News

Sylvia Young, the British showbiz icon who launched the careers of countless musicians and actors, has died at 86.

In a statement, Young’s daughters Alison and Frances Ruffelle confirmed her passing, writing: “It is with great sadness we let you know that our incredible Mum, Sylvia Young OBE passed away peacefully this morning 30th July 2025.

Born in East London, Young initially began providing classes in 1972 and officially founded the Sylvia Young Theatre School in Drury Lane, central London nine years later. The school, which doubled as a talent agency, moved to Marylebone two years later.

With Young at the helm, the school helped launch the careers of late British singer Amy Winehouse, popstar Dua Lipa, Doctor Who actress Billie Piper, TV presenter and actress Denise van Outen, Alex Rider star Alex Pettyfer and many others.

In 2022, she was awarded a special recognition Olivier award for her contribution to the performing arts,...

Exclusive: In a tribute shared exclusively with Deadline, musical theater impresario Sir Cameron Mackintosh has remembered Tom Lehrer, the musical comedy legend, who has died at the age of 97.

Lehrer died on July 26 at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts, leaving behind a legacy of satirical musical songs, including “Poisoning Pigeons in the Park” and “The Vatican Rag,” which poked fun at mid-20th century America. He largely disappeared from public eyes in the 1970s and spent the rest of his life in academia, teaching mathematics.

Mackintosh, the West End producer behind shows including Hamilton and Les Misérables, collaborated with Lehrer on Tomfoolery, a musical revue of Lehrer’s songs, which opened at the Criterion Theatre in 1980.

In his tribute, Mackintosh recalls his friend’s “wickedly witty intellect” and pitching Tomfoolery to Lehrer, saying he is “profoundly grateful” for the opportunity to get to know an “extraordinary man.” Below is Mackintosh...

Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends is now in its final two weeks on Broadway. The production, which has twice extended its run, plays its final performance on Sunday, June 29, 2025 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends stars two-time Tony Award winner Bernadette Peters and Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, and is presented by Mtc in association with Cmi and Daryl Roth. Tickets are on sale at Telecharge.com and at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre box office. Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends stars two-time Tony Award winner Bernadette Peters and Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, and also includes Jacob Dickey, Kevin Earley, Jasmine Forsberg, <a...

For months, cryptic messages have appeared on the social media of one Andrew Lloyd Webber about the pending return to New York City of The Phantom Of The Opera, or at least a Phantom-like experience.

Now, the clues have become less cryptic. A man dressed in the famous half-mask and formal opera-wear disembarked from an old-timey carriage at Sunday’s Tony Awards at Radio City Music Hall.

And now comes an announcement – a press release, in more common parlance – that reads:

“Fondest Greetings,

“As you will be aware, the story of my legend has regrettably not been available in New York City during the past two years, a matter for which those responsible will pay dearly.

In the meantime I have obtained an address, considerably more salubrious than my previous,

on West 57th Street. It is here that I shall present a grand Masquerade, a spectacle that will

astound you...

Exclusive: Judy Craymer is the (dancing) queen, ruler of all things related to the Mamma Mia! stage musical and its movie iterations. Her default position is to remain tight-lipped about a third film, but tantalizing snippets emerge over lunch in Mayfair, London. There’s mention, for instance, of global phenomenon Sabrina Carpenter being sought for a role in the next picture.

There’s also talk of a possible TV version of Mamma Mia! too, but that’s way down the Greek beachfront.

Then, as we already know, Mamma Mia! returns to Broadway for a limited engagement at the Winter Garden Theatre with performances from August 2 and a gala official opening night on August 14.

The Winter Garden, located very nicely on Broadway between 50th and 51st streets, is prime real estate.

Craymer coos that that Mamma Mia! follows “gorgeous” George Clooney and the play Good Night, and Good Luck into that address.

The cast of the West End production of Oliver! recently took the stage during a semi-finals episode of the popular UK series Britain's Got Talent. The performance opened with the company singing Consider Yourself before being joined by Simon Lipkin as Fagin for a rendition of You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two. Watch it now! Cameron Mackintosh's new production of Lionel Bart's iconic musical, Oliver!, is playing at London's Gielgud Theatre through Sunday 29 March 2026. Read reviews for the production here. The cast of Oliver! in the West End includes Simon Lipkin as Fagin, Shanay Holmes as Nancy, Aaron Sidwell as Bill Sikes, Billy Jenkins as the Artful Dodger,...

The New York Post has reported that Andrew Lloyd Webber wants to buy the former Mark Hellinger Theatre, currently the Times Square Church. Lloyd Webber revealed that a few years ago, he said to Chairman and CEO of the Blackstone Group, Steve Schwarzman- whose wife Christine produced Bad Cinderella- "Look, Ok, you buy it. I’m in as a partner with you. Go and buy it." Lloyd Webber stated that he checked in with Schwarzman back in April. Schwarzman revealed that the deal had not been done, and said, "It’s the one negotiation we’ve not been able to pull off." Those interested in purchasing the theatre included Cameron Mackintosh and Garth Drabinsky. The Nederlander Organization first leased the building to the Times Square...

