What’s Up Wilma? Cats, Gypsy and more news from the West End

Well hello dears!

I’m well and truly back in the swing of West End life after my trip to New York; I’ve barely stopped this week! I presented an award at the London Cabaret Awards at Café de Paris, which was delightful.

I also saw an advanced screening of the new film, The Last Five Years, based on Jason Robert Brown’s much loved musical. It was a great production and managed to add layers to the show that haven’t previously been possible to do in the stage version.

This week it was announced that Cats the Musical will play a six-week summer at the Blackpool Opera House from 9 July, after a successful limited engagement at the London Palladium, which will close on 25 April. Casting for the Blackpool run is still to be confirmed.

The camp classic musical, Priscilla Queen of the Desert (based on the 1994 film about three drag queens who travel across Australia) will tour the UK again later this year, starting in Manchester in August and touring venues around the country until the end of January 2016. The show only recently toured the UK last year starring Jason Donovan but it set to make an explosive return.

The Menier Chocolate Factory has announced they will stage Alan Ayckbourn’s play Communicating Doors from 13 May. The show tells the story of a dominatrix woman who walks through a hotel door and finds herself 20 years in the past. Buyer and Cellar, starring Ugly Betty’s Michael Urie, opened last weekend at the Chocolate Factory and will play until 2 May, when Communicating Doors will start.

Stephen Sondheim’s musical Gypsy, starring Imelda Staunton, opens on 28 March at the Savoy Theatre after announcing the Chichester Festival production would transfer in to the West End. On Twitter this week, a picture of the cast in the recording studios revealed that a London Cast Album is being recorded and will be released in due course.

The new stage adaptation of the film Bend It Like Beckham have released a new video of them performing the show’s opening song UB2. The show will play at the Phoenix Theatre from 15 May and has just extended its booking period to 24 October 2015. The show tells the story of a football crazy girl who wants to follow in the footsteps of her idol David Beckham, but is deterred by her traditional Indian family.

This week I’m off to see Maggie Thatcher Queen of Soho at the Leicester Square Theatre, which looks and sounds hilarious! Plus I’m off to see Ugly Betty star Michael Urie, in Buyer and Seller at the Menier Chocolate Factory.

Until next week dear, stay stagey!

Love W xxx

Find me at www.westendwilma.com, @westendwilma, Facebook and Instagram.com/westendwilma.