tour

LES MISÉRABLES | London, Sondheim Theatre

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Cameron Mackintosh announced today that Killian Donnelly will return to Les Misérables as Jean Valjean in the critically acclaimed production at the Sondheim Theatre from Tuesday 31 October 2023, for 15 weeks only.  Due to sudden family reasons, Josh Piterman, who is currently playing the role, will return home to Australia. His final performances will take place on Saturday 21 October 2023.

Killian Donnelly returns to the role, having previously played Jean Valjean to critical acclaim in both the original West End production and the sell-out UK and Ireland tour of Les Misérables. This will be his first time playing the role in the new London production at the Sondheim Theatre.  His other theatre credits include the role of ‘The Phantom’ in The Phantom of the Opera at His Majesty’s Theatre.

First staged in 2009, the 25th anniversary production of Les Misérables was co-directed by Laurence Connor and James Powell, with designs by Matt Kinley, based on the original 1985 production. Following a successful UK and Ireland tour, producer Cameron Mackintosh moved the 25th anniversary production into the West End in 2019, replacing the original 1985 production. At the time, the original 1985 creative team of directors Sir Trevor Nunn and John Caird, plus designer John Napier, expressed their feelings of “profound” unhappiness and betrayal: “Everywhere it is being advertised [as] a new production. It is not a new production.” Nunn and Caird are both credited on the 25th anniversary production as “adaptation”.

Boublil and Schönberg’s magnificent iconic score of Les Misérables includes the classic songs: “I Dreamed a Dream”; “On My Own”; “Stars”; “Bring Him Home”; “Do You Hear the People Sing?”; “One Day More”; “Empty Chairs at Empty Tables”; “Master Of The House”; and many more.  Several of its songs have become real life anthems of revolution, wherever in the world people are fighting for their freedom. Seen by over 120 million people worldwide in 53 countries and in 22 languages, Les Misérables is undisputedly one of the world’s most popular and contemporary musicals.

Killian Donnelly plays Jean Valjean at the Sondheim Theatre from Tuesday 31 October 2023, for 15 weeks only.

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TORUK: THE FIRST FLIGHT | London, O2 Arena

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Cirque du Soleil’s 2015 arena spectacular, based on James Cameron’s Avatar (2009), is coming to London. Still the highest-grossing film of all time at $2.8 billion, Avatar is about how, on the planet Pandora, a local tribe of Na’vi become endangered by the expansion of a mining colony. This contemporary circus show is a sort of prequel, set thousands of years before the events of the film.

In Avatar, Jake Sully becomes the sixth person to successfully ride a great leonopteryx, also known as a toruk: any rider is then named Toruk Makto. But who was the first Toruk Makto? Set around 837 BC, the show follows the journey of Entu, the first Na’vi to become a Toruk Makto, in order to save the Tree of Souls from being destroyed by a volcano.

Cirque du Soleil are globally renowned as the greatest circus on earth, and audiences can expect plenty of jaw-dropping acrobatic stunts. However, this differs from most Cirque du Soleil shows in that there is a narrative core. The show also has a large focus on puppetry, animating the wild and diverse creatures of Pandora: viperwolves, direhorses, austrapedes and turtapedes. The leonopteryx/toruk flies using reverse-string puppetry, with the puppeteer beneath the creature.

Toruk also features multimedia audience interaction, where audience members use a mobile app to to influence visual effects and interactive content during the performance. It’s Cirque du Soleil pushing their art to the limits: no wonder this has been such a global hit show for the last four years. Book now!

Take flight with the ancient Na’vi in London for seven performances only, 26 — 30 June 2019.

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DITA VON TEESE | Monaco, Opéra Garnier

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46-year-old Dita Von Teese is the Queen of Burlesque; a household name known for the epitome of glamour and voluptuousness.

The American icon is currently touring internationally, hitting up such iconic venues as the sumptuously decorated Opéra Garnier of the Monte Carlo casino in Monaco, and the London Palladium.

Although known as a pioneer of Neo-Burlesque in the 1990s, Von Teese’s routines are highly influenced by the glamour of the 1930s and 1940s, including her showstopping signature act, featuring Von Teese bathing and splashing in a giant martini glass.

Performing alongside Dita (with her astonishing array of couture) are other bright stars from the world of Burlesque, including some seductive boylesque performers, guaranteeing pleasure for everyone.

Dita Von Teese is performing in Monaco for one night only, on 20 October 2018.

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