Original reviewed for The Reviews Hub: Round the Horne remains a milestone in radio comedy history. The 1960s sketch series fronted by Kenneth Horne was, on the face of it, merely a rebadged version of its predecessor, Beyond our Ken, which ran for six years. But the name change came about when writer Eric Merriman departed, to…
Month: February 2017
The Understudy, Canal Café Theatre, London ★★★½
Originally reviewed for The Reviews Hub: As acting gigs go, being the understudy to a famous actor in a large West End or Broadway show is a thankless one. If the person in whose shoes you are expected to stand is indisposed, the production will face demands from theatregoers who would rather receive a refund…
The Girls, Phoenix Theatre, London ★★★★★
The latest iteration of Calendar Girls may be the best yet
Newsies – The Broadway Musical, UK cinema screening ★★★★
Originally reviewed for Musical Theatre Review: As far as live-action musicals go, Disney’s 1992 film Newsies was a commercial failure. The film, which was released in the UK as The News Boys, applied the song and dance treatment to a unique period of industrial unrest: the 1899 Newsboys’ Strike in New York, where the underage…
The Cherry Orchard, Arcola Theatre, London ★★★★½
Chekhov’s final play, written when the playwright was in his early 40s, can be thought of as being remarkably prescient…
The Wild Party, The Other Palace, London ★★★★
So farewell, St James Theatre. Hello, The Other Palace – Victoria’s third theatre being rebranded after its purchase by Andrew Lloyd Webber and repositioned as a home for the nurturing of new musicals. To help launch the venue’s new name and purpose, artistic director Paul Taylor-Mills has chosen Michael John LaChiusa’s interpretation of The Wild…
Getting Dressed, Sadler’s Wells Lilian Baylis Studio, London ★★★★½
The sort of playtime that would make even the oldest and most cynical of grown-ups regress to a childhood of play
Prom Kween, The Vaults, London ★★★
Originally reviewed for Musical Theatre Review: Every Fringe festival has its shambolic musicals – those shows where the zero budget aesthetic is fully embraced, which like to project an air of being put together at the very last minute and every rough edge is displayed with pride. For this year’s Vaults Festival, Prom Kween fills…
Stegosaurus, Etcetera Theatre, London ★★★
The complicated psychological life of a woman with multiple eating disorders is explored in Greek playwright Ersi Niaoti’s one woman play Stegosaurus, receiving its English language premiere.
Fast food, singing staff – Leon Shaftesbury Avenue opens its doors
Originally written for Musical Theatre Review: Shaftesbury Avenue is one of the main arteries of London’s theatreland. It is also one of its borders: as the street curves northeastwards from Piccadilly Circus to Cambridge Circus, theatres from the Lyric and Apollo up to the Palace adorn its northern side while to the south, cafés and…
The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, Theatre Royal Stratford East ★★★
Originally reviewed for The Reviews Hub: The maxim “be true to yourself” forms the basis of many a musical. And so it is with Kirsten Childs’s The Bubbly Black Girl Sheds Her Chameleon Skin, a 2000 off-Broadway hit that follows the “protagonist learns not to succumb to others’ desires” trope so closely it is right…
The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night Time, Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury ★★★★★
The National Theatre play may be out to bow out of the West End shortly, but the touring production is still going strong
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