Cameron Mackintosh‘s first original musical production in over a decade, Betty Blue Eyes opened at the Novello Theatre on 13 April 2011 (previews from 19 March) starring Reece Shearsmith as chiropodist Gilbert Chilvers.

Based on the Alan Bennett-penned film A Private Function the musical is set against the backdrop of the 1947 royal wedding and a northern English town who decided to illegally raise a pig for a celebratory feast.

Shearsmith appears alongside Sarah Lancashire, David Bamber, Jack Edwards, Ann Emery, Mark Meadows and Adrian Scarborough.

Best known for his work with The League of Gentlemen – alongside Mark Gatiss, Steve Pemberton and Jeremy Dyson – Shearsmith has made frequent television appearances.

His stage credits include playing Leo Bloom in the 2006 West End production of The Producers and a stint in the lead role in Dyson and Andy Nyman’s Ghost Stories at the Duke of York’s Theatre.

Betty Blue Eyes, which has music and lyrics by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe and a book by American writing duo Ron Cowen and Daniel Lipman, will play its final performance on 24 September 2011 after a six-month run.

This review first appeared in the Edinburgh Evening News.

Bristol Revunions: National Friends, Just The Tonic @GRV, Guthrie Street ***

NOTHING strikes more dread into to the heart of a festival-goer than the words “student sketch comedy”. So it shows admirable self-awareness that this year’s offering from Fringe regulars Bristol Revunions begins with an appearance from the fictional university comedy troupe Bantertrain. The contrived eccentricities and tiresome in-jokes are recreated with precision.

But not for too long. For this is a comedy outfit more competent than most. Cod accents and silly costumes are ditched in favour of intelligent ideas: from the challenges of washing your hands – think crouching tiger, hidden hand-dryer – to an equestrian cross-examination in court.

Too many of the scenes elicit admiration from the audience rather than laughter. But there are a couple of gems, one involving a sales team in a Sellotape shop and an inspired monologue about a geography exam. The latter is reminiscent of the slick witty wordplay of Ronnie Barker and one of the best sketches you will find in Edinburgh this August.

With a bit more comic consistency the Bristol Revunions could have a hit on their hands.

Run ends 28 August

Lee Mead joined the cast of the Whatsonstage.com and Olivier Award-winning musical Legally Blonde on 20 June 2011, taking over as Emmett Forrest from Alex Gaumond who originated the role in the West End.

Having come to prominence winning the BBC’s reality casting show, Any Dream Will Do, Mead took the lead in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the Adelphi Theatre from 2007 to early 2009.

Following a short run in touring drama Lord Arthur Savile’s Crime, he joined the London company of Wicked playing Fiyero opposite Rachel Tucker and Louise Dearman - a role for which he was Whatsonstage.com Award nominated.

Mead appears in Legally Blonde alongside new Elle Woods Carley Stenson, Natalie Caseyas Paulette, Carley Stenson as Margot, Simon Thomas as Warner, Tamara Hall as Brooke,Ellie Kirk as Margot, Nicola Brazil as Serena, Siobhan Dillon as Vivienne and Peter Davison as Professor Callahan.

It was recently announced that the musical is taking bookings at the West End’s Savoy Theatre until 27 October 2012.

Screen-to-stage blockbuster Ghost The Musical opens at the West End’s Piccadilly Theatre tomorrow night (19 July 2011, previews from 24 June).

The show stars Richard Fleeshman as murdered New York banker Sam – the role iconically portrayed by Patrick Swayze in the motion picture – alongside Caissie Levy as haunted girlfriend Molly.

Screenwriter Bruce Joel Rubin has adapted his Oscar-winning 1990 screenplay for the show’s book, while music and lyrics are by the Eurythmics’ Dave Stewart and Grammy Award winner Glen Ballard.

The production, which comes to London following a seven-week tryout in Manchester, is directed by Matthew Warchus. It also stars Sharon D Clark as phoney psychic Oda Mae, the role for which Whoopi Goldberg won an Academy Award.

Whatsonstage.com’s Joseph Pike speaks to Richard Fleeshman - most recently seen in the West End taking over from Duncan James as Warner in Legally Blonde - about the role.

Lend Me a Tenor, the operatic farce by Peter Sham and Brad Carroll based on Ken Ludwig‘s 1986 West End play, opened on 15 June (previews from 2 June 2011) at the Gielgud Theatre, starring TV presenter and actor Matthew Kelly.

Kelly appears alongside Michael Matus, Joanna Riding, Damian Humbley, Cassidy Jansonand Sophie-Louise Dann in the production, which brings Lend Me a Tenor back to the Gielgud – Ludwig’s play premiered at the venue in 1986 when it was called the Globe. The musical is currently booking for a limited season through to 19 November 2011.

Matthew Kelly‘s recent theatre credits include playing Pozzo in Waiting for Godot alongsideIan McKellen and Roger Rees at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and on international tour,Comedians for the Lyric Hammersmith, George in Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at Trafalgar Studios and Troilus and Cressida at Shakespeare’s Globe.

He also appeared in the Theatre Royal Plymouth try-out run of Lend Me a Tenor, played King Arthur in Monty Python musical Spamalot and was seen in the West End production ofTim Firth’s Sign of the Times at the Duchess Theatre. He won the Olivier Award for Best Actor for Birmingham Rep’s production of Of Mice and Men which transferred to the West End and subsequently re-opened the Old Vic.

Having previously enjoyed try-out success at the Theatre Royal Plymouth – including a Whatsonstage.com Award nomination - Lend Me a Tenor  is packed full of classic farce, mistaken identity, double entendres and innuendo.

Here Whatsonstage.com’s Joseph Pike talks to Kelly, who stars as Lend Me A Tenor‘s neurotic impresario Henry Saunders.

Andrew Lloyd Webber‘s new production of The Wizard of Ozopened on 1 March 2011 (previews from 7 February) starring the winner of the BBC’s Over the Rainbow search for Dorothy,Danielle Hope.

Hope appears alongside Michael Crawford as the Wizard, withHannah Waddingham, Edward Baker-Duly, David Ganly, Emily Tierney and Paul Keating.

The production is helmed by the same creative team behind Lloyd Webber’s Whatsonstage.com Award-winning revival of The Sound of Music with direction from Jeremy Sams, design by Robert Jones and choreography by Arlene Phillips.

Whatsonstage.com’s Joseph Pike talks to 19-year-old Hope, who moved from Urmston in Greater Manchester for the role last year, and to undertake an intensive training period at the Arts Educational school in Chiswick.

Jon Lee began his career at 12 in the title role of Cameron Mackintosh’s 1994 revival of Oliver! at the London Palladium alongside Jonathan Pryce. Trained at Sylvia Young Theatre school he then joined pop group S Club 7 and for five years enjoyed number 1 hits in charts around the world. The band were also given their own TV show which ran for 4 seasons and was shown in 110 countries.

Nominated for the 2004 Whatsonstage.com Award for Best Take Over in a role for his performance as Marius in the West End production of Les Miserables, Lee’s recent theatre credits have included Teen Screamat the Edinburgh Festival, the UK tour of Love Shack and Tomorrow Morning at the Landor Theatre.

Joseph Pike talks to Lee about joining the cast of Olivier and Whatsonstage.com Award-winning musical Jersey Boys as Frankie Valli, alternating in the role with Ryan Molloy who enters his fourth year at the Prince Edward Theatre.