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  • 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.

  • Lindsay Lohan Vows to Redeem Her Past in London, Says She May Move There For Good

    Actress Lindsay Lohan has vowed that she will not miss any shows when she makes her London debut in David Mamet’s Speed-The-Plow in September.

    It’s a little sad that an actress has to stipulate that she will honor her commitments, but the 28-year-old actress has developed a reputation for being unreliable, even across the big pond.

    When asked if she would be docked pay if she missed any shows or rehearsals for the West End production, she told the BBC, “That’s not going to happen.

    “That’s not on the cards. It’s not. I want to be known for my talents, rather than a tabloid sensation. I’m at a place in my life where I like the commitment. I’m looking forward to that part of it,” she said.

    It seems her reputation as a “drug-taking, alcohol-abusing, hard-partying wild child,” as the BBC labels the beleaguered actress, has preceded her arrival on the London stage.

    Lohan told BBC arts editor Will Gompertz she hoped her 10-week appearance at the Playhouse Theatre would help restore her reputation.

    “I want to be known for my talents and my work that I create, rather than a tabloid sensation,” she said. “However long it does take, I’m willing to do it. I’m willing to work for it.”

    Lohan said she felt “very lucky and excited and nervous” to be making her stage debut in the UK.

    “There’s a different standard to it here. It seems more prestigious. It seems a bit more serious and that’s something that I really want to experience.”

    The actress said she was considering moving to London “for good”.

    “I’ve noticed here, watching the news, you guys have such a different outlook. In the US, starting at 5 p.m,. it’s TMZ. It’s all these shows talking about people’s personal lives, and here I don’t notice any of that – it’s news and politics and music,” said Lohan. “So it’s nice to be able to turn on the TV and not everything is about gossip. That’s a really nice feeling.”

    The play opens Sept. 24.

    Image via Lindsay Lohan, Instagram

  • Lindsay Lohan To Make Daring Comeback Attempt

    Lindsay Lohan is making yet another comeback attempt, but this time the choice is rather interesting. Lohan will star in Speed the Plow, a three-person West End play about two executive who make a bet whether one of them can sleep with secretary, Karen (Lohan).

    The play began in 1988 and Karen was a role once played by Madonna, who actually earned critical favor for her performance.

    New York Times theater critic Frank Rich said of Madonna as Karen, “It’s a relief to report that this rock star’s performance is safely removed from her own Hollywood persona. Madonna serves Mr. Mamet’s play … with intelligent, scrupulously disciplined comic acting. She delivers the shocking transitions essential to the action and needs only more confidence to relax a bit and fully command her speaking voice.”

    Let’s hope Lindsay Lohan can become “safely removed from her own Hollywood persona”. Should she be able to pull of this performance, perhaps she really could make a genuine comeback.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylGn-f0TKMs

    Since her disclosure of her miscarriage last April on her OWN network reality show, Lindsay Lohan has been noticeably absent from the scene. However, a source close to her said that she has been in London and has really been trying to get it together.

    “She’s been in London really trying to get her life together and got to meeting with a bunch of agents and managers and it just came together,” the source says. “She’s been studying for the role for over a month.”

    Lindsay seems to be rather excited about the possible fresh start that she so desperately wants and needs.

    “It’s the first time I’ve done a stage play or anything like that,” Lohan said of taking on a stage role. “I’m nervous but I’m excited.”

    “I’m going back to my West End world. I’m a little overwhelmed. I haven’t done this — I haven’t really done the shows — in the last few years.”

    Hopefully the tragic and desperate story of Lindsay Lohan will get back on track if she can pull this one off!

    Image via YouTube

  • Lindsay Lohan To Make Stage Debut In London

    Lindsay Lohan is set to make her theater debut on London’s West End this November in a production of David Mamet’s Speed-the-Plow.

    “It’s the first time I’ve done a stage play or anything like that. I’m nervous but I’m excited” said Lohan.

    She announced her plans at a Moschino fashion show in London on June 17th, mentioning to a New York Times reporter that she has been in town for months preparing for the play.

    Lohan will take on the role of Karen, originated by Madonna on Broadway in 1988. Speed-the-Plow is a satirical play about the activities of Hollywood producers and was most recently staged in a Broadway revival in 2008.

    Though Lohan has confirmed her participation in the production both verbally and through Instagram and Twitter posts, there has been no official announcement that the production is moving forward nor that Lohan has been cast.

    Her most recent project, the Bret Easton Ellis film The Canyons, received mixed reviews and didn’t provide the comeback performance Lohan was hoping for.

    Despite this, Lohan appears to be very committed to her current project, with reports surfacing that she has in fact moved to London in order to thoroughly prepare for her role.

    According to a source from RadarOnline (sounds reliable), “Lindsay’s convinced everyone in America is out to get her, but she’s had the opposite experience in London. She loves British culture and says people have treated her with respect for the first time in years. Now she’s looking into the immigration process and planning a full-time relocation.”