Manhattan Theatre Club will present a final two-week extension for Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, starring two-time Tony Award winner Bernadette Peters and Tony Award winner Lea Salonga. The production will now play through Sunday, June 29, 2025 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. The production began Broadway previews on March 25, 2025 and opened on April 8, 2025. Read the reviews for the production Here! Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends stars two-time Tony Award winner Bernadette Peters and Tony Award winner Lea Salonga, and also includes Jacob Dickey, Kevin Earley, Jasmine Forsberg, Kate Jennings Grant, Bonnie Langford, Tony Award winner Beth Leavel, two-time Tony Award nominee...

Richard Grenell, the Kennedy Center’s interim director appointed by President Donald Trump, is blasting what he calls politically intolerant entertainers who won’t perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. due to Donald Trump’s newfound involvement with the venerable arts institution.

Grenell was most recently angered by yesterday’s exclusive CNN news report about a group of performers, numbering roughly a dozen, of the touring production of the musical Les Misérables when Trump attends a June 11 performance.

In a statement originally provided to Entertainment Weekly and then retweeted on Grenell’s X account, the special envoy seemed to be suggesting the creation of some sort of a Black List. He wrote last night, “Any performer who isn’t professional enough to perform for patrons of all backgrounds, regardless of political affiliation, won’t be welcomed. In fact, we think it would be important to out those...

Some cast members of the Kennedy Center performance of Les Misérables plan to skip the show on June 11 when President Donald Trump is in attendance, according to an exclusive CNN report.

According to CNN, at least 10 to 12 performers plan to sit out the June 11 show. The news outlet cites anonymous sources, and notes that the cast was given the option to not perform the night Trump will be in the audience. CNN says “both major cast members and members of the ensemble” are among those who won’t perform at the Washington, D.C., cultural institution.

Deadline has not confirmed CNN’s report. The Boublil & Schönberg musical, produced by Cameron Mackintosh, runs June 11 to July 13 at the Kennedy Center.

Trump angered many in the performing arts communities when, shortly after taking office, he ousted half of the Kennedy Center’s board members – many nominated by Joe Biden – and installed himself as chairman.

“It boggles my mind that this is actually happening,” admits Lea Salonga about the recognition she has been receiving for her performance in Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends. Hours before joining Gold Derby to discuss the Broadway revue, the actress earned a nomination from the Drama League for Distinguished Performance in addition to her previously announced special recognition for Distinguished Achievement in Musical Theatre. She will celebrate the honors with her son, whose 19th birthday overlaps with the ceremony, and looks forward to toasting with the cast and crew. “I think we’re gonna be screaming quite a bit once I get to work. I think we’re all going to be delirious with joy,” exclaims the actress (watch our full interview above).

This is now Salonga’s third production of Old Friends, having previously appeared in the West End and Los Angeles engagements of the show. The Tony winner...

In 1994, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Passion took home four Tony Awards, including the coveted prize for Best Musical. As it stands, that was the final work by Sondheim, the late legendary songwriter, to have even been nominated in that specific Tonys category. That could change this year with Old Friends.

In the years since Passion won, Sondheim has mainly been represented on Broadway through myriad remountings of his shows. Eighteen of them were up for Best Musical Revival:

Company and A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum in 1996 Follies in 2001 Into the Woods (which won) in 2002 Gypsy in 2003 Assassins (which won) in 2004 Pacific Overtures in 2005 Sweeney Todd in 2006 Company (which won) in 2007 Gypsy and Sunday in the Park with George in 2008 West Side Story in 2009 A Little Night Music in 2010 Follies in 2012 Company (which won in 2022) Into the Woods and Sweeney Todd in 2023 Merrily We Roll Along...

Composer Andrew Lloyd Webber is doing some heavy hinting that his The Phantom of the Opera musical – or some version of it – is returning to New York two years after the show ended its 35-year Broadway run.

In a new Instagram video – watch it below – Lloyd Webber, pretending to speak for the Phantom character, says that the musical is returning but at “a better address in New York, in a better area.” The video shows Lloyd Webber standing in front of what, as the website Broadway World points out, looks like the now-closed Lee’s Art Shop on West 57th St. not far from Carnegie Hall and various high-end retail shops.

Last year, producer Cameron Mackintosh and Lloyd Webber announced plans for a North American tour of Phantom in a reconfigured production based on the 2021 London stage version that features a smaller orchestra and a redesigned set, launching November 2025 at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre.

