Simply the best a little longer
ADRIENNE Warren, whose portrait of Tina Turner in the musical Tina has turned the production into one of the must-see shows in the West End, has extended her run at the aldwych Theatre.
Warren (above), along with Kobna Holdbrook-Smith who portrays ike Turner, will stay with Tina until april 13 — several weeks longer than their original 12-month contracts. They will also join the current company on the cast album.
in an email to me, Tina Turner herself noted it had been ten months since opening night ‘and i have been deeply touched by the love our show has received. Our journey on the musical has meant so much to me and we are so excited to start work on the cast album.’
Director Phyllida lloyd, producer Tali Pelman and casting director Pippa ailion are busy assembling a new cast.
and a new batch of 200,000 tickets will go on sale at noon next Friday (January 25), taking the run through till December 2019.
a Broadway production is being put together, too, and it’s almost certain that Warren will repeat her tour de force performance in New York. WATCHING the youthful company of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play Choir Boy, making its long awaited move to Broadway after playing off-Broadway (it ran at the Royal Court several years ago with a different cast), I had a clear notion that every one of those young thespians at the Manhattan Theatre Club’s Samuel J. Friedman venue will have a sparkling career.
McCraney, who won an Oscar for his screenplay for Moonlight, wrote this play about students in the choir of an elite black school, and how they deal with masculinity and sexual identity. It’s a magnificent production, directed by Trip Cullman, with stand-out performances by Jeremy Pope and J. Quinton Johnson, whose characters clash over their beliefs.
The show is one of the hits of the Broadway season, along with the unforgettable new version of To Kill A Mockingbird, the transfer of The Ferryman from London; and an excellent drama called The Lifespan Of A Fact, which starred Daniel Radcliffe, Cherry Jones and Bobby Cannavale, and was that rare thing: a play that made a profit!
Mr Pope will be seen later in the season as Temptations singer Eddie Kendricks in the musical Ain’t Too Proud.