Category: Theater

Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in Sondheim’s Into The Woods

When Damian Lewis was Michael Ball’s guest on Radio 2 a year ago, the two talked about Damian’s music career, his on-going UK tour, musical theatre he has done to date and whether he wants to do it again: I am thrilled to report Damian’s answer is yes and my fingers are crossed all the way! So why don’t we revisit Damian in Sondheim’s Into The Woods today?

“Hello, little girl!”

Many viewers were surprised, as they watched the BBC Broadcast of the fabulous Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends Gala, to see Damian appear as the Wolf to Bernadette Peters’ Red Riding Hood from the musical Into the Woods – one of Sondheim’s greatest musicals. 

But the thing is that Damian is not a stranger to the role at all. In fact, he was the Wolf in Into the Woods  at the London revival of the musical back in 1998! So why don’t we travel back to that time and visit a 27 year old Damian on stage?

Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in Sondheim’s Into The Woods”

Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in Noël Coward’s London Calling! – A Centenary Celebration

London Calling! was the first musical revue thanks to which Noël Coward broke through as a song and sketch writer as well as a performer. The revue premiered at Duke of York’s Theatre in London on September 4, 1922. And Robert Hazle, a cabaret actor and musical director as well as the Cultural Development Officer at the Noël Coward Foundation has put on stage a centenary celebration of London Calling! at the very theatre it premiered hundred years ago on October 5, 2023. I was very lucky to be in the room during this hour-long, free, and sold out lunchtime performance and I am ready to tell you all about it! Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in Noël Coward’s London Calling! – A Centenary Celebration”

Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in Pillars of the Community

Damianista’s note: This post was originally posted in 2016.

It all started when a good colleague with whom I share true love for theater asked me to name my favorite male and female stage performances in 2015. Easy. Lesley Manville in Ibsen’s Ghosts and Damian Lewis in Mamet’s American Buffalo (with Mark Strong in Miller’s A View From the Bridge as a close second). And what is it about these performances that made me fall in LOVE with them?

One word: Precision.

topperfs

Then I thought about the heart-breaking performance Lesley Manville gives in Ghosts which, in fact, brought her an Olivier Award in 2014 (I saw the play much later when it visited Brooklyn Academy of Music in 2015). I know Manville mostly from her work on big screen such as Secrets and Lies (1996), Vera Drake (2004), Another Year (2010) and Mr Turner (2014) all of which were some of my favorites in the year they were released. But I really did not know about her stage work. So I googled her.

And here is the first image I hit! Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis in Pillars of the Community”

“Is She the Tutor?” Or Throwback Thursday to American Buffalo Stage Door

Prologue

Hey all, Damianista here!

My husband Lewisto wrote this very post back in 2015. While it is an extremely funny story centered around Damian, it is quite personal and it says as much about the two of us as about Damian. That is why I am sharing it again this week marking a milestone anniversary for me and Lewisto! Since it is Lewisto’s story I do not intend to give any spoilers but I cannot help say if you think of Carrie and Brody as the best cat and mouse you have ever seen… you ain’t seen nothing yet 😀

ENJOY!

source: Damianista
source: Damianista

Folks, I have a fun story to tell.

First, let me put the record straight: We are a lucky generation. Our life time has given us geniuses of all sorts, from Maradona to Michael Jackson, to Jean-Georges Vongerichten, Banksy, Steve Jobs, Mandela, Philip Glass, Haruki Murakami, Serena Williams…. and our very own Damian Lewis. Continue reading ““Is She the Tutor?” Or Throwback Thursday to American Buffalo Stage Door”

Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis’ “very own ‘Enry”

In celebration of Hilary Mantel’s third and final volume of Wolf Hall series “The Mirror and The Light” finally arriving on TV screens in the UK, here is the sweet story behind Damian’s “very own ‘Enry” from Knitting Witch UK! Continue reading “Throwback Thursday to Damian Lewis’ “very own ‘Enry””