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Tag: Andrew Lloyd Webber

  • Nicole Scherzinger: From Pussycat Doll to ‘Cats’ at the West End

    The hit Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats gets a new cast member: Nicole Scherzinger.

    Cats returns to the West end in December for a 12-week run at the Palladium Theatre. In the musical, Scherzinger will play Grizabella.

    On Cats’ official website, Scherzinger said that she was “really thrilled to be making my West End debut in such an iconic show and I couldn’t be more excited. To have the opportunity to work with Andrew, Trevor and Gillian is a dream come true. I grew up listening to Andrew’s extraordinary music and was lucky enough, a couple of years ago, to record Cats’ beautiful song ‘Memory,’ shared Scherzinger. “Andrew’s score is breathtaking and I am truly honored to have been asked to take part in what I know will be a very special time in my career. I can’t wait to begin rehearsals.”

    Cats first premiered at the New London Theatre in 1981. It broke records by running for 21-years, with a little under 9,000 performances. Cats is based on T.S Elliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, a collection of poems about the behavior and attitudes of felines.

    This isn’t the first time Scherzinger sung some of Webber’s iconic work. For The Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary, she sung its title song at the Royal Variety Performance in 2011. In 2013, Scherzinger sang ‘Don’t Cry for Me Argentina’ from Evita on the ITV show Andrew Lloyd Webber: 40 Musical Years. As stated in her quote, she also recorded ‘Memory,’ from Cats, with II Divo. Additionally, performing in the theater isn’t completely foreign to the former Pussycat Doll. Scherzinger studied theater and dance at the Wright State University in Ohio.


    She will play Grizabella from December 6, 2014 to February 7, 2015, with a couple days of no performances scheduled.

  • ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ Tour Cancelled. Why?

    ‘Jesus Christ Superstar’ Tour Cancelled. Why?

    No explanation was given for the cancellation of a new 54-city tour of Jesus Christ Superstar starring punk legend John “Johnny Rotten” Lydon and Michelle Williams of Destiny’s Child.

    Producers of the new arena version of Jesus Christ Superstar announced the cancellation of the project Friday just days before its launch in New Orleans without explanation.

    The tour was to begin June 9 at Lakefront Arena in New Orleans and include stops in Los Angeles, Detroit, Chicago, St. Louis, Phoenix, Seattle, Las Vegas, Denver, New York City, Boston and Philadelphia.

    Fran Curtis, a publicist for the show from press representative Rogers & Cowan, did not return messages seeking a reason for the cancellation.

    A notice on the website offers no explanation, but says tickets will be refunded.

    Speculation focuses on financial difficulties and perhaps a lack of interest, since producer Michael Cohl was also a producer on Spider-Man: Turn Off the Dark which bombed.

    When announcing the show in April, Cohl said the new show’s total costs were in the “eight figures” and they needed to make “several hundred thousand dollars” each night to keep it on the road.

    The show was to star Lydon as King Herod, Williams as Mary Magdalene, Brandon Boyd of Incubus as Judas and JC Chasez of ‘N Sync as Pontius Pilate. Ben Forster, the winner of the U.K.’s prime-time contest show, Superstar, was to play the son of God.

    The musical, written by Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice, the creators of other London-based musical hits like Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat and Evita, debuted on Broadway in 1971, and includes the songs What’s the Buzz?, Superstar, Everything’s Alright and I Don’t Know How to Love Him.

    Image via YouTube