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MOHAMMAD A MIRI, T revor F ox, ammar H aj a hmad, a lex L awther, J o McInnes, J ohn P fumojena, Dominic rowan, rachel redford and Ben Turner who are part of the scorching ensemble of Joe Murphy and Joe robertson’s play The Jungle — about the refugee and migrant camp at calais, which has transferred from the Y oung V ic t o t he P layhouse T heatre. Designer M iriam B uether h as t ransformed the Playhouse stalls into a replica of parts of the calais camp, and divided it into r egions. For i nstance I s at i n ‘ Egypt’. a nd t he c ircle area (which has pretty good views) is known as t he ‘ White c liffs’ ( of D over). I t’s a b rilliant piece o f t heatre a nd I w as p leased t o b e o n the judging panel that voted i t Play Of The Year in The south Bank sky arts awards. The production will move to st ann’s Warehouse i n B rooklyn f rom D ecember 4 .
KELLI O’HARA, who stars as the ‘schoolteacher’ in The King And I at the London Palladium. I’ve been raving about Ms O’Hara for years so I’m thrilled she has finally made her London debut and won fulsome praise from the likes of Andrew Lloyd Webber — and my wife! Lloyd Webber was sitting behind me on Tuesday and I could hear his gasps of ‘fabulous’ and ‘fantastic’ whenever O’Hara sang. He told me that she’s the ‘best interpreter’ of the Rodgers and Hammerstein songbook he’s heard, a point echoed by producer Howard Panter, who helped coax O’Hara over here with director Bartlett Sher and Ken Watanabe (who’s every inch a king). ‘Kelli has great control and she really understands what she’s singing,’ Panter told me. ‘Every thought is true, and every thought is meant, and placed in a story.’ It feels like a once in a lifetime treat to see O’Hara, although I hope she’ll return — and often. The production will go on a UK tour next year and also head overseas to Tokyo, Osaka, Taiwan, Korea, Australia and European cities.
CEDRIC NEAL, Debbie Kurup and sharon D. clarke, who starred in the concert version of Martin smith’s musical King at the Hackney Empire. Director susie McKenna worked with London Musical Theatre Orchestra conductor Freddie Tapner and orchestrator simon Nathan to construct the show, which hadn’t been performed for three decades. The show, about Martin Luther King Jr, was a triumph in concert form, and I understand that a donor has offered to part-fund a cast album. More donors are being sought in order for that dream to be fulfilled.