Daniel Evans, Samantha Spiro, Adrian Lester and Clive Rowe are among the stars returning to work with the Donmar Warehouse as they join the festival celebrating the 80th birthday of American composer Stephen Sondheim.
The West End regulars will appear on stage at the Queen’s theatre in concert productions of two Sondheim musicals that have previously been staged at the Donmar, Company and Merrily We Roll Along.
Spiro and Evans, who both won Laurence Olivier Awards for their performances in Michael Grandage’s production of Merrily We Roll Along in 2000, return to the show for two concert performances on 31 October along with Anna Francolini and Julian Ovenden. Lester, who was also an Olivier winner for his performance in Sam Mendes’s production of Company in 1995, reunites with Rowe, Michael Simkins and Sophie Thompson for two concerts on 7 November.
Between them, the stellar cast has recent London stage credits in Hello, Dolly! (Spiro), Cat On A Hot Tin Roof (Lester), Marguerite (Ovenden), The Fantasticks (Rowe), The Female Of The Species (Thompson), Into The Woods (Francolini) and Chicago (Simkins).
The concert performances sit alongside the centrepiece of the Sondheim festival, a fully-staged production of Passion, starring Elena Roger, which plays at the Donmar Warehouse from 10 September.
Two discussion events at the Covent Garden venue complete the line up; in the first Grandage and Mendes talk about the Donmar’s long-lasting relationship with the composer, while the second sees Sondheim himself talk about his life and work.
Sondheim is the multi-award-winning composer whose work spans film and stage over six decades. His works, which have frequently been staged in London, include Sweeney Todd, A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum, Follies, A Little Night Music, Sunday In The Park With George, Assassins, Into The Woods and the lyrics for Gypsy and West Side Story.
CB