Bad Girls continues at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, London until 3 March 2019. Star rating: one star ★ ✩ ✩ ✩ ✩ Caught between Orange is the New Black and Chicago with neither the skill or charm of either, we are welcomed into the world of fictional HMP Larkhall and the musical version of the […]
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Can-Can – Union Theatre
Can-Can continues at the Union Theatre, London until 9 March 2019. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ If the story of Orpheus in the Underworld isn’t known to you, the riotous ‘Infernal Galop’ from Jacques Offenbach’s equally riotous 1858 opéra buffonof the same name will surely ring a bell. Better known as […]
9 To 5 The Musical – Savoy Theatre
9 To 5 The Musical continues at the Savoy Theatre until 31 August 2019. Star rating: two stars ★ ★ ✩ ✩ ✩ It cannot escape one’s notice that the musical adaptation of 9 To 5 is a Dolly Parton production. Not only is her name above the title (deservedly so, for a songwriter of her standing and […]
Casting is announced for Ain’t Misbehavin’ at the Southwark Playhouse
Casting has been announced for the first London revival of Ain’t Misbehavin’ in almost 25 years which is due to arrive at the Southwark Playhouse in April following its premiere run at the Mercury Theatre Colchester. Presented by Paul Taylor-Mills and the Mercury Theatre Colchester in association with the Tamasha Theatre Company, the production will […]
Bournemouth debut for new musical Botox Or Bust
Bournemouth’s Shelley Theatre will premiere a new female-centric musical comedy about the endless battle to keep the wrinkles at bay. Produced by local company Encore Theatre and written by Bournemouth-based writer Lisa Gaye Wright, Botox Or Bust will play three performances at the Shelley Theatre from 21-23 March 2019. Featuring an all-female cast of ten, […]
Old Laundry’s Where Is Peter Rabbit? heads for Easter in the West End
Innovative family musical adventure Where Is Peter Rabbit? will be hopping into London’s West End this Easter. Following two successful seasons at the Old Laundry Theatre in the heart of the Lake District, the show which adds the wit of one of our leading playwrights Alan Ayckbourn to the timeless magic of Beatrix Potter, will […]
Tim Firth’s This Is My Family & Oklahoma! for Chichester Festival Theatre 2019
James Nesbitt will make his Chichester Festival Theatre debut in the first original solo musical from Calendar Girls writer Tim Firth as part of a packed 2019 season announced by artistic director Daniel Evans this week. The Cold Feet favourite will appear alongside Chichester returnees Sheila Hancock (Sister Act, West End) and Clare Burt (last season’s […]
Denise Van Outen will join Waitress star Katharine McPhee for first karaoke night
Denise Van Outen will join leading lady Katharine McPhee on stage at Adelphi Theatre to host the first Waitress London Cast Album Karaoke Night on Tuesday (19 February). Following Tuesday night’s performance theatregoers who have ‘signed up’ before for the post-show event will be given the chance to take to the stage accompanied by the […]
Audrey Brisson is cast in the title role in Amelie The Musical
French-Canadian stage and screen star Audrey Brisson will take the title role in the critically acclaimed musical version of hit French film Amélie which will receive its UK premiere at Newbury’s Watermill Theatre in 2019 ahead of an extensive UK tour. Directed by Michael Fentiman, Amélie The Musical is due debut at the distinctive Berkshire […]
Rip it Up: The 60s – Garrick Theatre
Rip it Up – The 60s continues at the Garrick Theatre, London until 2 June 2019. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Following the success of Rip it Up – The 50s tour, this feel-good variety show encompasses the 1960s in all its glory. The swinging 60s is celebrated through dance, music […]
Gershwin Reimagined – Royal Festival Hall
Gershwin Reimagined at the Royal Festival Hall, London. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Gershwin Reimagined is the ambitious concept of the conductor Troy Miller who devised this programme coupling his own arrangements of familiar Gershwin songs with the suite ‘Catfish Row’ which Gershwin based on his magnum opus, Porgy and Bess. […]
We’ve Got Each Other – The Vaults and Touring
We’ve Got Each Other at The Vaults, London and Touring. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Delicately positioning his especially purchased IKEA angle-poise lamp, leafing gingerly through his script and staring wide eyed at the audience, like a rabbit caught in spotlights – if only this production could have afforded them – […]
Black is the Colour of My Voice/Soul Sessions – Trafalgar Studios
Black is the Colour of My Voice/Soul Sessions continues at the Trafalgar Studios, London until 2 March 2019. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Apphia Campbell’s love song to the incomparable Nina Simone is immediately inviting, and full of passion. We meet our diva in the intimacy of a shabby bedsit, cigarette […]
Call Me Madam – New York City Center’s Encores!
