London Theatre 2022

We’re starting to learn about next summer’s shows, but not a lot is available as yet. We’ll post here more information as it becomes available. Here is a sampling of some shows from a previous trip.

Not everyone loves a musical, as hard as that is to believe, but we defy you to give the London theatre a chance and not come away liking plays/the theatre a little more than you did before. We have seen some amazing actors and some amazing shows over the last two decades in London, and each summer surprises us with another gem. Sometimes, we have to go searching in the smallest theatres around town for them; other times, the great show is playing on one of London’s most famed stages.  This year is already shaping up to have a little something for everyone!

Featured Plays 2017

These plays are part of the London 2017 program and have been paid for already in your program fees. We know two of the majors shows at the Globe and the National Theatre, but the other two are as yet to be determined.

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
We can’t go all the way to London and not see something at the Globe, right? The 2017 season has just been announced and it should be a wonderful summer of comedy and tragedy in equal measure. As a group, we will most likely see Much Ado about Nothing, a witty and engaging play that positions two of theatre’s most antagonistic lovers against each other: Beatrice and Benedick. He’s just back from a war; she’s unimpressed. Both feign disinterest and, at times, revulsion, but what their public sparring hides is that these were two personalities destined for each other. Under the artful direction Matthew Dunster, this show is sure to engage us all. Other Globe options while we’re there include Emma Rice’s production of Twelfth Night and a non-Shakespeare option, Tristan and Yseult … with this sort of line-up, it’s no surprise that Artistic Director Emma Rice has named this the “Summer of Love.”

National Theatre
The National Theatre, which consists of four different stages/individual theatres, is always a good bet for excellent theatre.  Recent shows that have taken New York by storm (War Horse; One Man, Two Governors) got their starts at the National, as did the recent multi-award-winning The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.  The National does amazing work! This summer involves the revival of a class of contemporary American theatre, Angels in America. If we can get tickets, we will most likely see Angels; it will be in the Littleton theatre and will start Nathan Lane, James McArdle, Andrew Garfield, and Russell Tovey, and it will be directed by the world-class and supremely talented Marianne Elliott – literally, every show she touches turns to gold!

Also at the National next summer will be a new play by Nina Raine, Consent. It promises to be a good, if possibly uncomfortable, show about rape and justice. 

Optional Plays to Consider in 2017

It’s much too soon for any of the smaller theaters to have released their offerings, but I’ll pop some up here as we get closer so that you have some ideas of the rich diversity of what’s available at some of the major playhouses.

In the mean time, know that London theatre is much much cheaper than New York theatre and you get the same quality or better.

London Plays 2017

We’re starting to learn about next summer’s shows, but not a lot is available as yet. We’ll post here more information as it becomes available.

Not everyone loves a musical, as hard as that is to believe, but we defy you to give the London theatre a chance and not come away liking plays/the theatre a little more than you did before. We have seen some amazing actors and some amazing shows over the last two decades in London, and each summer surprises us with another gem. Sometimes, we have to go searching in the smallest theatres around town for them; other times, the great show is playing on one of London’s most famed stages.  This year is already shaping up to have a little something for everyone!

Featured Plays 2017

These plays are part of the London 2017 program and have been paid for already in your program fees. We know two of the majors shows at the Globe and the National Theatre, but the other two are as yet to be determined.

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre
We can’t go all the way to London and not see something at the Globe, right? The 2017 season has just been announced and it should be a wonderful summer of comedy and tragedy in equal measure. As a group, we will most likely see Much Ado about Nothing, a witty and engaging play that positions two of theatre’s most antagonistic lovers against each other: Beatrice and Benedick. He’s just back from a war; she’s unimpressed. Both feign disinterest and, at times, revulsion, but what their public sparring hides is that these were two personalities destined for each other. Under the artful direction Matthew Dunster, this show is sure to engage us all. Other Globe options while we’re there include Emma Rice’s production of Twelfth Night and a non-Shakespeare option, Tristan and Yseult … with this sort of line-up, it’s no surprise that Artistic Director Emma Rice has named this the “Summer of Love.”

