Stage Door News
Stage Door News
Cineplex Events today announced the return of its popular Event Cinema Stage Series with a range of acclaimed performances from the stage of historic theatres around the world. Captured or broadcast live, the fall line-up of the Stage Series begins on September 20 through to the end of the year, running on 67 screens at Cineplex theatres in communities large and small across Canada.
This fall, theatre-lovers are invited to experience the National Theatre Live’s critically-acclaimed production of King Lear. Broadcast live from London’s West End, the classic Shakespearean tragedy stars veteran stage and screen actor Sir Ian McKellen as the titular character who attempts to divide his kingdom between his three daughters with disastrous consequences. Returning to the role of King Lear for the second time in his career, the Tony and Olivier Award-winning actor received widespread praise for his performance during the production’s five star sell-out run at the Chichester Festival Theatre.
“Sir Ian McKellen is a titan of Shakespearean theatre and a legendary stage actor,” said Brad LaDouceur, Vice President, Event Cinema, Cineplex. “The Stage Series gives movie-goers who are familiar with his blockbuster roles the opportunity to see a whole new side of him on the big screen in their local theatre.”
Following King Lear, additional notable productions in this year’s line-up include:
•The return of the Oscar Wilde Series’ production of An Ideal Husband
•National Theatre Live’s Julie, starring The Crown’s Vanessa Kirby
•National Theatre Live’s The Madness of King George, starring Sherlock co-creator and actor Mark Gatiss;
•National Theatre Live presents Alan Bennett’s latest play Allelujah!;
•From London’s West End, the revival of the 1964 Broadway hit musical Funny Girl;
•The final performance and audience favourite in the Oscar Wilde Series, The Importance of Being Earnest;
•The 2017 breakout musical Everybody's Talking About Jamie;
•National Theatre Live presents the Shakespearean tragedy Antony and Cleopatra, starring Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo;
•2010 Tony Award-winning play Red starring Alred Molina;
•The West End staging of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s musical The King and I starring Kelli O’Hara and Ken Watanabe;
•Award-winning playwright David Hare’s I'm Not Running; and
•An encore presentation of Frankenstein, starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Johnny Lee Miller directed by Danny Boyle.
For participating locations, showtimes and tickets, visit Cineplex.com/Events. Sign up for Cineplex Events' monthly newsletter to receive previews to upcoming Events Cinema programming, exclusive interviews, contests and more.
CINEPLEX EVENTS STAGE SERIES LINE-UP – FALL 2018
AN AMERICAN IN PARIS: THE MUSICAL (Captured live)
★★★★★ “Christopher Wheeldon’s superb show is a riot of colour and movement, with irresistible dance routines and a wealth of Gershwin classics.” – The Guardian
Directed by Christopher Wheeldon
Starring Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope
Called a “TRIUMPH!” by The New York Times, this musical extravaganza about love, hope and living your dreams has taken the West End by storm. With gorgeous Gershwin tunes (including the classic hits ‘S Wonderful and I Got Rhythm), stunning designs and show-stopping choreography, this breathtakingly beautiful new musical is inspired by the Oscar-winning MGM film and tells the impassioned story of an American GI discovering art, friendship and love in the ‘City of Light’ in 1945.
KING LEAR – NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE (Broadcast live)
Beginning September 27, 2018
★★★★★ “Ian McKellen adds to the roster of his greatest achievements with this extraordinarily moving portrayal of King Lear.” – Independent
Directed by Jonathan Munby
Starring Ian McKellen
Jonathan Munby directs this contemporary retelling of Shakespeare’s tender, violent, moving and shocking play. Considered by many to be the greatest tragedy ever written, King Lear sees two aging fathers – one a King, one his courtier – reject the children who truly love them. Their blindness unleashes a tornado of pitiless ambition and treachery, as family and state are plunged into a violent power struggle with bitter ends.
