As you can see we have been working hard on getting the site back up and running and also on ensuring that we have the best possible forum technology. I hope we have chosen well. This software seems to do all that everyone wants and lot lot more. Your feedback on what works and what doesn’t is very much appreciated, as are your comments, thus far, about the software.

Our aim over the coming months is to develop much more of the community side of the site and we would encourage you to take full advantage of what is built here. Personal favourites are the gallery and the calendar where you can put pics of performances you have been in or dates of shows you are going to be in. We would really encourage this as our aim is to get as many people going to as many different shows as possible. We’ll also be using the calendar to let you know about important Whatsonstage.com dates and events.

One of the things we are very conscious of is that our site tends to be quite London centric. Though we do have a good mix of regional reviewers, it is not always possible to stay on top of the buzz and the news aways from London so one thing we are very keen to encourage is regional participation. What’s going on in Leeds and Manchester, Hull, Glasgow and Cardiff, do tell us via the blogs and the boards.

That’s all for now. See you soon.

David

Who wants to follow a star? Once it was considered madness to take over a leading role on which an Olivier or Ashcroft had left their unique imprint. Now, however, we have seen an astonishing cultural shift. The West End is positively bulging with shows that prove there is no longer a stigma to going in second or third. Think of Stephen Moore  in The History Boys.

Or Simon Russell Beale in Spamalot. Or Emma Fielding and David Calder in Rock ‘N’ Roll. Felicity Kendal has even had the courage to reprise a role associated with Judi Dench in Amy’s View. This is not merely a major turnaround. I think there is sometimes a positive advantage to assuming a role that another actor has created.

My own fascination with takeovers goes back to my youth. As a student, I came tripping down from Oxford to see My Fair Lady at Drury Lane. Rex Harrison and Julie Andrews had long gone to be replaced by Alec Clunes and Anne Rogers. But any sense of second-best was instantly dispelled by the magisterial, silver-haired Clunes. He possessed one of the most mellifluous voices on the English stage; and the moment when he bid Eliza remember that “your native language is the language of Shakespeare, Milton and the Bible” stays with me still. Of course, I saw Harrison in the movie; but, for all his irascibility, he was no match for Clunes in terms of vocal beauty or cardiganed elegance.

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