monday 16 october Monty Python's Spamalot - "lovingly ripped-off" from the screenplay of Monty Python and the Holy Grail - transfers from Broadway to open to the press at the West End's Palace Theatre tonight (following previews from 2 October), with a gala opening night to follow tomorrow. Book and lyrics are by Eric Idle, with score by Idle and John Du Prez, while the cast is led by Tim Curry, reprising his Broadway turn as King Arthur, joined by fellow Broadway original cast member Christopher Sieber as Sir Dennis Galahad, with David Birrell as Patsy and Tom Goodman-Hill as Sir Lancelot.
Box Office: 0870 890 0142
 | | Extended run: Patrick Swayze |
ALSO TONIGHT: Patrick Swayze, who has now extended his run as Nathan Detroit in Guys and Dolls to 25 November, is newly joined from today by Samantha Janus (best known for TV's Game On, Wild at Heart and Home Again, but whose musical theatre includes a run in Grease) as Miss Adelaide, with Amy Nuttall (recently seen as Eliza Doolittle in a tour of My Fair Lady) as Sarah Brown.
Box Office: 0870 060 0123 tuesday 17 october Sex and the City's Kim Cattrall returns to the London stage, where she previously appeared in Peter Hall's revival of Whose Life is it Anyway?, to now star in a new production of David Mamet's The Cryptogram, opening tonight at the Donmar Warehouse (following previews from 12 October), for a run to 25 November. The play, charting the breakdown of a family, also features Douglas Henshall in Josie Rourke's production.
Box Office: 0870 060 6624 wednesday 18 october
 | | A West End return for Rosamund Pike |
Rosamund Pike, previously seen at the Royal Court and in the West End in Terry Johnson's Hitchcock Blonde, returns to the stage in Adrian Noble's new production of Tennessee Williams' 1948 play Summer and Smoke, opening tonight (following previews from 12 October) at the Apollo Theatre. Also in the cast are Chris Carmack, recently seen in a New York production of Entertaining Mr Sloane, David Killick and Kate O'Toole.
Box Office: 0870 890 1101 ALSO TONIGHT: Tara Arts brings its production of Ranjit Bolt's new translation of Beaumarchais' play The Marriage of Figaro (best known for Mozart's operatic version) to London's New Players Theatre, where it opens tonight (following a preview on 17 October) for a run to 4 November, prior to a national tour.
Box Office: 0870 264 3333 AND: the Bush Theatre presents Bones, a new play written and directed by Kay Adshead, which examines the legacy of apartheid-era South Africa on the present day, opening tonight (after a preview on 17 October), for a run to 4 November.
Box Office: 020 7610 4224 thursday 19 october
 | | Acclaimed turn: Tonya Pinkins |
The National Theatre presents the UK premiere of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori's 2004 Broadway musical Caroline, or Change, opening at the Lyttelton Theatre tonight (following previews from 10 October). Its original Broadway star Tonya Pinkins reprises her acclaimed turn in the title role of a southern maid in 1963 Louisiana, set in the aftermath of the Kennedy assassination. The cast also includes Clive Rowe, Hilton McRae, Anna Francolini and Richard Henders.
Box Office: 020 7452 3000 ALSO TONIGHT: the Blue Elephant Theatre hosts the UK premiere of Angels Don't Dance, originally seen off-Broadway in 1999, with husband and wife team of director Mirra Bank and writer Richard Brockman reuniting for the story of a young woman with a hidden explosive second personality. It opens tonight (following previews from 17 October), for a run to 4 November.
Box Office: 020 7701 0100 friday 20 october Richmond's Orange Tree Theatre continues its celebration of the work of Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries on the occasion of the 150th year of his birth, by reviving his 1905 play Major Barbara, opening tonight (following previews from 18 October), for a run to 9 December. Sam Walters directs this comedy of ideas that explores the conflict between idealism and practicality, and religion and capitalism, to ask whether morality can be upheld by immoral means?
Box Office: 020 8940 3633 saturday 21 october Best selling children's author Eoin Colfer makes his West End debut with a one-man show, Artemis Fowl: Fairies, Fiends and Flatulence, which opens at Trafalgar Studios today (following a preview on 21 October), for a short run to 29 October only. The former primary school teacher - whose series of five Artemis Fowl titles have sold 1.7m copies in the UK and Ireland and over 7m worldwide - takes audiences on an adrenaline-fuelled expose of his teenage criminal mastermind in this show.
