Theater

The Crown stars Matt Smith and Claire Foy will reunite for a socially distanced production of Lungs from the historic Old Vic theater in London. 

Finally - some good news. Phoebe-Waller Bridge's one woman stage version of her popular series Fleabag will stream online to benefit a variety of coronavirus charities. 

It’s how the Brits let their hair down during the holidays. But what is the appeal of the British pantomime and how did this traditional holiday entertainment evolve? Let's take a look.

Exciting news for fans of British theater! PBS’s Great Performances will be broadcasting the recent revival production of classic American musical Gypsy starring Imelda Staunton for US audiences this Fall.

Gypsy tells the story of ambitious show business mother Rose, who treks across America with her daughters Baby June and Louise in search of success with their homespun vaudeville act. The show is loosely based on the 1957 memoirs of famous burlesque entertainer Gypsy Rose Lee, and features lyrics by the great Stephen Sondheim and music by Jule Styne.

Hi guys! I’m back from a two-week trip to the UK, which was wonderful, though now I feel a bit out of the loop as far as entertainment news goes…bear with me while I catch myself and the blog up!

Good news for everyone who isn’t planning a trip to London this Fall – you don’t have to miss out on seeing the biggest theatre ticket of the moment! Sherlock star Benedict Cumberbatch is currently treading the boards in the West End, playing William Shakespeare’s most famous role in Hamlet.

The production is already something of a phenomenon in England – it pretty much instantly became the fastest selling ticket in London theater history and many fans have camped out for hours for the chance to secure one of a handful of coveted reduced-price day tickets. Cumberbatch’s performance has been met with largely positive reviews, and he leads a strong ensemble cast that includes Cirian Hinds as Claudius, Anastasia Hille as Gertrude, Sian Brooke as Ophelia, Jim Norton as Polonius and more.

After nearly a year of planning, excitement and record-breaking ticket sales, the time is almost upon us – Benedict Cumberbatch’s production of Hamlet is slated to open this August for a three-month run in London’s West End. And, with opening night nearing, rehearsals for the show are officially underway, and the first photos of the cast have been released.

You can see a full gallery at the Guardian’s website, which includes full details about the production’s various cast members, which include Cirian Hinds as Claudius, Jim Norton as Polonius, Sian Brooke as Ophelia, Anastasia Hill as Gertrude and lots more.

As per usual, Benedict Cumberbatch has been everywhere lately – filming a new Sherlock special, getting cast in a Marvel movie, earning a Best Actor nomination for his turn as Alan Turing. His schedule doesn’t look to be slowing down any in 2015, and one of the most highly anticipated items on his docket is his impending West End turn in Shakespeare’s Hamlet this summer.

The production – which is somewhat highly anticipated by Cumberbatch’s legion of fans worldwide, it seems safe to say – is already the fastest-selling ticket in London theater history. In fact, the entire three-month run, scheduled for August to October of this year, sold out completely in the better part of 24 hours after tickets went onsale to the general public last summer. However, all is not lost if you’re still keen to see the production – a limited number of £10 ($17) tickets will be made available for each performance on the day of the show.

However, for those who don’t fancy a jaunt to London this Fall – or don’t want to risk not snagging a ticket once they get there – don’t fret. You’ll still have the chance to see Cumberbatch take on the Bard’s greatest role for yourself, thanks to the lovely folks at National Theatre Live.

Theater lovers of America, it’s okay if you’re sometimes secretly sad that we so infrequently get the chance to see the many great British productions that go up in the West End. Sure, sometimes you get lucky and are on a UK vacation right when something grand is on, but given the sheer volume of long-running shows and ever-changing limited engagement options in London, well, we all know we’re missing out on something incredible pretty much nearly all the time.

Thanks to the heroic efforts of outfits such as the National Theatre Live program or various Fathom Event promotions, we do occasionally get the opportunity to see simulcasts of particularly popular British theatrical productions on a significant scale in America – both Helen McCrory’s Medea and Gillian Anderson’s A Streetcar Named Desire were recently screened nationwide, and Danny Boyle’s brilliant production of Frankenstein is about to get another round of encore runs in honor of Halloween (and the fact that the Benedict Cumberbatch-led production consistently sells out houses all over the country). But, as much as we love it, it’s just not the same.

However, sometimes, a particularly popular or acclaimed British production will be picked up and recreated on Broadway, giving American fans with the ability and desire to go to New York the chance to see the show in person for themselves. Most recently, Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe reprised his leading role in The Cripple of Inishmaan last winter, but come 2015, the Great White Way is going to get a little bit more regal.

This week, Live From Lincoln Center presents a special broadcast that Anglophiles everywhere are going to want to see. Back in March, the New York Philharmonic put on a special all-star production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s acclaimed musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, which ran for only four days at Avery Hall.

This extremely limited run musical featured Academy Award-winning actress Emma Thompson in one of the lead roles and, thankfully, it’s being presented on PBS stations nationwide this month as part of the PBS Fall Arts Festival, to the great relief of all of us who couldn’t get to New York in that (tiny) window. Whew.

(And, yes, before you ask, she sings.)