While spring feels so very far away, in the New York and London theater world it's just around the corner with headliners like Carey Mulligan, Elizabeth Moss, Tyne Daly and Imelda Staunton returning to the stage for lavish new productions of Gypsy, King and I, Wolf Hall and The Audience.
In New York, the talk of the town has been sales for Larry David's Fish in the Dark that's already a record-breaker despite not even opening until March 15th. Helen Mirren will reprise her West End role in The Audience starting March 8th, with the play also coming back to London in May starring Kristen Scott Thomas. Starlight features Gatsby's Carey Mulligan in a moody saga of two rejoined lovers while Finding Neverland brings Mathew Morrison back to Broadway with Kelsey Grammar in a revamp of the hit movie. Wolf Hall proves Henry VIII can still knock your head off, even in two parts, while Lincoln Center mounts one of its most ambitious revivals since South Pacific with King and I staring Kelli O'Hara and Ken Wantanabe. Also look for director John Doyle (Sweeney Todd, Company) to work wonders with The Visit staring Chita Rivera as the revenge-seeking millionaire.
In London, James McAvoy dominates in Ruling Class at the Trafalgar in a play that tackles Brit aristocratic struggles through mid-April. Homeland's Damien Lewis brings the greed and disloyalty of David Mamet's American Buffalo to the West End in early April in a cast that includes John Goodman and Tom Sturridge. For something a bit lighter, Cole Porter's High Society gets a makeover by director Maria Friedman at the The Old Vic while Noel Coward's Hay Fever also gets a reprise later in April. The Nether explores the unknown of 2050 in a dramatic thriller that could be the hit of the spring season in London's West End assuming that Imelda Staunton doesn't steal the show in Gypsy. And in May, the season's blockbuster opening arrives with Bend it like Beckham that hopes to become the season's next Billy Elliot - and hopefully not Viva Forever!
