Drawing: Kenneth Branagh as King Lear

Posted on March 4, 2024 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Kenneth Branagh as King Lear at the Wyndham's Theatre on London's West End

After an eight year hiatus, Sir Kenneth Branagh returned to the West End boards last autumn with his reduced (two hours with no interval), radically youthful KING LEAR, set in a harsh, neolithic Britain at Wyndham’s Theatre for a limited run of 50 performances. It will transfer later this year to The Shed off-Broadway.

Regarded as ‘the actor’s Everest’, Ken both directed and starred in the titular role amongst a cast of mostly recent Royal Academy of Dramatic Art graduates – his own alma mater. Until last month he was also RADA’s president after succeeding the late Richard, Lord Attenborough in 2015. His appearance was described by one Guardian critic as having a “luxuriant bouffant and possibly the most follicularly blessed Lear since Laurence Olivier”, who first played the mythological monarch at the age of 39.

Ken actually portrayed his idol and fellow theatrical knight, Sir Larry in the 2011 film MY WEEK WITH MARILYN, for which he received one of his eight Oscar nominations. He was the first individual to be nominated in seven different categories, winning in 2022 for his original screenplay and ‘most personal project’ BELFAST, the coming-of-age feature film, based on his formative years in the Northern Irish capital during the beginning of ‘the Troubles’ in 1969. He was also nominated for Best Picture and Best Director. Ken has won five BAFTA Awards from 13 nominations, two Emmys and a Golden Globe. At the recent Screen Actors Guild Awards, he accepted the SAG statue on behalf of the acting ensemble of Christopher Nolan’s OPPENHEIMER for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture. His role is the Nobel-winning Danish physicist and J. Robert Oppenheimer’s idol, Niels Bohr.

After missing him at the Wyndham’s stage door, I dropped my LEAR sketch into Ken’s London office late last year, which he kindly returned, signed along with a dedicated copy of the BELFAST poster.

Drawing: Gabriel Vick in Mrs Doubtfire The Musical

Posted on February 12, 2024 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Gabriel Vick in Mrs Doubtfire: The Musical at Shaftesbury Theatre on London's West End

The musical adaption of the hilarious and heartfelt 1993 film MRS DOUBTFIRE, starring Robin Williams as the titular nanny, opened its West End run last spring at the Shaftesbury Theatre. Directed by four-time Tony winner Jerry Zaks, with original music by the Kirkpatrick brothers, Wayne and Karey, written by satirist John O’Farrell, and featuring Gabriel Vick as both Daniel Hillard and Euphegenia Doubtfire.

Gabriel’s comedic and chameleonic performance has received rave reviews from critics and audiences alike. A graduate of the Royal Academy of Music, his London stage appearances include the original cast of AVENUE Q at the Noel Coward Theatre, SCROOGE at the London Palladium and CHARIOTS OF FIRE at the Gielgud Theatre.

He plays the out-of-work voice actor Daniel who will do anything for his kids. After losing custody in a messy divorce, he creates the alter ego, a Scottish nanny in a desperate attempt to stay in their lives.

“Multi-talented, hyperactive Gabriel Vick in the lead goes the extra mile, and then some,” wrote the Telegraph’s Dominic Cavendish, in this “sure-fire hit, my dears”. As one audience member posted online, “Shout out to Gabriel Vick, he really would’ve made Robin proud. Smashed it!”

This “cross-dressing comedy soars from screen to stage,” wrote Rachel Halliburton in her four-star Times review.

And, listen up poppets… the run has been extended until February 2025, so no reason to miss it.

Gabriel kindly signed my quick sketch last Saturday between shows at the Shaftesbury stage door.

Drawing: The Motive and the Cue

Posted on February 5, 2024 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Johnny Flynn, Mark Gatiss, Tuppence Middleton in The Motive and the Cue at the Noel Coward Theatre on London's West End

After a sell-out season at the National Theatre last spring, THE MOTIVE AND THE CUE, Jack Thorne’s latest, critically acclaimed fierce and funny play directed by Sam Mendes, described by many critics as ‘a love letter to theatre’, transferred to the Noel Coward Theatre in London’s West End in December, running until 23 March.

Winner of the Best New Play at the Evening Standard Theatre Awards, it centres on the 1964 experimental, modern-dress Broadway production of Shakespeare’s HAMLET starring Richard Burton, the most famous actor in the world at the time, newly married to Elizabeth Taylor, directed by theatre royalty, Sir John Gielgud. Burton,”still smoking hot from his big-screen romance with Taylor in CLEOPATRA, was looking to solidify his street cred as a serious actor after a few Hollywood duds. Gielgud’s motivation was a little less obvious, as gradually became clear to the rest of the cast and crew”.

