musicals
Hamilton, Victoria Palace review - rich, radical and ridiculously excitingSaturday, 23 December 2017
“Are you aware that we’re making history?” demands Alexander Hamilton in the show that has finally made the lesser-known Founding Father an international household name. And whether its creator, Lin-Manuel Miranda, knew it when he wrote that line or... Read more... |
The Grinning Man, Trafalgar Studios review - cool puppets but too convoluted by halfTuesday, 19 December 2017
These are challenging times for new British musicals. Following quickly on from a Pinocchio that ought to be way more joyful than it is, along comes The Grinning Man, a Victor Hugo-inspired musical first seen in autumn 2016 in Bristol. Sharing with... Read more... |
Pinocchio, National Theatre review - boy puppet lifts off, eventuallyFriday, 15 December 2017
From Nicholas Hytner and Alan Bennett’s wonderfully nostalgic version of The Wind in the Willows through Coram Boy, the international smash hit War Horse and beyond, the National Theatre has a startling track record in turning what used to be... Read more... |
Barnum, Menier Chocolate Factory review - a big, blowsy spectacleWednesday, 06 December 2017
You have to hand it to Menier Chocolate Factory, a venue that doesn't let size matter as it stages an all-singing, all-dancing new production of Barnum, a musical about Phineas Taylor (PT) Barnum – the 19th-century showman famed for staging “The... Read more... |
'She has escaped from my Asylum!': The Woman in White returnsTuesday, 28 November 2017
The Woman in White insists on being told and retold. Wilkie Collins’s much loved thriller is perhaps the most widely and frequently adapted of all the great Victorian novels. In Marian Halcombe it has a resourceful heroine whose appeal doesn't rest... Read more... |
Everybody's Talking About Jamie, Apollo Theatre review - inclusive and utterly joyfulThursday, 23 November 2017
Everybody’s been talking about Everybody’s Talking About Jamie since its Sheffield Crucible debut earlier this year. It’s unusual to see a musical come steaming into the West End based on word on mouth – not star casting, or association with an... Read more... |
Tiger Bay, Wales Millennium Centre review - ambitious but flawed spectacleFriday, 17 November 2017
During the 19th century, Tiger Bay in Cardiff was the beating heart of the Industrial Revolution and the most multicultural area in Britain. Visit today and the only signs remaining are the odd gothic buildings that sit between Doctor Who... Read more... |
'This is how it happened': Tom MacRae on writing Everybody's Talking About JamieSunday, 05 November 2017
I’d always wanted to write a musical, but I didn’t start actually trying until four years ago. Now four years on, my first show, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, is about to hit the West End – that’s four years to go from no show, no idea and... Read more... |
Romantics Anonymous, Shakespeare's Globe review - box of delightsThursday, 02 November 2017
It’s all a bit Dairy Milk. That was, to wrap it in purple foil, the critical reaction to Les émotifs anonymes when it was released in 2011. Not in the UK, though, where Jean-Pierre Améris’s romantic comedy never made it to cinemas. Lack of local... Read more... |
The Lorax, Old Vic Theatre review - a sage tale for young theatre goersWednesday, 25 October 2017
With mentions of Theresa May, cricket jumpers and DMs, Trump slurs and a host of characters with Northern accents, The Old Vic's return version of Dr Seuss' The Lorax, proves itself to be poles apart from the recent, popular Universal Pictures movie... Read more... |
Young Frankenstein review - Mel Brooks musical is blissfully bonkersThursday, 12 October 2017
What a difference an ocean and a change of scale can make. When I saw the Mel Brooks musical Young Frankenstein on Broadway a decade ago, the show seemed to take its cue from the lumbering monster contained within it, who stutters and sputters... Read more... |
Follies, National Theatre review - Imelda Staunton equal first in stunning companyThursday, 07 September 2017
Of Sondheim’s half-dozen masterpieces, Follies is the one which sets the bar impossibly high, both for its four principals and in its typically unorthodox dramatic structure. The one-hit showstoppers from within a glittering ensemble come thick and... Read more... |
