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It was flags and clackers a-go-go last night (08 September) at our much-anticipated Outing to spoof Eurovision musical Eurobeat at the Novello theatre.

Sticking closely to the format of the annual show, Eurobeat has enough cheesey songs, bad jokes, dodgy accents and even dodgier wigs to sate the hunger of even the most avid Eurovision fan. And to add to the fun our first 25 bookers collected a free ‘party pack’ - replete with horn, clacker and flag of their choice (Greece proved strangely popular!). The show was a predictably noisy affair, and when the text votes had been counted, the spandex-clad Russian boyband emerged victorious. (more…)

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Our long sold out Outing to Under the Blue Sky at the Duke of York’s theatre last night (21 August) was a huge success, with a complete cast turn out for the Q&A which was attended by almost all of our Theatregoers as well as a special guest, Catherine Tate’s mother.

Comprising of three interlinked stories, Under the Blue Sky follows three couples, all of whom teach at the same school, and all of whom have difficult and fractured relationships. Running at 90 minutes with no interval, our Theatregoers were able to make the most of a post show Question and Answer sessions, for which we were very happy to be joined by director Anna Mackmin, writer David Eldridge, and all six members of the cast - Chris O’Dowd, Lisa Dillon, Catherine Tate, Dominic Rowan, Francesca Annis and Nigel Lindsay. (more…)

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Our sell out Outing to see Connie Fisher and Alistair McGowan star in They’re Playing Our Song at the Menier Chocolate Factory last night (13 August) got off to a great start as all of our Theatregoers were treated to a free programme on arrival. With so many Thetregoers on the Outing, we took up the vast majority of the theatre, and with unassigned seating, it was a great chance for everyone to chat and get to know each other. Several people decided to arrive early and enjoy a meal in the Menier’s award winning restaurant.

They’re Playing Our Song tells the story of a love affair between lyricist Sonia Walsk and composer Vernon Gersch and mirrors the real life romance of Bayer Sager and Hamlisch who provide the book and lyrics for the musical. This is Connie Fisher’s first full stage role since leaving The Sound of Music in February. (more…)

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Last Monday night (4 August), over 100 Theatregoers joined Whatsonstage.com at the National Theatre for the world premiere of Michael Frayn’s new play, Afterlife in the Lyttleton theatre. Frayn is a British playwright and novelist who is best known as the author of such plays as Noises Off, Democracy and Copenhagen. His new play is directed by Michael Blakemore.

Afterlife is a dramatisation of the life of Max Reinhardt, a theatre and film director based in Austria at the begining of the Second World War whose ambition was to break down the boundary between theatre and the world it portrays. Each year at the Salzburg festival he directed the famous morality play, Everyman, until Hitler’s army began to interfear, leaving Reinhardt as vulnerable as the impoverished men he had overlooked before. (more…)

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On Tuesday night Whatsonstage.com was happy to return to the National Theatre with over one hundred Theatregoers to see Thomas Middleton’s bloody Jacobean play, The Revenger’s Tragedy. The production uses modern day dress and music to set off the extravagant, incestuous and bloody antics of those who dwell around the old lascivious old Duke and his sons.

With a boisterous start to the evening, our Theatregoers were plunged into a frenzy of Jacobean action from the comfort of their air conditioned Travelex seats. We were very pleased to greet all our Theatregoers in the beautiful surroundings of the National’s Olivier box office and to offer everyone a copy of our latest double issue magazine featuring all the latest news from across the West End. (more…)

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On Tuesday night (1 July 2008) Whatsonstage.com was joined by 180 Theatregoers at the Trafalgar Studios for a performance of Neil LaBute’s comedy Fat Pig. Starring Robert Webb, Ella Smith, Kris Marshall and Joanna Page, the play examines the relationship of a succesful city-boy with a plus-sized woman, focussing on issues of identity and notions of conventional beauty.

At the interval, all attendees had the chance to mull over the weighty issues as they enjoyed their complimentary drinks. And after the show, all the cast took part in a lively post-show discussion, chaired by Whatsonstage.com’s own Terri Paddock. Topics covered included the casts’ preconceptions of Neil LaBute, the decision not to set the play in the UK, and a somewhat heated exchange on the subject of accents. Check our news section later today for a transcription of the discussions… (more…)

On Monday 23 June 2008 Whatsonstage.com hosted an Outing to see the English National Opera’s sparkling production of Leonard Bernstein’s Candide at the London Coliseum. Based on Voltaire’s satirical masterpiece, Candide follows the journey of a young man as he meets all of the world’s violence and hatred with an immense optimism, installed in him by his childhood tutor.

ENO’s co-production features a company and orchestra of over 100, including Toby Spence, Anna Christy, Marnie Breckenridge, Alex Jennings and Beverley Klein. Members of the Whatsonstage.com team were present in the luxurious surroundings of the London Coliseum’s foyer to greet Theatregoers and give out tickets, as well as free programmes and vouchers for a free drink in one of the theatre’s bars.

We were lucky enough to be present for the first night of previews for Candide, and we all wish it all success with the rest of its run. Why not be among the first to add a user review of the show? Click here to tell us what you think of the show.

Thanks to everyone who joined us last night. We have several other very exciting Outings coming up, click here to see full details.

Also, thanks to the staff at the London Coliseum and ENO.

Kate Jackson (Content Manager)

On Wednesday night 150 Theatregoers attended our sell out Outing to see Peter Hall’s acclaimed production of Pygmalion at the Old Vic Theatre in Waterloo. The production of George Bernard Shaw’s 1916 classic started life with a highly successful, Whatsonstage.com Award winning run at the Theatre Royal, Bath last year.

 Original stars Michelle Dockery and Tim Pigott-Smith star as Henry Higgins and Eliza Doolittle. All of our Theatregoers were given a free programme as they settled down to watch the classic rags to riches tale of a cockney flower girl transformed into a society duchess by a phonetics teacher. The cast also features James Laurenson (as Colonel Pickering), Una Stubbs (Mrs Pearce), Tony Haygarth (Alfred Doolittle) and Barbara Jefford (Mrs Higgins). During the interval Whatsonstage.com Theatregoers claimed their free drink in the Old Vic’s sumptuous Pit Bar. (more…)

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On Tuesday night (27 May 2008) Whatsonstage.com was joined by over 120 Theatregoers at the Duke of York’s Theatre in London’s West End for the most anticipated new play of the year, 21-year-old Polly Stenham’s That Face.

The first 25 people to book for the Outing were happy to learn that they had won a That Face posters signed by the cast. All of our Theatregoers were quick to settle into their top price seats to watch the funny, emotional and often thought provoking play that deals with alcohol abuse and relationships within a family in meltdown. (more…)

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Last night 150 Whatsonstage.com theatregoers saw the outstanding Vanessa Redgrave performing the one-woman show The Year of Magical Thinking at the NT Lyttelton (which was also the venue for the March outing to Never So Good).

Based on the book by Joan Didion, the play tells of her struggles to come to terms with the death of John Gregory Dunne, her husband of 39 years, who died in 2003. This was followed just two years later by the death of their daughter from acute pancreatitis. The stage adaptation of The Year of Magical Thinking premiered in March 2007 at Broadway’s Booth Theatre, where it ran for five months and earned Redgrave a Best Actress nomination at last year’s Tony Awards. (more…)