As rehearsals progress, two ages of theatre collide, as the collaboration soon threatens to unravel. It was a difficult production with Burton behaving badly because he didn’t get the direction from Gielgud he felt he required… or perhaps he got more direction than expected. The two, who were prior friends, couldn’t work out how their HAMLET might work. For Gielgud, the play mattered a great deal, having played the role more than 300 times, over forty-plus years of playing Shakespearean roles.

Jack Thorne was inspired by two first-hand accounts of the politics of the rehearsal room and the relationship between art and celebrity. William Redfern, a cast member, who played Guildenstern, wrote a series of letters to his friend Bob Mills, which were eventually published as ‘Letters From An Actor’ and Richard L. Sterne’s ‘John Gielgud Directs Richard Burton In Hamlet’. The title comes from HAMLET’s “O, what a rogue and peasant slave” speech. As Gielgud explained, the motive is Hamlet’s reason for a given act, the cue is the passion behind that act.

The three leads, Johnny Flynn as Burton, Mark Gatsis as Gielgud and Tuppence Middleton as Taylor reprised their roles for the West End run and kindly signed my quick sketch at the stage door a couple of weeks ago.

Drawing: Harry Styles

Posted on October 9, 2023 by Mark Winter / Chicane

When Harry met Mark

Back in 2014, while heading home from central London on a chilly December evening, I was enticed – like a moth to the flame – by the deviation of the flashing bulbs at a gathering near the London Coliseum, where the paparazzi were photographing exits from the British Fashion Awards. While standing next to them, basking in the warming glow, a then 20 year-old Harry Styles appeared and momentarily had to wait for his car. We briefly chatted and he was happy to write something in my Rymans pad and sign it while the paps continued flashing. His car arrived a couple of minutes later and he drove off into the night. I drew a quick separate sketch later – here’s the combo. In the meantime, Harry has gone on to do quite well for himself.

Drawing: Carlos Alcaraz

Posted on June 28, 2023 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of tennis player Carlos Alcaraz at Queen's Club

Carlos Alcaraz won his first title on grass and regained the world number one ranking with an impressive victory over Alex de Minaur in the Queen’s Club final on Sunday. His 6-4 6-4 triumph means he moves above Novak Djokovic and will be the top men’s seed at Wimbledon, which starts on 3 July.

The 20 year-old Spaniard, who was playing only his third grass-court tournament, has won five titles this season. The US Open champion will now set his sights on a Queen’s-Wimbledon double.

However, he needed a final-set tie-break in his first round match to escape with a narrow victory against French qualifier Arthur Rinderknech, before surging to the title without losing a set for the rest of the week. I met him at the players’ entrance after that opening match, where he kindly signed my sketch.

Drawing: Yuja Wang

Posted on March 6, 2023 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of classical pianist Yuja Wang

Critical superlatives and audience ovations have continuously followed superstar Yuja Wang’s dazzling career. The Beijing-born classical pianist, celebrated for her charismatic artistry and captivating stage presence, and her “combination of technical ease, colouristic range and sheer power has always been remarkable… but these days there is an ever-greater depth to her musicianship, drawing you into the world of each composer with compelling immediacy”, raved the Financial Times.

Born into a family of artists, Yuja began playing the piano at the age of six and was quickly recognised as an exceptional talent, attending the Curtis Institute of Music in Philadelphia at 15.

Her international breakthrough came in 2007 when she replaced Martha Argerich as soloist with the Boston Symphony Orchestra. Two years later, she signed an exclusive contract with Deutsche Grammophon and has since established her place among the world’s leading artists with a succession of critically acclaimed performances and recordings with an inquisitive approach to the repertoire which ranges from Mozart to Gershwin. In 2017 she was named Musical America’s Artist of the Year.

Last April, Yuja returned to London’s Royal Festival Hall, dedicating her recital to the memory of the great Romanian pianist Radu Lupu, who died three years earlier. In his Guardian review, Andrew Clements wrote that it was a “flamboyant, brilliantly virtuosic performance, where everything was technically dazzling, every detail crisp and perfectly articulated, with chords exactly weighted and precisely placed… Wang’s play is irresistible.”

Yuja signed and dedicated my sketch after her Festival Hall concert.

Drawing: Chloe Rice and Natasha Roland in ‘And Then The Rodeo Burned Down’

Posted on February 27, 2023 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Natasha Roland and Chloe Rice in 'And Then the Rodeo Burned Down' at London's King's Head Theatre

One of the jewels in London’s theatrical crown is the intimate King’s Head Theatre in the borough of Islington. The back room behind the bar at the King’s Head pub, previously used for a boxing ring and pool hall, became the first pub theatre since Shakespearean times. The site has been occupied by a public house since 1543 with the current building dating back to the 1800’s.

