Comedy is what we need right now, says Nicholas Hytner, who ran London’s National Theatre for a decade.
It’s fine to have heavy-lifting dramas by Ibsen or Schiller, but boy-oh-boy laughter is an increasingly uplifting necessity.
Which is where Guys & Dolls and James Corden, post his life on The Late Late Show, come in.
Hytner, partnered with longtime executive Nick Starr, now own and control London’s Bridge Theatre and is overseeing a fully immersive revival of the classic Broadway musical Guys & Dolls, choreographed by Dame Arlene Phillips (Strictly Come Dancing) and now in early previews.
It stars Daniel Mays as Nathan Detroit, Andrew Richardson (A Call to Spy) as Sky Masterson, Celinde Schoenmaker (Rocketman) as Sarah Brown and Marisha Wallace (Aladdin) as long-suffering Miss Adelaide. Cedric Neal plays Nicely-Nicely Johnson. Also in the cast are Jordan Castle,...
It’s fine to have heavy-lifting dramas by Ibsen or Schiller, but boy-oh-boy laughter is an increasingly uplifting necessity.
Which is where Guys & Dolls and James Corden, post his life on The Late Late Show, come in.
Hytner, partnered with longtime executive Nick Starr, now own and control London’s Bridge Theatre and is overseeing a fully immersive revival of the classic Broadway musical Guys & Dolls, choreographed by Dame Arlene Phillips (Strictly Come Dancing) and now in early previews.
It stars Daniel Mays as Nathan Detroit, Andrew Richardson (A Call to Spy) as Sky Masterson, Celinde Schoenmaker (Rocketman) as Sarah Brown and Marisha Wallace (Aladdin) as long-suffering Miss Adelaide. Cedric Neal plays Nicely-Nicely Johnson. Also in the cast are Jordan Castle,...
- 3/4/2023
- by Baz Bamigboye
- Deadline Film + TV
James Corden has reportedly signed on to star in Working Title’s Christmas comedy School for Santas.
The script will be penned by Richard Bean, the playwright behind 1960s English version of Carlo Goldoni’s comic classic ‘One Man,Two Guvnors’ transferred to the West End and Broadway, starring Corden.
The seasonal family movie, which reunites Corden with scriber Bean, follows a down-on-his luck dad who must embrace the Christmas spirit and discover his inner-Santa in order to win back his kids.
Corden said:
All my life I’ve wanted to make a big family Christmas movie…(it’s) a dream come true.
He added:
Re-teaming with Richard Bean and Kris Thykier is like all my Christmas’s have come at once. I can’t wait to start.
Thykier, who described School for Santas as a project ‘very close to my heart,’ also said:
To be able to work again...
The script will be penned by Richard Bean, the playwright behind 1960s English version of Carlo Goldoni’s comic classic ‘One Man,Two Guvnors’ transferred to the West End and Broadway, starring Corden.
The seasonal family movie, which reunites Corden with scriber Bean, follows a down-on-his luck dad who must embrace the Christmas spirit and discover his inner-Santa in order to win back his kids.
Corden said:
All my life I’ve wanted to make a big family Christmas movie…(it’s) a dream come true.
He added:
Re-teaming with Richard Bean and Kris Thykier is like all my Christmas’s have come at once. I can’t wait to start.
Thykier, who described School for Santas as a project ‘very close to my heart,’ also said:
To be able to work again...
- 11/21/2012
- by Nick Martin
- Filmofilia
The Tony Awards season is heating up. The Tony administration committee met today to decide eligibility for various categories: One Man, Two Guvnors will compete for best (new) play despite a push from its producers to be considered in the less-competitive revival category (the comedy is loosely based on Carlo Goldoni’s 1743 play Servant of Two Masters). James Earl Jones will be up for Lead Actor in a Play for Gore Vidal’s The Best Man. Ricky Martin will contend as Featured Actor in a Musical even though his name is above the title of Evita. And in a real head-scratcher,...
- 4/27/2012
- by Thom Geier
- EW.com - PopWatch
British actor James Corden is the toast of Broadway at the moment. The 33-year-old, got his start in Mike Leigh's "All Or Nothing" and in the stage and film versions of Alan Bennett's "The History Boys," and became a household name in the U.K. after co-writing and starring in the hit sitcom "Gavin and Stacey." He's had ups and downs since then: starring vehicle "Lesbian Vampire Killers" was savaged, and supporting turns in Hollywood pictures like "Gulliver's Travels" and "The Three Musketeers" never quite helped him cross over to the U.S.
But in the last year he's found virtually nothing but praise, thanks to his starring role in the play "One Man, Two Guvnors," a contemporary updating of Carlo Goldoni's "Servant of Two Masters," by playwright Richard Bean. The play, and Corden in particular, received rave reviews when it debuted last summer at the National Theatre in London,...
But in the last year he's found virtually nothing but praise, thanks to his starring role in the play "One Man, Two Guvnors," a contemporary updating of Carlo Goldoni's "Servant of Two Masters," by playwright Richard Bean. The play, and Corden in particular, received rave reviews when it debuted last summer at the National Theatre in London,...