National Theatre
The National Theatre, which consists of four different stages/individual theatres, is always a good bet for excellent theatre.  Recent shows that have taken New York by storm (War Horse; One Man, Two Governors) got their starts at the National, as did the recent multi-award-winning The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time.  The National does amazing work! This summer involves the revival of a class of contemporary American theatre, Angels in America. If we can get tickets, we will most likely see Angels; it will be in the Littleton theatre and will start Nathan Lane, James McArdle, Andrew Garfield, and Russell Tovey, and it will be directed by the world-class and supremely talented Marianne Elliott – literally, every show she touches turns to gold!

Also at the National next summer will be a new play by Nina Raine, Consent. It promises to be a good, if possibly uncomfortable, show about rape and justice. 

Optional Plays to Consider in 2017

It’s much too soon for any of the smaller theaters to have released their offerings, but I’ll pop some up here as we get closer so that you have some ideas of the rich diversity of what’s available at some of the major playhouses.

In the mean time, know that London theatre is much much cheaper than New York theatre and you get the same quality or better.

London Plays 2015

COMING SOON: Below is the information from 2015 to give you a sense of how our travel worked then. This stays fairly constant from year to year.

Not everyone loves a musical, as hard as that is to believe, but we defy you to give the London theatre a chance and not come away liking plays/the theatre a little more than you did before. We have seen some amazing actors and some amazing shows over the last two decades in London, and each summer surprises us with another gem. Sometimes, we have to go searching in the smallest theatres around town for them; other times, the great show is playing on one of London’s most famed stages.  This year is already shaping up to have a little something for everyone!

For some reason, London remains fascinated by the culture and literature of the American South: three years ago, there were four or five Tennessee Williams plays running; since then, we’ve seen a number of writers from the American South show up on the big stages. This summer, a staged production of To Kill A Mockingbird will be showcased on the main stage at the famed Barbican Centre, one of London’s premiere spaces for theatre and music. No doubt, you read Harper Lee’s classic novel in school, but if not, you should. The story centers around a young girl, Scout, and her brother, Jim, and a fateful summer when a South nearly 70 years away from slavery still can’t quite deal with the reality of black and white citizens living together. It’s a heart-breaking story, but one that continues to offer hope for change to readers. We can only imagine it will be a beautiful story to share on stage!

The National Theatre, which consists of four different stages/individual theatres, is always a good bet for excellent theatre.  Recent shows that have taken New York by storm (War Horse; One Man, Two Governors) got their starts at the National, and both are still playing in London’s West End, as well.  The National does good work! This summer, one classic 18th Century farce and two new shows sound really interesting.

George Farquhar final play, The Beaux’ Stratagem, promises to be a “carnal comedy,” typical of the farcical shows we often get from that time period: “The ‘Beaux’: Mr Aimwell and Mr Archer, two charming, dissolute young men who have blown their fortunes in giddy London. Shamed and debt-ridden, they flee to provincial Lichfield. Their ‘Stratagem’: to marry for money. Lodged at the local inn, posing as master and servant, they encounter a teeming variety of human obstacles: a crooked landlord, a fearsome highwayman, a fervent French Count, a maid on the make, a drunken husband, a furious butler, a natural healer and a strange, turbulent priest. But their greatest obstacle is love. When the Beaux meet their match in Dorinda and Mrs Sullen they are most at risk, for in love they might be truly discovered.” Sounds fun, doesn’t it? Dr. Taylor has taught this play many times over the years and promises us we will have to stitch ourselves up after we explode with laughter!

Of course, it’s hard to go to London and then not see anything at the Globe Theatre, a contemporary reproduction of the theatre Shakespeare spent most of his time writing for and performing in.  Located on the South Bank in Southwark, the Globe Theatre is a wonderful place to catch a show.  The breeze from the river help keep you cool in this outdoor theatre, and even the noise of that 8:20 British Airways jet overhead is kinda cool.  This summer, the Globe is showcasing a two histories (King John and Richard II) and two comedies (As You Like It and Measure for Measure).  Most likely, we’ll see one of the comedies as a group, but once you’ve gotten a taste for the Globe, you’ll probably want to go back on your own to another show!

