This is London Magazine June Edition 2026 - Flipbook - Page 18
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THE SMILE OF HER
The Smile of Her, the acclaimed
autobiographical play by Academy,
Emmy, and Golden Globe Award winner
Christine Lahti (pictured above), will
play at the Marylebone Theatre from
Friday 10 July to Saturday 29 August.
The young actresses who will be
playing the role of ‘Girl’, alongside Lahti,
are Jesamine-Bleu Gibbs, previously
seen in Matilda at the Cambridge
Theatre and The Sound of Music at
Chichester Festival Theatre and Isabella
Ford who is making her professional
stage debut in the show. The two young
actresses will be sharing the role across
the 7-week run of performances.
Directed by Mêlisa Annis, the
production marks Christine Lahti’s first
UK stage appearance and the first
London presentation of the deeply
personal solo work she wrote and
performs herself.
Funny, furious and achingly personal,
this extraordinary work traces a woman’s
journey from 1950s suburban America
to the heart of a changing world,
confronting family mythology, misogyny,
ambition, motherhood and the cost of
being ‘a good girl’.
Performed by Lahti herself in a tourde-force role, The Smile of Her is a bold,
deeply human exploration of the stories
we inherit, the voices we silence and the
fight to reclaim ourselves.
Box Office 020 7723 7984.
CYRANO DE BERGERAC
A thrilling new version of Edmond
Rostand’s Cyrano de Bergerac will run
at the Noël Coward Theatre until
5 September. Produced in the West End
by the Royal Shakespeare Company,
Wessex Grove and Gavin Kalin
Productions; director Simon Evans coadapts with Debris Stevenson to bring
new life to Rostand’s lyrical tale of love
and lies, longing and disguise.
The production played to packed
houses at the RSC in Stratford-uponAvon last year, and this return sees
Olivier Award-winning actor Adrian
Lester reprise his role as Cyrano
alongside Susannah Fielding as Roxane,
and Levi Brown who returns as
Christian.
Poet, soldier and philosopher, Cyrano
de Bergerac burns with brilliance. He's
fiercely funny and urgently romantic –
but behind the veil of wit is one large
problem: his nose.
Haunted by doubts and too proud to
beg, he watches from the shadows as
Roxane – bold, beautiful and seemingly
unreachable – falls for another man,
Christian. But this handsome, tonguetied young suitor knows his only hope of
charming Roxane is to seduce her with
words. And only one person can help...
Box Office telephone 0344 482 5151.
Adrian Lester (Cyrano) in Cyrano de
Bergerac (Royal Shakespeare Company)
at the Noël Coward Theatre.
BURLESQUE RETURNS TO LONDON
A second new production of
Burlesque the Musical, starring Olivier
Award winning Cassidy Janson as Tess,
will return to London this September at
brand new West End venue The Arts at
Marble Arch. Fresh from its critically
acclaimed West End premiere at the
Savoy Theatre, Burlesque the Musical
will open a 24-venue UK tour at New
Victoria Theatre, Woking on 25 July,
before touring.
Based on Steven Antin’s iconic
Golden Globe-winning and Best Picturenominated film starring Christina
Aguilera and Cher, Burlesque the
Musical is a glittering, high-voltage
theatrical event packed with powerhouse
vocals, jaw-dropping choreography, and
outrageous glamour.
Step inside a club where sequins
shimmer, seduction sparkles, and a
single song can change your life forever.
When Ali heads to New York searching
for her mother, Tess Richarde, she is
swept into a dazzling underground world
of ambition, temptation, music, and
desire - discovering not only her
extraordinary voice, but the family she
never knew she needed.
Featuring songs by Christina
Aguilera, Sia, Diane Warren, Jess Folley,
Todrick Hall, and Steven Antin,
Burlesque the Musical is a scintillating
celebration of self-discovery,
empowerment, and unapologetic
fabulousness.
Photo: © Marc Brenner
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