Even a torrential downpour couldn’t dampen the spirit of Stephen Sondheim that flowed through Center Theatre Group on Thursday night.

Ctg’s Ahmanson Theatre hosted the opening night performance of Cameron Mackintosh’s production of Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, starring Broadway greats Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga and a cast of stage veterans. Billed as a “great big Broadway show,” Old Friends landed in Los Angeles for a North American premiere after a run in London’s West End. It will be staged at the Ahmanson through March 9 before it sets off for the Great White Way with a Broadway run opening April 8 at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre at 261 West 47th Street. Previews begin March 25.

The stars came out despite the rain, and The Hollywood Reporter spotted a number of industry insiders including Jesse Tyler Ferguson, Ashley Park, Andrew Rannells, Ian Paget, producers Lauren Shuler Donner and Dan Jinks,...

Universal Pictures Content Group has acquired UK-Ireland rights to Six The Musical Live!, filmed at London’s Vaudeville Theatre.

The Tony award-winning musical, which started out life as an Edinburgh Festival Fringe show in 2017, tells the story of the six wives of English Tudor king Henry VIII, as they step out of the shadow of their infamous husband and reclaim their own narratives. The musical is written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss.

The six original West End cast members of Jarnéia Richard-Noel, Millie O’Connell, Natalie Paris, Alexia McIntosh, Aimie Atkinson and Maiya Quansah-Breed will reprise their roles for the one-off performance,...

Exclusive: The Emma Thompson-penned musical adaptation of fantasy movie Nanny McPhee, about a witch who possesses magical powers wielded through her walking stick, is being primed to hit London’s West End in 2026, Deadline can reveal.

Oscar-winner Thompson, songwriter Gary Clark and Working Title’s stage division have been developing the production, based on the 2005 film directed by Kirk Jones, which starred Thompson in the title role, on and off for over a decade.

Olivia Colman played the snaggle-toothed nanny at an early workshop in London of the musical in 2018. This was confirmed to me at the time by Thompson, who praised Colman’s “wonderful” performance. Lily James and Rory Kinnear also took part in the original workshop. Sophie Thompson participated in later test-runs.

Colman has not been involved in subsequent run-throughs, but that doesn’t rule out her possible involvement in the West End.

My sources, who declined...

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera, one of the most successful musicals in Broadway history when it ended its 35-year run in 2023, is coming back to North America in a tour featuring a reconfigured version.

The multi-year tour, which will launch at Baltimore’s Hippodrome Theatre in November 2025, will feature Maria Björnson’s original design, be directed by Seth Sklar-Heyn (based on the original direction by Harold Prince) with the choreography of Gillian Lynne recreated and adapted by Chrissie Cartwright.

The touring production is based on a staging that debuted in London in 2021 following the Covid pandemic shutdown. The new, more economical version, still running in London, features a smaller orchestra and a redesigned set.

Additional tour cities and casting will be announced at a later date. Potential Broadway or New York plans were not addressed in today’s announcement.

Producer Cameron Mackintosh said today in a statement,...

Exclusive: Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends, the upcoming Broadway revue of the great composer’s classics starring the previously announced Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga, will also feature cast members Jasmine Forsberg (Six), Kate Jennings Grant (Noises Off), David Harris (Moulin Rouge!), Bonnie Langford (London’s Old Friends), Beth Leavel, Gavin Lee, Ryan McCartan, Jason Pennycooke (Hamilton), Joanna Riding (Carousel), Jeremy Secomb (London’s Old Friends), Maria Wirries (Dear Evan Hansen), and Daniel Yearwood (Sweeney Todd).

The company will also include Kevin Earley, Paige Faure, Alexa Lopez, and Peter Neureuther. The final co-star will be announced soon.

Previews begin Tuesday, March 25, 2025, at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre, with opening night set for April 8.

Producer Manhattan Theatre Club announced the cast additions today. Old Friends is a Cameron Mackintosh’s production presented by Mtc in association with Mackintosh and Daryl Roth.

In stunning and sad news, Gavin Creel, one of Broadway’s most popular and acclaimed leading men, died in Manhattan today just two months after being diagnosed with a rare and aggressive form of sarcoma. He was 48.

His death was confirmed by his partner Alex Temple Ward. Creel had undergone treatment at New York’s Memorial Sloan Kettering for metastatic melanotic peripheral nerve sheath sarcoma after being diagnosed in July. After his treatment at the hospital, he transitioned to hospice care at his home.

One of Broadway’s top musical theater artists, Creel made his Broadway debut in 2002 in a lead role of Thoroughly Modern Millie, earning a Tony Award nomination, a feat he’d repeat seven years later in what would become a signature performance as Claude in the 2009 Broadway revival of Hair.

From 2012 to 2015, he starred as Elder Price in The Book of Mormon, a role he’d...

