The show is named after a historical character. Never heard of Ward? That's OK. He's a bit of a footnote, actually, but a titillating one. Ward was a society osteopath whose star rose and fell quite dramatically in Britain the early 60s. He was a key character in the Profumo Affair, a sex scandal that brought down the Conservative government of the time. Ward was later made a scapegoat and died in what was called a suicide on the last day of his trial, in which he was charged with procuring prostitutes for politicians.

Reviews of the production were mixed. A recurring theme was that, for a musical about a sex scandal, Stephen Ward wasn't very exciting.

"With such experienced heavy-hitters behind it, Stephen Ward is inevitably a handsomely mounted production that motors along with the fine-tuned precision of a vintage Bentley," wrote Hollywood Reporter. "Featuring a brief flash of female nudity, some four-letter lyrics and even a riotous orgy, the mise-en-scene is risque by Lloyd Webber's standards. But the show is otherwise fairly staid and conventional, relying heavily on stereotypical depictions of the uptight English, perennially obsessed with class and sex, fatally torn between prudishness and prurience. For these reasons, this polished mix of bedroom farce and courtroom tragedy may prove too parochial for foreign audiences and international transfers."

Variety asked, "Here's the mystery surrounding Andrew Lloyd Webber's new tuner 'Stephen Ward': How could the fallout from Britain's most notorious real-life sex-and-politics scandal have been turned into something so flaccid?" The Guardian, meanwhile, said, "Much as I admire the musical's good intentions and professional skill, Lloyd Webber's instinctive romanticism sits oddly with a social and political critique... if the show is intended as a blistering attack on the British Establishment's victimisation of Stephen Ward, it is only partly successful."

One of the more positive notices came from the Telegraph, which wrote, "Since he parted company with Tim Rice, Andrew Lloyd Webber's musicals have hardly been famous for their wit... So his new musical about the Profumo affair comes as a delightful surprise... there is also a sense of mischief about the piece, that finds this sometimes po-faced composer coming up with numbers in a rich variety of styles, so that the familiar yearning anthems are interspersed with songs of wit and fun. Several of the tunes are instantly catchy too." ***

On the night Stephen Ward opened, another sort of drama was playing out elsewhere in the West End.

	Nathan Lane
	Photo by Liz Lauren

A section of the roof of London's Apollo Theatre collapsed Dec. 19, trapping and injuring theatregoers during a performance of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. The collapse occurred just after 8:15 PM with some 85 patrons injured in the event, seven of them with serious injuries as a result. Broken legs and head wounds were reported. The London Fire Bridgade stated that a portion of the theatre's domed ceiling collapsed, taking with it part of the lighting rigging for the production. It fell onto the audience who were watching the show. The ceiling also took parts of the balconies down with it. Other local theatres near the Apollo, which is on Shaftesbury Avenue, one of the busiest theatre streets in London, were used for triage.

No fatalities were reported and authorities are currently awaiting a full structural assessment of building.

***

The Iceman Cometh cometh to New York again.

The Goodman Theatre production of the four-act epic drama The Iceman Cometh, starring Nathan Lane and Brian Dennehy, will play a six-week engagement at the Brooklyn Academy of Music Feb. 5, 2015-March 15. Director Robert Falls, who has done plenty of O'Neill, and most of it with Dennehy, helms the five-hour drama that sold out its Chicago run in 2012. The original Chicago cast and creative team will reunite for the BAM engagement, which is presented in association with producer Scott Rudin, who holds Broadway rights to the play. Iceman was last seen on Broadway in 1999.

***

The American premiere of the Donmar Warehouse production of Conor McPherson's The Night Alive, which opened Dec. 12 to good reviews, has extended its run at the Atlantic Theater Company through Feb. 2, 2014. It had originally been scheduled to continue through Jan. 26.

***

No one can say that Bebe Neuwirth isn't dedicated to the musical Chicago.

Neuwirth won a 1997 Tony Award for her acclaimed portrayal of jazz-age killer Velma Kelly in the hit revival of the Kander and Ebb piece, which is still playing on Broadway. She returned ten years later to play the merry murderess Roxie Hart. And now she will step into the show's other major female role, Matron "Mama" Morton for an eight-week limited engagement starting Jan. 14, 2014, at the Ambassador Theatre.

If Neuwirth gets bored of Morton, she can always start in on the musical's male roles. Why not? The show already has one major character who dresses in drag.