Prolific pop hit writer Max Martin will produce and provide the music for a major new musical & Juliet that will envision a happy ending for William Shakespeare’s Juliet. Featuring rising theatrical star and award-winner Miriam-Teak Lee (Hamilton, On the Town) in the title role, & Juliet will use Martin’s modern pop hits to accompany a […]
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Nunn’s Fiddler on the Roof to transfer from the Menier to the West End
The Menier Chocolate Factory and Trevor Nunn’s critically-acclaimed new staging of the much-loved classic Fiddler on the Roof will transfer to London’s Playhouse in March. Starring quadruple Tony Award nominee Judy Kuhn (Chess, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Broadway) as Golde opposite Andy Nyman (Assassins, Menier Chocolate Factory, Hangmen, Wyndham’s Theatre) as the title character, […]
Exclusive gallery of images: Notre Dame De Paris at the London Coliseum
Twenty years after its Parisian debut, and after receiving international acclaim in 23 countries worldwide, the French musical Notre Dame de Paris has been enjoying a short run at the London Coliseum. The original French production in London is being performed with English surtitles and a live orchestra until Sunday 27 January 2019. Enjoy this exclusive […]
American Idiot – Mayflower Theatre, Southampton & Touring
American Idiot continues at the Mayflower Theatre, Southampton until 26 January 2019 and then on tour. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Green Day’s American Idiot epitomises the disenfranchised mentality that characterised the post 9/11 youth in the USA. Ten years on from the Broadway debut of the show, as well as the […]
Thriller Live – Lyric Theatre
Thriller Live continues at the Lyric Theatre, London. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ After 10 years in the West End Thriller Live has made history as the longest-running show the Lyric Theatre has ever played host to, and is listed by Official London Theatre as the West End’s 14th longest-running musical. […]
Notre Dame de Paris – London Coliseum
Notre Dame de Paris continues at the London Coliseum until 27 January 2019. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Well, here’s a bit of a novelty… a musical in French with English surtitles in the West End. We had the English version of Notre Dame de Paris at the Dominion back in […]
Violet – Charing Cross Theatre
Violet continues at the Charing Cross Theatre, London until 6 April 2019. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ It may be overshadowed in composer Jeanine Tesori’s back catalogue by Fun Home and Shrek the Musical, but the musical score for Violet is one of her best. Brian Crawley’s book doesn’t quite live […]
West End stars line up for Night Caps concert series at MT Fest UK
Paul Taylor-Mills has revealed the line-up of West End stars who will perform in the Night Caps concert series that will form part of MT Fest UK, the festival of new musical theatre at The Other Palace in February 2019. Described as an opportunity for audiences to get to know some of the country’s eminent […]
Remembering Carol Channing – A great lady of the musical theatre
The American actress and singer CAROL CHANNING, who has died at the age of 97, became a Broadway legend, if only because she created the title role in the musical Hello, Dolly! A great lady of the musical theatre is recalled here by Michael Darvell… Carol Channing was born in Seattle, Washington on 21 January […]
More Coward: Stefan Bednarczyk – The Pheasantry
More Coward: Stefan Bednarczyk at The Pheasantry, London. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ It is 66 years since Noel Coward wrote the wickedly prophetic ‘There are Bad Times Just Around the Corner’ but in these dark Brexit days the bitingly witty words could not be more timely. The redoubtable Stefan Bednarczyk brought his […]
Club Mex – Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
Club Mex continues at the Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester until 10 February 2019. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Club Mex is an original, high-energy and full-of-laughs – so many you’ll miss a few as you are still laughing at a previous punchy line – part-immersive, part-musical clubbing experience. Written by award-winning, comedian, actor and […]
‘These characters catch the audience’s attention & imagination’: Stars of Notre Dame De Paris – Angelo Del Vecchio & Hiba Tawaji
Over 20 years after its Parisian debut, Notre Dame De Paris – the musical version of Victor Hugo’s classic 1831 novel – will run at the London Coliseum from 23 to 27 January 2019. The run will culminate in the 5,000th performance of the global hit show. At the London launch, Musical Theatre Review’s Alex […]
Doctor Dolittle The Musical – New Theatre, Oxford
Doctor Dolittle the Musical continues at the New Theatre, Oxford until 26 January 2019. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ It’s tragic that this beautifully crafted production of Doctor Dolittle The Musical, directed by Christopher Renshaw, cuts short its tour after its current run at the New Theatre Oxford due to poor advance […]
The Lion King to embark on second UK and Ireland tour as West End production celebrates 20th anniversary
Disney’s multi-award-winning musical The Lion King will head out on its second UK and Ireland tour later this year just weeks before the hit show celebrates its 20th anniversary at London’s Lyceum Theatre. Presented by the Walt Disney Company UK and Ireland, the new touring production will open in Bristol in September before moving on […]
Hayley Tamaddon joins cast of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