AN IDEAL HUSBAND – VAUDEVILLE THEATRE (Captured live)
★★★★ “Watching it now, in a revival by Jonathan Church that’s quite the best thing so far in the year-long Wilde festival at the Vaudeville.” – The Telegraph
Directed by Jonathan Church
Starring Edward and Freddie Fox and Frances Barber
The Rolls Royce of British comedies, Oscar Wilde’s An Ideal Husband centres on a scandal at the heart of British politics. Ambitious government minister Sir Robert Chiltern’s smooth ascent to the top seems assured until Mrs. Cheveley appears in London with damning proof of his dishonest past and financial deception.
JULIE – NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE (Captured live)
★★★★ “Packs an emotional punch. Vanessa Kirby is magnetic as Julie.” - The Mail on Sunday
Directed by Carrie Cracknell
Starring Vanessa Kirby and Eric Kofi Abrefa
BAFTA nominee Vanessa Kirby (The Crown, NT Live: A Streetcar Named Desire) and Eric Kofi Abrefa (The Amen Corner) star in this updated version of August Strindberg’s classic play, Miss Julie. Wild and newly single, Julie throws a late night party. In the kitchen, Jean and Kristina clean up as the celebration heaves above them. Crossing the threshold, Julie initiates a power game with Jean, which rapidly descends into a savage fight for survival.
FRANKENSTEIN – NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE (Captured Live)
Beginning October 21, 2018
★★★★ “As a piece of staging, it is brilliant.” – The Guardian
Directed by Danny Boyle
Starring Benedict Cumberbatch and Jonny Lee Miller
It’s alive! Marking the 200th anniversary of Mary Shelley’s most famous novel, the stage adaptation of Frankenstein makes its way back to theatres this Halloween. Captured live at the National Theatre in 2011, Academy Award-winner Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, 127 Hours) directs Olivier Award-winning actors Benedict Cumberbatch (Sherlock, Hamlet) and Jonny Lee Miller (Elementary, Dexter), who alternate their roles as the Creature and Victor Frankenstein.
ALLELUJAH! – NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE (Captured live)
Beginning November 1, 2018
★★★★ “This is a sharp, funny, subversively political play…” – The Guardian
Written by Alan Bennett
Directed by Nicholas Hytner
Starring Samuel Barnett, Sam Bond and Jacqueline Chan
In the newest play from Alan Bennett (Talking Heads, The Madness of King George), the Beth, an old fashioned cradle-to-grave hospital serving a town on the edge of the Pennines, is threatened with closure as part of an NHS efficiency drive. Meanwhile, a documentary crew eager to capture its fight for survival follows the daily struggle to find beds on the Dusty Springfield Geriatric Ward and the triumphs of the old people’s choir.
FUNNY GIRL (Captured live)
Beginning October 24, 2018
★★★★ “Her (Sheridan Smith) scenes with Darius Campbell’s Arnstein - worryingly handsome and a foot taller than Smith - are virtuoso displays of emotional complexity.” – The Telegraph
Directed by Michael Mayer
Starring Sheridan Smith and Darius Campbell
In this revival of the 1964 Broadway hit musical, Funny Girl tells the semi-biographical story of Broadway star, film actress and comedienne Fanny Brice and her stormy relationship with entrepreneur and gambler Nick Arnstein.
THE IMPORTANCE OF BEING EARNEST – VAUDEVILLE THEATRE (Captured live)
★★★★★ “Unforgettable, life-enhancing, and with an edge of surprise.” – WhatsOnStage
Directed by Michael Fentiman
Starring Sophie Thompson, Stella Gonet and Jeremy Swift
A stunning production of one of the funniest plays in English, Oscar Wilde’s The Importance of Being Earnest throws love, logic and language into the air to make one of theatre’s most dazzling firework displays.