Jody Frisch, a longtime communications executive who worked for decades in Hollywood and Washington, D.C., died Aug. 21 at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles of pancreatic cancer. She was 68.

Throughout her career, Frisch worked for such organizations as the Writers Guild of America and SAG-AFTRA. From 2006 through 2009 at WGA, a period that encompassed the guild’s 100-day strike in late 2007 through mid-February 2008, she served as director of public policy and government affairs. She worked for the guild in D.C. and L.A. She later moved on to SAG-AFTRA as a strategic communications and public affairs executive in 2015.

A Los Angeles Native, Frisch grew up in the San Fernando Valley, graduating from Birmingham High School in Van Nuys in 1973. She went to Washington, D.C., where she gained experience understanding the ins and outs of politics and the legislative process. Over her long career, Frisch was known for executing media campaigns,...

Jody Frisch, a communications executive who had stints at the WGA and SAG-AFTRA, died Wednesday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles after a short battle with pancreatic cancer, her friend Joanna Dodd Massey announced. She was 68.

Frisch’s early career included work for producer Cameron Mackintosh to publicize his stage adaptations of The Phantom of the Opera and Miss Saigon and serving in the 1990s as the personal publicist for Family Ties star Meredith Baxter.

With a rare combination of legislative and entertainment experience and work in the nonprofit and government sectors, Frisch directed and executed numerous media campaigns, crisis and reputation management initiatives and public policy advocacy efforts during her career.

She was director of public policy and government affairs for the WGA from 2006-09, splitting her time between Washington and Los Angeles starting in ’07.

After two years at Mprm Communications, she segued to SAG-AFTRA as a strategic...

Jody Frisch, an accomplished communications executive with a career spanning decades in both Hollywood and Washington, D.C., died Aug. 21 after a short battle with pancreatic cancer. She was 68.

Throughout her career, Frisch held key positions at organizations such as the WGA, SAG-AFTRA, the American Humane Association, Bgr Group, and the National Foreign Trade Council.

A native of Los Angeles who grew up in the San Fernando Valley and attended Birmingham High School, Frisch immediately embarked on a publicity career. Her work spanned a range of industries, and she was known for her expertise in executing numerous media campaigns, crisis and reputation management initiatives, and public policy advocacy efforts.

Early on, Frisch worked for producer Cameron Mackintosh in publicizing “The Phantom of the Opera” and “Miss Saigon.” She also had stints at Planned Parenthood and Craig Anderson Prods. and served as the personal publicist for actress Meredith Baxter in the 1990s.

Jim Carter, who famously played Carson the master butler on Downton Abbey, clearly was taken by the leading artist giving a terrifically moving performance as Dolly Gallagher Levi upon the London Palladium stage. “That’s my wife,” he declared during the interval.

Indeed it was. Imelda Staunton was creating a gold-standard portrait of the meddlesome fixer at the heart of the landmark musical Hello, Dolly! created by Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart from Thornton Wilder’s The Matchmaker.

“It’s a brilliant production,” Carter told me.

A tearful Jim Carter at the Palladium. Photo by Baz Bamigboye/Deadline.

“The problem is,” he continued, ”I can’t see anyone else on stage. I can only look at her. I’m sitting there going, ‘Wow!’”

Totally understandable, because the other 2,200 members of the audience were falling in love with her as well.

Imelda Staunton (center) and the ‘Hello, Dolly!’ company at the...

Richard M. Sherman, two-time Oscar winner who collaborated with brother Robert B. Sherman on the songs for “Mary Poppins,” “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang” and the enduring Disneyland tune “It’s a Small World (After All),” died Saturday at Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Beverly Hills due to age-related illness. He was 95.

The Sherman brothers worked in a job that no longer exists: inhouse songwriters for a studio. In their case, the studio was Disney, and the brothers were hired for that steady gig after their 1958 song “Tall Paul” was a hit for Mouseketeer Annette Funicello.

In the early 1960s, they penned tunes for Hayley Mills in Disney films “The Parent Trap,” “In Search of the Castaways” and “Summer Magic,” as well as songs for “The Absent-Minded Professor” and “Moon Pilot”; Walt Disney, always aware of synergy, made sure his family comedies had a tune with radio-play potential. The Shermans wrote for...

Exclusive: Comedian and writer Julian Clary (Julian Clary: Live – Lord of the Mince) will play the title role in this festive season’s London Palladium pantomime Robin Hood, with singer and travel show presenter Jane McDonald (Cruising with Jane McDonald) topping the bill as Maid Marion.

The annual Palladium show, now in its ninth consecutive season, has become an eagerly awaited staple in the West End’s calendar. It runs from December 7 through January 12, 2025. Priority booking opens 10 Am (GMT) April 25.

