Theatre 2010 – What Will You Be Talking About?
Tuesday 1st December, 11.15am
By Carrie Dunn
Finally, two of the biggest talking points in the theatre world – or at least the fan forums of the internet – have been laid to rest. And I for one am very grateful indeed.
First, John Barrowman’s run as Zaza in La Cage Aux Folles has come to an end. No more will we have to have those endless circular debates about whether or not he looks too young and handsome to play a faded drag queen in a seedy nightclub. No more will we have to muse upon whether or not we agree with Barrowman’s own words, “I know Jerry Herman, and I know Jerry said when he wrote the songs and when they were working on it he had in mind someone in their mid-forties.” And perhaps more crucially, no more will we have to put up with random mad Barrowman fans applauding his every move, making him corpse, and haranguing him at the stage door.
And second, the Wicked musical fangirls can have a very merry Christmas knowing that their beloved Kerry Ellis will be back in the West End next year. She’s taking over from Jodie Prenger as Nancy in Oliver! in March, which means that they can just hang around the Theatre Royal Drury Lane for a glimpse of their idol rather than stalking her across the web and through her home town, as I understand some deranged folk are wont to do. And our messageboards will no longer be clogged up with them plaintively begging, “Does ne1 no what Kerry is up 2 next?” and informing us, “I saw Kerry in the street 2day, she says she LOVES her fans LOL!”
So what will be the hot topics for 2010?
Perhaps whether or not Legally Blonde is a good show or not (and that one’s already kicked off with a vengeance)? Whether or not Hair should be bringing over an all-American cast (oh, and so has that)? Whether or not Andrew Lloyd-Webber is over-exerting himself with his quest for a new Dorothy and whether his talent searches have jumped the shark?
Anything else you predict we’ll be talking about in 2010?