Call Me Madam played New York City Center’s Encores! Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ It’s hard to imagine New York City Center’s Encores! series lavishing more polish and affection on any show than it did on Call Me Madam, whose seven-performance run marked the start of the series’ 2019 season. The […]
Cabaret – English Theatre in Frankfurt
Cabaret continues at the English Theatre in Frankfurt until 20 March 2019. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ After more daring choices in the past few years of lesser done musicals such as The Life and Jekyll & Hyde, the English Theatre in Frankfurt has decided to revisit a classic musical, but happily for us one […]
Daddy Long Legs to feature in the Barn’s second year
A new version of the award-winning musical Daddy Long Legs is among the line-up of five in-house productions in The Barn Theatre’s 2019 season. Following on from the 200-seat Cirencester venue’s award-winning first year in operation, Daddy Long Legs will be the theatre’s first musical in 2019. Running from 2 October until 2 November, the new […]
Cast for Sheffield Theatres’ Standing At The Sky’s Edge premiere
Sheffield Theatres’ artistic director Robert Hastie has confirmed the full cast for the world premiere of home-grown new musical Standing At the Sky’s Edge. Combining new and classic songs by award-winning singer/songwriter Richard Hawley and inspired by the people of his home city of Sheffield, the show which features a book by playwright Chris Bush […]
Casting For MT Fest UK Taster musicals and Tea For Two line-up
Paul Taylor-Mills has announced casting for the Taster Menu series of new musicals which will form the centrepiece of MT Fest UK, the two-week festival of new musical theatre which will launch at The Other Palace next week. Presented as 45-minute semi-staged ‘sharings’ in the studio at The Other Palace, the eight musicals range from […]
Barricade Boys to play dates in UK and USA
Les Misérables-inspired male vocal group The Barricade Boys will begin their UK tour at Windsor Theatre Royal on Thursday 14 February 2019. The extensive tour, also including dates in the US in April, will visit Basingstoke, Portsmouth, Birmingham, Walsall, Runcorn, Consett, Blackburn, Doncaster, Radlett, Coventry, York, Darlington, Colchester, Southend, Dorking, Aylesbury, Retford, Bolton, Bromley, Poole, […]
Hit production of Titanic heading for Europe
Thom Southerland’s critically-acclaimed production of the multi-award-winning Titanic The Musical will set sail once again with a European tour launching in Woking in July. Following on from last year’s successful debut UK and Ireland tour which began in Southampton, the city where the RMS Titanic began its fateful maiden voyage, the production will play the […]
First single out from Tina cast album as news revealed that Adrienne Warren is heading to Broadway
Fans of hit new show Tina – The Tina Turner Musical can get their first taste of the eagerly-anticipated original cast album with the release of a first single and music video. Featuring the show’s leading lady, Adrienne Warren, ‘River Deep – Mountain High’ is now available to download and stream. Presented by the show’s West […]
Waitress Adelphi run extended
Just hours before this week’s first preview performance of the eagerly-anticipated London run of the hit Broadway show Waitress, the show’s producers responded to high public demand by announcing the release of more tickets and an extended booking period to 19 October 2019. Starring American Idol finalist Katharine McPhee (making her West End debut as […]
Dear Evan Hansen – Dates confirmed for West End transfer
Dates have been confirmed for the eagerly awaited West End debut of the multi-award-winning Dear Evan Hansen at the Noël Coward Theatre this autumn. The West End run which, reuniting the creative team behind the show’s record-breaking Broadway run, will begin previews at the Noël Coward Theatre on 29 October 2019 ahead of an opening […]
West End stars join Max Martin’s re-imagined & Juliet
A number of West End favourites have joined the cast of & Juliet, the major new musical which envisions a happy ending for William Shakespeare’s Juliet. Featuring the music of prolific pop hit writer Max Martin and starring rising theatrical star and award-winner Miriam-Teak Lee (Hamilton, On The Town) in the title role, & Juliet […]
Marry Me a Little – Theatre Marigny Studio, Paris
Marry Me a Little at the Theatre Marigny Studio, Paris until 24 February 2019. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Just a couple of weeks after an original-language French musical, Notre Dame de Paris, hit London, we see the reverse side of the coin, an original-language American musical launching in Paris, at […]
Avenue Q – New Wimbledon Theatre & Touring
Avenue Q continues at the New Wimbledon Theatre, London until 9 February 2019 then tours until 10 August. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Judging by the reaction from the press night audience of Avenue Q at Wimbledon Theatre, Selladoor can look forward to a very successful 2019 national tour. This delightfully […]
