'Death' in London
Why is that? An ensemble of 18 (five understudies included) goes some way toward explaining the cost, as does a forbidding exchange rate that doesn't help a project being financed entirely from New York.
The company will include three visiting Americans in addition to Dennehy (among them "Salesman" Tony nominee Howard Witt) and an impressive lineup of Brits, including 2005 Olivier nominee Clare Higgins ("Hecuba") as Willy Loman's wife and Douglas Henshall and Mark Bazely as sons Biff and Happy.
Producer Richenthal said he expected the top ticket to crack the apparent £40 ($75) lid on West End straight play prices, even if London tuners have been charging considerably more than that for some time now. Show is anticipated to do a six-month stand, seven perfs a week, though the Tony-winning 1999 Broadway revival ended up running a hefty nine months.
"We want it to be as good" as the Broadway run, says Richenthal, speaking the morning after the Chicago opening of his Tony-winning "I Am My Own Wife," "and, frankly, our goal is to make it better." Looking beyond "Salesman," Richenthal hopes to be back on the West End in the fall with -- you guessed it -- Jefferson Mays' U.K. debut in "Wife."
TUNEFUL NIGHTCAP
Londoners adrift in the West End on Feb. 2 at 11 p.m. -- that is to say, long after the curtain has lowered on that evening's premiere of Patrick Stewart and Joshua Jackson in David Mamet's "A Life in the Theater" -- now have a reason to stay in town. That's the night producer David Dolman inaugurates a post-show cabaret series in the Delfont Room of the beautifully refurbished Prince of Wales Theater.
The performers will be Joanna Riding, straight from her delicious turn as Ruth in the Savoy revival of Noel Coward's "Blithe Spirit," and Martin Crewes, who has less distance to run after finishing his anthemic chores as Walter in Andrew Lloyd Webber's Olivier-nommed "The Woman in White."
"I just thought they were a very nice combination," Dolman says of the duo, well aware that London needs all the cabaret spaces it can get (especially by contrast with New York). The art deco Delfont Room, in the theater basement, will have seating for 200. As it is, Dolman must be doing something right: This one-off gig is already sold out.
KERN GOES NOWHERE
It was 20 years ago that "Jerome Kern Goes to Hollywood" came to the Donmar Warehouse. The musical revue is back -- this time at the King's Head pub theater in Islington -- to warm our spirits, potentially, on these wintry nights. Alas, if only.
While it's hard to carp with a canter through nearly 40 songs that include old faithfuls ("Ol' Man River," "I've Told Every Little Star") and real novelties ("Remind Me," which, as sung by Sheri Copeland, is the evening's highlight), it's possible to lament virtually every aspect of deviser-director David Kernan's lazy staging.
The format -- the men in cravats and blazers and then in formal wear, the women in outfits of dubious degrees of attractiveness -- is as predictable as the delivery of the cast is largely charmless. Angela Richards, the star name, fared far better at the same address this time last year, playing Ethel Merman. This time, her every smile is met by a no less enthusiastic wince.
