Drawing: Sir Cameron Mackintosh

Posted on April 24, 2017 by Mark Winter / Chicane

At the height of his success in the early 1990’s, British impresario extraordinaire Sir Cameron Mackintosh was described by the New York Times as “the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world.”

For the past fifty years he has produced more musicals than anyone else in history and the three longest running musical productions – LES MISERABLES, THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA, and CATS , as well as OLIVIER! and MISS SAIGON. Not bad for someone who started out as a stagehand at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane. Although I had met Sir Cameron on a few occasions I had never drawn him, so I did just that and dropped it into his London office and he immediately returned it with this very complimentary note.

Drawing: Cherry Jones and Sally Hawkins in Mrs. Warren’s Profession

Posted on April 21, 2017 by Mark Winter / Chicane

In one of my rare departures from the 4B, I did this 2010 sketch of Cherry Jones and Sally Hawkins in the Broadway revival of George Bernard Shaw’s ‘problem play’ MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION in a black fine line Pilot pen. Actually it was part of my black-liner-with-the-rogue-biro-thrown-in phase.

Sally actually signed it after she returned to the UK, so obviously Cherry wasn’t able to graph it. I got that chance last month to complete the sig-set when she made her West End debut at the Duke of York’s theatre in the Broadway transfer of Tennessee William’s THE GLASS MENAGERIE which is currently running until the end of the month.

Drawing: Brian J Smith in The Glass Menagerie

Posted on April 20, 2017 by Mark Winter / Chicane

American actor Brian J Smith’s portrayal of Jim O’Connor, the ‘gentleman caller’ in John Tiffany’s celebrated Procyon of Tennessee William’s THE GLASS MENAGERIE has garnered him award nominations on both sides of the Atlantic. He was shortlisted for both the Drama Desk and Tony Awards for the Broadway run at the Booth Theatre in 2013 and this year’s Oliviers after its transfer to London’s Duke of York’s Theatre, which finishes next week. Brian kindly signed this sketch for me a couple of weeks ago and he said he’s staying in London for another William’s play.

Drawing: Roger Allam and Jessie Buckley in The Tempest

Posted on April 18, 2017 by Mark Winter / Chicane

I drew this sketch of Roger Allam as Prospero and Jessie Buckley as Miranda from Jeremy Herrin’s production of THE TEMPEST which was part of the 2013 season at Shakespeare’s Globe in London. But I never got the chance to get it signed at the time. It’s what I call ‘siguations vacant’.I have numerous unsigned sketches in my bag, just in case I cross paths with those rendered. Jessie actually signed a short while after the season finished at her London agency, but I’ve been waiting for Roger to walk the boards again. This seems to happen at three to four year intervals, between his screen commitments. Having won the Olivier for his magnificent performance as Falstaff in HENRY IV PARTS 1 & 2 at the Globe in 2010, he returned for THE TEMPEST three years later. He did so again, albeit it a little longer, last month in LIMEHOUSE at the Donmar Warehouse, where I managed to meet up with him on a quiet Saturday morning to complete the sketch signing.

Drawing: The Philanthropist at the Trafalgar Studios

Posted on April 17, 2017 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Simon Callow directs a brand new production of Christopher Hampton’s most celebrated play THE PHILANTHROPIST at London’s Trafalgar Studios, which opens this week after a fortnight of previews. It’s a ‘fiendishly clever inversion’ of Moliere’s THE MISANTHROPE, which the writer describes it as a ‘biting bourgeois comedy’, centring on an academic whose morbid compulsion to please everyone has the opposite effect.

After a ‘try-out’ at the Royal Court in London, the play premiered on Broadway at the Ethel Barrymore Theatre in March 1971. It was nominated for three Tony Awards, including Best Play. “Christopher Hampton was 23 and it was his first big hit – a stonking success,” said Simon Callow, who has gathered together a young cast, light on theatre experience, but well known to TV audiences.

THE INBETWEENERS star Simon Bird makes his stage debut, joined by Tom Rosenthal, his co-star in Channel 4’s FRIDAY NIGHT DINNER, FRESH MEAT and CALL THE MIDWIFE’s Charlotte Ritchie, BAFTA winner Matt Berry from the IT CROWD and actress-model Lily Cole, who all signed my montage sketch heading in for Saturday’s matinee.

Drawing: Steven Isserlis

Posted on April 6, 2017 by Mark Winter / Chicane

I’ve drawn plenty of violinists but this is my first ‘big violinist’ sketch, or as they like to call it, a cellist and it just so happens to be Steven Isserlis, one of the world’s best. Britain’s greatest cellist, who could pass for a Brian May sibling, is known for his diverse repertoire and distinctive sound using gut strings. It was reported that he has never taken more than three consecutive days away from his cello since he was ten years old. He believes cellos have souls rather than characteristics. “It’s like breathing to me,” he said.

