Paule Constable: Celebs Rumors

David Benedict Since Nicholas Hytner, former artistic director of the National Theatre, is one of the finest, most detailed Shakespeare directors in the land, you could be forgiven for forgetting that he really knows how to put on a show — and then some. Given that his career spans everything from “One Man, Two Guvnors” to the original “Miss Saigon,” expectations in London were high that, armed with arguably the greatest musical comedy ever written, he might be onto a winner. Revise your expectations: His immersive, explosively joyous “Guys and Dolls” is a solid-gold knockout. Hytner has always been strong on physical staging. Because he started out in opera, he has always known about crowd control and can shift the emotional temperature of a scene simply by how he commands groups of people on stage. After his runaway-hit, immersive productions of “Julius Caesar” and “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” at his own Bridge Theatre, he now takes that skill up umpteen notches moving not just the actors in “Guys and Dolls” but a third of the audience.

David Benedict Charm, a sadly rare theatrical quality, is scarcely a fashionable theatrical virtue, but it’s nonetheless valuable. And, to audiences’ evident delight, it’s there in spades in director Daniel Evans’ wonderfully fluid farewell production at Chichester Festival Theatre. Turning Bill Forsyth’s 1983 Scottish eco-comedy-drama “Local Hero” into a musical, Evans and every member of his first-rate production team create an often-idiosyncratic delight, the stage equivalent of one of British cinema’s tender-hearted, quirky-yet-cosy Ealing comedies. What even he cannot give the show is true theatrical liftoff.  An earlier version, directed by John Crowley, played Edinburgh to pleasing reviews in 2018. Crowley left the project during the pandemic and Evans took over, keeping no one but Scots playwright David Greig, the music and lyrics of Mark Knopfler (formerly of Dire Straits), and lighting designer Paule Constable.

You could have heard a pin drop during the gala opening night of Opera Australia’s production of The Phantom of the Opera August 26 at the Joan Sutherland Theatre at the Sydney Opera House. The audience was packed with celebrity Sydneysiders in bow ties and gowns but the real stars of the evening were Josh Piterman, Amy Manford, and Blake Bowden.This trio of truly gifted performers, surrounded by a stunning supporting cast and orchestra, powerfully delivered the musical’s signature songs, Music of the Night, Think of Me, All I Ask of You, the awesomely beautiful Masquerade, and of course the main title song, with vitality and power.This new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s mega-musical adaptation of Gaston Leroux’s novel, overseen by producer Cameron Mackintosh, and director Seth Sklar-Heyn is simply superb on every level.While the story of an obsessive and dangerous love in 19th-century Paris is now familiar to many, it’s the exquisite attention to detail which delivers the magic to this new staging.The  27-piece orchestra under the musical supervision of Guy Simpson is phenomenal, and the production is elevated even further by truly glorious stagecraft. The Phantom of the OperaThe lush costuming by Jill Parker, recreating the original designs of the late Tony award-winning Maria Bjornson is stunning, and the hair and wig design by Angela Cobbin is perfection.The lighting design by Tony Award winner Paule Constable and the sound design by Mick Potter is also extraordinary, with some terrific video and projection design by Nina Dunn.There is also a wonderful use of pyrotechnics throughout the show and of course the thrilling and iconic moment when the chandelier falls towards the heads of the audience still inspires

David Benedict With a cast headed by Amy Adams making her West End debut, you’d be forgiven for imagining the latest production of Tennessee Williams’ play “The Glass Menagerie” might be everything you’d expect of a nicely upholstered revival. Not so fast.