    While all this sounds dandy, there have been rumors circulating of bad behavior at the same Moschino fashion show where she announced her plans to appear in Speed-the-Plow.

    A source (do these people EVER have names) told The Daily Mirror that “Lindsay was dancing on the table and couches by the DJ booth. Her table were getting through a lot of Tequila Patron. Everyone was talking about her being smashed.”

    Doesn’t seem London will be too much kinder to Lohan than America has been, but I’m hoping Lindsay will surprise us all and take this play by storm. Unless, of course, the whole thing is “a very grand and very sad delusion,” as the champs over at The Daily Beast say. Nice.

    Image via YouTube

  • Angela Lansbury Shines On London Stage

    Angela Lansbury Shines On London Stage

    In January it was announced that Dame Angela Lansbury would be reprising her role as Madame Arcati in Noel Coward’s Blithe Spirit, on the same stage her mother performed on in 1918.

    In Blithe Spirit, Lansbury’s Madame Arcati, a medium, is invited to the home of socialite and novelist Charles Condomine to conduct a seance. Charles only hopes to get some material for a new novel, but instead sees the ghost of his late first wife Elvira. When the seance is over, Elvira sticks around and tries to ruin Charles’s marriage to his second wife Ruth, who can’t see or hear Elvira.

    Now the critics have had a chance to see the play and they couldn’t be more thrilled with it and Lansbury’s performance.

    Theater critic Charles Spencer said Lansbury was “on sparkling form” and continued, “Thirty-five years ago I remember being bowled over by Lansbury’s performance as Mrs Lovett in Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd on Broadway. She brings a similar energy and high definition wit to Madame Arcati. Her voice swoops and soars with superb grandeur and her extraordinary dance routine, in which she seems physically to vibrate as she goes into a trance, is a wonder to behold. This is a tour de force that will glow warmly in the memory of all who see it.”

    If you couldn’t guess, Spencer gave Blithe Spirit a five star review.

    While the Independent‘s critic Paul Taylor also enjoyed the performance, he only gave it four stars, saying, “With her red Princess Leia-style coiffure and clashing arty-meets-hearty wardrobe, Lansbury’s Madame A is a quivering, deliciously erratic blend of bohemian lady novelist and girl guide. It’s the way, though, that she emphasises the medium’s batty and strangely admirable self-belief that makes her portrayal so funny and endearing.”

    Rod McPhee of the Daily Mirror gave a five star review. “Lansbury shows she still has razor sharp comic timing and the arsenal of withering looks and gestures required to play this timeless comedy character. The most subtle change in delivery and tone of voice is perfected by the experienced star, leaving the audience in stitches throughout,” said McPhee.

    Fans also enjoyed Lansbury’s performance, taking to Twitter to share with those not lucky enough to have seen the play.

    Blithe Spirit continues to run through June 7 at the Gielgud Theatre in London’s West End.

    Image via YouTube.

  • Carey Mulligan Is Set To Take The Stage In Her West End Debut

    Carey Mulligan has been no stranger to the big screen in recent years, and now she will take her acting skills to the stage, debuting in a play at the West End in London. She will be appearing in a revival of David Hare’s Skylight, which will be directed by Stephen Daldry.

    She will make her debut in Skylight this summer, and the show will preview at the Wyndham’s theatre in June.

    It will mark the second time that Skylight has been performed in the West End, with Bill Nighy returning to fill the role that he played back in 1997.

    Skylight premiered at the National Theatre in 1995, where it won the Oliver Award for best play. The production then transferred to the West End before heading to Broadway, and later returning to the West End in 1997.

    In Hare’s Skylight, Bill Nighy will play the role of Tom, a newly widowed owner of a restaurant. He starts staying with his ex-girlfriend Kyra Hollis, who is much younger, with the hope of rekindling their relationship.

    Matthew Beard is also a part of the cast, and will be making his stage debut in the play. Beard has previously worked with Carey Mulligan in the film An Education.

    While Bill Nighy has appeared on the stage before, it will be a show filled with two of the biggest British actors that are currently acting. Carey Mulligan was last seen on stage three years ago in an adaptation of Ingmar Bergman’s film Through a Glass Darkly in New York.

    Her acting ability on the stage has been highly praised, and in reference to her role in Through A Glass Darkly, New York Times Critic Ben Brantley said “If you want to experience the shock of illumination that acting, at its best, can achieve – and only occasionally does – you need to see Ms Mulligan’s performance.”

    Carey Mulligan was most recently seen on screen in Inside Llewyn Davis, and she has received great praise for each of her other films including An Education and Shame. Some notable films for Bill Nighy include The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel, Love Actually, Notes On A Scandal, and Still Crazy.

    After mostly being known as a film actress, Carey Mulligan has been in a few plays already, but will make her West End debut this year, and work with the talented Bill Nighy for the first time.

    Image via Wikimedia Commons