Steven has a calming ritual before a concert. Rehearse in the morning on his Marquis de Coberon Stradivarius on loan from the Royal Academy of Music, have a huge lunch, drink coffee and listen to The Beatles. “It’s partly superstitious – but my father was Russian so I was bought up with superstition,” he said. Steven performed at the Royal Festival Hall in London where he signed my ‘big violin’ sketch.

Drawing: Wendy Wason

Posted on April 5, 2017 by Mark Winter / Chicane

“She’s absolutely hysterical,” said Jimmy Carr about fellow comedian, Wendy Wason. The Sunday Times added “charming, clever and funny.’ The Edinburgh-raised actress and writer’s initial career was in film and TV, appearing in TAGGERT, SHERLOCK, MIDSOMMER MURDERS, THE IT CROWD and in feature films such as THE LIBERTINE with the three Johnnies, Depp, Malcovich and Vegas. She branched out into stand-up comedy in 2004 at Edinburgh’s Guided ballroom, followed by successful shows at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival – THINGS I DIDN’T KNOW I DIDN’T KNOW (2008), OTHER PEOPLES SECRETS (2010), FLASHBACKS (2011), HOTEL CALIFORNIA (2014) and last year, TINY ME, which she performed at the Soho Theatre in London for three nights last week. On one of those nights she signed this sketch for me.

Drawing: David Flynn in School of Rock

Posted on April 4, 2017 by Mark Winter / Chicane

The charismatic Irish actor David Fynn’s performance as the equally charismatic Dewey Finn in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s latest musical SCHOOL OF ROCK has earned him his first Olivier Award nomination. It’s based on the 2003 film, starring Jack Black in the Dewey role as a faded rocker who takes a job teaching at a posh prep school and enters the precocious pre-teens in the local Battle of the Bands contest. Lord Webber bought the stage rights and wrote the musical score with lyrics by Glen Slater and the book by fellow Lord and DOWNTON ABBY author Julian Fellowes.

It premiered at The Winter Gardens on Broadway in the Autumn of 2015 before transferring to the New London theatre in the West End this year to rave reviews. David’s no stranger to TV viewers appearing in GAME OF THRONES, SHERLOCK, DOCTOR WHO, and SPOOKS among others. He joined the Hollywood set three years ago as the gay barman Brett in NBC’s sitcom UNDATABLE.

But he’s also done his fair share of stage work and has been a lifelong fan of Lord Andrew’s work, recalling his first taste of musical theatre was JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOUR DREAMCOAT at the age of ten. “Musical theatre has always been in me,” he recently said in an interview, “Nothing beats the rush of theatre,”…except maybe winning an Olivier, which he’ll find out this weekend.

Drawing: Ermonela Jaho in Madama Butterfly

Posted on April 3, 2017 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Albanian-Italian soprano Ermonela Jaho is the toast of the opera world this week after her opening performance in the title role of Puccini’s tragedy MADAMA BUTTERFLY at the Royal Opera House.

Critics from all the mainstream papers in the UK and beyond have cemented the 43 year-old’s star status. “The best Cio-Cio-San London has seen in years,” wrote Michael Church in the Independent. The Guardian’s Tim Ashley headlined his five-star review of the Moshe Leiser and Patrice Caurier production with “The whole evening is outstanding.” He went on to write,”Ermonela Jaho, one of the great verismo interpreters, brings uncompromising veracity to the title role.”

I left this drawing at the stage door and it came back signed along with a dedicated photograph.

Drawing: Milton Jones

Posted on March 29, 2017 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Milton Jones? “Oh that’s the bloke with the shirts and sticky-up hair,” most people would probably say, according to the man himself, a regular panallist on BBC Two’s MOCK THE WEEK and one of the UK’s stand-out stand-up comedians. Known for his one-liners involving puns delivered in a deadpan and slightly neurotic style, his loud shirts and wild hair… and his sublimely surreal takes on the world. “I was walking along the other day and on the road I saw a small dead baby ghost. Although, thinking about it, it might have been a handkerchief.”

MOCK THE WEEK can be a hard show to do. It’s always seven people trying to fit through a door for two he said in a recent interview. But his advantage is his style. “Yes I win. I do short bits. I get in, chuck a grenade and get out quickly.” It’s a style The Guardian acknowledged, “No one can touch Jones when he’s in his stride.”

He did a couple of nights at the Soho Theatre in London last week trying out new material for his next tour and signed my sketch with a two-liner.