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Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, which is currently playing at the Savoy Theatre, stars Olivier, Tony and BAFTA award winning Robert Lindsay Me And My Girl, Becket, Oliver, My Family and Rufus Hound One Man Two Guv'nors, Celebrity Juice,and the winner of the recent Strictly Come Dancing Christmas Special as the conmen Lawrence Jameson and Freddy Benson competing for the riches and the heart of the young impressionable heiress, Christine Colgate played by Katherine Kingsley Singin' in the Rain, who was just nominated for an Olivier Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role for Michael Grandage's A Midsummer Night's Dream. Samantha Bond Passion Play, Amy's View, Downton Abbey, James Bond Outnumbered plays Muriel Eubanks, a glamorous divorcee looking for love in Beaumont-sur-Mer on the French Riviera and John Marquez Privates On Parade, The Taming of the Shrew, Doc Martin plays Andre Thibault, Beaumont-sur-Mer's Chief of Police. Check out photos...

Few actors have managed to transcend the roles that made them famous the way Daniel Radcliffe has. Even before he hung up his Harry Potter robes, Radcliffe began undertaking a handful of challenging roles that were, whether intentional or not, significant departures from the boy wizard. Particularly when it comes to his work on stage, Radcliffe’s moves have been brave and bold, baring it all in Equus and charming audiences with surprising musical chops in How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying.

His third time on Broadway is now at hand — he’ll star in Martin McDonagh’s...

Peek behind the scenes of Peter and Alice - John Logan's new play which continues the Michael Grandage Company Season at the Noel Coward Theatre. Joining Judi Dench and Ben Whishaw are Olly Alexander, Ruby Bentall,Stefano Braschi, Nicholas Farrell and Derek Riddell. The production follows the critically acclaimed Privates on Parade, and opens on 25 March, with previews from 9 March, and runs until 1 June 2013.

Vibrant actor who achieved success in Bollywood films, West End musicals and on Coronation Street

Sophiya Haque's performance in Peter Nichols's Privates on Parade, which opened last month at the Noël Coward theatre, marked a high point in the beautiful British Asian actor's West End career, launched 10 years ago with Andrew Lloyd Webber's presentation of Bombay Dreams. As the lustrous Welsh Eurasian Sylvia Morgan, Haque held her own among the knobbly-kneed privates, led by Simon Russell Beale's outrageous Captain Terri Dennis. However, illness forced her to withdraw from the production before the end of the year and she has died of cancer at the age of 41.

Born in Portsmouth, Haque was the youngest of three daughters. She was raised by her mother, Thelma, a divorced schoolteacher. She attended Priory comprehensive school and took dance lessons from the age of two and a half at Mary Forrester's...

London, Jan 18: Once popular MTV VJ in India Sophiya Haque, who had been performing in the West End production of 'Privates on Parade', has died in London after battling cancer. She was 41.

Haque, who also appeared in 'Coronation Street', was diagnosed with cancer before Christmas, the BBC reported.

She was suffering from pneumonia and was understood to have developed a clot on her lungs.

Michael Grandage, who directed 'Privates on Parade', said he and her fellow cast members were "devastated".

Haque dropped out of the production about two weeks ago.

Born in Portsmouth, she became a familiar face on.

The Observer's critics pick the season's highlights, from the Misanthrope to Johnny Marr, Lulu to Lichtenstein, H7steria to Hitchcock. What are you most looking forward to? Add your comments below and download a pdf of the calendar here

December | January | FebruaryDecember

1 Film The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey (3D)

Well, not so very unexpected. Every move has been tracked by fanboys, from the casting of Martin Freeman as Bilbo and Benedict Cumberbatch as the dragon Smaug to the return of the king, Peter Jackson, to take over directing from Guillermo del Toro. But Middle-earth (or, as it's sometimes known, New Zealand) is back for the next three Christmases.

3 Pop Scott Walker

The avant-garde Walker Brother returns with his first album since 2006's The Drift. Not for the faint-hearted, Bish Bosch finds the former romantic hero deep in dystopian territory, at once sonorous and rigorous.

3 Classical H7steria

World premiere of...

Outstanding actor of stage and screen who made his name as Bri in A Day in the Death of Joe Egg

The British theatre changed for ever when Joe Melia, as the sardonic teacher Bri, pushed a severely disabled 10-year-old girl in a wheelchair on to the stage of the Glasgow Citizens in May 1967 and proceeded to make satirical jokes about the medical profession while his marriage was disintegrating. The play was Peter Nichols's A Day in the Death of Joe Egg, which transformed the way disability was discussed on the stage. It made the names overnight of its author, the director Michael Blakemore, and Melia. Albert Finney took over the role of Bri on Broadway.

Flat-footed, slightly hunched, always leaning towards a point of view, Melia, who has died aged 77, was a distinctive and compassionate actor who brought a strain of the music hall to the stage, a sense of being an outsider.

Joe Melia's unique quality as an actor was his intelligence. Even when deep in character, he retained an objectivity that made him seem to be assessing the scene he was in, a quality that made him a Brechtian actor long before he appeared in Brecht.

Looking at photos of A Day in the Death of Joe Egg from 1967, that quality is there, even in stills of Joe looking intently at the cushion – held by Zena Walker playing Bri's wife, Sheila – standing in for their disabled child. Joe and Zena were a dynamic duo. I take some credit for having proposed Joe for the role after seeing him in the film Four in the Morning (1965).

