Relatively Speaking
Rating **** Reviewed by Tony Peters Following on from Absent Friends and A Chorus of Disapproval, the Alan Ayckbourn revival continues with this beautifully played production of his very first West End hit in 1967. Director Lindsay Posner retains the late 1960s setting, with just a couple of lines cut from the script that, with […]
Phantom
Wilma’s Rating *** It’s more Phantom of the Amateur than Phantom of the Opera in this, the world premiere of Maury Yestons Phantom. A story similar to the Andrew Lloyd Webber version but not quite. Written before the Lloyd Webber version, this musical never made it to stage after the success of the current west […]
The Woman In Black (West End)
The Woman In Black has been frightening audiences for 25 years, with its ghost story about a man, sent to a dead woman’s house to go through her paperwork for legal reasons. The audience are on edge, waiting for something scary to happen and any slight flicker of light leaves teenage girls screaming and laughing […]
Velma Celli
Rating **** Reviewed by Michaela Clement Hayes So it’s a Friday night in London. Always on the look out for something different, I headed to the Hippodrome Casino to see the show everyone was talking about – Velma Celli, ‘the only all live singing, all dancing extravaganza in London’. Cabaret is always fun because […]
Hutch
Rating *** Reviewed by Tony Peters In 1916 Leslie “Hutch” Hutchinson moved from his home on the island of Grenada to New York where he became a jazz pianist. In 1920s Paris he met composer Cole Porter and the two became lovers. With Porter’s patronage, Hutch was soon the toast of Parisian café society, […]
Kerry Ellis
Last night, queen of theatre Kerry Ellis, performed a one night only concert at the London Palladium. An incredibly stagey affair, opening with the wonderful Woman the Band, (4 women currently on tour with Billy Ocean) belting out wonderful arrangements of well known songs, with a distinct country music feel to them. I was blown […]
Merrily We Roll Along
Rating [rating=4] Reviewed by Tony Peters The Menier Chocolate Factory continues its run of West End transfers with first-time director Maria Friedman’s sophisticated and hugely enjoyable production of Sondheim’s “flop” about the rise to fame and eventual disintegration of a writing partnership. The history of Merrily is well documented. The original Harold Prince-directed show closed […]
The Ghost Hunter
Rating [rating=5] Reviewed by Frances Revel Ever been to York? The city of ghosts, it owns the category when it comes to hauntings, spectres and spooky antics. And it was the source of inspiration for the latest production by Theatre of the Damned. The Ghost Hunter is an hour long one man show – […]
The Tempest
Rating [rating=4] Reviewed by Tony Peters Director Jeremy Herrin returns to the Globe Theatre for the first time since his critically acclaimed production of Much Ado About Nothing in 2011 to open the new season with this thoroughly entertaining take on Shakespeare’s last play. Prospero, the former Duke of Milan, has been betrayed by Alonso, […]
Ghost
Rating [rating=4] Reviewed by Rosalie Carter I won’t lie, I was a little sceptical at how effective a musical production of the 80s classic film Ghost would be. How would anyone ever recreate the tender aloofness of Patrick Swayze? The fizzle and pop of Whoopi Goldberg? Demi Moore’s pixie cut? I need not have worried; […]