Competition Closes midday 23rd March 2012. You have 3 days!

Competition courtesy of UK Tickets

Simply follow the instructions below:

• Go to the page on the site that features a show or musical that you have been to see the current list of London musicals
• Write a 50 – 250 word review of the musical or show
• Post the review up for us to read – before the closing date of the 23rd March!
• Remember to leave an email by which we can contact you.

All the well written reviews will feature on the site for others to read and our favourite one will be picked out by our editorial team and it’s author will receive the great prize of two tickets to a show in April!

Note: No email addresses will be published on the site. These will be used only to contact the writer of the winning review.

View the Musical Ticket Competition page for more information

There is a rumour the mystery tweeter is Sir Cameron Mackintosh. This was in the Standard yesterday.

There will be live performances from the West End gospel choir and the cast of Thriller before the switch is flicked. Nighy and Jensen are also joined by Kelly Clarkson and Matt Cardle. Looks like it is going to be a packed stage up there of people plugging their Christmas merch!

When: Tuesday 8 November, from 5pm.

Where: The junction of New Burlington Street and Regent Street.

The mahoosive illuminations that light Oxford Street over the Christmas season will be switched off on the 5th Jan 2012.

Although the thirty-year-old, who has a figure better suited to the catwalks of Paris, London and Rome, is consciously choosing fatty fried foods and treacly treats over crab sticks and carrots, the high energy dance rehearsals are arresting the necessary development of additional pounds of flesh! “There will be a lot of dancing, that’s the thing – it’s just wondering whether you can keep it on doing eight shows a week. But I’ll eat loads don’t worry,” claimed Smith.

Sheridan is no stranger to gratuitous guzzling. As Michelle, the duplicitous nutritionist in the BBC sitcom, Grownups, Smith was particularly attached to all the nutritional no-nos, including copious quantities of alcohol, squirty cream, crisps and Flumps! The musical adaption of Bridget Jones’ Diary is a collaborative effort between Tony Award-winning director, Stephen Daldry, choreographer, Peter Darling, and UK singles chart topper, Lily Allen, who penned the songs in inimitable style.

Bridget Jones’ Diary: The Musical is due to open in London’s West End in 2012 and will feature Michael Xavier as Mark Darcy and a stout and stocky Sheridan Smith in the title role.

In an incisive West End debut, the popular TV personality stepped into the seasoned shoes of incumbent star, Richard Fleeshman, albeit momentarily. Eagerly watched by local luminaries and theatre buffs who packed the stalls at London’s Piccadilly Theatre, Andre presented a powerful rendition of one of the most recorded songs of the 20^th century, The Righteous Brothers’ 1965 hit single, Unchained Melody.

Acting alongside Caissie Levy as Molly in the poignant pottery scene, Peter Andre liberally added star sex appeal in an effort to emulate the inimitable ‘dirty dancing’ of  Swayze, a man branded one of the sexiest and most romantic lead actors in Hollywood until his untimely death from pancreatic cancer. All the proceeds of the flamboyant charity show, which comprises hit songs from popular West End musicals including Mamma Mia, We Will Rock You and Wicked, go towards changing the lives of some of the most disadvantaged children in the United Kingdom, including youngsters with disabilities and victims of poverty, abuse and neglect.

The new shows follow on from her successful concert which was held at the Leicester Square Theatre last November.

The Alley Cat Bar venue itself is located in Denmark Street and offers an excellent opportunity to witness Louise ‘Up Close’ in an intimate setting.

Louise will be starring in Wicked until December 10th, and will also be recording her second album throughout October.

Available shows
Sunday 30th October  - £15
Sunday 13th November - £15

The black comedy, portraying the hilarious tale of a pig raised for slaughter in honour of the Royal Wedding between Princess Elizabeth and her groom, Philip Mountbatten, has been playing to half-empty houses since it debuted at London’s Novello Theatre six months ago. Influential producer and theatre impresario, Sir Cameron Mackintosh, believes ever-tightening household budgets are responsible for the poor turnout, with audiences showing a preference for the more tried and tested West End productions.

Although obviously disappointed, Mackintosh has not ruled out a timely revival sometime in the future, and with a resounding ‘thumbs up’ from a host of British tabloids including The Independent, The Guardian and The Telegraph, odds are Betty Blue Eyes will make a significant West End comeback in more favourable financial conditions!

1. The colour blue must be accompanied by silver.
In the old days, when blue dye was expensive, theatre companies would dress actors in blue to try and fool audiences that they were doing well. Only those who could afford silver as well were to be believed.

2. Never light three candles onstage.
The superstition is that the actor standing nearest the shortest candle will be the next to marry, or the next to die. Now we have electricity, this one has less relevance, as actors are less likely to be at risk of the theatre setting on fire.

3. Feathers from a Peacock should not appear on stage.
The feather is said to be representative of a malevolent ‘evil eye’, which casts a curse on the show. You see these symbols a lot in Greece, but in that case they ward off the evil eye.