Last year’s production, Peter Pan, with comedy legend Jennifer Saunders making her pantomime debut as Captain Hook, and with Clary playing Seaman Smee, was a sold-out success, playing 56 performances -often two a day – to an audience of more than 123,000 at the 2,200 capacity variety house.

When tickets went on sale, there was a moment when 90,000 people were in the queue, waiting their turn to book seats.

Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga will be returning to Broadway in 2025.

The Tony Award-winning actresses previously starred in the West End production of Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends in London in late 2023 and now they’re bringing the show to the U.S.

Old Friends is a revue of the late Sondheim‘s greatest hits with a star-studded cast.

The show will have its North American premiere at Los Angeles’ Ahmanson Theatre in February 2025 before heading to Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre in March 2025.

Producer Cameron Mackintosh said, “Old Friends was Steve‘s idea, born during lockdown, when he suggested it was time (and we had plenty of it!) we put together a third review of his work, to follow from the worldwide hit Side by Side By Sondheim in 1976 (my first!) and Putting It Together (which Julia McKenzie directed at the Manhattan Theatre Club...

Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga will star in Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends at Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles before landing on Broadway next March.

The musical revue of Sondheim’s songs, devised by Cameron Mackintosh, comes to North America after a 16-week run starting last September at London’s Gielgud Theatre. Peters and Salonga also starred in that run.

The show, with musical staging and choreography Matthew Bourne and Julia McKenzie, begins previews on Broadway at Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman Theatre on March 25, 2025. Exact dates for performances at the Center Theatre Group have yet to be announced.

Sondheim came up with the idea of doing a third revue during lockdown, according to Mackintosh. Work began on the show, but Sondheim died in November 2021. Mackintosh and McKenzie continued work on the revue in order to make it a “farewell show” to celebrate Sondheim’s work.

“It...

The Broadway premiere of Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends starring Bernadette Peters and Lea Salonga will begin previews March 25, 2025, in a Manhattan Theatre Club production at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

Devised by Cameron Mackintosh, with musical staging and choreography Matthew Bourne and Julia McKenzie, the revue – the third devoted to the work of Sondheim – will make its North American premiere at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles in advance of the Broadway premiere.

Choreography will be by Stephen Mear, with additional casting, creative team, and other details for Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends to be announced at a later date.

The news was included in the Manhattan Theatre Club’s 2024-25 season announcement today. Also on the Mtc’s roster is the Broadway premiere of Eureka Day, written by Jonathan Spector and directed by Anna D. Shapiro and the world premiere Off Broadway production of Vladimir, written by Erika Sheffer...

Exclusive: Aml Ameen, who portrays Dr.Martin Luther King in Rustin, reveals that he’s in talks with Film4 and the BFI to direct and star in the sequel to holiday romance Boxing Day, his feature directorial debut — and he has a second film, a crime saga called Night and Day that he wants to make soon.

That’s not all, because the L.A.-based Brit is in London prepping to play a “transformative” lead role in an as-yet-unannounced film.

The hush-hush part in the secret film requires him to “shut down my entire life because” of the life-changing nature of the character he’ll be playing.

While Ameen’s shooting that film, he’ll pop up as a lawyer alongside Jeff Daniels in the six-part Netflix drama A Man in Full, an the adaptation of Tom Wolfe’s novel written by David E. Kelley and directed by Regina King,...

Martin McCallum, a British theatrical producer whose work on more than 500 Broadway and West End shows saw his participation in some of the most successful stage productions in modern theater history, died peacefully, surrounded by family, on January 14 in Sydney, Australia. He was 73.

His death was announced by his family. A cause was not disclosed.

The President of the Society of London Theatre from 1999 to 2002 and a member of the Broadway League since 1988, McCallum made an indelible mark on Broadway with massive hits, critical favorites and even two high-profile flops.

His impact on the London theater scene was even greater. Born in Blackpool on April 6, 1950, McCallum began his stage career as an assistant stage manager at the Castle Theatre Farnham,...

Bill Kenwright, the prolific West End producer behind the hit musicals Blood Brothers, Whistle Down the Wind and Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat who would later go on to become an owner and chairman of his boyhood soccer club Everton, has died. He was 78.

In a statement, Everton said Kenwright died peacefully, “surrounded by his family and loved ones.” This month, the Premier League club revealed that Kenwright had recently undergone surgery to remove a cancerous tumor from his liver.

“The world of British theatre without Bill Kenwright seems impossible,” said fellow theater impresario Cameron Mackintosh in a statement on X. “In my lifetime, there has never been anyone like Bill. He’s totally irreplaceable, and we will miss him so.”

“Dearest Bill, Somewhere you’ll be singing Let It Be Me and challenging heavenly choirs to look into your Ebony Eyes,” Andrew Lloyd Webber tweeted. “The theatre will...

