Onassis, Martin Sherman’s bio-play about the final years in the life of Greek shipping magnate Aristotle Onassis, is to close at the Novello theatre on 8 January, a month earlier than planned.
The play, which had been booking to 5 February, stars Robert Lindsay as Onassis himself and Anna Francolini and Lydia Leonard as the two important women in his life, Maria Callas and Jackie Kennedy. Illuminating the millionaire’s interwoven relationships with these two women, as well as with his son Alexandros, the play shows how those in positions of enormous power and wealth can become detached from the moral codes of everyday existence.
Elsewhere in the West End, Billy Elliot – The Musical has extended its booking period for another year to 17 December 2011. It had been booking until April.
The Laurence Olivier Award-winning show, which opened in the West End in 2005, is set in a mining community in northern England during the miners’ strikes and tells the story of one young boy’s desire to give up his boxing gloves for dance lessons, much to the chagrin of his father. Pursuing his dream against the odds, Billy applies for the Royal Ballet School.
The show was created by the same writer and director – Lee Hall and Stephen Daldry – as the hit film upon which it is based and has a score by multi-award-winning recording artist Elton John.
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