Sketch: Emma Hatton, Natalie Andreou and Savannah Stevenson in Wicked

Posted on February 19, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Wicked, the musical phenomenon has been seen by more than 44 million people in 13 countries. It premiered in the West End at London’s Apollo Victoria on 27 September 2006 and has been running there ever since. It was the first full production outside the US.

My wife and I received prime stall tickets to review the show from Official Theatre and Seat Plan, which coincided with Emma Hatton’s elevation to the lead Elphaba, the Wicked Witch of the West. She joined the cast from We Will Rock You in late 2013 as the standby Elphaba, but due to a back injury sustained by lead Willemijn Verkaik, Emma performed the role more frequently. She temporarily became the lead in July 2014, performing her 100th show at the Apollo on 3 September and this month her lead role was made permanent. It’s fair to say she was familiar with the part.

The other lead, Glinda The Good was played by the sensational Savannah Stevenson who’s been living in ‘the bubble’ since July 2013, replacing lead Gina Beck in November that year. As it turned out Emma wasn’t Elphaba the night we saw it. Having drawn her, I did think she looked a bit different, but to misquote a famous muppet amphibian, “it’s not easy recognising people when they’re green.” Which witch was which?

Natalie Andreou, the standby Elphaba, also joined the show this month from the the jukebox musical Rock of Ages. It was a memorable performance, Defying Gravity especially, the big number to end the first half, was impressive, but when she belted out No Good Deed in the second, the audience responded with thunderous applause.

We waited at the stage door and Savannah came out armed with her own sharpie. In the show she’s blonde, in real life she’s not, so waiting fans had to ask who she was. “I get that all the time,” she said. She happily signed my sketch and I said, “It must take Emma a lot longer to remove the green make up”. She concurred and then told me it was Natalie doing the part. I didn’t have a sketch of Natalie. So I left the sketch of Emma and Savannah at the theatre, went home and did one of Natalie as Sherrie in Rock, and her most recent role as Snow White at the Opera House in Mancherster over the festive season and posted it. Both came back signed…. so here they are…. I got to see Wicked for free and witches three!

Drawing: Ruth Wilson and Jake Gyllenhaal in Constellations on Broadway

Posted on February 18, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Jake Gyllenhaal and Ruth Wilson both made their Broadway debuts in English playwright Nick Payne’s two-hander CONSTELLATIONS at the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre last month. Playing star-crossed lovers Roland and Marianne, they received rave reviews from both critics and the audience. “Short, sweet and strangely haunting”, said Variety. It called the hour long performance a “baby bombshell”- single set, two characters, sparce scenery, killer acting!

The story of a young couple who break through the boundaries of the time/space continuum to explore the infinite possibilites of their love, CONSTELLATIONS premiered at London’s Royal Court Theatre in early 2012. As a result of strong reviews it subsequently transferred to the Duke of Yorks in the West End.

Both Jake and Ruth received Golden Globe nominations this year, with Ruth winning for her role as Alison Bailey in the new TV drama THE AFFAIR. Jake has picked up a haul of awards and nominations, including BAFTA and the Screen Actors Guild nods for his performance in the neo-noir crime thriller NIGHTCRAWLER.

Ruth has signed a couple of my drawings at West End productions so I sent this simple portrait sketch based on the plays poster to Ruth at the Theatre and both she and Jake kindly signed it for me.

Drawing: Glenn Close in A Delicate Balance on Broadway

Posted on February 17, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Acclaimed for her versatility and widely regarded as one of the finest actresses of her generation, Glenn Close returned to the Broadway Stage after a twenty year hiatus in Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance at New York City’s John Golden Theatre.

Glenn’s last outing on the Great White Way won her third Tony for playing silent screen star Norma Desmond in Sunset Boulevard. In spite of an extraordinary film and television career, theatre was where she began and remains her first love.