Renowned British actress Haydn Gwynne, who left an indelible mark both on stage and screen, passed away at 66 after a recent diagnosis with cancer. Celebrated for her talent and versatility, she brought life to a vast array of characters, demonstrating her range from television satire to Shakespearean roles.

Born in Sussex in 1957, Gwynne’s journey into the acting realm wasn’t a straight path. Before captivating audiences, she was an English lecturer in Italy and even studied Modern Languages at the University of Warwick. It wasn’t until her mid-twenties that Gwynne ventured into acting, but when she did, her ascent was meteoric.

She shot to fame in the 1990s with “Drop the Dead Donkey,” a sitcom that offered a witty look into the world of journalism. Her portrayal of the sardonic assistant editor Alex Pates garnered her a BAFTA nomination. Gwynne’s magnetism wasn’t confined to TV; she...

Exclusive: The BFI London Film Festival closes Sunday with the world premiere of The Kitchen, a movie set in a dystopian London where an impoverished community is forced to fend for themselves in ramshackle apartment blocks. It marks the feature directorial debut of Oscar- winning actor Daniel Kaluuya and architect-turned-filmmaker Kibwe Tavares.

It’s a film that Kaluuya, Kibwe Tavares and Daniel Emmerson (Calm With Horses), The Kitchen’s producer, have spent the best part of a decade bringing to the screen.

This column’s about how three friends came together to develop a tiny idea that over the years has evolved into tale about a London that’s split in half — those who have and those who don’t.

However, through their eyes, it’s a London that, ultimately, offers a sense of humanity and hope.

Alan Eisenberg, the longest-serving executive director of Actors’ Equity Association, died October 7 in Rhinebeck, New York. He was 88.

His death was announced by Equity. A cause was not disclosed.

Eisenberg led Equity from 1981 to 2006, a time of significant growth in membership, workweeks and member earnings, according to Equity.

Among the notable events that Eisenberg confronted during his tenure were the 1990 Miss Saigon controversy over the casting of white actors in Asian roles, the uncertain times facing the theater industry following September 11, 2001, and the challenges of increased non-union touring.

Eisenberg was raised in a secular Jewish household in Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, later attending the University of Michigan and graduating from New York University Law School. While practicing law in New York, he embraced the bohemian Greenwich Village art scene of the 1960s, and took a second job as a night espresso operator at the famed Café Figaro.

He next worked in labor law,...

The American film and stage actor, renowned for her roles in the composer’s musicals, on making her West End debut in a celebration of his music

Bernadette Peters is an American singer and actor. Born in 1948 in Queens, New York, where her father worked as a delivery driver, she has appeared in numerous TV shows and films, including The Muppet Show, Ally McBeal, Silent Movie with Mel Brooks, The Jerk with Steve Martin, and Annie. But she is probably best known for her Tony award-winning work on Broadway, where she has starred in, among other musicals, Mack and Mabel, Annie Get Your Gun and Hello, Dolly! One of the foremost interpreters of the work of Stephen Sondheim, her association with the composer began in 1983 when she was cast as Dot in the first production of Sunday in the Park With George. Later this month, Peters will make her West...

Exclusive: Shucked, the Broadway musical nominated for nine Tony Awards, will begin a London run on the West End next year, producer and theater owner Cameron Mackintosh announced today.

“I’m delighted to confirm that London is going to get Shucked in one of my theatres next year,” Mackintosh said in a statement. “Shucked is that rarity: a completely original musical and the funniest show since The Book of Mormon, with a terrifically tuneful rollicking country and western score. It’s snuck up on Broadway and is proving to be the most talked about hit of the season.”

In keeping with the musical’s pun-filled promotional campaign, Mackintosh ended his statement with, “The corn at the heart of Shucked will have you husky with limitless laughter!”

Casting, venue, ticketing information and other details will be announced in the coming months.

With a book by Tony nominee Robert Horn (he won...

Exclusive: Kristin Scott Thomas and Lily James are joining forces to star in a scorching new play by Penelope Skinner, directed by Ian Rickson, that will open in London’s West End in the fall.

Pretty hot names to have atop a theater marquee, that’s for sure.

The drama, called Lyonesse, will open at the Harold Pinter Theatre in late September or early October. Official dates are being determined.

In this new work, Skinner — who won the George Devine Award for most promising playwright in 2011 for The Village Bike — focuses on Elaine (Scott Thomas), a reclusive and brilliant actress who disappeared from public view under mysterious circumstances.

Elaine summons Kate (James), a young film executive, to her remote Cornish estate to facilitate “her glorious comeback,” according to a production source who copped me a premise of the play.

“But who really controls the stories we tell and how we get to tell them?...

Barry Humphries, the Australian actor and comedian best known for his larger-than-life alter ego, Dame Edna Everage, has died at 89. As reported by the BBC, Humphries passed away in a Sydney hospital from complications following hip surgery, having had a fall in February.

