Regent's Park Open Air Theatre - 2017 season announced
Season preview
REGENT’S Park Open Air Theatre has announced its 2017 season and as well as the previously announced Jesus Christ Superstar, it includes the musical On The Town and Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities and Oliver Twist, the latter specially created for everyone aged six and over.
The season opens with the musical On The Town (May 19 to July 1) directed and choreographed by Drew McOnie. With music by Leonard Bernstein and book and lyrics by Betty Comden and Adolph Green, including the hit song New York, New York, On The Town will be the biggest dance musical ever staged at the Open Air Theatre.
Drew McOnie scored a hit with his choreography for Jesus Christ Superstar in 2016 and, in addition to In The Heights for which he won the Olivier Award as Best Theatre Choreographer, he has also choreographed Jekyll and Hyde and The Lorax (Old Vic), Bugsy Malone (Lyric Hammersmith) and Hairspray and Chicago (Curve, Leicester).
He is currently directing and choreographing Strictly Ballroom at West Yorkshire Playhouse.
Bringing two of Charles Dickens’s most popular stories out in the open, Dickens Uncovered celebrates the greatest storyteller of London life.
Timothy Sheader directs A Tale of Two Cities (July 7 to August 8), a new play by Matthew Dunster adapted from the original novel by Charles Dickens.
It was the best of times, it was the worst of times; it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness; it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair; we had everything before us, we had nothing before us. Sound familiar? How much more do those in power think Europe’s poor can take? When will the people take to the streets of the cities and roar enough is enough?
Timothy Sheader’s previous plays at the Open Air Theatre include To Kill a Mockingbird, Lord of the Flies and the Olivier Award-nominated Peter Pan.
As a writer, Dunster’s work includes Children’s Children (Almeida Theatre), You Can See The Hills (Royal Exchange/Young Vic) and an adaptation of Saturday Night Sunday Morning (Royal Exchange, Manchester). He has also previously directed A Midsummer Nights’ Dream and The Seagull at the Open Air Theatre.
The theatre has previously had great success with its Shakespeare plays ‘re-imagined for everyone aged six and over’ and, developing this programme of work made especially for families, Caroline Byrne directs Oliver Twist (July 17 to August 5). Adapted by Anya Reiss from the novel by Charles Dickens, it will play daytime performances alongside A Tale of Two Cities.
Anya Reiss, winner of the Evening Standard Award for Most Promising Playwright in 2010, has previously adapted Spring Awakening (Headlong), Uncle Vanya (St James Theatre), Three Sisters and The Seagull (Southwark Playhouse), and was a core writer on EastEnders (2013-2016).
Caroline Byrne was formerly Associate Director at The Gate Theatre and is currently an Education Associate Practitioner at the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her previous directing credits include The Taming of the Shrew (Shakespeare’s Globe), Parallel Macbeth (Young Vic), Old Vic New Voices Festival (Old Vic), Eclipsed (Gate Theatre – nominated for Best Production and Ensemble Off West End 2015) and Shakespeare in a Suitcase (co-directed with Tim Crouch for the RSC).
2017 marks the bicentennial of Jane Austen, and Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s sell-out production of Pride and Prejudice, directed by Deborah Bruce, continues its UK tour through to the end of February.
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre Memberships are on sale now and priority booking for Members will open at 11am on November 22. Visit www.openairtheatre.com/membership for more information. Public booking opens at 11am on December 15.
Image: Jesus Christ Superstar at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Photo by David Jensen.