The Scottsboro Boys
It is fitting that Kander and Ebbs most popular musical Chicago, ended its fifteen year run in the West End two years ago at the same theatre where tonight their final show as a writing pair has just opened. Fred Ebb died in 2004 whilst the pair were writing the Scottsboro Boys. Four years later, […]
Jacques Brel is Alive and Living in Paris
Jacques Brel is the third best-selling Belgium singer/songwriter with over 25 million albums sold. Despite dying back in 1978 his music has remained loved throughout the ages with artists like David Bowie, Leonard Cohen and Mark Almond covering his work. The majority of his work was written and performed in French but over the years […]
Unidentified Item In The Bagging Area
Pink Snail Productions and playwright Sarah Simmonds deliver a hilarious, (vagina) empowering play at the Red Lion Theatre in Angel. When I made my way up the small stairway that leads to the Old Red Lion Theatre (set above the Old Red Lion pub,) I found the theatre and the nearly non-existent set (three white […]
East Is East
The second production in the second season of Jamie Lloyd’s Trafalgar Transformed season is a beautifully performed revival of Ayub Khan Din’s 1996 play about cultural clashes in 1970s Salford — a work regarded as a landmark in bringing Asian culture to British audiences. Here the author himself stars as Pakistani chip shop owner George […]
Barnum
While watching Barnum at Wimbledon Theatre I couldn’t help but think that actors these days truly do have to be multitalented these days. Not only do they have to sing, dance and act, but whether it be playing the saxophone in Dreamboats and Petticoats, puppetry in Avenue Q or even roller-skating in Starlight Express, actors […]
Dancing In The Streets
There’s something about Motown songs that just makes you want to get up and dance, singing your heart out to these toe-tapping tunes. Well, luckily for this audience, that’s exactly what you can do if you go and see Dancing in the Streets. I’ll admit I was sceptical. It was either going to be […]
REVIEW: Into The Woods (Ye Olde Rose and Crown, 2014)
Stephen Sondheim’s 1986 musical Into The Woods is one of his most loved and well known shows. A musical mash-up of some well loved fairytales stories sees the characters from Jack and the Beanstalk, Little Red Riding Hood, Cinderella and Rapunzel come together in one magical show. With the Hollywood film production coming to cinemas […]
The Commitments
Based on Roddy Doyle’s 1987 novel and following up the 1991 film, The Commitments (directed by Jamie Lloyd) has survived its first year as a musical at London’s Palace Theatre. Still popular a year on, The Commitments tells the story of Ireland in the 1980s, a time of political unrest and severe unemployment. […]
Urinetown
The Tony Award winning 2001 Broadway musical Urinetown made its London debut earlier this year at the St James Theatre in Victoria. One of the most talked about shows begged the question why? Why write a musical set in a world with a water shortage where you must pay to use the toilet. […]
Altar Boyz
The Greenwich Theatre is one of the larger fringe venues we have in the Off-West End scene – with a very successful history of past productions such as The Secret Garden, Bare and The Last Five Years. When entering the theatre the audience are greeted by the renowned voice of Tony Blackburn, bellowing out the […]