London trip adds ‘Six’ and Vanessa Williams ‘Angel’
The package is now complete for the Post-Gazette Critics Choice London Theater Tour, April 26-May 3, with the addition of two musicals — an irreverent view of a lurid patch of English history and an optional extra, a comic version of a favorite American film genre, starring Vanessa Williams as the femme fatale.
Critic’s Choice tours are informal, led for 35 years by Christopher Rawson, PG senior theater critic. The group travels direct via British Airways and stays at the Radisson Blu Edwardian Kenilworth Hotel, close to the British Museum and West End theaters, Covent Garden and Trafalgar Square.
• In “Six,” the queens of Henry VIII (“divorced, beheaded, died; divorced, beheaded, survived”) tell their musical stories and squabble in something like a Spice Girls concert. Begun as a college and fringe show, it has been playing on tour and in London’s cozy Arts Theatre for two years and will open next month on Broadway.
• “Jack Absolute Flies Again,” Richard Sheridan’s comic classic “The Rivals” re-imagined during the heroic 1940 Battle of Britain by Richard Bean (“One Man, Two Guvnors”) and Oliver Chris, is staged at that theatrical mecca, the National Theatre’s Olivier Theatre.
• “Leopoldstadt,” the premiere of Tom Stoppard’s new drama of love and endurance, is an intimate story with epic sweep about a Jewish family in Vienna. With a cast of 41, it may be Stoppard’s most personal, passionate play.
• The option is a new, much-praised production of “City of Angels” by Cy Coleman and Larry Gelbart. It wittily interweaves a noir movie with the life of its screenwriter, with the same actors playing parallel parts in the two stories.
Each day there will be an optional tour or recommended museum. You will also want to strike out on your own, using the bus and subway pass provided. You could add several more plays in addition to London’s palaces, shops and other attractions.
The package includes round-trip travel on British Airways; transfers between the London airport and hotel; full English breakfast buffet daily; welcoming dinner; afternoon tea; three theater tickets (and advice on booking others); London bus and subway pass; guided London walking tour; taxes, VAT and gratuities on included items, and Mr. Rawson’s gentle guiding along the way.
Only eight spaces are still available. The basic tour price is $3,693, double-occupancy; the single supplement is $659. This price is based on fares, which may increase if booked after March 1. Registration requires a deposit of $500 per person and a completed reservation form. Make checks payable to Avenue Two Travel, and mail to Gulliver’s Travels, 634 Beaver St., Sewickley PA 15143.