This tiny performing venue was founded by Dan Crawford in 1970 and is the oldest operating pub theatre in the UK, winning multiple awards with numerous productions transferring to mainstream West End and Broadway stages. It has launched the careers of many notable artists, including Ben Kingsley and Alan Rickman.

A gem of a show had a limited run earlier this month, the intelligent and inventive two-hander, AND THEN THE RODEO BURNED DOWN, written and performed by the longstanding New York-based double act, Chloe Rice and Natasha Roland. Originally staged for a single week at last year’s Edinburgh Fringe Festival, this ‘vaudeville thriller’ and ‘queer cowboy Waiting for Godot’ (The Scotsman) was extended after picking up rave reviews and the winning the coveted Fringe First Award, resulting in a sell-out run. The small King’s Head stage was configured in the round with a large lone star on the floor, ready for what their website described as a “thrilling hour of clowning, physical theatre and comedy as two rodeo performers trapped in a time-loop, try and figure out why anyone would want to burn down ‘the best place in the world’, as they race against time to capture the culprit and put out the metaphorical fires and save the show.”

Two rodeo clowns-or rather, one rodeo clown and his rodeo clown shadow jockey for independence in an endearing story of ambition and self-awareness, delving into the wild west and the swaggering cowboy culture, power structures and even theatre costs when you’re “pigeonholed, lassoed by life and barely getting by,” wrote Chris Wiegand in his Guardian review. “Rice and Roland have a fantastic rapport and are equally captivating in a series of cleverly constructed, perspective- shifting encounters. They also step out of character to reflect on their own yarn and the obstacles faced by artists of minimal means-the rodeo suggesting a gilded showbiz arena not all can enter,” he said.

“From the moment the lights come up, as Dolly Parton’s ‘9-5’ starts, the audience is along for a devastating, heartwarming and surprising ride,” said ‘The Skinny’s’ critic, Rho Chung.

“Angelo Sagnelli’s inventive lighting adds a nice texture… the company of three have accomplished a truly unique piece of theatre.”

The King’s Head theatre staff kindly allowed me to slip behind the bar and into ‘the ring’, where Chloe and Natasha were warming up for their evening performance near the end of their run in early February. We had an very enjoyable chat while they signed my sketch.

Drawing: Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker in ‘Plaza Suite’

Posted on February 14, 2023 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of Matthew Broderick and Sarah Jessica Parker in Plaza Suite on Broadway

The mail at the moment is about as reliable as the weather with strikes and cyber attacks, but I did receive a very pleasant surprise in the post last week when a small line sketch I did and sent a year ago to Matthew Broderick and his wife Sarah Jessica Parker when they featured in the Broadway revival of Neil Simon’s PLAZA SUITE came back signed and dedicated.

The production, which was delayed by over a year due to the Covid Pandemic and temporaily paused while both leads has respective bouts of the bug, opened last February at the Hudson Theater and extended its run to replace the lost performances, finishing on 10 July. This was the first revival of a Neil Simon play following his passing at the age of 91 in 2018.

It originally opened on Broadway at the Plymouth Theater on Valentine’s Day 1968 with George C.Scott and Maureen Stapleton, running for 1097 performances, directed by Mike Nichol, who won the Tony Award for Best Direction.The play, in three acts, is set in Suite 719 of New York’s iconic Plaza Hotel in Midtown Manhatten. Matthew and Sarah play three wildly divergent couples across three vignettes-the first, Sam and Karen Nash revisiting their honeymoon suite to rekindle their love on their 23rd anniversary, only to end in a raging argument when Karen accuses Sam of having an affair with his secretary. The second set of couples, Jesse Kiplinger, a Hollywood movie producer catches up with his old flame, Murial Tate with only one thing in mind and the final act sees parents Ray and Norma Hubley on their daughter, Mimsey’s wedding day, who has locked herself in the bathroom in a state of nervousness, refusing to attend her wedding downstairs.

This was the first time Matthew and Sarah had worked together in 20 years, since both appearing in the final weeks of the 1996 revival of HOW TO SUCCEED IN BUSINESS WITHOUT REALLY TRYING. Their performances were well received by both audiences and critics alike. In his Variety review, Daniel D’Addario writes, “Neil Simon’s look at three romantic couples facing down the passage of time is sharp and knowing… thank goodness for Sarah Jessica Parker and Matthew Broderick, the real-life married couple bring a serious commitment to the spirit of the work, allowing their own personas to throw some meta-textual sparks without overtaking the spirit of Simon. As directed by John Benjamin Hickey, Parker and Broderick provoke, alienate and woo one another, and provide a strong argument for a playwright whose work seems next-to-impossible to subvert.”

