Hollywood-on-Thames

When crowds clamor for autographs and paparazzi flashbulbs light up the night in London's West End this summer, they aren't rubbernecking a celebrity "walkabout" for some Hollywood premier. In the British capital, the focus has shifted. A spate of new plays studded with big-screen stars has crowds lining the streets--and filling seats--in London's theater district. The phenomenon is nothing new: in recent years Hollywood stars have peppered their share of London stages. But this year more actors than ever are trading the silver screen for a summer treading the boards. Agents believe it's a good chance to get experience without the high-profile drama of a film flop. Movie stars--accustomed to playing a role just for cameras and crew, then waiting months for audience feedback--say there's something very gratifying about immediate applause and working on a stage, without high-tech special effects.

But are the stars simply scratching a self-indulgent itch, or are these productions actually worth seeing? Critics didn't hesitate to lampoon "Cloaca," the first play directed by Kevin Spacey in London last fall, proving that even the biggest names don't get automatic plaudits. Nor were they complimentary about Val Kilmer's star turn in "The Postman Always Rings Twice," which opened earlier this month at the Playhouse theater. For the most part, though, the plays are good. This summer has seen a glut of critically acclaimed openings, pushing audience numbers up 5 percent and boosting box-office revenue in London's theater district by 14 percent over last year. "There are some very strong offerings at the moment," says Richard Pulford, chief executive of the Society for London Theatre. And, he adds, the big musicals which opened at the end of last year are still doing very well. Cameron Mackintosh's dark, captivating production of the musical "Mary Poppins" and Andrew Lloyd Webber's ghostly "The Woman in White" got the West End going again last fall after a year of doom-and-gloom statistics about evaporating audiences and dilapidated venues. This year, Brooke Shields kick-started London's star-studded summer with a box-office hit, opening as cunning femme fatale Roxie in the musical "Chicago" in April. A bevy of big-screen thespians are still coming: Starting in August, Rob Lowe will be appearing in the courtroom drama "A Few Good Men," and it is widely rumored that Ashley Judd may make her West End debut this autumn in "Burn This."

Here is our take on four of the most-talked about productions:

KINDLY STOP CALLING ME ROSS read a headline in the London Sunday Times profiling former "Friends" star David Schwimmer on the eve of his West End debut in Neil LaBute's typically edgy "Some Girl(s)." Schwimmer stars as an egocentric, fiction-writing New Yorker who, on the eve of his wedding to a sweet nursing student a decade his junior, decides to pay a last call on four ex-girlfriends, each in a different U.S. city. Known only as "the Man," his aim is to reconcile himself to his past and enter married life with a clean slate. There are similarities with the goofy, sometimes pitiful character he played on "Friends." As the anonymous Man, Schwimmer greets his exes awkwardly, in meetings that are full of painful silences, slapstick moments and cumbersome dives for the minibar. But Schwimmer goes beyond caricature. His character's egotistic quest reveals a trail of bitterness, and depths of thoughtlessness and cruelty that the sitcom never touched. Gielgud theater, Shaftsbury Avenue; through Aug. 13.

When he took over as artistic director of London's historic Old Vic theater last year, Kevin Spacey cemented London theater's love affair with Hollywood. Despite a rocky start and poor reviews in the autumn, Spacey redeemed himself with this sparky production of high-society satire in which he plays smooth divorce C.K. Dexter Haven with a well-honed sense of comic timing. Jennifer Ehle, who starred alongside Gwyneth Paltrow in the 2002 film "Possession," proves a sharp foil to Spacey as headstrong heiress Tracy Lord, the role originally written for Katharine Hepburn in the 1939 Broaday hit and 1941 movie of the same name. Spacey's no Cary Grant, but he oozes debonair charm, and though the play, directed by Broadway veteran Jerry Zaks doesn't quite capture the tensions of the film, it builds up to a moving climax, and the dialogue crackles with witty exchanges, particularly in the hectic farce that consumes the last act. But ticket buyers should beware: Spacey will be taking a break between June 20 and Aug. 6 to film a new "Superman" movie. The Old Vic, Waterloo Road, booking to Sept. 3.

His role as Obi-Wan Kenobi in the Star Wars prequel propelled Scottish "Trainspotting" star Ewan McGregor into the Hollywood big-leagues, but this summer the actor has laid down his light saber. He will be playing the errant Sky Masterson in "Guys and Dolls" for the next six months. Taking on a role made famous by Marlon Brando in one of the most electric and best-loved of Broadway musicals might have intimidated a lesser actor. But McGregor is convincing as the charming gambler who is persuaded by his pal to smooth-talk a pious, pretty Salvation Army girl into running away to Cuba with him. McGregor's flair for dancing is the real surprise, though his singing is outshone by powerful voices in the rest of the cast. But the long lines outside the Piccadilly theater suggest the crowds care more about McGregor's charismatic stage presence than such nuances as melody. Musicals have been a key ingredient in the West End's revival, and in this production, the force is with McGregor. Piccadilly theater, Denman Street, through March 4, 2006

It's rare that all the publicity surrounding a production of this Shakespearean comedy revolves around the actress playing the supporting role of Celia, rather than her feisty cousin Rosalind. But expectations of Sienna Miller's stage debut were high after she revealed that she had practiced her lines with boyfriend Jude Law, with whom she costarred in the recent film "Alfie." The play, which opened Tuesday night, has been uprooted from the Elizabethan countryside and transplanted to 1940s France, with sleek coiffures and Left Bank philosophizing. But critics have been underwhelmed. MORE TRAGEDY THAN COMEDY ON THE NIGHT SIENNA STEPPED OUT OF JUDE'S SHADOW ran a headline in the London broadsheet The Independent. "Easy on the eye" was the biggest plaudit Miller garnered. Vibrant, classically trained stage star Helen McCrory saves the production as a fraught, impulsive Rosalind, brimming over with emotion. Miller is coquettish, and her cheeky wit wins the odd laugh from the audience. But overall her Celia is all flirtatious, teen-girl posturing and not much more. She's badly mismatched to McCrory, whose impressive range shows up Miller's limitations rather than compensating for them. As the Times of London concluded, "Likeable, but not loveable." Wyndham's theater, Charing Cross Road, through September.