Odds and Ends: West End’s Shaftesbury Theatre to Be Renamed for Judi Dench, Lin-Manuel Miranda Pens a New Moana Song and More

Here's a quick roundup of stories you might have missed.

Nothin' Like a Dame
I wasn’t gonna drink tonight… but the West End’s Shaftesbury Theatre is being renamed after Dame Judi Dench! The 91-year-old acting legend is a founding member of the Theatre of Comedy, a collective of writers and actors who had part shares in the Shaftesbury Theatre. The venue is now owned by the Taffner family, whose company produced the long-running sitcom As Time Goes By, which Dench starred in for nine seasons. Dench is the recipient of an Oscar, Tony and Olivier Award, among other honors. Her illustrious resume includes Shakespeare in Love, Notes on a Scandal, Chocolat and eight James Bond films.

Lin-Manuel Moana
The live-action adaptation of Disney’s animated hit Moana is set to hit theaters on July 10. Hamilton maverick Lin-Manuel Miranda will supply a new song entitled “Along the Way,” which will be performed by Auli'i Cravalho, Dwayne Johnson and the film’s star, Catherine Laga'aia. Cravalho voiced the title character in Moana’s animated iteration and its 2024 sequel. Johnson plays demigod Maui in both the animated films and the forthcoming live-action release. Miranda wrote the original songs for Moana, earning an Oscar nomination in 2017 for the song, “How Far I’ll Go.”

Keen on Keynes
James Graham’s play The Standard of Living will make its West End premiere at the Theatre Royal Haymarket from September 21 to December 12. Olivier winner Rory Kinnear leads the cast as post-war economist John Maynard Keynes and Royal Ballet principal Natalia Osipova will co-star as Keynes’ wife, Lydia Lopokova. Giant director Nicholas Hytner will helm the production. In a statement, Graham said, “Keynes was a humble, radical world-builder, and I'm grateful to bring that world to theatrical life with Nicholas Hytner, a director I owe so much to, and to be supported into bringing a new play straight into the West End, when newness is so needed.”

Ghosted
Off-Broadway’s Lucille Lortel Theatre will be home to the West End hit 2:22 – A Ghost Story. The action of 2:22 unfolds at a dinner party, when the guests stay up into the wee hours of the morning to prove the host’s theory that her abode is haunted. Matthew Dunster and Gabriel Vega Weissman will direct the stage thriller, with sets by Anna Fleischle, costumes by Cindy Lin, lighting by Lucy Carter, sound by Ian Dickinson for Autograph Sound and illusions by Chris Fisher. Casting will be announced at a later date. 2:22 – A Ghost Story begins previews on October 20 ahead of an official opening on November 5. The production is set to run through January 17, 2027.

Duke It Out
Saturday Night Live cast member Jane Wickline and comedian Liva Pierce are bringing their musical comedy Dukes to SoHo Playhouse this summer. The two-person laughfest is centered on the duo’s ambition to attain royal status through murderous means. Co-directed by Mabel Lewis and Henry Hornbuckle, Dukes will begin performances on July 8 and run through August 2. In a joint statement, Wickline, Pierce, Lewis and Hornbuckle proclaimed, “There’s something in Dukes for everyone. Lesbians with good posture, frat boys who secretly love to sing, elderly people who still pull like you wouldn’t believe, precocious tweens whose mood disorders are about to set in, gay guys who love Sandra Bernhard, MILFs, fathers who don’t know how good they have it… all walks of life might find themselves in our song and dance.” Cheers to that!

Tell Me Something Good
Casting has been locked and loaded for the latest iteration of I'm Every Woman: The Chaka Khan Musical, which will play from July 22 through September 27 at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre in the U.K. Joining X Factor winner Alexandra Burke as Chaka Khan are Jordan Frazier as Alternate Chaka, Chrissie Bhima as Marie Stevens, Ashley Stroudas Taka Boom, Charlotte St Croix as Milini Khan, Miles Anthony Daley as Richard Holland, Jelani Munroe as Hassan Khan, Sophie Earl as Joni Mitchell, Samuel Sarpong-Broni as Stevie Wonder, Teddy Wills as Fred Hampton, Chris Breistein as Steve Winwood, Maryla Abraham as Sandra Stevens, Daniela Morain as Tammy Michelle and Grant Zavitkovsky as Bob Monaco. The biomusical charts Khan’s whirlwind rise to fame and features hits like, “I Feel for You,” “Through the Fire,” “Sweet Thing,” and, of course, “I’m Every Woman.” Racky Plews directs and Nia T. Hill pens the book.