REVIEW: TEDDY (The Vaults) ★★★★★
What an invigorating and ultimately moving spectacle ‘Teddy’ is. “Real Rock and Roll is about heartache, misery and pain” and this imagined Bonnie and Clyde of a specific finite snapshot in time, when Teddy boys and girls co-existed with 50’s traditional values, certainly bears out this mantra. ‘Teddy’ is essentially a beautifully written ode to […]
REVIEW: BURY THE HATCHET (Theatre N16) ★★★★
I did not know as I braved the baltic conditions of the new Theatre N16 space that Bury The Hatchet had won the “People’s Choice” award at the recent lauded Vaults Theatre festival – but I am unsurprised. With a truly innovative and pacey form of storytelling, interspersed with a well chosen and beautifully executed fusion […]
West End stars gather for The Musical Marathon in aid of The Terrence Higgins Trust
On 1st April, The Other Palace provided a stunning Easter Sunday treat in the form of a Musical Marathon in aid of The Terrence Higgins Trust. Paul Taylor-Mills, the Artistic Director of The Other Palace, is running the London Marathon in just a few weeks time for this incredible charity. The Terrence Higgins Trust supports […]
REVIEW: DEVIL WITH THE BLUE DRESS (Bunker Theatre) ★★★★
“This gets called the Monica Lewinsky Scandal. You made sure everyone knew my name.” Devil with the Blue Dress by Kevin Armento, gets its world premiere at The Bunker Theatre in Southwark. Directed by The Bunker’s Artistic Director Joshua McTaggart, the play takes a look at the first American political sex scandal of the internet […]
REVIEW: CONTROL (Hen & Chickens) ★★★★★
Gay theatre has a torrid and troublesome history. The love that dare not speak its’ name in the street let alone on a stage was codified and hidden. The great gay stage writers Edward Albee, Tennessee Williams and William Inge projected themselves into barely concealed emotional archetypes before the sexual and social liberations of the […]
REVIEW: SPRING AWAKENING (Hope Mill Theatre) ★★★★★
Spring awakens and returns in full bloom with an impressive revival in Manchester’s most creative theatre. Based on Frank Wedekind’s controversial 1891 German play of the same name, Spring Awakening the musical is a story of hormones, puberty, sexuality and teenage angst. It gathered cult status upon its premiere on Broadway for breaking the conforms […]
REVIEW: A SPOONFUL OF SHERMAN (Greenwich Theatre) ★★★★★
I feel I should start this review with a very open declaration; I am a big Disney fan. A very big Disney fan. Be it the films, songs or theme parks, I am obsessed with it. So, it was no surprise to anyone I know that when the opportunity to review the new tour of […]
REVIEW: RUTHLESS! THE MUSICAL (Arts Theatre) ★★★
This cult satire, exploring the deadly competition of show business, played off-Broadway for just under a year in 1992. Ruthless! The Musical follows Tina Denmark, an abnormally talented eight year old little girl, as she goes to drastic lengths to bag the main part in her school show. After her sickly sweet mother hits breaking […]
REVIEW: SONGS FOR NOBODIES (Wilton’s Music Hall) ★★★★
The enchanting Wilton’s Music Hall brings to London the European Premiere of ‘Songs For Nobodies‘. This one-woman show, originally conceived and played in Australia, consists of five monologues from ‘nobodies’ who relay the time they came into contact with a female music icon. The stories are navigated by the incomparable Bernadette Robinson, a power-house of an […]
REVIEW: MISS NIGHTINGALE (Hippodrome Casino) ★★★★★
Now in its sixth incarnation since its conception in 2011, Miss Nightingale has taken up residency at the Hippodrome Casino in London after a successful run at The Vaults in Waterloo. Whilst that venue could not be more perfect for a war-time musical with bare brick walls and cold musky smell, the show feels just […]