This month in theatre news, Lindsay Lohan debuts on the West End, and the KGB, Henry VIII and a deaf leading lady will all play Broadway in 2015.
> Lindsay Lohan opened at London’s Playhouse Theatre in David Mamet’s Speed the Plow, in a role originated by Madonna and most recently played by Elisabeth Moss on Broadway. The jury is split on whether ‘fetch’ happened—the Mean Girls actress reportedly forgot a line or two in the 90 minute drama, and drew mixed (though assuringly few terrible) reviews from critics.
> A musical adaptation of the classic film, Doctor Zhivago will come to Broadway in 2015 directed by Des McAnuff (Jersey Boys). Featuring music by Lucy Simon, lyrics by Michael Korie and Amy Powers and book by Michael Weller, the show first premiered in 2006 at La Jolla Playhouse in Calif., followed by a significantly revised version in Australia last year. The production will take over the Broadway Theatre, where Cinderella is set to close Jan. 3.
> Producers Jeffrey Richards, Jerry Frankel and Matthew Byam Shaw announced that the Royal Shakespeare Company’s production of Wolf Hall Parts 1 & 2 will transfer to Broadway’s Winter Garden Theatre (where Rocky closed this summer) beginning performances March 20, 2015. Based on the best-selling novels by Hilary Mantel Wolf Hall and Bring Up the Bodies, the plays tackle the drama of the court of Henry VIII (meaning heads will roll!). Both shows will run in repertory.
> Gloria Estefan told the New York Daily News that pop star Ariana Grande is her top pick to play the Grammy-winning icon in On Your Feet!, the new musical based on Estefan’s life and career slated to arrive on Broadway at the Marquee Theatre in October, 2015. Grande was previously seen on Broadway in the 2007 musical 13. Fingers remain crossed for Nick Jonas to play Emilio.
> Mark Medoff’s 1980 play Children of a Lesser God, about the romance between a deaf woman and a hearing man, will be revived on Broadway in the 2015-2016 season by Kinky Boots producer Hal Luftig (pictured right). Kenny Leon, who won a Tony for his direction of A Raisin in the Sun starring Denzel Washington last season, will direct. No casting has been announced, but the team is committed to assembling a diverse cast and presenting a deaf actress in the leading role, according to the New York Times.
