REVIEW: GUYS AND DOLLS (Savoy Theatre)
Following a successful run at the Chichester festival theatre, Gordon Greenberg’s revival of the classic musical Guys and Dolls has joyfully danced its way into the Savoy Theatre. The show which follows a group of gamblers and their molls was made famous by the 1955 film which starred a veritable plethora of Hollywood royalty including […]
REVIEW: Vanity Fair (Middle Temple Hall)
William Makepeace Thackeray embarked on a legal career in the Middle Temple before he became a novelist. To honour this connection, the Inn presents a production of his most important work in aid of the Middle Temple Scholarship Fund. Middle Temple Hall has always had a close relationship with the arts. The first recorded production […]
REVIEW: GREY GARDENS (Southwark Playhouse)
The 1975 documentary, Grey Gardens, seems to have a cult following, or at least that is what the tremendous applause and standing ovation at last nights European Premiere of the 2006 Broadway musical led me to believe. Telling the story of Jackie Kennedy’s (wife of US President JFK) aunt and cousin, who lived together in […]
REVIEW: Dinosaur Park (St James’s Theatre)
In August 2015 I was lucky enough to go to Edinburgh Fringe and see Superbolt’s Jurassic Park at the time it was on. After thoroughly enjoying it in Scotland I jumped at the chance to see Dinopark in London’s St James’s Theatre. Set in Lyme Regis Community Centre, we are greeted by the Park family […]
REVIEW: THE NUTCRACKER ON ICE (Royal Albert Hall)
Other than a pantomime there is no other piece of theatre that is so quintessentially Christmas as The Nutcracker. The Imperial Ice Stars have taken this ballet and given it a spectacular revamp with the elegance and thrills of an ice show. The majority of the cast, on top of having stunning ice skating skills […]
REVIEW: CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG (West Yorkshire Playhouse)
I’m a little ashamed to say that I’d never seen Chitty Chitty Bang Bang until this week. So whilst going up and down the country to do the obligatory Christmas family visits, I decided to stop off in Leeds and go to the famous West Yorkshire Playhouse to check out the new production that will […]
CD REVIEW: RICHARD WOODFORD – Because of You
If you’re looking for a stagey album (that doesn’t feature Josh Groban) this Christmas, then look no further. Richard Woodford’s album ‘Because of You’ provides a wonderfully varied list of musical theatre classics as well as a few newer treats thrown in. Woodford’s voice adapts beautifully to several different musical styles, from Phantom to Saturday […]
REVIEW: ROBIN HOOD (Theatre Royal Stratford East)
I tried to explain panto to an Italian friend the other day. Her polite, bemused expression said, “Yeah, no idea. I’ll just keep smiling until you stop talking,” Men dressed as women, women as men, two people disguised as a cow, double meanings and audience participation… “Well, it’s just Commedia dell’arte, innit?” I should have […]
REVIEW: LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES (Donmar Warehouse)
For much of Les Liaisons Dangereuses it feels like watching an oil painting come to life. Tom Scutt’s design is exquisite, with a grand backdrop of artwork and elaborate coving that reflects the opulent stately homes of 18th Century Paris in which the play is set. Yet it’s distressed and crumbling like the morals of […]
REVIEW: SLAVA’s SNOW SHOW (Royal Festival Hall)
This wasn’t my first trip to see Slava’s Snow Show (which has played the last five Christmas seasons in London) but I can’t say I have any more idea what it was all about the second time around either! It’s weird, whacky and endearing with clowns wandering around the stage for an hour and a […]