Drawing: Tommy Emmanuel

Posted on February 6, 2023 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of guitarist Tommy Emmanuel

Australian-born guitar wizard, Tommy Emmanuel has never had any formal music training, but his natural ability, intrinsic sense of rhythm and charisma has led him to be regarded as the one of the greatest acoustic guitar players of all time. Eric Clapton said he is “the greatest guitar player I ever saw”. The 67 year-old received his first guitar at the age of four. He learned to play the instrument by accompanying his mother and by six he was working professionally with the touring family band. He remembers at that age hearing ‘Mr Guitar’ Chet Atkins play on the radio, which inspired him to become a musician. He wrote fan letters to the American legend and Chet wrote back, encouraging him to visit him in Nashville. He did just that one day in 1980. In 1997 they recorded a Grammy-nominated album, ‘The Dy Finger Pickers Took Over The World, when Chet was 73 years old. “That was a huge highlight of my career,” Tommy recalls. Chet called him one of just a handful of ‘Certified Guitar Players’. Tommy now has the initials CGP embossed on the neck of his guitars.

Fascinated by Chet Atkins musical style, Tommy is known for playing bass lines, chords, melodies and harmonies simultaneously using the thumb and fingers of the right hand. complex fingering technique, energetic performances and the use of percussive effects of the instrument, tapping the guitar’s sound box with his right hand. Electric guitar virtuoso Steve Vai described Tommy as, “Imagine Chet Atkins with the testosterone of Eddie Van Halen.” His acoustic sound is alternately melodic and fiery, bringing energy and drive of rock to a good part of his playing with complex finger arrangements, most often using a thumb pick to accentuate the bass notes or to add heavy strummed chords at select points in his songs. One of my favourites is his rendition of Mason Williams ‘Classical Gas’ – check it out on YouTube. As a solo performer he never plays to a set list and uses a minimum of effects on stage. He usually completes studio recordings in one take. While he primarily plays instrumentals, Tommy does sing the occasional song, joking that it’s “a good way for me to clear the room.”

He has played Aussie-made Maton guitars for most of his career.

After the Covid-19 pandemic hiatus, Tommy eventually made it back to London, playing the Royal Festival Hall in February 2022, where he kindly signed my sketch for me.

Drawing: Dave Grusin

Posted on January 30, 2023 by Mark Winter / Chicane

Autographed drawing of composer Dave Grusin

One of my favourite and frequently viewed films is Sydney Pollack’s meticulously directed 1975 political thriller THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR, featuring Robert Redford, Faye Dunaway, Cliff Robertson, John Houseman and Max von Sydow. And one of the many reasons for its favouritism is the wonderful musical score by the great and prolific legendary American jazz pianist and composer Dave Grusin. It’s considered to be one of the best and most memorable spy film soundtracks of the 1970’s. Described as ‘jazzy with an R&B funk infusion, characterised by a haunting mellow jazz with heavy strings and a smooth saxophone lead.

It’s one of Dave’s many great scores, included in nearly 100 movie titles, including THE GRADUATE (1967), HEAVEN CAN WAIT (1979), THE CHAMP (1980), ON GOLDEN POND (1982), THE FABULOUS BAKER BOYS (1990), HAVANA (1991), THE FIRM (1994) and countless TV productions such as COLUMBO, BARETTA, ST ELSEWHERE, and THE WILD,WILD WEST. During the 15-year period between 1979-1994 Dave received eight Academy Award nominations, winning the Oscar for Best Original Score for THE MILAGRO BEANFIELD WAR in 1989. He has been nominated for the Grammy Award 38 times, winning ten and has also received two BAFTA, two Primetime Emmys and four Golden Globe Award nominations.

He was the subject of a feature-length documentary DAVE GRUSIN: NOT ENOUGH TIME in 2018 and a person high on my list to meet and have a drawing signed. I planned to post a letter and drawing to him, but then discovered that he was a frequent performer at Ronnie Scott’s in London with one of his regular collaborators, guitarist Lee Ritenour. My timing of this revelation was less than impressive. He and Lee had just finished a four-day gig at the iconic Soho jazz club. He was, however, scheduled to return the following year, but due to the Covid pandemic and resulting lockdowns that was cancelled. Eventually he did return in July this year and I finally got to meet him, get my sketch signed and tell him in person how much I loved his work, especially the THREE DAYS OF THE CONDOR score.