Ex-Coronation Street and Emmerdale regular Hayley Tamaddon will become the latest soap star to take on a leading role in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie when she joins the critically-acclaimed production later this month. The actress, who starred as Millie in last year’s touring production of Thoroughly Modern Millie will step into the role of Miss […]
Scots In The City returns to mark Burns Night with a special show at Above The Arts
West End star Kieran Brown will take to the stage alongside a host of fellow Scots at London’s Above The Arts next week on 24 January 2019 to celebrate Burns Night. Following a successful launch at the Arts Theatre in 2017, and a Burns Night special last year at The Other Palace Theatre, the third […]
Return run of Six extended plus cast win The Curtain Up Show album award
The success of critically acclaimed musical Six is continuing into the New Year with the news of an extension to the show’s second season in the capital into January 2020. With many dates for the show’s return run at Covent Garden’s Arts Theatre already sold out, the team behind the rock-flavoured show in which the […]
Guys and Dolls – The Mill at Sonning
Guys and Dolls continues at The Mill at Sonning until 23 February 2019. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The lyrics of ‘Luck Be a Lady’ may relate Sky Masterson’s hopes that he will win a bet and save his relationship with the girl of his dreams but it’s not just luck that sees […]
Broadway mourns the passing of Carol Channing, an indisputable legend
The lights of Broadway will dim for one minute this evening (Wednesday January 16) to mark the passing of Carol Channing, an outsized persona and outsized talent for whom the nomenclature “Broadway legend” could have been invented. She died Tuesday (15 January) at the age of 97 at her home in Rancho Mirage, California. Her […]
Touring production of Doctor Dolittle tour closes early
The producers of the new touring production of Leslie Bricusse’s Doctor Dolittle have confirmed the show will close at the end of its run at the New Theatre in Oxford. Disappointing advance ticket sales have been cited as the reason behind the cancellation of the rest of the tour, with the show’s final performance in […]
Caroline Sheen to replace Louise Redknapp for 9 To 5 The Musical’s Savoy run
West End star Caroline Sheen has stepped in to replace Louise Redknapp for the first few weeks of the eagerly-awaited Savoy Theatre run of Dolly Parton’s 9 To 5 The Musical. The actress, who featured in the original cast of The Witches of Eastwick (Theatre Royal, Drury Lane) and took on the title role in […]
Ria Jones heads up the Guys and Dolls cast at Paris’ Theatre Marigny
Paris will be seeing Guys and Dolls for the first time when Frank Loesser’s iconic 1950 musical lands in the Theatre Marigny, just off the Champs-Elysees, for a four-and-a-half-month run from 13 March to 27 July. Ria Jones, so brilliant in Sunset Boulevard, heads the cast which also features Clare Halse, Christopher Howell and Matthew […]
CD Reviews: Christine Andreas: Piaf No Regrets & Michele Brourman: The Price of Love
Two regular transatlantic visitors to famed Chelsea cabaret room The Pheasantry, evergreen Broadway star Christine Andreas and Los Angeles pianist-singer-songwriter Michele Brourman, have brought out stunning CDs that are well worth a listen. Andreas, who took over from Julie Andrews as Eliza Doolittle in the 1976 Broadway My Fair Lady and later was Tony-nominated for […]
The Prom – Longacre Theatre, New York
The Prom continues at the Longacre Theatre, New York. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ “Straight people like Broadway, too,” says Mr. Hawkins, the very straight, very theatre-loving high school principal in a very small Indiana town. “You know I’ve heard that,” responds Dee Dee Allen, the fading Broadway star, who is […]
The Cher Show – Neil Simon Theatre, New York
The Cher Show continues at the Neil Simon Theatre, New York. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ With an abundance of jaw-dropping costumes, loads of powerful pop-cum-Broadway belting and a pulsating, smartly integrated – even though it’s jukebox – score, The Cher Show makes for a terrifically entertaining epic bio-musical – and a meaningful […]
Injured Louise Redknapp forced to miss 9 To 5 The Musical opening
Louise Redknapp has been forced to delay her debut in a starring role in the eagerly-awaited Savoy Theatre run of Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 The Musical after the former pop star sustained injuries to her face and wrist in a fall. In a statement released this week, the producers said: “Due to an injury this […]
Tyrone Huntley and Oti Mabuse to bring new production of Ain’t Misbehavin’ to the Southwark Playhouse
Award-winning actor Tyrone Huntley will make his directorial debut with the first London revival of Ain’t Misbehavin’ in almost 25 years at the Southwark Playhouse in April 2019. Presented by Paul Taylor-Mills and the Mercury Theatre Colchester in association with the Tamasha Theatre Company, the production will arrive in London following its premiere run in […]
Aspects of Love – Southwark Playhouse
Aspects of Love continues at Southwark Playhouse, London until 9 February 2019. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Ably directed by Jonathan O’Boyle, this bijoux revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber, Don Black and Charles Hart’s 1989 show sits rather well in the intimacy of the Southwark Playhouse space configured in the round, […]
Songs For Nobodies – Ambassadors Theatre
Songs For Nobodies continues at the Ambassadors Theatre, London until 23 February 2019. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Premiered in 2018 at Wilton’s Music Hall, I was bowled over by the virtuosity and writing of this one-woman play with music. My fear that its impact might be dulled on a second viewing was […]
