With Marjorie Prime currently running at the company’s home base in South London and Funny Girl on Broadway, the Menier Chocolate Factory today announces forthcoming programming for 2023. The venue, which has long been synonymous with musical theatre, returns to its roots with a season comprised of three musicals – two world premières of The Third Man and Close Up – The Twiggy Musical; and continuing its long association with the work of Stephen Sondheim, the season ends with Pacific Overtures.
Trevor Nunn returns to the Menier Chocolate Factory to direct The Third Man, with music by George Fenton, book by Christopher Hampton and lyrics by Don Black. The production, which opens the season was originally developed by Vereinigte Bühnen Wien Gmbh (VBW) in Vienna – Franz Patay, CEO and Christian Struppeck, Artistic Director Musical – and is staged with the kind permission of STUDIOCANAL and GRAHAM GREENE PRODUCTIONS LTD. Priority booking for Chocolate Factory members opens 24 April, with public booking opening on 2 May.
This is followed by Close Up – The Twiggy Musical – which tells the story a skinny kid from Neasden who became an international sensation. Written and directed by Ben Elton, this brand-new musical opens in September.
Completing the season is the Menier and Umeda Arts Theater’s co-production of Stephen Sondheim and John Weidman’s Pacific Overtures – directed by Matthew White – which opened earlier this year at the Nissay Theatre in Tokyo. The musical, which was significantly revised by both Sondheim and Weidman in 2017, will be seen here in the UK for the time in this version. This continues the venue’s history of Sondheim collaborations, which also sees the company’s production of Merrily We Roll Along open on Broadway later this year.
Booking information for Close Up – The Twiggy Musical and Pacific Overtures will be announced in due course.
Artistic Director of the Menier Chocolate Factory, David Babani, said today, “Musical theatre is at the heart of what we do at the Menier, and not having been able to stage a musical for the last 3 years, we’re thrilled to announce a season of 3 back-to-back musicals – comprising two world premières; and a reinvention of Sondheim’s Pacific Overtures. We’ve had the immense privilege to stage many Sondheim works on our stage, so it’s wonderful to collaborate with Umeda Arts Theater and bring his unique voice back to our theatre. We look forward to welcoming Trevor Nunn back to helm The Third Man – a brand new musical by George Fenton, Christopher Hampton and Don Black – for the first time since the Olivier Award-winning Fiddler on the Roof; and also, to collaborate with Twiggy and Ben Elton for the first time with Close Up – The Twiggy Musical.”