Glenn top lines a lustrous cast with John Lithgow as the complacent heads of a family who lose their composure when faced to confront and undefined terror that has stricken their best friends. Her “meaty role” as Agnes is the “witty, self-described harridan”.

Apart from winning three Tonys, Glenn tied the record for being the actress with the most Oscar nominations never to have won. The six time nominee has, however, collected three Emmys (14 noms) two Golden Globes (14 noms) and a SAG award (8 noms). She has also been nominated three times for a Grammy and once for a BAFTA.

The limited 18 week season ends on 22 February 2015.

Drawing: Dakota Johnson in Fifty shades of a 4B pencil

Posted on February 16, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Dakota Johnson and I have one thing in common. We use pencils. That’s where the similarity ends. BDSM for me means Bad Drawing and Sketching Materials (as you’ll learn about later).

On the day of the Fifty Shades of Grey UK premiere at the Odeon in London’s Leicester Square the studio shared a new film still of Dakota’s character, writer Ana Steele, provocatively pressing a pencil to her lips. It’s a very long pencil with ‘Grey Enterprises’ printed on it. The simple, subtle, but suggestive pose is a good deal more innocent than other images they could have released.

So I took my trusty Pilot super grip clutch pencil with its 4B lead and did this quick sketch, rolled up at the premiere, standing amongst mostly female fans of the book, screaming for “Jamie, Jamie!” (The Grey guy in the film) who didn’t walk the line, signing for the throng. Dakota, however, did. I put the sketch out and she happily signed it “Good job…. nice” using a thick, blue felt pen marker.

The sketch proved too hot, however, for the two sheets of plastic corflute I sandwiched it between to protect it from damage and the weather ‘melting’ the ‘graphite content’ and leaving a lineal imprint of my lead with the corrugated lines through Dakota’s face.

Sketch: Nicole Scherzinger in Cats at the London Palladium

Posted on February 14, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Nicole Prescovia Elikolani Valieute or Nicole Scherzinger for short, made her West End debut as Grizabella last December in the revival of the musical Cats at the London Pallidium. The former Pussycat Dolls lead singer received critical acclaim for her 12 week run which ended in early February.

A recording of her rendition of the aching ballad Memory (which is available online) premiered on BBC Radio 2 this week, where Andrew Lloyd Webber said it was, “the best recording of anything of my music ever done.” He also told listeners that they are taking the show to Broadway. “I just hope and pray that she will agree to do it there as I think she’d take America by storm.”

The extended West End run sees Kerry Ellis replace Nicole as the lonely, fading glamoupuss until 25 April 2015.

Drawing: Francesca Hayward, Ballerina

Posted on February 13, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Is Francesca Hayward the next great British ballerina? At the age of 22 she is a soloist at the Royal Ballet, and she is already fast-tracked into principal roles. Her repertory includes Manon, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Swan Lake, Giselle, Don Quixote and The Nutcracker.

Judith Mackrell in the Guardian said, “the self possession and technical command of her performances have fired enormous interest among critics, bloggers and fans and ignited hopes that she may become that elusive thing, the next great British ballerina.”

Francesca began dancing at the age of three and joined the Royal Ballet School seven years later, winning Young British Dancer of the Year in 2010, along with both Silver Prizes and the Audience Choice Award at the Genée International Ballet Competition that same year.

Sketch: Jerry Hall in Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs

Posted on February 12, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

On of the world’s leading models for five decades with her trademark height and long blonde hair, Jerry Hall took on the role of the Wicked Queen in Richmond Theatre’s traditional festive pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs last year.

“I hope to get a good booing then I know I’ll be doing it right,” said Jerry. Making her panto debut at 58, Jerry said she did it because of her fond memories of going to watch panto with ex-hubby Mick Jagger and their four children.

“Christmas was such a big thing, but now they’re getting older I can do it. Mick and I always had a tradition of taking the children to see the pantomime at Richmond Theatre,” she said. They had a friendly divorce in 1999 and Sir Mick spent Christmas with her and the children. Luckily she got Christmas day off!

