School of Rock - Broadway musical School of Rock, written by Downton Abbey's Julian Fellowes with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber, has opened to mixed reviews. The show, which was a hit 2003 film starring Jack Black, is about a wannabe rock star who poses as a teacher, forming a band with his students to enter a music contest. The Guardian said the musical had "lost its mojo" and was "innocuous". The Hollywood Reporter, however, described it as a "crowd-pleaser".
Lord Lloyd-Webber announced after the show's opening that it is opening at the London Palladium in autumn 2016. Dates for the West End run will be confirmed in the New Year. He said, "I am thrilled to announce that we are confirming a West End production of School of Rock - The Musical. We have had such a great time in the US staging the world premiere and now that we have opened on Broadway, I am delighted to be focusing on the next chapter in the show's journey."
Factory Workshops - West End musical Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is to launch a series of school workshops based around drama, singing and musical theatre. The workshops will be led by practitioners connected with the production, including former cast members, and aim to enhance young people's experience of seeing the musical. Each workshop will be two hours long, with schools able to choose between drama, singing, musical theatre, dance or storytelling. Students will recreate scenes, or learn numbers, from the musical.
Although Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, which is running at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane, has previously offered resource packs that teachers can print off and use to devise their own lesson plans, this will be the first time the show has organised its own practitioners to deliver workshops. The scheme is being led by the ArtsLink, an organisation formed in January this year, that connects young people with arts organisations.
In The Saleroom - An auction of more than 1,300 clothes, instruments, pieces of jewellery and other items owned by Ringo Starr has raised a total of $9.2m (£6.1m). The highlight of the sale was a drum kit played by Starr on many Beatles hits, which fetched $2.1m (£1.4m). A Rickenbacker guitar once owned by John Lennon made $910,000 (£600,000). Starr's copy of The White Album, numbered 0000001, sold for $790,000 (£525,000) - which is thought to make it the most expensive record ever sold.
A portion of the proceeds from the auction will go to Starr and wife Barbara Bach's charity The Lotus Foundation, which says it aims to advance "social welfare" in a wide range of areas including substance abuse, cancer, cerebral palsy, domestic abuse and animal protection.
(Jim Evans)
