Since it closed at the Young Vic there have been rumours about The Scottsboro Boys transferring to a West End theatre. Brilliantly, these rumours have now been confirmed. From October, theatregoers at the Garrick Theatre can see exactly why critics and audience members in Waterloo were so excited about Kander and Ebb’s musical tale inspired by real events of the 1930s when nine young black men were falsely accused of rape.
The Olivier Award nominated show will open too late to join the productions taking part in West End LIVE, the free festival of all London’s theatre district has to offer. The annual event, held in Trafalgar Square, has announced it is happening on 21 and 22 June, and that Billy Elliot The Musical, The Bodyguard, Jersey Boys, Stomp and Wicked are already lined up to perform. More shows are set to be announced shortly.
Away from musicals, there have been a raft of exciting casting announcements.
Jane Horrocks – of Absolutely Fabulous and The Rise And Fall Of Little Voice – is returning to the West End as part of the eagerly awaited second Trafalgar Transformed season at the Trafalgar Studios. She’ll play the torn wife of George Khan in the revival of hit play East is East. The tale of a Pakistani chip shop owner trying to give his children a Muslim upbringing in 1970s Salford opens at the Trafalgar Studio 1 in October.
Before that another brilliant British actress, Gina McKee – of Notting Hill and Our Friends In The North – joins The Hobbit’s Martin Freeman in the first show of the season, Shakespeare’s Richard III, from 1 July.
Then there’s Great Expectations’ Vanessa Kirby and X-Men: The Last Stand’s Ben Foster joining Gillian Anderson in the Young Vic’s A Streetcar Named Desire from 23 July, Oscar-winner Juliette Binoche starring in Antigone at the Barbican in 2015 and Neil Morrissey of Men Behaving Badly – and Bob the Builder – replacing Rory Bremner in Relative Values from 26 May.
