REVIEW: STAGE
STEFAN KYRIAZIS
Banish January blues with Cirque du Soleil’s sun-drenched Mexican fantasia Luzia at the Royal Albert Hall from January 12 (cirquedusoleil.com). The international circus troupe also debuts Corteo in the UK with a national arena tour from July 13.
A blaze of big names will dazzle UK stages this year, starting with Mark Rylance in Doctor
Semmelweiss at the Bristol
Old Vic from January 20 (bristololdvic.org.uk).
James Mcavoy’s electrifying Cyrano de Bergerac (atgtickets.com) returns for a short London season at the Harold Pinter Theatre from February 3 before heading to Glasgow’s Theatre Royal from March 18. Ruth Wilson follows at the Harold Pinter in Jean Cocteau’s devastating monologue The Human Voice from March 17 (thehumanvoiceplay.co.uk).
Kit Harington headlines the Donmar Warehouse’s Henry V from February 11 (donmarwarehouse. com), while his Game Of Thrones co-stars Emilia Clarke and Indira Varma tackle Chekhov’s The Seagull at the Harold Pinter Theatre from June 29 (thejamielloydcompany.com).
Rafe Spall leads To Kill A Mockingbird at the Gielgud Theatre from March 10 (tokillamockingbird.co.uk) while Taron Egerton and Bridgerton’s Jonathan Bailey wrestle with sexual identity in Cock at Ambassadors Theatre from March 5 (atgtickets.com).
The Young Vic (youngvic.org) has Paul
Bettany and Jeremy Pope as Andy Warhol and Jean-michel Basquiat in new drama The Collaboration from February 16, followed by the 2019 Broadway revival of Oklahoma! from April 26.
Posher frocks and vowels are guaranteed in the New York Lincoln Center’s revival of My Fair Lady at London’s Coliseum from May 7 (eno.org).
Killing Eve’s Jodie Comer stars in one-woman play Prima Facie at the Harold Pinter from April 15 (primafacieplay.com) before Hollywood’s Amy Adams makes her West End debut in Tennessee Williams’ The Glass Menagerie at The Duke of York’s Theatre from May 31. The first new production of Grease for 29 years hits London’s Dominion on May 3 while Stephen Sondheim takes us Into The Woods at Theatre Royal Bath from August 19 (theatreroyal.org.uk).
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre offers musicals Legally Blonde from May 13 and 101 Dalmatians from July 12 (openairtheatre.com).
New musicals on tour include The Osmonds from February 3 (theosmondsmusical.co.uk), The Cher Show from April 15 (cheronstage.com) and Girl From The North Country, soundtracked by Bob Dylan, from
August 16 (girlfromthenorth countryshow.com).
Finally, and deliciously, The Royal Ballet premieres Christopher Wheeldon’s adaptation of Laura Esquivel’s irresistible novel Like Water For Chocolate on June 1 (roh.org.uk).