Jodie Prenger may have been the public’s choice to play Nancy in Oliver! that begins performances at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, next month - but producer Cameron Mackintosh last week announced his own choice, namely Tamsin Carroll — who starred in his 2002 Australian production of the show, and won, according to the press release, “every single major Australian award for Best Actress in a Musical” for doing so - as her official alternate, assuming the role on Wednesday and Thursday evenings when Prenger is not scheduled to appear. Intriguingly, the official press night that has been announced for the show is January 14 - a Wednesday. So does that mean the press will be invited to review Carroll instead of Prenger?
The billing on Oliver! is also interesting for other reasons, not least the question of who will be doing what. According to the latest press release again, “Rupert Goold will be directing the production, which is based on Sam Mendes’ triumphant 1994 staging, along with Tony Award-winning co-director and choreographer Matthew Bourne.” Just as a question of mathematics, there are therefore three directors on board. Mind you, Bourne took a co-directing credit for Mary Poppins, too, with Richard Eyre, but when the Olivier nominations were originally announced that year, only Eyre was credited for the direction of it - until I alerted the Oliviers press office to the omission and they issued an update! Will we see a repeat of this at the next Oliviers?
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More billing issues: a new production of David Mamet’s American Buffalo has just begun previews at Broadway’s Belasco Theatre, prior to an official opening on November 17; it stars John Leguizamo, Haley Joel Osment and Cedric the Entertainer. Cedric the Who? Yes, Cedric Antonio Kyles may be best known by his stage name; but when striving for the legitimacy of the stage, most personalities choose the more refined version of their name, as P Diddy - or Puff Daddy - did when he debuted on Broadway in 2004, and was formally billed as Sean Combs.
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I somehow managed to miss last weekend’s TMA Theatre Awards entirely - I didn’t receive an invite to the ceremony or even a press release about the nominees or winners - but I was delighted to see that the TMA recognised something that the former Equity president Harry Landis failed to take on board when he levied his bizarre attack on producer Bill Kenwright last year: that, in the words of TMA President Derek Nicholls, Kenwright is “the greatest contributor to regional theatre of our time, and possibly and probably forever.”
Last year he clocked up an astonishing 274 weeks of touring dates in the UK for nine musicals and six plays. Given that the TMA also calculates its membership fees based on the number of touring weeks that producers put on, Bill may well also be the greatest contributor of fees to the organisation of our time, too.
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On a different scale entirely, at least I won’t be missing tomorrow’s Empty Space… Peter Brook Awards - since I am actually one of the judges. These awards famously recognise the smaller fringe and studio theatres that are one of the major arteries that talent is steered through in London theatre, and it’s a particular pleasure that the indefatigable Blanche Marvin, who founded and finances the awards herself — is now back on her feet after a hip replacement operation laid her low for most of the summer. No sooner was she given the all-clear by her physiotherapist than she was at the theatre again every single night - and twice each day on both Saturday and Sunday last weekend.
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And finally, a welcome bit of truth telling — over four years after Richard Dreyfuss dramatically withdrew from the London premiere cast of The Producers, he’s revealed the truth about what possibly happened then. In a press release issued today to announce his appearance in the Old Vic’s next in-house production of Complicit, opening in January, he says, “There is no greater place to be human than in front of humans. No greater way to reflect being human. No greater place than The Old Vic. I’m very excited to have a chance of not being fired before the opening. So far I’m batting 500. Stay tuned!”
It would be very poor show indeed if the press were not invited to review Jodie Prenger. As she will be doing the 6 of the 8 weekly performances it seems only right and proper that the critics are invited to review the her as it is her performance that the vast majority of audiences will be seeing.
I am sure Tamsin Carroll will be a more than appropriate alternative for those audiences attending on Wednesday and Thurdsay evenings but I think it unfair if the main reviews do not accurately reflect the majority of the performances.
I do wonder, though, how long it will be before Mackintosh finds an excuse to oust prenger and install an actress of his own choosing. It was blatantly obvious that he wasn't happy with the final result of the TV casting. I think the man needs to tread very carefully.
"I do wonder, though, how long it will be before Mackintosh finds an excuse to oust prenger and install an actress of his own choosing"
or perhaps as happened with Connie, the public will start to ask to see Jodie rather than an "understudy" leading to the contest winner appearing 8 times a week.
We shall see.
Personally I want to see Jodie, having watched every episode of the series I would feel cheated not to see the woman I supported with my texts !!