiaborn<br />
jazz vocalist and performer will<br />
embark on her new residency at The<br />
Savoy with an exciting new repertoire.<br />
Frequently on the road, Jackson has<br />
sold out headline shows world-wide and<br />
has collaborated with the likes of Warner<br />
Music’s George Moore and Michael<br />
League, member of Grammy awardwinning<br />
band Snarky Puppy, for the<br />
creation of her 2017 EP ‘Blame it on my<br />
Youth.’ Bringing her soulful tones to the<br />
heart of The Savoy, Jackson hopes to<br />
inspire audiences in the same way the<br />
legendary Wynton Marsalis and Mavis<br />
Staples influenced her while growing up.<br />
Box office telephone 020 7420 2111.<br />
Judi Jackson.<br />
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