The Ministry of Biscuits – Barons Court Theatre
The Ministry of Biscuits continues at the Barons Court Theatre, London until 10 February 2019. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ From the opening titles with the cast holding up placards to an overture, reminiscent of the opening of an Ealing comedy, this is a clever spoof with a satirical edge. Poking […]
Mark Ravenhill and Robbie Williams to collaborate on musical version of Walliams’ The Boy in the Dress for RSC
Robbie Williams and his songwriting partner Guy Chambers, together with playwright Mark Ravenhill, will collaborate on the Royal Shakespeare Company’s musical theatre version of David Walliams’ best selling The Boy in the Dress which will debut in Stratford-upon-Avon later this year. Directed by the RSC’s artistic director Gregory Doran, the musical will receive its world […]
Michael Ball, Alfie Boe, Carrie Hope Fletcher & Matt Lucas lead cast of Les Mis concert run at the Gielgud
Cameron Mackintosh has announced that for 16 weeks only Michael Ball (Javert), Alfie Boe (Jean Valjean), Carrie Hope Fletcher (Fantine) and Matt Lucas (Thénardier) will lead a large cast and orchestra of over 65 in the concert version of Les Misérables. Katy Secombe also joins to play Madame Thénardier and for three performances a week, the role of Jean Valjean will be played by John Owen-Jones. Further casting will […]
Rebecca Trehearn to star in Rags at the Hope Mill Theatre
Olivier Award winner Rebecca Trehearn will star in the UK premiere of a new version of the Stephen Schwartz musical Rags at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre in March. Recently seen in the hit Nottingham Playhouse production of Sweet Charity, Trehearn (Show Boat, Sheffield Crucible and West End, City of Angels, Donmar Warehouse) will be joined by Valda […]
Nicholas Lyndhurst and Cassidy Janson join Coliseum’s Man of La Mancha
Bafta Award winner Nicholas Lyndhurst and West End star Cassidy Janson will join the previously announced Tony and Emmy Award-winning actor Kelsey Grammer and international opera star Danielle de Neise in the eagerly-anticipated London Coliseum production of Man of La Mancha. Recently seen in Carousel at the Coliseum, small screen favourite Lyndhurst will return to […]
Anne-Marie Duff to lead Josie Rourke’s Donmar farewell show: Sweet Charity
Stage and screen star Anne-Marie Duff will return to the Donmar Warehouse to star in Sweet Charity, artistic director Josie Rourke’s farewell production after nearly a decade at the helm of the prestigious venue. The award-winning actress, who previously appeared at the Donmar in Rourke’s production of Berenice in 2012, will make her musical theatre […]
A Massaoke Night At The Musicals – Koko, London
A Massaoke Night At The Musicals at Koko, London. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ This is like every musical theatre fan’s dream come true. It’s a concert, filled with your favourite soundtrack hits, and you are the star. Okay, you and hundreds of other theatre fans but hey, the spotlight is yours, […]
Jenna Russell with Seth Rudetsky – Broadway at Leicester Square Theatre
Jenna Russell with Seth Rudetsky, Broadway at Leicester Square Theatre, London Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Jenna Russell – last seen (and utterly under-utilised, imho) in Fun Home at the Young Vic – gave us a peek into her colourful life for a couple of hours this Sunday as part of Seth […]
West End Women – Cadogan Hall
West End Women at the Cadogan Hall, London. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ After the success of Lambert Jackson’s concert, There is Nothin’ Like a Dame last summer, the production company came back again to continue celebrating the best of women in musical theatre. This show does pretty much what it says on the […]
Beyond The Barricade – Richmond Theatre & Touring
Beyond The Barricade at Richmond Theatre, London and on tour. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Bringing the magic of musical theatre to the masses has been the mission of Andy Reiss and David Fawcett ever since these Les Misérables veterans met up in Manchester in 1996 and eventually took Beyond The […]
A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) – Vault Festival & Touring
A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) continues at the Vault Festival, London until 3 February and on tour until 14 June 2019. Star Rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Following an award-winning run at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe Festival (Fringe First Award & Musical Theatre Review’s Best Musical Award at the Edinburgh […]
Laura Pitt-Pulford & Gary Wilmot to star in Little Miss Sunshine
Olivier Award nominees Laura Pitt-Pulford, Gary Wilmot and Paul Keating will star in the European premiere of off-beat musical Little Miss Sunshine which will launch at London’s Arcola Theatre ahead of a UK tour. Presented by Selladoor Worldwide and Arcola Theatre, the Off-Broadway hit will open with a seven-week season in London, beginning on 21 […]