4. It is bad luck to have mirrors on stage.
This is an extension of the belief that breaking a mirror is bad luck, but in fact it’s quite practical, a mirror can reflect into the wings, or throw light where it’s not supposed to be. Interestingly, the mirror superstition is challenged every night by the successful West end musical A Chorus Line, which has a famous mirror scene.

5. Ghosts should be given one night a week alone on the stage.
The Greek God Thespis, after whom actors are named, is so mischievous that he and his eerie mates need a night to play by themselves. In fact this merely offers a welcome break for the actors.

6. It is considered bad luck to whistle on or off stage, as someone may be fired.
This is another practical tradition, as in the days before two-way radio – theatre technicians used whistles as cues. A wrongly placed whistle could result in scenery or actors being given erroneous instructions, with disastrous consequences.

7. To wish someone ‘Good luck’ right before a performance is considered bad luck.
The appropriate expression famously used is ‘Break a Leg‘. There are various theories pertaining to the origin of this odd phrase. One is that wealthy Elizabethan audiences threw their money in appreciation after a successful performance, and to collect it, actors had to bend (or ‘break’) their knees. Another possible explanation is that if the audience shouts for numerous curtain calls, actors enter and exit the stage via the wings, thus breaking the ‘legs’ or side curtains/masks.

Next time you go to a London theatre show, take a good look at the actors and the sets. It may sound daft, but you won’t see any of the unlucky symbols, however hard you look. So as long as you don’t say the word ‘Macbeth‘ out loud, or send flowers to your favourite singer or actor before a performance, you’re in for a great night!

The Guardian asks: At 65, what would Freddie be doing today
NME: Lots of artist post tribute videos 

To enjoy some superb Queen music set to a story – check out the ‘We Will Rock You’ musical.  

The story was taken from a 1947 novel by thriller writer James A Michener, titled Tales of the South Pacific, which won a Pulitzer Prize. Several of the stories were woven together into one plot, which features an American nurse at a naval base during World War Two, who falls in love with a French plantation owner with a shady past. It deals with significant issues such as racial prejudice, and is a fascinating example of a moment in modern history, just after the war had ended, when issues of race were still raw and difficult. One of the main themes of the story follows the lead character’s struggle to accept the children of the man she loves, who are of mixed race and an interracial marriage is the subject of the song ‘You’ve Got to Be Carefully Taught’.

Rodgers and Hammerstein were the producers of the original Broadway show themselves, in association with Leland Hayward and Joshua Logan. The show ran for nearly five years winning a whole slew of awards including 10 Tony titles representing Best Musical, Best Score and Best Libretto among others. It was a hit with the critics and the box office alike, and when it closed in 1954 it was the fifth longest running show in Broadway history. Since that first production, South Pacific has enjoyed a number of successful revivals. On its 2008 re-staging, it won another seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical Revival.

The first West End production of South Pacific ran for two years between 1951 and 1953 at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. It was directed by Joshua Logan with Mary Martin and Wilbur Evans in the lead roles.  The show enjoyed a West End revival at the Prince of Wales Theatre between 1988 and 1989. Roger Redfern directed and the leading lady on this occasion was Gemma Craven and she was supported by  Johnny Wade , Emile Belcourt and Bertice Reading.

Twelve years later, the National Theatre staged a limited revival to celebrate the centenary of the birth of Richard Rodgers. The new production was directed by Trevor Nunn at the Olivier Theatre on London’s South Bank. The musical staging was by Matthew Bourne, and it starred Lauren Kennedy and Philip Quast.

In 2008, Bartlett Sher directed a new Broadway production of South Pacific, to rave reviews and ran for 1000 performances. On August 15 2011, this landmark revival crosses the Atlantic to the UK, where it makes its European debut at the Barbican theatre for a limited seven-week season, before going on tour around the UK. Bartlett Sher directs again, with the same creative team which made the Broadway show such a resounding success. The show has a live 25-piece orchestra and a cast of 40, including Paulo Szot from the Broadway production as Emile, a role he shares with Welsh National Opera’s Jason Howard, and British musical actors Samantha Womack and Alex Ferns.

Many of the songs from South Pacific have become popular standards in their own right, the most well-known being I’m Gonna Wash that Man Right Outa My Hair, and Some Enchanted Evening.

Any fan of musicals won’t want to miss an opportunity to see this, one of the most iconic musicals of recent history. Why not take in this show while it’s in the West End, and enjoy a en evening to remember, you’ll be in the company of appreciative worldwide audiences as far back as 1949.

Compare South Pacific Musical Tickets – Show run ends 1st October 2011

Tonight you can meet the cast at the Barbican and on the 2nd October they are showing the 1958 South Pacific film.

South Pacific Official site

Daily Mail South Pacific Review
Telegraph South Pacific Review