The Phantom of the Opera will soon become only the second ever West End musical to reach the ripe old age of 25, following in the footsteps of Les Misérables. Andrew Lloyd Webber’s most famous work – also the most successful single piece of entertainment globally, outstripping films such as Titanic – enjoyed an early birthday party at the Royal Albert Hall last weekend with a series of special concert performances. The performances reunited many of the show’s original stars, including Michael Crawford and Sarah Brightman, with two of its newest leading lights Ramin Karimloo and Sierra Boggess
Photograph: Dan Wooller/Rex Features
Meanwhile, another Lloyd Webber survivor, Jesus Christ Superstar, is to return to Broadway next year. The revival of the rock opera, directed by Des McAnuff, opened at Canada’s Stratford Shakespeare festival earlier this year, where it caught the eye of critics and its original creators – Tim Rice and Lloyd Webber, who both made trips to Canada to watch the production. Now, it has secured a run at New York’s Neil Simon theatre from March 2012, while there are also rumours it will be resurrected in the UK in the near future
Photograph: David Nou/Stratford Shakespeare Festival
While Christ might be looking forward to crossing the border into the US, British comedian Russell Brand has been struggling to make the trip the other way. The lippy comic had been due to strut his stuff at a casino in Ontario, but failed to turn up in time and was forced to postpone the show. Brand initially blamed his non-appearance on problems with Canadian customs officials (and it wouldn’t have been the first time), tweeting “Let me in! I can’t enter Canada”. But, somewhat disappointingly, it turned out he was just having problems with the plane transporting him to the gig Photograph: Michael Kovac/WireImage
Another week, another international London 2012 theatre festival. This time, it is the turn of World Stages London – an event which sees eight of the capital’s leading producing theatres work together for the first time, and not a Shakespeare play in sight. The lineup boasts contributions from director Peter Brook and composer Jonathan Dove, as well as the festival’s centrepiece, a stage adaptation of the novel Wild Swans by Jung Chang (pictured here) and Babel – a new piece of outdoor community theatre featuring 500 professional and amateur performers
Photograph: Eamonn McCabe for The Guardian
West End producers, meanwhile, have been calling on the government for film-style tax breaks to be extended to the theatre sector. While British film investment has historically been treated favourably by the tax man, theatre has been somewhat overlooked. And UK producers don’t have to look too far to see an example of the kind of regime they’d like to see introduced – over in the US, theatre investors are allowed to write off their losses against income tax, a similar system to that in place for film in the UK. George Osborne, it turns out, is something of a theatre-lover, and even pays for his own tickets; might he be encouraged to write the cheque? Above, a scene from the British film Four Weddings and a Funeral
Photograph: Sportsphoto Ltd/Allstar
But tax breaks aren’t all that the West End seems to want to borrow from film. Two more theatre productions opened in London this week that are better known for their cinematic incarnations – Cool Hand Luke, starring Marc Warren, and Driving Miss Daisy with Vanessa Redgrave and James Earl Jones (pictured here). As it happens, neither actually started life on film: Cool Hand Luke was originally a novel, while Driving Miss Daisy was a play before it hit the big screen. The reviews have been significantly better for the latter than the former … Photograph: Tristram Kenton for The Guardian
The other big opening of the week was not a show, but a theatre. Over in Kent, Prince Edward was cutting ribbons at the new Marlowe theatre in Canterbury, which reopened after a £25.6m rebuild. The venue has traditionally been a solid date on the UK touring circuit, but it also plans to produce shows itself in the future. The inaugural season opens this weekend and will feature comedy, music and theatre, while the theatre’s first week-long production is Cirque Eloize, a mix of circus and urban dance Photograph: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images