Leave to Remain – Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith
Leave to Remain continues at the Lyric Theatre, Hammersmith until 16 February 2019. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Matt Jones and Kele Okereke’s Leave to Remainis billed as a gay love story. It is multi-layered and so much more. It is very funny, never self pitying or mawkish, and takes its gay themes beyond […]
Rock of Ages – His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen & Touring
Rock of Ages continues at His Majesty’s Theatre, Aberdeen until 2 February 2019 and on tour. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Fans of rock-opera unfettered by notions of either plot development or political correctness will be delighted with this cheesy as hell piece of rock‘n’roll debauchery. Landing like aliens upon the Aberdeen […]
Mob Wife: A Mafia Comedy – The Cockpit
Mob Wife: A Mafia Comedy at The Cockpit, London Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Imagine The Godfather without the gory bits and with lots of songs and you’re in this musical “in development” with book by Corey Skaggs and music and lyrics by Michael Mott. Both men were there to take the […]
Les Misérables – Edinburgh Festival Theatre & Touring
Les Misérables continues at Edinburgh Festival Theatre until 19 February 2019 and on tour until 4 January 2020. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Returning to Edinburgh with this new production, Les Misérables continues to impress. Victor Hugo’s classic work is certainly ‘in vogue’ with new film renditions (including Boublil and Schönberg’s […]
It’s a double whammy win for West End’s Company at the Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards
Marianne Elliott’s ground-breaking production of Company, Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s legendary 1970 musical comedy about life, love and marriage, with a hotly anticipated gender-swapped story line, took home two awards at the 2018 Critics’ Circle Theatre Awards held today (29 January 2019) at London’s Prince of Wales Theatre – The Peter Hepple Award for Best […]
Showstopper! The Improvised Musical – The Other Palace
Showstopper! The Improvised Musical continues at The Other Palace, London until 16 March 2019. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Adam Meggido and Dylan Emery’s Showstopper! The Improvised Musical is an improvised musical that implores the (often ludicrous) whims of the audience to establish setting, storyline and musical numbers at a seconds […]
Marti Webb – The Pheasantry
Marti Webb at The Pheasantry, London. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ British singers who have shows written specifically for them, particularly when those writers are as famous as Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black, are few but their brilliant song cycle Tell Me On a Sunday transformed Marti Webb from singers’ […]
Seann Miley Moore joins Clive Rowe in hip hop In the Willows
The X Factor’s Seann Miley Moore will join Olivier Award winner Clive Rowe, deaf street dancer Chris Fonseca and Let It Shine singer Matt Knight in a new hip hop musical re-working of the classic The Wind in the Willows from the award-winning Metta Theatre. Written and directed by Metta’s artistic director Poppy Burton-Morgan (Jungle […]
Kacey Ainsworth joins Everyman’s Sweeney Todd
Former EastEnder Kacey Ainsworth will play the resourceful Mrs Lovett opposite Liam Tobin’s Demon Barber in the Liverpool Everyman’s re-imagined production of Stephen Sondheim and Hugh Wheeler’s multi-award-winning musical thriller Sweeney Todd in April. The actress who first found fame as Little Mo in the BBC soap and is currently appearing in her fourth series […]
New Northern producers debut with return of Jerry Springer
New production company Northern Ricochet is the driving force behind plans for a major revival of Jerry Springer The Opera at Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre this summer. Nearly 15 years after the controversial multi-award-winning musical debuted in the UK, the new production will play the Ancoats’ venue from 8 until 31 August 2019. The production […]
MTR award winners part of packed Vault Festival
Our choice for the Best Musical Award at the 2018 Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Half Moon Shania, will be part of the eclectic mix of music, comedy and drama for this year’s Vault Festival. Presented by Burnt Lemon Theatre, the tale of an all-girl punk rock band on a raucous pub tour, is one of over […]
Theatre Cafe joins up with Waitress to put pies on the menu for London run
Life’s about to get a little sweeter for ticket holders for the eagerly-anticipated London run of the hit Broadway show Waitress with the announcement of a ‘pie-tastic’ partnership with The Theatre Café. The tie-in with London’s first theatre-themed coffee shop, will bring the Waitress pie jars created by Cute As Cake of New York to […]
