October on the London Stage: Christine Baranski, Gillian Anderson and Phantom at 40

The theatrical enticements are arriving thick and fast during the month ahead, which finds a beloved Broadway and TV name making her U.K. stage debut and the return of a scorching American classic. Add to that two intriguing plays from opposite sides of the Atlantic and a landmark birthday of the musical about the man with a mask, and there’s plenty to take us into the theatrical woods—the return of last year’s revival of Into the Woods included.

I Am, George, I Am
Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf? is no stranger to the London stage: recent double acts headlining Edward Albee’s seismic 1962 classic on the West End include Kathleen Turner and Bill Irwin and Imelda Staunton and Conleth Hill. The baton has now passed to Gillian Anderson and Billy Crudup, who are newly opened in the four-person drama at @sohoplace for a sell-out run. “I just think it’s the most extraordinary play,” the production’s awards-laden director Marianne Elliott (War Horse, Company) said one evening during rehearsals. “It’s incredibly crafted, and when you look at it in great detail, it’s amazing what [Albee] does.” What does Elliott think Crudup and Anderson bring to such iconic roles? “Sex appeal: they’re both very sexy!” George and Martha—their characters—would surely drink to that.

Gesundheit!
Noël Coward’s effervescent Hay Fever can always be relied upon to lift the spirits, and the 1925 comedy classic is back on the West End, opening October 1 at Wyndham’s Theatre. Two-time Tony winner Christine Baranski heads a notably high-powered cast that includes Nancy Carroll, Charles Edwards, and 2024 Olivier Award winner Will Close (Dear England) as Simon Bliss, the deliciously rude son of Baranski’s vainglorious actress, Judith. “It feels like a cast of Rolls-Royces,” said the delightful Close, “and it’s so lovely to sit back and watch them work.” How is he navigating Coward’s signature wit? “It’s more athletic than I had realized. If there’s too much air in between the cues [the play] can sink, but get it to crackle and fly and it’s electric.”

Blood Knot
The Royal Court’s 70th anniversary season has intermingled familiar names with the new. Among the latter is the Harvard-educated American writer Joy Nesbitt, who makes her Court debut in the playhouse’s Jerwood Theatre Upstairs with Blood of my Blood, opening October 7; Tatenda Shamiso directs the ancestral drama with its cast of five. “I’m still shocked to be here; it really is such an honor,” an eloquent Nesbitt told Broadway.com of her inclusion in a lineup of work that has placed Court first-timers alongside Beckett, Ryan Calais Cameron and the 88-year-old German dramatist Manfred Karge. Nesbitt wrote the play while living in Ireland, since which time she’s moved to London. But she speaks of bringing back to the U.S. a play set in 1862 South Carolina and also today: “One of the things that’s been hard about living away from my family is that this play is really dedicated to them; it would mean so much to open up the conversation at home.”

Once More Into the Woods
The American director Jordan Fein’s ravishing revival of Into the Woods beat Evita in April to win the Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival and has since transferred from the Bridge Theatre to the Noël Coward, re-opening October 7. Joining the production afresh is Laura Pitt-Pulford in the pivotal role of the Baker’s Wife—a part, the warmly engaging performer told Broadway.com, “I’ve had my eye on ever since [the show] was announced.” Pitt-Pulford is good friends with Katie Brayben, who played the Stephen Sondheim-James Lapine musical’s unnamed heroine last December, “and she was so ecstatic when I was told her I was doing the transfer. ‘You’re going to have the best time,’ Katie told me.” And is she? “It’s been completely joyous.”

The Music of Many Nights
I was at the October 9, 1986 press night of The Phantom of the Opera in my own journalistic infancy, so am doubly startled that the West End production this month marks its 40th birthday. 32-year-old Jordan Donica wasn’t even born when the global behemoth premiered, and here the 2023 Tony nominee (Camelot) now is at His Majesty’s Theatre, making his London stage debut as the Phantom as part of a special 40th anniversary cast that includes Rhys Whitfield (Raoul), Beatrice Penny-Touré (Christine) and Broadway favorite Sierra Boggess (Carlotta). “I always wanted to do this role but never thought I’d get the opportunity to play it in London, where it originated,” the empathic performer said in an interview. A onetime Raoul on Broadway, Donica has now had dual exposure to the allure of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s timeless score and Cameron Mackintosh’s world-beating production. “The thing with this show, no matter who’s doing it, is to get out of the way and just inhabit the music; let the music take you on the journey—that’s why it works.”

Coming of Age
The actor Danny Lee Wynter wrote his first play, Black Superhero, three years ago for the Royal Court and now is back with a second, Ilford Boy, opening October 20 at the Donmar Warehouse. Exploring issues of identity and sexuality amongst the East London community of Ilford, the director Timothy Sheader’s production has cast 19-year-old Leo Whitfield-Harris in his professional stage debut as 14-year-old Ted, the “Ilford boy” of the title. “It’s pretty huge,” the sweetly charming newcomer told Broadway.com about landing the leading role following “a month and a bit” of auditions. The Anglo-Jamaican actor was clearly relishing “being able to portray someone still making their way in friendships and in society” and sounded as if he was discovering a lot from the experience himself: “This feels like the start of a career but also the start of a life.”