The first of the new shows, The Mother**cker with the Hat (what a title!), will be finishing it’s run in the Lyttelton Theatre in our first week. According to the website, “Steven Adly Guirgis’s play received six Tony nominations on Broadway. Poetic, profane and hilarious, this whip-smart look at love and addiction finds light even in the darkest corners of New York City.” The second, The Red Lion, will be wowing small audiences in the Dorfman Theatre.  The Red Lion explores “the dying romance of the great English game [soccer] – and the tender, savage love that powers it.” If you’re into sports/football, this is your year for London theatre!

Another West End option for Summer 2015 is the new(ish) play The Audience by Peter Morgan. When it opened in 2013, we couldn’t get a ticket!  Helen Mirren originated the role and every night was sold out.  This summer, acclaimed actress Kristen Scott Thomas will be reviving the role of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II, in this smart and interesting play by one of London’s best living playwrights. The Queen has famously met with each of her Prime Ministers on a weekly basis for her entire reign; at this point, that’s over 12 different prime ministers, starting with Winston Churchill! Can you imagine what those conversations must have been like? While the unwritten rule is that neither PM not Queen will repeat anything from those meetings, playwright Peter Morgan imagines what those scenes must have been like in a charming, witty, and utterly absorbing play that shows history through some of the great personalities to have lived it.

In keeping with the theme of “great actors on stage,” this summer puts Simon Russell Beale back on stage at the Donmar Warehouse in Temple, a new play by Steve Waters. According to the website, “On 15 October 2011, Occupy London makes camp outside St Paul’s Cathedral. On 21 October 2011, a building that had kept open through floods, the Blitz and terrorist threats closes its doors. On 28 October City of London initiates legal action against Occupy to begin removing them from outside the Cathedral … Steve Waters’ new play is a fictional account of these events, set in the heart of a very British crisis – a crisis of conscience, a crisis of authority and a crisis of faith.”

London Musicals 2015

COMING SOON: Below is the information from 2015 to give you a sense of how our travel worked then. This stays fairly constant from year to year.

The new year is upon us and shows are starting to appear on the London theatre websites, letting us know what sort of fun shows are showing up. Are you into musicals? Okay, let me rephrase that because, seriously who isn’t into musicals. How much do you LOVE musicals?? I know, right!  Here are a couple that are launching this summer or making a glorious return to the various stages around London.

The big new shows this year is a musical-dance version of the young adult film Bend It Like Beckham, a story of two young women – one white and English, the other Punjabi and English – who live in Southall, a small suburb of London, which features constant airplane flights overhead (it’s next to Heathrow).  Both girls love football (soccer) and David Beckham, but Jess comes from a traditional Punjabi family and football isn’t their idea of what a daughter should do. We’ve been looking forward to this show for a couple of years. If you’ve not seen the movie, do it ASAP and then get ready for a great show at the Phoenix Theatre in July! Even better, tickets are selling as cheaply as £15 ($22), so you will NOT want to miss this show!

London’s also planned for a few classic musicals that you’ll want to add to your list: Gypsy and High Society!  Gypsy is a THE musical in so many ways, the story of Mama Rose and her desperate desire to make her daughters into stars. Mama Rose is the archetype “show biz mom”; those women on “Toddlers and Tiaras” have nothing on Mama Rose! Every great musical actress has played (or wanted to play) Mama Rose, from Rosalind Russell, Bette Midler, and Bernadette Peters to Linda Lavin, Betty Buckley, and Patti LuPone.  You’ll recognize the amazing songs of Jules Styne and Stephen Sondheim: “Everything’s Coming Up Roses,” “Some People,” and “Let Me Entertain You.”  Gypsy heads into Savoy Theatre after a successful run in Chichester and stars everyone’s most hated Harry Potter figure, Delores Umbridge: Imelda Staunton! We can’t wait to see her on stage and we hope you’ll join us!