- 4/20/2012
- by Oliver Lyttelton
- The Playlist
New York – Few theatergoing experiences are as joyously liberating as being part of a packed house roaring with laughter at low comedy. That shouldn’t imply any lack of genuine wit in the broad farce and bawdy humor of One Man, Two Guvnors, Richard Bean’s gut-busting update of the Carlo Goldoni commedia dell’arte nugget, The Servant of Two Masters. Striking an ingenious balance between meticulous planning and what plays like anarchic spontaneity, Nicholas Hytner’s production has been a deserved success in London. With virtuoso ringmaster James Corden on hand to juggle the demands of dual employment while wrapping the
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- 4/19/2012
- by David Rooney
- The Hollywood Reporter - Movie News
The National Theatre of Great Britain's acclaimed production of One Man, Two Guvnors begins previews on April 6 and the official opening is April 18, 2012 at the Music Box Theatre 239 West 45th Street on Broadway. One Man, Two Guvnors is a comedy by Richard Bean, based on Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters, with songs by Grant Olding, directed by Nicholas Hytner.The star of the show James Corden is featured in this months issue of Vogue Magazine, where he revealed Theres something really low, really vulgar, and really popular about this form of comedy. Its refreshing not having to be sophisticated.
- 3/21/2012
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
The National Theatre of Great Britain's acclaimed production of One Man, Two Guvnors begins previews on April 6 and the official opening is April 18, 2012 at the Music Box Theatre 239 West 45th Street on Broadway. One Man, Two Guvnors is a comedy by Richard Bean, based on Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters, with songs by Grant Olding, directed by Nicholas Hytner.
- 3/8/2012
- by BroadwayWorld TV
- BroadwayWorld.com
The National Theatre of Great Britain's acclaimed production of One Man, Two Guvnors begins previews on April 6 and the official opening is April 18, 2012 at the Music Box Theatre 239 West 45th Street on Broadway. One Man, Two Guvnors is a comedy by Richard Bean, based on Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters, with songs by Grant Olding, directed by Nicholas Hytner.Check out just-released production shots below...
- 2/23/2012
- by BWW News Desk
- BroadwayWorld.com
In the arts world Shakespeare stole the show (again) – but no one caught the eye quite like Dave St-Pierre's dance troupe
For British arts organisations, 2011 was without question a year of financial worry, cutting back and, in some cases, fighting for survival. But did that mean audiences were short-changed? Far from it: it was a year of striking ambition, excellence and often quite astonishing success.
The National Theatre was one of many to be hit with a 15% cut in money from Arts Council England, but what a year it had. It even managed to make up the financial shortfall because of the eye-spinning commercial success of War Horse, which transferred to London's West End and then Broadway.
It is on to another money-spinner with One Man, Two Guvnors, Richard Bean's laugh-out-loud adaptation of Carlo Goldoni's 18th-century play, which the Guardian's Michael Billington called "one of the funniest productions...
For British arts organisations, 2011 was without question a year of financial worry, cutting back and, in some cases, fighting for survival. But did that mean audiences were short-changed? Far from it: it was a year of striking ambition, excellence and often quite astonishing success.
The National Theatre was one of many to be hit with a 15% cut in money from Arts Council England, but what a year it had. It even managed to make up the financial shortfall because of the eye-spinning commercial success of War Horse, which transferred to London's West End and then Broadway.
It is on to another money-spinner with One Man, Two Guvnors, Richard Bean's laugh-out-loud adaptation of Carlo Goldoni's 18th-century play, which the Guardian's Michael Billington called "one of the funniest productions...
- 12/13/2011
- by Mark Brown
- The Guardian - Film News
Aardman's Arthur Christmas has joined a long list of UK-generated successes in the States
A large American man sits in a swivel chair, chewing the end of a fat cigar. He is, in this hackneyed scenario from the annals of entertainment, either a Broadway producer or a Hollywood mogul, and he is not happy with the work of his writers. "But how will it play in Peoria?" he asks, in the time-honoured phrase from vaudeville, urging them to broaden the appeal of their script to attract a mainstream audience.
Not any more. Powerful producers in both theatre and film are now seeking out work that is original, specific to a particular place and mood, and anything but bland. And British writers and directors are repeatedly coming up with the goods.
Last week saw fresh proof that the new way to succeed in the global entertainment market is to stick to your Limey creative guns.
A large American man sits in a swivel chair, chewing the end of a fat cigar. He is, in this hackneyed scenario from the annals of entertainment, either a Broadway producer or a Hollywood mogul, and he is not happy with the work of his writers. "But how will it play in Peoria?" he asks, in the time-honoured phrase from vaudeville, urging them to broaden the appeal of their script to attract a mainstream audience.
Not any more. Powerful producers in both theatre and film are now seeking out work that is original, specific to a particular place and mood, and anything but bland. And British writers and directors are repeatedly coming up with the goods.