Humphries was a beloved fixture of both Australian and British entertainment. He moved to the UK in 1959 and quickly became a core part of the comedy scene, hosting his own talk show, "The Dame Edna Experience," as well as other series and specials including "Dame Edna's Neighborhood Watch," "Dame Edna Kisses It Better," and "The Dame Edna Treatment." The character was known for her purple-tinted bouffant hair, signature diamante-studded glasses, colorful fashion choices, and her signature greeting: "Hello, possums!"

U.S. audiences may be familiar with Dame Edna from an appearance in "Saturday Night Live" in 1977, and for her 1990s celebrity talk show "Dame Edna's Hollywood," as...

The Phantom of the Opera went out on a high in its final week of performances on Broadway, bringing in an all-time record of $3.7 million.

The musical, which had been running on Broadway for 35 years, played its final performance on April 16, in an evening of celebration and spectacle with a red carpet, appearances by original cast members, Lloyd Webber and producer Cameron Mackintosh and an after party. In its final week, the show played to a capacity of 101.46 percent, with its average ticket price hitting $287.07.

These numbers were reached even as the tickets to the final performance were all given away for free. The proceeds from the show’s April 13 performance were donated to four New York City Arts organizations.

The musical had been playing the Majestic Theatre since January 1988, and was the longest running show in Broadway history. After first announcing that the Broadway production would end its run on Feb.

Andrew Lloyd Webber honored his son, who died a month prior, at the final Broadway performance of The Phantom of the Opera.

After 35 years, the curtain closed Sunday on the New York production of Broadway’s longest-running show. In a video shared by the Associated Press, audience members and cast and crewmembers could be seen cheering as confetti poured down around them.

The footage also included a speech onstage from the Oscar-winning composer, who said, “I hope you won’t mind if I dedicate this performance to my son. … When he was a little boy, he heard some of this music.”

According to the AP, the composer’s ex-wife, Sarah Brightman, who was also an original castmember in the production, added, “When Andrew was writing it, he was right there, so his soul is with us. Nick, we love you very much.”

In March, Lloyd Webber missed the opening night...

After 35 years, the curtains have closed on Broadway’s longest-running musical. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Phantom of the Opera ran its final show on Sunday evening at the Majestic Theatre in New York City, marking its 13,981 performance. It was originally scheduled to close in February but received an extension through April 16.

“The one question I keep getting asked again and again — will the Phantom return? Having been a producer for over 55 years, I’ve seen all the great musicals return, and ‘Phantom’ is one of the greatest,” producer Cameron Mackintosh told the audience,...

After 35 years, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Phantom of the Opera took its final curtain call on Sunday night at the Majestic Theatre in New York. This was show No. 13,981 of the longest-running show in Broadway history and was dedicated by Lloyd Webber to his son Nicholas who died last month after a battle with gastric cancer.

Amid a standing ovation, Webber said, “I hope you won’t mind if I dedicate this performance to my son, Nick.” Turning to original Phantom star, Sarah Brightman, the composer recalled, “When Nick was a little boy, he heard some of this music.”

Said Brightman, “Yes, he did. When Andrew was writing it, he was right there. So his soul is with us. Nick, we love you very much.”

Also on Sunday night, Brightman performed the musical’s most famous song, “The Music of the Night,” along with current cast, previous actors and crew members,...

This year’s Tonys will be held on June 11, so the American Theatre Wing will likely be announcing their lifetime achievement award recipient in the near future. Who do you think should be taking home this prestigious trophy? Scroll down to let us know in our poll which behind-the-scenes creative deserves the honor this year.

The Tony for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre honors an individual’s body of work, and in some years we’ve gotten multiple recipients. Last year legendary five-time Tony winner Angela Lansbury received this honor about four months before her death on October 11 at the age of 96. The following living creatives have already received this award so they’re not eligible to be chosen again: Paul Gemignani, Alan Ayckbourn, Athol Fugard, Jane Greenwood, Sheldon Harnick, Marshall W. Mason, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Harold Wheeler, and Graciela Daniele.

Here are 10 possibilities, all of them creatives over the...

Broadway in Hollywood has tuned up the slate of musicals for its 2023-24 season. Headed to the Pantages Theatre stage starting late this year are the touring productions of Mj The Musical, The Wiz, Chicago The Musical, Girl from the North Country, Mrs. Doubtfire, Peter Pan and Company.

“We’re gonna be startin’ somethin’ exciting,” Broadway in Hollywood President Jeff Loeb said in a statement. “Our new seven-show season — featuring one pre-Broadway premiere, six Los Angeles Premieres and the long-awaited return of an American classic — is reason enough to ease on down the road to the glorious Hollywood Pantages Theatre.”