RED – WYNDHAM’S THEATRE (Captured live)
Beginning November 10, 2018
★★★★ “It’s a joy to have this modern classic back, splendidly played, and finally reaching the wider audience it was denied – through dint of its Broadway-transferring success – last time round.” – The Telegraph
Written by John Logan
Directed by Michael Grandage
Starring Alfred Molina and Alfred Enoch
Winner of the 2010 Tony Award for Best Play, Red, stars Alfred Molina (Frida, Spider-Man 2) as artist Mark Rothko at the height of his career in the 1950s. Viewed through the lens of his youthful new assistant, Ken, we witness Rothko at the pinnacle of his creativity, but struggling through the creation of a series of large paintings, commissioned as a series intended to feature in New York’s brand new Four Seasons Restaurant.
EVERYBODY’S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE – THE APOLLO THEATRE (Captured live)
Beginning November 15, 2018
★★★★★ “It’s no wonder that everybody’s talking about Jamie. This show is irresistible: a joyous, life-affirming Billy Elliot for an age struggling with the fluidities of gender identity.” – Independent
Directed by Jonathan Butterell
Starring Tom MacRae
Nominated for five Olivier awards, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie is the 2017 hit musical about a 16-year-old boy who dreams of becoming a drag queen. Jamie New is sixteen and lives on a council estate in Sheffield. Jamie doesn’t quite fit in. Jamie is terrified about the future. Jamie is going to be a sensation. Supported by his brilliant loving mum and surrounded by his friends, Jamie overcomes prejudice, beats the bullies and steps out of the darkness, into the spotlight.
THE KING AND I – LONDON PALLADIUM (Captured live)
Beginning November 29, 2018
★★★★★ “Kelli O’Hara does not just play Anna, she owns the part.” – The Times
Directed by Bartlet Sher
Starring Kelli O’Hara and Ken Watanabe
Directed by Tony Award-winner Bartlett Sher, Rodgers and Hammerstein’s classic musical The King and I tells the story of the unconventional and tempestuous relationship that develops between the King of Siam and Anna Leonowens, a British schoolteacher.
ANTONY AND CLEOPATRA – NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE (Captured live)
Directed by Simon Godwin
Starring Ralph Fiennes and Sophie Okonedo
Tony Award-winner Sophie Okonedo (A Raisin in the Sun, The Crucible) joins Academy Award nominee Ralph Fiennes (The English Patient, Hamlet) in Shakespeare’s classic Antony and Cleopatra. With Caesar and his assassins dead, General Mark Antony now rules alongside his fellow defenders of Rome. But at the fringes of a war-torn empire, the Egyptian Queen Cleopatra and Mark Antony have fallen fiercely in love.
THE MADNESS OF GEORGE III – NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE (Captured live)
Beginning December 20, 2018
Directed by Adam Penford
Starring Mark Gatiss and Adrian Scarborough
Multi-award-winning drama The Madness of George III will be National Theatre Live’s first-ever broadcast from Nottingham Playhouse. Written by one of Britain’s best-loved playwrights, Alan Bennett (The History Boys, The Lady in the Van), this epic play was also adapted into a BAFTA Award-winning film following its premiere on stage in 1991. It’s 1786 and King George III is the most powerful man in the world. But his behaviour is becoming increasingly erratic as he succumbs to fits of lunacy. With the King’s mind unravelling at a dramatic pace, ambitious politicians and the scheming Prince of Wales threaten to undermine the power of the Crown and expose the fine line between a King and a man.
I’M NOT RUNNING – NATIONAL THEATRE LIVE (Captured live)
Beginning February 15, 2018
Written by David Hare
Directed by Neil Armfield
Starring Sian Brooke, Alex Hassell and Joshua McGuire
Pauline Gibson has spent her life as a doctor and the inspiring leader of a local health campaign. When she crosses paths with her old boyfriend, Jack Gould, a stalwart loyalist in Labour Party politics, she’s faced with an agonizing decision.
Photo: Ian McKellan as King Lear. ©2018 Johan Persson.
2018-09-10
Toronto: Cineplex Events announces its Stage Series fall line-up