Michael Harrison and David Ian are delighted to present the UK and Ireland tour of the Curve production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s award-winning musical SUNSET BOULEVARD. Starring Ria Jones as Norma Desmond and directed by Nikolai Foster, SUNSET BOULEVARD will open at Curve on Saturday 16 September 2017 before touring the UK and Ireland. Tour schedule below with more dates to be announced soon.
One of the all-time great musicals, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Tony Award®-winning (Best Musical, Best Original Score and Best Book of a Musical) masterpiece SUNSET BOULEVARD is a compelling story of romance and obsession, based on Billy Wilder’s legendary film, with Don Black and Christopher Hampton’s wonderful book and lyrics. This much-loved score includes the title number Sunset Boulevard, With One Look, As If We Never Said Goodbye, The Greatest Star Of All and The Perfect Year and will be performed by a full orchestra.
In her mansion on Sunset Boulevard, faded, silent-screen goddess, Norma Desmond, lives in a fantasy world. Impoverished screen writer, Joe Gillis, on the run from debt collectors, stumbles into her reclusive world. Persuaded to work on Norma’s ‘masterpiece’, a film script that she believes will put her back in front of the cameras, he is seduced by her and her luxurious life-style. Joe becomes entrapped in a claustrophobic world until his love for another woman leads him to try and break free with dramatic consequences.
Last year, Ria Jones played the role of Norma Desmond at the London Coliseum when Glenn Close was indisposed, receiving rave reviews and standing ovations for her performance. Ria has recently starred as Dorothy Brock in 42nd Street at the Théâtre du Châtelet in Paris. Her West End credits include Fantine in Les Misérables, Grizabella in Cats and Florence in Chess. Her touring credits include Alex in The Witches of Eastwick, Mrs Overall in Acorn Antiques – The Musical, Reno Sweeney in Anything Goes and The Narrator in Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.
Director Nikolai Foster is Artistic Director at Curve, one of the UK’s leading regional theatres. His work at Curve includes Jonathan Harvey’s Beautiful Thing and Truman Capote’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s, both on tour and in the West End; A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams and the musicals Grease and Legally Blonde. He directed the hugely successful recent productions of Annie starring Craig Revel Horwood and Calamity Jane starring Jodie Prenger
WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE’S LONG LOST FIRST PLAY (ABRIDGED)
Written and directed by Reed Martin and Austin Tichenor.
Performed by Joseph Maudsley,
Matthew Pearson and James Percy.
Following its world premiere season at the Edinburgh Festival and a run at the renowned Folger Shakespeare Library, the brand new show from the Reduced Shakespeare Company embarks on its debut UK tour of 50 venues plus a week at Wilton’s Music Hall in London
Acclaimed stars of the West End stage, the Reduced Shakespeare Company, are back with another barnstormingly irreverent and breathtakingly hilarious celebration of our cultural heritage – as seen through the eyes of three Americans wearing trainers. In a better-late-than-never nod to the Bard’s 400th anniversary, the bad boys of abridgement present this ‘new’ play by the man himself, as discovered in a Leicester car park.
Since its pass-the-hat origins in 1981, the Reduced Shakespeare Company has created ten world-renowned stage shows, two television specials, several failed TV pilots, and numerous radio pieces, all of which have been performed, seen, and heard the world over. The company’s itinerary has included stops in the West End, off-Broadway, at the White House, the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, London’s West End, Seattle Repertory Theatre, American Repertory Theatre and Montreal’s famed Just For Laughs Festival, as well as performances in Israel, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Japan, Malta, Singapore and Bermuda, plus countless civic and university venues throughout the USA, the UK, and Europe.
Reduced Shakespeare Company in
William Shakespeare’s Long Lost First Play (abridged)
2017 tour dates
1 & 2 Feb Lighthouse Poole 01202 28 00 00 www.lighthousepoole.co.uk
3 Feb Norden Farm Maidenhead 01628 788997 www.nordenfarm.org
4 Feb Playhouse Norwich 01603 598598 www.norwichplayhouse.co.uk
7 Feb Guildhall Preston 01772 80 44 44 www.prestonguildhall.com
8 Feb Pomegranate Chesterfield 01246 345 222 chesterfieldtheatres.co.uk
9 Feb Playhouse Nottingham 0115 941 9419 nottinghamplayhouse.co.uk
10 Feb Princess Somerset 01278 784464 www.theprincesstheatre.co.uk
11 Feb The Theatre Chipping Norton 01608 642350 www.chippingnortontheatre.com
12 Feb Town Hall Cheltenham 0844 576 2210 cheltenhamtownhall.org.uk
14 & 15 Feb Rep Birmingham 0121 236 4455 birmingham-rep.co.uk
16 Feb Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds 01284 769505 www.theatreroyal.org
17 Feb Mercury Colchester 01206 573948 www.mercurytheatre.co.uk
18 Feb PAC Lincoln 01522 837600 www.lpac.co.uk
23 – 25 Feb Curve Leicester 0116 242 3595 www.curveonline.co.uk
2 Mar Woodville Gravesend 08442 439 480 www.woodville.co.uk
3 Mar Wyvern Theatre Swindon 01793 524 481 swindontheatres.co.uk
4 Mar Ropetackle Shoreham 01273 464440 ropetacklecentre.co.uk
8 Mar The Lights Andover 01264 368368 www.thelights.org.uk
9 Mar Riverfront Newport 01633 656757 www.newportlive.co.uk
10 Mar Tacchi-Morris Arts Centre Taunton 01823 414141 www.tacchi-morris.com
11 Mar Plough Arts Centre Great Torrington 01805 624624 www.theploughartscentre.org.uk
13 Mar Waterside Theatre Aylesbury 0844 871 7607 atgtickets.com/aylesbury
14 & 15 Mar Broadway Letchworth 01462 681088 www.broadway-letchworth.com
16 Mar Towngate Theatre Basildon 01268 465 465 www.towngatetheatre.co.uk
17 Mar Trinity Tunbridge Wells 01892 678 678 www.trinitytheatre.net
18 Mar Playhouse Salisbury 01722 320 333 www.salisburyplayhouse.com
21 Mar Opera House Buxton 01298 72190 www.buxtonoperahouse.org.uk
22 Mar Waterside Arts Centre Sale 0161 912 5616 www.watersideartscentre.co.uk
23 Mar Kings Glasgow 0844 871 7648 www.glasgowcomedyfestival.com
25 Mar Brewery Arts Kendal 01539 725133 www.breweryarts.co.uk
26 Mar Forum Barrow 01229 820000 www.theforumbarrow.co.uk
28 Mar – 1 Apr Wilton’s Music Hall London 020 7702 2789 www.wiltons.org.uk
18 Apr Richmond Theatre London 0844 871 7651 www.atgtickets.com/richmond
