While rare, some actresses have played both roles of Fantine and Christine Daaé in The Phantom of the Opera. While it’s more common for past Cosette’s to play Christine (which almost every Christine in the West End had played Cosette at some point it seems), I think playing both Fantine and Christine is a HUGE accomplishment that needs to be showcased! see part one here
In a new commission by BBC Radio 2 for BBC Sounds, The Showstopper will be available from 19 March featuring Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey.
40 years ago the HIV virus, and the resulting disease AIDS, were named. It devastated people’s lives all over the world, including bringing immeasurable heartbreak to the theatre community of Broadway and the West End.
Theatre, however, became a voice of awareness, rebelling against the stigma present at the time. There were plays, one-man performances and musicals highlighting the disease and its effect on people, spreading messages of hope and support and helping to quash hurtful and misleading information.
In this programme, actor Jonathan Bailey, who performed as a child in Les Miserables in the West End at the time, tells the story of HIV/AIDS impact on the theatre community, and tells how this community supported those affected. This documentary includes powerful stories from those at the heart of the theatre community at the time, including producers Cameron Mackintosh and Nick Allott, lyricist Tim Rice and Musical Director Jae Alexander, alongside performers such as actor and activist Jill Nalder (Les Miserables, Oliver!), Claire Moore (The Phantom of the Opera), Craig Revel Horwood, Stifyn Parri (Les Miserables, Brookside), and Make A Difference charity’s Melanie Tranter.
News: The Great British Bake Off Musical Prepares to Transfer to the Noël Coward Theatre
News: The Great British Bake Off Musical Prepares to Transfer to the Noël Coward Theatre
Mark Goucher Productions have announced that The Great British Bake Off Musical will transfer to the West End opening at the Noël Coward Theatre for a limited twelve-week run from 25 February to 13 May 2023. Created in association with Creative Director and Executive Producer Richard McKerrow and the producers of the TV phenomenon, Love Productions, this musical comedy has perfectly reimagined…
The Sam/Jess, Kaia/Claire, and Cas/Dean parallel of those scenes of them watching the love of their lives walk towards their deaths, screaming their name, while their family drags them towards the door to stop them from joining in just fucks me up sometimes. Like ARRGGRGRGGGRGRGGGGGHHH OKAY lemme just EAT SOME FUCKING GLASS
“For me as an actor who loves musical theater and was a cast member in the Les Misérables back in the 90s, I am immensely proud of what the theater community did back then. It been a moving experience for me telling this story, there was so much I was unaware of as I was so young at that time but it’s a time of such strength compassion and resilience that we should never ever forget.”
Jonathan Bailey narrating ‘The Showstopper’, a documentary on how HIV/AIDS impacted the theatre community in the 80s, and how this community supported those affected. You can listen to this incredible emotional and powerful documentary for the next 29 days on BBC Sounds.