This radio interview of “Late with Kate” interviews Imelda Staunton on her new role:

Like Gypsy, the Cole Porter musical High Society is chock-a-block (know your English phrases!) with wonderful musical standards that you’ll recognize or, if not, that you’ll want to.  You’re invited to the wedding of the year, the “IT” event for everyone in high society, what a great party it will be! Based on the film The Philadelphia Story (what? you haven’t? OMG, go watch it immediately!), High Society involves a posh socialite, Tracy Lord, her fiancé, her ex-husband, and now a gossip reporter who wants in on the action, all on the weekend of Tracy’s wedding. A classic “who will she choose” comedy with fun songs like “True Love,” performed beautifully by Bing Crosby here:

http://youtu.be/PAO8vlvPS88?t=3m26s

Over the next couple of months, we’ll have many more that show up in addition to long-running musicals that you may also want to catch, including Billy Elliot: The Musical, The Book of Mormon, Les Miserable, Let It Be, Lion King, Matilda: The Musical, Miss Saigon, or take in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at the wonderful Regents’ Park Open Air Theatre!

London Theatre 2014

Summer 2014 is suddenly shaping up to be one of the richest and most interesting in several years.  While we’ll miss out on some fun shows and famous people — Kristen Davis (of Sex & the City fame), Kevin Spacey, and Angela Lansbury will all have finished their shows before we arrive — we will have so much more to work with this year by going in July.

First, there are the plays we will most likely see as a group: Titus Andronicus at the Globe Theatre is a must see, of course, for all the gore, but also because it is so rarely produced.  We will also have the chance to see a version of Euripides’s Medea at the National Theatre, one of the most wonderful stages in the world. One of the major Greek tragedies, Medea explores questions of love and betrayal, and the lengths that one woman will go when cast aside by the man she loves.

We may also have the wonderful opportunity to see The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, a stunning adaptation of Mark Haddon’s award-winning novel.  The story follows Christopher, a boy on the autism spectrum, as he attempts to uncover the mystery of how his neighbor’s dog was killed.  Using his powers of deductions, and relying on his uber-methodical sleuth-mentor Sherlock Holmes, Christopher strikes out on a path of questions and observations that ultimately shake his faith in the people he knows.  You simply won’t believe how amazing this play is, situated in the reliable logics of mathematics and inductive reasoning!

But beyond the group plays, you also have a world of theatre opportunities that you shouldn’t miss out on.  If you’re a fan of Henry VIII and the world that gave rise to this famous king, then you might enjoy seeing this summer’s stage adaptations of Hilary Mantel’s Wolf Hall and Bringing Up the Bones; both are on at the Aldwych Theatre.

The Harold Pinter Theatre offers us Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest, a classic comedy about manners and anything-but.  If you can’t get a good laugh out of Earnest, well, there’s simply no hope for you! If more serious theatre, and the delightful Bill Nighy, are more your taste, however, you might want to get tickets to the revival of David Hare’s Skylight at the wonderful Wyndham’s Theatre in the very heart of Soho/Leicester Square.

But if more fun and frivolity are you thing, be sure to check out the hilarious and comical Matilda, the sweet musical that stole all the big awards two years ago.  Based on Roald Dahl’s famous novel for children, Matilda ones again shows that love and compassion always conquer fear, hatred, and deceit. One of the most beautiful songs from Matilda is “When I Grow Up,” a must-see on stage!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kdj_wLH7Unc

The Globe Announces 2014 Season!

Nothing says “great Christmas present” like the email from the Globe Theatre that their 2014 season has been announced.  This coming summer looks like a good one, full of violence, romance, and camp absurdity!

Summer opens with two of Shakespeare’s least read/produced plays: Titus Andronicus and Antony & Cleopatra.  Titus is a problem play of sorts, not fitting in beautifully in any of the simple genres that school students learn (comedy, tragedy, history).  In truth, this is a bloody story of what happens to even the victorious after a war, as Titus returns from battle only to see his own family and state both crumble because of choices he can and cannot make. The darkness of the story keeps it away from most readers, which is also somewhat true of Antony & Cleopatra, a play whose long passages many nineteenth and early twentieth century school children would have learned and recited:

The barge she sat in, like a burnish’d throne,

Burned on the water: the poop was beaten gold;

Purple the sails, and so perfumed that

The winds were lovesick with them; the oars were silver,

Which to the tune of flutes kept stroke, and made

The water which they beat to follow faster,

As amorous of their strokes. For her own person,

It beggar’d all description: she did lie In her pavilion, cloth-of-gold of tissue,

O’erpicturing that Venus where we see

The fancy outwork nature: on each side her

Stood pretty dimpled boys, like smiling Cupids,

With divers-colour’d fans, whose wind did seem

To glow the delicate cheeks which they did cool, And what they undid did.