Related Story Tony Awards To Be Broadcast Live From Washington Heights, Miles From Times Square; Date Set Related Story Broadway Box Office: 'Company' Nears Sell-Out In Final Weeks, 'Into The Woods' Scores $1.8M Related Story Tony-Winning 'Mj' Star Myles Frost Signs With UTA (Getty Images)

The season kicks off December 20 with Mj The Musical,...

A Beautiful Noise, The Neil Diamond Musical took in more than 1 million at the box office in the week leading up to, and including, its opening night on Sunday. Filling 91 of seats at the Broadhurst, the jukebox bio-musical joins & Juliet, Leopoldstadt and The Piano Lesson as one of the strongest newcomers of the fall season.

Though critics were mixed on the show, Beautiful Noise grossed 1,011,961 for the week ending Dec. 4. A viral video of Diamond himself attending the opening night performance and surprising the audience with a post-show rendition of “Sweet Caroline” might go a long way in balancing out those reviews, or overshadowing them altogether.

Glowing reviews for Ain’t No Mo’, the Lee Daniels presentation of Jordan E. Cooper’s razor-sharp comedy, which also opened last week, might help the play’s box office in the coming weeks, but the show got off to a fairly slow start,...

Exclusive: Susan Stroman, the celebrated Broadway director and choreographer, has revealed that an acclaimed UK revival of musical comedy Crazy for You, which features show-stopping numbers from the George and Ira Gershwin songbook, will transfer from the Chichester Festival Theater into Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Lw Theatres-owned Gillian Lynne Theatre for a strictly limited 30-week West End season from June 24. Opening night is July 3.

The production with British stars Charlie Stemp and Carly Anderson played to packed houses during an eight-week summer run at Chichester.

Related Story ‘The Wiz’ Sets 2024 Broadway Return With New Material By Amber Ruffin Related Story Andrew Lloyd Webber & Producer Michael Harrison Announce New Musical Theater Partnership Related Story Love Changes Everything: Michael Ball Will Revisit 'Aspects Of Love' In A Reimagined Version Of Andrew Lloyd Webber Musical

It’s a coming home of sorts for Stroman, who won the Tony Award for Best Choreography when...

The Phantom of the Opera, the longest-running musical in Broadway’s history, will stick around a little longer, with the producers announcing an extended final run through April 16.

Back in September, it was announced that the smash Andrew Lloyd Webber musical would close Feb. 18, 2023. But as The New York Times reported today, Nov. 29, the announcement of its impending end caused a spike in interest and ticket sales. Just last week, during the Thanksgiving holiday, Phantom enjoyed its highest-grossing week ever, bringing in 2.2 million.

“What a phenomenal response there has been to the show ending,...

Broadway’s long-running The Phantom of the Opera, which has enjoyed a big box office upswing since announcing in September that it would close on February 18, won’t be making its exit quite so soon. Producer Cameron Mackintosh has given the show an eight-week extension, with a new closing date of April 16.

Phantom‘s box office revitalization began quickly after the original closing announcement, with weekly grosses consistently rising from less than 900,000 pre-announcement to sell-out business of nearly 1.8 million for the week ending Nov. 20.

Mackintosh said in a statement today, “The response to the news that The Phantom of the Opera is finally going to end its record-breaking original Broadway run after 35 years has been as phenomenal as the show itself. We are all thrilled that not only the show’s wonderful fans have been snapping up the remaining tickets, but also that a new, younger audience is equally eager...

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The Phantom of the Opera will delay its Broadway closure to April 16, the production confirmed to The Hollywood Reporter Tuesday.

After announcing that the Broadway production would end its 35-year run on Feb. 18, the show has added an eight-week extension to its closure date due to demand. This is the only extension possible, according to the production, as the Majestic Theatre will be closing after the run for “major renovations.”

Producer Cameron Mackintosh said the show is delaying its closure due to a spike in sales sparked after the closing announcement. In the week after announcing its Broadway closure, the show saw its grosses jump close to 250,000 and saw its capacity reach just over 100 percent. That trend has continued in recent weeks, with the musical grossing 1.78 million in the week ended Nov. 20, the most recent week of public grosses.

“We are all thrilled...

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Andrew Lloyd Webber and Michael Harrison are launching a new musical theater venture.

The well-known composer and international producer have come together to form Lloyd Webber Harrison Musicals, a joint endeavor that will see the long-time collaborators producing new entries for Webber’s musical catalog.

Lloyd Webber described Harrison as “easily one of the world’s leading young theater producers” in a partnership that “will build on our relationship.”

“On a personal level, I am thrilled,” the composer said in a statement. “I will now concentrate on composing knowing that I have a first-rate producer to collaborate with in the future.”

Their new partnership will see the company finding and developing new musicals, alongside the creation of new productions based on Lloyd Webber’s existing and expanding musical catalog. The duo’s existing projects and business at their independent companies — Lloyd Webber’s...