Last week saw fresh proof that the new way to succeed in the global entertainment market is to stick to your Limey creative guns.
- 11/21/2011
- by Vanessa Thorpe
- The Guardian - Film News
James Corden is to make his second appearance on the Broadway stage. The Gavin and Stacey actor - who first tread the boards of New York's legendary theatre district playing Timms in The History Boys in 2007 - will reprise his role as hapless lead Francis Henshall in 'One Man, Two Guvnors' when the comedy transfers from The National Theatre to Broadway's Music Box Theatre on April 18. Written by Sir Nicolas Hytner and Richard Bean, the play is based on Carlo Goldoni's The Servant of Two Masters and had a sold-old run when it first opened at the National in...
- 11/16/2011
- Virgin Media - Celebrity
Admired actor with an instinctive presence and austere looks
One of the greatest performances in the history of film was given by Claude Laydu, in the title role of Robert Bresson's Journal d'un Curé de Campagne (Diary of a Country Priest, 1951). As a young, sickly priest unable to resolve the problems of his small parish, and assailed by self-doubt, Laydu, who has died aged 84, brought his own spirituality, instinctive presence and intense ascetic looks to the role. His portrayal prompted Jean Tulard to write in his Dictionary of Film that "no other actor deserves to go to heaven as much as Laydu".
This is even more remarkable given that Bresson declared that "Art is transformation. Acting can only get in the way", and that he called his actors "models" whom he trained to remove all traces of theatricality and to speak in a monotonic manner. Bresson chose the 23-year-old from among many candidates,...
One of the greatest performances in the history of film was given by Claude Laydu, in the title role of Robert Bresson's Journal d'un Curé de Campagne (Diary of a Country Priest, 1951). As a young, sickly priest unable to resolve the problems of his small parish, and assailed by self-doubt, Laydu, who has died aged 84, brought his own spirituality, instinctive presence and intense ascetic looks to the role. His portrayal prompted Jean Tulard to write in his Dictionary of Film that "no other actor deserves to go to heaven as much as Laydu".
This is even more remarkable given that Bresson declared that "Art is transformation. Acting can only get in the way", and that he called his actors "models" whom he trained to remove all traces of theatricality and to speak in a monotonic manner. Bresson chose the 23-year-old from among many candidates,...
- 8/11/2011
- by Ronald Bergan
- The Guardian - Film News
Artistic director Nicholas Hytner says only response to expected funding cuts is to be 'bullish in our programming'
A musical by the singer-songwriter Tori Amos, a new drama by Mike Leigh and Simon Russell Beale as Stalin are all part of a defiantly ambitious programme for the coming year at the National Theatre, with artistic director Nicholas Hytner declaring that the only response to expected funding cuts was to be "bullish in our programming".
Russell Beale's Stalin will be seen in a debut stage play by John Hodge, who wrote screenplays for Danny Boyle's early films, including Shallow Grave, A Life Less Ordinary and Trainspotting.
His script – about an imagined meeting between the author Mikhail Bulgakov and Stalin – was sent in to the National on spec; it is mere coincidence that his old collaborator Boyle's vision of Frankenstein opens at the theatre next month. Alex Jennings will play Bulgakov and Hytner directs.
A musical by the singer-songwriter Tori Amos, a new drama by Mike Leigh and Simon Russell Beale as Stalin are all part of a defiantly ambitious programme for the coming year at the National Theatre, with artistic director Nicholas Hytner declaring that the only response to expected funding cuts was to be "bullish in our programming".
Russell Beale's Stalin will be seen in a debut stage play by John Hodge, who wrote screenplays for Danny Boyle's early films, including Shallow Grave, A Life Less Ordinary and Trainspotting.
His script – about an imagined meeting between the author Mikhail Bulgakov and Stalin – was sent in to the National on spec; it is mere coincidence that his old collaborator Boyle's vision of Frankenstein opens at the theatre next month. Alex Jennings will play Bulgakov and Hytner directs.
- 1/27/2011
- by Charlotte Higgins
- The Guardian - Film News
Yale Repertory Theatre (James Bundy, Artistic Director; Victoria Nolan, Managing Director) is pleased to announce its 2009-10 Season, which will include Henrik Ibsen's The Master Builder directed by Obie Award winner Evan Yionoulis (Yale Rep's Richard II and Black Snow); Eclipsed, a new play by Danai Gurira, co-author of the acclaimed In the Continuum, directed by Liesl Tommy (the world premiere of The Good Negro); the world premiere of Compulsion by Rinne Groff directed by Oskar Eustis; Carlo Goldoni's commedia dell'arte masterpiece The Servant of Two Masters directed by Christopher Bayes (choreographer of the hit Broadway production of Alfred Hitchock's The 39 Steps); and Battle of Black and Dogs by Bernard-Marie Koltès directed by Robert Woodruff (co-adaptor and director of 2009's Notes from Underground at Yale Rep).
- 4/23/2009
- BroadwayWorld.com
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