Box Office: 0870 060 6632 monday 23 october
 | | Page to stage: John Fowles' novel |
A new stage version of John Fowles' novel The French Lieutenant's Woman comes to Richmond Theatre as part of a national tour, from tonight to 28 October. The cast includes George Irving, Anthony Howell and Katy Odey.
Box Office: 0870 060 6651 ALSO TONIGHT: Sonja Linden's play Crocodile Seeking Refuge, revolving around five individuals who have sought asylum in the UK, comes to the Croydon Clocktower (tonight and tomorrow, box office: 020 8253 1030) as part of a national tour, which will also be seen at Highgate's Jackson's Lane Arts Centre (on 7-8 November, 020 8341 4421) and Harrow Arts Centre (on 13 November, 020 8428 0124). tuesday 24 october The cult 1987 movie musical Dirty Dancing comes to the stage of the Aldwych Theatre in a production previously seen in Australia, opening tonight (following previews from 29 September), with reportedly the largest advance sale of any show in West End history. The cast is led by Georgina Rich and Australian dancer Josef Brown (who also appeared in the original production there) as her love interest. The cast also includes David Rintoul, Issy Van Randwyck, Isabella Calthorpe and Nadia Coote.
Box Office: 0870 400 0845 ALSO TONIGHT: Hampstead Theatre and Headlong Theatre present a bold re-telling of Christopher Marlowe's 16th-century masterpiece Dr Faustus, here redubbed simply Faustus, which interweaves the story of Dr John Faustus with a contemporary narrative. Opening tonight at Hampstead Theatre (following previews from 20 October), for a run to 18 November, it is directed by Rupert Goold.
Box Office: 020 7722 9301 wednesday 25 october
 | | Life lines: Antonia Franceschi |
Dancer Antonia Franceschi, who lived through a childhood of neglect, abuse and poverty in 1970s New York to become a leading dancer with New York City Ballet and now lives in London where in 1999 she received the Time Out award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance, teams up with director Nancy Meckler for Up from the Waste at Soho Theatre, which tells her story in words, music and dance. Opening tonight (following previews from 18 October), it runs to 11 November.
Box Office: 0870 429 6883 ALSO TONIGHT: Failed States, a new musical by Andrew Taylor and Desmond O'Connor, inspired by Kafka's The Trial, is re-staged at Islington's Pleasance Theatre, opening tonight (after a preview on 24 October) for a run to 12 November, after a successful run at Barons Court Theatre earlier this year.
Box Office: 020 7609 1800 thursday 26 october Sean Burn's Taking the Blood of Butterflies receives its world premiere at the Oval House Theatre tonight (following previews from 24 October), for a run to 11 November. Set in a war-torn country, the play explores the effect that war has on the mind and soul when exposed to horror and conflict on a daily basis.
Box Office: 020 7582 7680 friday 27 october
 | | A revival for Love and Human Remains |
Brad Fraser's Love and Human Remains is revived at Croydon's Warehouse Theatre, opening tonight (following previews from 25 October), for a run to 12 November. Paul Danan, best known for playing Sol in Hollyoaks and his steamy appearances on both series of Celebrity Love Island, stars in this look at modern anxieties surrounding sex and relationships, directed by Dominic Leclerc.
Box Office: 020 8680 4060 sunday 29 october For one night only, Simply Ballroom comes to the West End's Theatre Royal, Drury Lane after a national tour and international visits to South Africa and Dubai. Hosted by Lionel Blair and choreographed by TV's dancing stars Erin Boag and Anton Du Beke, it brings the world of ballroom dancing to the stage with a team of international dance champions.
Box Office: 0870 890 0145 monday 30 october Felicity Kendal and Jenna Russell play mother and daughter in a revival of David Hare's Amy's View, touring to Richmond Theatre from tonight (to 4 November) prior to opening at the West End's Garrick Theatre next month in Peter Hall's production.
Box Office: 0870 060 6651 (Interested? For more details and to book direct, go to the Useful Links in the right-hand column. You can find part one of October's diary by following the link below) | 
