The Tony Award-winning dance musical Contact, which recently ended a lengthy run at Lincoln Center's Vivian Beaumont Theater, officially opens at London's Queens Theatre Oct. 23. It began previews there Oct. 3.
Comprised of three separate stories about men and women in pursuit of love and their struggle to connect to one another, Contact's West End run is scheduled to end Feb. 22, 2003. The London company features Leigh Zimmerman, Michael Praed, Sarah Wildor, Craig Urbani and Spencer Soloman.
Told through a cocktail of dance and dialogue and set against a soundtrack of classical, jazz, swing and rock music, Contact was conceived by choreographer/director Susan Stroman and book writer John Weidman. The three portions of the evening are titled "Swinging," "Did You Move?" and "Contact." The final segment of the evening features the famed Girl in the Yellow Dress, originated on Broadway by the Tony-nominated Deborah Yates.
Contact opened on Broadway on March 30, 2000, after a successful, limited Off-Broadway engagement; it played over 1,000 performances at the Vivian Beaumont Theater before closing on Sept. 1, 2002. The Broadway production won 2000 Tony Awards for Best Musical, Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Boyd Gaines), Best Featured Actress in a Musical (Karen Ziemba), Best Director of a Musical (Susan Stroman), Best Book of a Musical (John Weidman) and Best Choreographer (Stroman). The show's final performance was broadcast live on PBS stations around the country.
The Queens Theatre is located in London on Shaftesbury Avenue. The performance schedule is Monday through Saturday evenings at 7:45 PM with matinees on Thursdays and Saturdays at 3 PM. Tickets range from £17.50 to £40 and are available by calling the theatre's box office at 011 44 020 7494 5040.
