Nicole Ackman - Page 4

Christian Rey Marbella has recently taken over as The Engineer on the UK tour of Miss Saigon. This is his tenth year of being involved with the show and this UK tour marks his fifth production. He has been in Miss Saigon in Manila, on the Asian tour, on the first UK tour, the second UK tour, and was the alternate Engineer in the West End revival in 2014. He has also performed in theatre in the US and his native Philippines.

Alexandra Burke is a singer, songwriter and actress who shot to fame in 2008 after winning The X Factor. In addition to releasing three albums, she has been seen in the UK tour of Sister Act and recently in the London Coliseum production of Chess. Burke has just joined the cast of Chicago, in which she will be portraying Roxie until 14 October. After that, she returns to the role of Rachel Marron in The Bodyguard, a role she previously played in London and on tour.

Laura Pitt-Pulford and Louis Maskell are returning to their roles in Flowers for Mrs Harris after previously being in the 2016 Sheffield Crucible run. Laura Pitt-Pulford garnered an Olivier nomination for playing Milly in Seven Brides for Seven Brothers and has also been seen in Side Show and Nell Gwynn. Louis Maskell is best-known for playing the lead role of Grinpayne in The Grinning Man, which was on earlier this year at the Trafalgar Studios.  

Who better to perform a musical about a group of angsty German teens than an actual group of young people? Spring Awakening joins Bring It On and Goodnight Mr Tom as the British Theatre Academy's third show of the summer. This rock musical is beautifully designed and staged and features many talented young performers.

Aaron Pierre is currently playing Cassio in Shakespeare's Globe's production of Othello. Pierre is a graduate of LAMDA and was recently seen as Dev-EM in the series Krypton.

Louise Dearman has tackled many musical theatre leading roles, and is the only actress in the West End to have played both Glinda and Elphaba in Wicked. She also has a successful concert career and has released four solo albums. Dearman will be taking part in the upcoming concert at Cadogan Hall, There's Nothing Like a Dame - 100 Years of Women in Musical Theatre.

Alanna Baker competed in gymnastics from the age of five, winning a bronze medal at the World Gymnastics Championships in 2012. Originally from the UK, she's been part of OVO, Cirque du Soleil's touring show, for the past three years, travelling to Australia, Taipei, Japan, and most recently America.

Exit the King at the National Theatre has a beautiful design and wonderful performances from some of the cast, but it ultimately falls flat. While Patrick Marber's new version of Eugene Ionesco's absurdist drama about a dying king has its good moments, it seems to drag on for a play that is only an hour and forty minutes long.

Paul Taylor-Mills has recently stepped down as the Artistic Director of The Other Palace, though he will continue working there in the role of Affiliate Producer while also pursuing his own independent projects. He has many producing credits to his name already, including the popular In the Heights at the Southwark Playhouse and King's Cross Theatre and Heathers currently on at The Other Palace which will transfer to the Theatre Royal Haymarket in September.

I didn't know it was possible for a play this bloody to be so funny. Martin McDonagh's The Lieutenant of Inishmore is a dark comedy about terrorism and violence set in Ireland in 1993. When Irish National Liberation Army member Padraic finds out his beloved cat is poorly, he immediately heads home only to find the cat already dead and violence ensues. It's an enthusiastically gory piece that isn't for the faint of heart.  

On Monday, audiences got an exciting peek at a musical currently in development called Prom Queen. The show is based on the true story of Canadian teen Marc Hall who sued the Catholic district school board when he wasn't allowed to bring his boyfriend to prom. The show is still a work in progress, but a concert staged production of the full musical was presented with a combined cast of talented West End actors and GSA students.

We recently caught up with Lauren Ward and Nathan Amzi while on a break from rehearsals for Prom Queen, a new musical based on the true story of Canadian teen Marc Hall who took his Catholic school board to court when they wouldn't let him attend prom with his boyfriend. The show will receive a workshop presentation at The Other Palace on 2 July.

Jeremiah James is an actor, writer, and producer who has worked in New York, LA, London, and many other cities. He's the lead producer of It Happened in Key West, as well as coming up with the original concept and writing the book for this quirky musical based on the true story of an eccentric scientist in 1930s Florida, who went to extreme lengths to keep the woman he loved.

Iris Theatre's The Tempest at St Paul's Church is an outdoor promenade production of one of Shakespeare's great comedies, though it is fairly traditional in every other way. The audience follows the actors around four different locations during the course of the show: three outdoor and one within St Paul's Church. However, despite this staging, the production feels a bit too predictable and even plain.

James Clements is a Scottish theatre-maker and actor based between New York and Glasgow. He is a Co-Artistic Director of What Will the Neighbors Say?, a new theatre company producing The Diana Tapes. After its premiere off-Broadway earlier this summer, this play - about the publication of Andrew Morton's Princess Diana book, Diana: Her True Story in Her Own Words - is making its UK premiere at the Stockwell Playhouse. Clements wrote the play and is also portraying Andrew Morton

Na-Young Jeon is a Dutch-Korean actress and singer. She's played Fantine in Les Miserables in the West End and has been a part of the Miss Saigon UK Tour, and is currently playing Tuptim in The King and I at London Palladium.

The Star Seekers by the Wardrobe Ensemble is headed to the Dorfman Theatre at the National Theatre this August. It's an interactive space show for children aged three to eight years old, but with plenty for the whole family to enjoy. We got a sneak preview of the show and the chance to chat with its creators at its press launch last week.

George Blagden is well known for the roles of Athelstan on Vikings and Louis XIV on Versailles, as well as Grantaire in the Les Miserables film. He is currently playing Damis in Tartuffe at the Theatre Royal Haymarket.

Sandra Dickinson has had a long and diverse career, spanning stage and screen. An American who has lived in the UK for over four decades, she was recently seen in Steven Spielberg's Ready Player One and as Lucille Ball in I Loved Lucy at the Arts Theatre. She is currently starring opposite Jonathan Chambers in the European premiere of The Unbuilt City at the King's Head Theatre.

Machinal, written by Sophie Treadwell, is based on the sensational 1927 trial of Ruth Snyder, a housewife who murdered her husband. It is a play largely about a woman attempting to find her own agency, with little success, despite the restraints of being a wife and mother. While the Almeida production boasts a wonderful set and the modern relevancy is clear, it ultimately falls short of its source material.