Never an easy man, Joe was perverse enough not to take over the part on Broadway after Albert Finney had kickstarted it. The reason he gave was that the Us was a fascist country. I...

Brace yourselves. This list of the Top 100 Greatest Gay Movies is probably going to generate some howls of protest thanks to a rather major upset in the rankings. Frankly, one that surprised the hell out of us here at AfterElton.

But before we get to that, an introduction. A few weeks ago we asked AfterElton readers to submit up to ten of their favorite films by write-in vote. We conducted a similar poll several years ago, but a lot has happened culturally since then, and a number of worthy movies of gay interest have been released. We wanted to see how your list of favorites had changed.

We also wanted to expand our list to 100 from the top 50 we had done previously. We figured there were finally enough quality gay films to justify the expansion. And we wanted to break out gay documentaries onto their own list (You'll find the...

Grandage will direct Jude Law, Judi Dench, David Walliams, Daniel Radcliffe and many more at the Noel Coward theatre

Michael Grandage, who for a decade led the pocket-size theatre the Donmar Warehouse to a string of stage triumphs, from Michael Sheen as David Frost to Rachel Weisz as Blanche DuBois, is to return to the London theatre – this time with his own star-filled company for a 15-month season of plays in the West End. Tickets will cost as little as £10.

The five-play season will feature Jude Law as Henry V, Judi Dench opposite Ben Whishaw in a new play, David Walliams as Bottom opposite Sheridan Smith's Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Simon Russell Beale as a cross-dressing army captain in Peter Nichols's Privates on Parade. The lineup is completed by Martin McDonagh's The Cripple of Inishmaan, starring Daniel Radcliffe. All will be directed by Grandage.

London — Jude Law, Judi Dench and Daniel Radcliffe are among the A-list actors signed up for a new London theater troupe, which hopes to attract new theatergoers by offering hundreds of 10 pounds ($16) tickets for each performance.

Simon Russell Beale, Sheridan Smith, David Walliams and Ben Whishaw are also part of the company formed by director Michael Grandage, who led the award-winning Donmar Warehouse troupe for a decade until early 2012.

On Friday Grandage announced a five-play, 15-month season beginning in December with a production of the musical "Privates on Parade."

Future productions include new play "Peter and Alice" by John Logan; Shakespeare's "Henry V" with Law in the title role; "A Midsummer Night's Dream"; and a production of Martin McDonagh's "The Cripple of Inishmaan" starring Radcliffe.

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Online: http://www.michaelgrandagecompany.com...

Beguiling Japanese star of fringe theatre and popular television

The Japanese actor Eiji Kusuhara, who has died of cancer aged 63, played the sadistic Lieutenant Sato in the television series Tenko (1981-85), was one of the narrators on the cult show Banzai (2001) and appeared on stages across the UK and Europe in a variety of beguiling roles. He was one of the first professional Japanese actors active in London in the 1970s and enjoyed something of a monopoly on roles until he starred alongside a fellow countryman, Togo Igawa, in The Man Who Shot Christmas (1984). Eiji spent most of his adult life in Britain. He always seemed relieved to have left his home country but was also perplexed by British culture. A natural comedian, he thought he was a misfit and constructed an endlessly playful persona for himself.

He was born in Tokyo shortly after the second world war, a time...

Jbara originated the roles of 'Jackie Elliot' ('Dad') for the Broadway production of Billy Elliot, for which he won the Tony®, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk Awards for Best/Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical, 'André Thibault' in the Broadway musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Drama Desk nomination), 'Squash Bernstein' in Victor/Victoria, starring Julie Andrews and the role of the dimwitted catcher,'Sohovik' in the Broadway revival of Damn Yankees! starring Bebe Neuwirth, Victor Garber and Jerry Lewis. Jbara was the second actor to star on Broadway as 'Billy Flynn' in the Tony Award winning revival of Chicago. Off-Broadway credits include 'Chick Clark' in Wonderful Town for City Center Encores!, the Broadway revival of Born Yesterday with Ed Asner and Madeline Kahn, Serious Money with Alec Baldwin and Kate Nelligan, Privates On Parade with Jim Dale and Simon Jones, Forever Plaid, Das Barbecu and Have I Got A Girl For You!

Jbara originated the roles of 'Jackie Elliot' ('Dad') for the Broadway production of Billy Elliot, for which he won the Tony®, Outer Critics Circle, and Drama Desk Awards for Best/Outstanding Featured Actor in a Musical, 'André Thibault' in the Broadway musical Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (Drama Desk nomination), 'Squash Bernstein' in Victor/Victoria, starring Julie Andrews and the role of the dimwitted catcher,'Sohovik' in the Broadway revival of Damn Yankees! starring Bebe Neuwirth, Victor Garber and Jerry Lewis. Jbara was the second actor to star on Broadway as 'Billy Flynn' in the Tony Award winning revival of Chicago. Off-Broadway credits include 'Chick Clark' in Wonderful Town for City Center Encores!, the Broadway revival of Born Yesterday with Ed Asner and Madeline Kahn, Serious Money with Alec Baldwin and Kate Nelligan, Privates On Parade with Jim Dale and Simon Jones, Forever Plaid, Das Barbecu and Have I Got A Girl For You!