Sketch: Aaron Tveit in Assassins at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Posted on February 11, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

American actor and singer Aaron Tveit has just completed his run as John Wilkes Booth, the stage actor who assassinated US President Abraham Lincoln in Stephen Sondheim’s contentious musical Assassins at the Menier Chocolate Factory in London.

This razor sharp revival of the Tony award-winning production is a revue style portrayal of the nine men and women who attempted, successfully or not, to assassinate Presidents of the United States, and is directly Jamie Lloyd.

In 2012 Aaron played Enjolras, leader of the student revolutionary group in the film adaption of Les Miserables. He performed with the cast at the 85th Academy Awards the following year. He also stars as undercover FBI Special Agent Mike Warren in the USA Network series Graceland which premiered in the summer of 2013.

I managed to catch up with Aaron as he whizzed past me after his penultimate performance at last Saturday’s matinee. Obviously when fleeing the theatre after killling the most powerful man in the world, one does not linger… but he did long enough to sign my sketch of him in character and engage in a brief chat about his future work.

The show without Aaron finishes on the 7 March 2015.

Sketch: Maxine Peake in Hamlet

Posted on February 10, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Manchester’s Royal Exchange Theatre’s gender-bending 2014 production of Hamlet featuring the impressive Maxine Peake in the title role will be hitting the big screen soon.

Filmed over three nights, the sell out radical re-imagining of the Bard’s number one work will hit an estimate 200 cinemas in the UK next month.

The demand for tickets was so great, that the season was extended and became the theatre’s fastest selling show in a decade with over 75.000 people seeing it. Maxine can also currently be seen in the award-winning Stephen Hawking biopic The Theory of Everything.

“Peake’s gender ambiguous portrayal fascinatingly amplifies that element of the text,” The New Statesman’s Mark Lawson said.

Maxine is the Associate Artist at the Royal Exchange – a venue she has been with since her childhood and was a member of its Youth Theatre. Maxine is also a familiar face to small screen viewers. She was nominated for a BAFTA for her roles in the BBC One’s The Village and Handcock and Joan and also starred in the legal drama Silk, Shameless and as Myra Hindley in See No Evil.

I waited at the Royal Court Theatre stage door on a chilly Friday evening last week to meet Maxine in person, after a performance of How To Hold Your Breath. It was worth the wait. Maxine was a really nice person and kindly signed and dedicated my sketch. I asked her if she will be staging Hamlet in London. She said “nobody wants it. ” I’m sure that will change…

Sketch: James McAvoy in The Ruling Class at Trafalgar Studios

Posted on February 9, 2015 by Mark Winter / Chicane

BAFTA wining actor James McAvoy returns to London’s Trafalgar Studios in the madcap revival of Peter Barne’s zany 1968 black comedy The Ruling Class, directed by Jamie Lloyd. It closes the second season of ‘Trafalgar Transformed’ at the Whitehall venue.

It’s an attack on the establishment in all its forms – aristocracy, public school, the church, the military. James plays Jack, the 14th Earl of Gurney and the dodgy offspring of a toff who inherits a peerage when his father topped himself while playing a sex-hanging game in a tutu.

Jack is a paranoid schizophrenic who believes he is Jesus Christ after an epiphany at a public urinal in East Acton.

“How do you know you are God?” he is asked.

“Simple” he replies. “When I pray to him, I find I am talking to myself.”

However, the mock messiah’s family scheme against him so he has to prove some sanity to keep the inheritance, fitting in with his peers to become the “right sort of mad”.

The Guardian’s Susannah Clapp describes James’ performance as “eel-like protean, with a mephistophelean charm” (note to readers, Mephistopheles was a demon in German folklore). “He’s just fascinating, brilliantly weird,” said Time Out.

The Ruling Class runs until 11 April 2015.