Shakespeare’s Globe 2013: “Season of Plenty”

This year, the Globe theatre offers us two amazing plays during our 3-week stay, plays which will showcase some of Shakespeare’s most engaging uses of the supernatural. In The Tempest, Roger Allam, whom some of us remember as a formidable and hilarious Falstaff in 2010, is set to shine as Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, and for those of you who follow the show Merlin, you’ll recognize young Colin Morgan when he takes the stage as the gender-bending Ariel.

We also get to see A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Dr. Banks’s favorite comedy. At night, a blue-black sky above the open circle of the Globe, there is simply no better way to see Shakespeare’s Dream. We traipse into the green world and watch as fairies unmake and remake our loves … and we get Puck! Last time the London group saw the Dream, we had an older, rather chubby Puck, one constantly out of breath and clearly frustrated with following Oberon’s wishes. I wonder what sort of Puck we’ll get this time? And how often he’ll come through the house?

If any of you are staying late, you might want to take in Macbeth, which begins the day we leave. It’s dark and tragic and full of blood, but maybe that’s what June calls for?

Let’s Go Waltzing Matilda in 2013 …

You’ll have to pardon our bad pun about the classic Australian folksong, “Waltzing Matilda,” but we’re ever so excited that our London 2013 group will be attending the hit new show, Matilda: The Musical, with music and lyrics by the delightfully impish Tim Minchin (see “Prejudice” or “Rock and Roll Nerd“).  The musical is based on the popular children’s book Matilda by Roal Dahl (a Welshman, who moved to London), about a precocious and clever young girl whose parents are at best unsupportive and often somewhat contemptuous of their child’s abilities.

Recently, Matilda: The Musical was nominated for 10 Olivier Awards (the maximum number of nominations a single show can receive), winning Best Musical, and has won several WhatsOnStage awards.  The show promises to be a brilliant romp appropriate for young viewers and old.

You can listen to parts of the soundtrack here: http://uk.matildathemusical.com/sights-sounds/audio/.

We’ll read the novel for class and attend the show during week two of class as part of our ongoing exploration of “Staging Childhood.”

Shakespeare’s Globe: 2012 Season

The 2012 season for the Globe has recently been announced, and it appears we have a real winner this year.  Going with the classic tagline “The Play’s the Thing,” the Globe is boasting two powerful histories and one of Shakespeare’s funniest (and most frustrating) comedies.  Reprising his role as “Hal” from Henry IV, Part 1 and Henry IV, Part 2 during the 2010 season, Jamie Parker steps in as King Henry for Henry V.  Be prepared to hear theatre-goers whispering along when Parker reaches Henry’s most famous speech, usually known as the St. Crispin’s Day Speech. Next up is the hilarious and disturbing Taming of the Shrew, which follows the story of Kate and Petruchio, the former sworn to independence and the latter sworn to “tame” her as his wife. For those who love their histories, Richard III begins mid-July, in plenty of time for us to make another trip to the Globe. All three plays offer something wonderful for our trip this summer.

Shakespeare’s Globe: 2010 Season

Shakespeare’s Globe Theatre recently announced the 2010 season of plays, which they’re calling “Kings & Rogues“.  This year’s slate of plays present some fantastic opportunities for us as theatre-goers. While we’re in London, we’ll have the chance to see both Macbeth and Henry VIII, two plays that showcase both kings and rogues.

It is perhaps hard to think of the theater and not think of the famous Bard.  No doubt, this summer’s other offerings will also offer us tremendous insight into Shakespeare’s work, the workings of theatre, and the joy of watching great literature performed on stage.

No doubt we’ll be have a great time this summer as we stand like Groundlings and watch the plays!