BUSINESS
HSBC look set to quit the US, ITV dramatically increase advertising revenues, The Little Chef has beefed up slaes and healthy fast food retailer POD gets support to grow.
LOCAL SPORT
Evening Echo, By Paul Alton
A TEENAGE referee has spoken of his pride after winning an inaugural award for football officials. Nineteen-year-old referee Darren Chaplin was the first recipient of the Southend & District Junior Football League’s new Graham Palmer Memorial Trophy.
ECHO sports reporter Chris Phillips has handed over a cheque for more than £7,000 to the Bobby Moore Fund he raised the money by running 34 miles around the non-league football grounds of south-east Essex. He started at Billericay Town before heading off to both Concord Rangers and Canvey Island before finishing at Great Wakering Rovers.
GAZETTE: David Arnold BLUES manager Craig Edwards says he is wary that the club’s expectation levels will rise next season after a good year on the pitch. In the next campaign, which starts in August, he is looking to beat this season’s points tally of 69 in order to give Billericay a chance of promotion to Blue Square Bet South.
PETE’s weekend sport
Football – FA Cup Final between Stoke City and Manchester City at 3pm from Wembley. – let’s hope it ends better than the Serbian cup final between Partizan Belgrade and FK Vojvodina At 12:45, Man Utd could win the league with just a draw at home to Blackburn. Liverpool vs Tottenham at 4pm Sunday in a battle for 5th, and Wigan vs West Ham is now a huge relegation decider.
Football League play-offs begin tonight with Nottingham Forest vs Swansea; Reading vs Cardiff is tomorrow night.
Athletics/swimming – Great Manchester games, with the Great Manchester 10k run and Great Salford Swim on the same day too, all on the BBC
Golf – The Players’ Championship from Sawgrass, Woods back after injury and Mickleson with chance to become world number 1.
Rugby Union – play-offs, Leicester vs Northampton saturday at 3.15, and Sunday is Saracens vs Gloucester at 2.30.
Tennis – Murray into the 3rd round of the Rome Masters where he will play home favourite Potito Starace. Djokovic, Nadal and Federer all through too.
Cycling – Giro D’Italia ongoing but overshadowed by the death of Belgian rider Wouter Weylandt in stage 3.
Cricket – Essex vs Derbyshire at the moment, Derbyshire in control but they’ve sacked their coach overnight!
Pete’s Predictions:
FA CUP FINAL Man City 2 Stoke 0
Man U to win the league 3-1 Blackburn
Wigan 1-1 West Ham Essex lose to Derbyshire
THEATRE NEWS
Vinegar Tom – Kytes Theatre Group at The Brentwoo Theatre Thursday 12 – Saturday 14 May – Friday SOLD OUT Tickets £12 Box Office 01277 200305
Little Howard And The Magic Pencil Of Life And Death at Civic Theatre – Sun 15 May at 11:30 and 14:30 A comedy-drama about a TV cartoon character. Tickets between £7 and £12 Box Office: 01245 606505
Travesties: Chelmsford Theatre Workshop at The Old Court Theatre Until Sat 14 May at 19:45 Tickets £7-8 Box Office 01245 606505
Anything Goes: Witham Amateur Operatic Society at The Public Hall until 14 May at 19:30 and a matinee at Saturday 14:30 ickets £10.50-12.50 Box Office 01621 892 404
Half A Sixpence: Southend Operatic And Dramatic Society at Cliffs Pavilion Until May 15th at 19:30 and a matinee at Saturday 14:30 Tickets £11.50 – 17.50 Box Office 01702 351135
Little Shop Of Horrors: RODS at Mill Art And Events Centre until 14 May at 19:30 Tickets £7-9 Box Office 01268 778737
WEST END NEWS
THE STAGE – Matthew Hemley Musicals will be honoured at the Classic Brit Awards for the first time from next year, as the show’s producer tries to broaden the appeal of the awards ceremony. Formerly known as the Classical Brit Awards, the event – organised by the British Phonographic Industry – was renamed the Classic Brit Awards this year. Initially formed in 2000 to recognise the achievements of classical musicians and the growth of classical music sales in the UK, the BPI is now looking at introducing a musical theatre category, in a bid to attract a bigger audience to the ITV1 show. To pave the way for the new category, this year’s ceremony – taking place today (Thursday) at the Royal Albert Hall and hosted by Myleene Klass – will feature a performance from the cast of Les Miserables. This year’s awards will see film composer John Barry posthumously honoured with the Outstanding Contribution to Music award. The show will be broadcast on May 29 on ITV1.
BROADWAY.COM The National Theatre’s production of War Horse, the epic World War I drama newly nominated for five Tony Awards, will hit the road next year, launching a national tour at the Ahmanson Theatre in Los Angeles after rehearsing and previewing at Boise State University in Idaho. The tour will open in L.A. on June 13, 2012, before traveling to 19 other cities during the 2012-2013 season. In addition, a stand-alone production of War Horse will get an open-ended run at Toronto’s Princess of Wales Theatre beginning in February 2012.
Silence! The Musical, described as “unauthorized parody” of The Silence of the Lambs, features a book by Tony nominee Hunter Bell ([title of show]) and music and lyrics by Jon and Al Kaplan. The show began as a collection of songs that became popular on the internet, then a screenplay by the Kaplans that was adapted for the stage by Bell. Silence! was named Best Musical at the 2005 Fringe Festival and was successfully produced in London last season, it is now being prodcued Off-Broadway.
NBC has picked up the pilot for Smash, the new TV show set around the drama of producing a Broadway musical. The eagerly-anticipated new series will feature Debra Messing, Angelina Huston, Katharine McPhee (American Idol) and Broadway stars including Megan Hilty, Christian Borle and Brian d’Arcy James. Based on an idea by executive producer Steven Spielberg, Smash tells the trials and tribulations of producing a musical based on the life of Marilyn Monroe. Among the characters in the drama are Borle as a Broadway composer, Messing as a lyricist, Huston as a producer, and McPhee and Hilty as dueling divas. There is no word yet on when Smash will premiere on NB