‘Expect to be immersed in a gorgeous story’: Bernadette Robinson brings Songs For Nobodies to the West End
Written specifically to showcase the extraordinary talents of BERNADETTE ROBINSON, Songs For Nobodies is a 90-minute play featuring songs from five iconic divas: Judy Garland, Patsy Cline, Billie Holiday, Edith Piaf and Maria Callas, as each of them come into the lives of five ‘nobodies’. Bernadette takes on the divas in her one-woman show as she performs […]
Five winners announced for Lambert Jackson’s West End Women – A Celebration of Women in Musicals
New musical theatre production company Lambert Jackson has announced the five winners of its competition to find a future female musical star to feature in their next show, West End Women – A Celebration of Women in Musicals. Open to women of all ages, the company’s second search for a singer to appear alongside a […]
Finalists for ninth annual Offies announced
Southwark Playhouse’s hit production of The Rink leads the finalists in the musical theatre categories of the 2019 Offies Awards. The critically-acclaimed production’s six finalists across the eight genre-specific categories are included in the 89 finalists across the 28 awards categories. Selected from 400 shows at over 80 Off West End venues by the Offies panel […]
Original Les Misérables production to move to the Gielgud – new production to open at refurbished Queen’s in December
Theatregoers have just a few months left to see the world’s only original production of Cameron Mackintosh’s record-breaking Les Misérables at the Queen’s Theatre before the London venue closes for four months of refurbishing work. After taking its final bow at the Queen’s Theatre on 13 July 2019, the original 1985 production will continue in […]
Special after-show karaoke for Waitress UK theatregoers
Fans of the hit Broadway show Waitress have an extra treat in store when the musical makes its eagerly-anticipated UK debut at London’s Adelphi Theatre with the announcement of the first ever ‘Cast Album Karaoke Nights’. Following the performances on Tuesday 19 February and Monday 18 March 2019, theatregoers will be given the chance to […]
Jenna Russell and Judy Kuhn to join Seth Rudestky for London concerts
Olivier Award winner and Tony Award nominee Jenna Russell and quadruple Tony nominee Judy Kuhn will be the next star names to join Seth Rudetsky for his popular Broadway @ Leicester Square Theatre series early this year. With Rudetsky once again acting as host and providing piano accompaniment, Russell (Fun Home, The Young Vic, Dr […]
Classic musicals and new British work to play Hope Mill Theatre in 2019
The highly successful partnership between Manchester’s Hope Mill Theatre and London arts producer Aria Entertainment continues with a 2019 season that will include the UK premiere of a new version of the Broadway musical RAGS, the first UK revival of classic musical Mame and new British musical The Astonishing Times of Timothy Cratchit, inspired by A […]
Bat Out of Hell stars help launch new London cabaret venue The Space @ Studio 88
Three of the stars of hit musical Bat Out of Hell will be among the first artists to appear at new London cabaret venue The Space @ Studio 88 this month. As previously announced, the show’s original Falco and Sloane, Rob Fowler (We Will Rock You) and Sharon Sexton (Billy Elliot), will showcase tracks from Vision […]
Auditions for MTAS’ show tune competition continue until 10 January 2019
Musical theatre aficionados with a penchant for performing songs from their favourite shows are being invited to apply for a chance to take part in The Musical Theatre Appreciation Society’s online competition. Organised by MTAS, the ten-week contest challenges competitors to produce singing videos in response to different themes suggested by leading West End performers. […]
Lee Mead gets up close and personal in new concert tour
Fans of stage and screen favourite Lee Mead will be able to get up close and personal with their hero when the popular star embarks on a major theatre tour next month. The actor who first shot to fame as the winner of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s television talent search for his new Joseph in 2007, […]
West End stars will feature in charity performance of Alexander S Bermange’s Thirteen Days
Musical theatre favourites will take to the stage at London’s Leicester Square Theatre in March 2019 for a charity gala performance of award-winning composer and lyricist Alexander S. Bermange’s musical Thirteen Days. Directed by Dominic Shaw, and staged in aid of the Make A Difference Trust, the creative for the special performance on Sunday 17 […]
CD Review – As Time Goes By – Alfie Boe
AS TIME GOES BY – Alfie Boe (DECCA – 6796403) Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ I first got wind of Alfie Boe when he released Bring Him Home in 2010. I was writing reviews for another musical magazine at the time (which is sadly no longer in publication) and was sent the CD. […]
CD Review – Lost West End Revues
LOST WEST END REVUES – 2CD set – Various Artists (STAGE DOOR RECORDS – STAGE 9058) Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ It always feels good when a package comes through the letterbox with a CD from Stage Door Records to review. In the past, they have done so much for the musical theatre […]
Sondheim’s Marry Me a Little will play Paris’ Theatre Marigny
Deprived as we are of any English-language musicals in Paris while the Theatre du Châtelet is closed for refurbishment, there is still some Stephen Sondheim to be seen in 2019 at the Theatre Marigny just off the Champs-Elysees. Running from 30 January to 24 February is Marry Me a Little, that revue of out-takes from […]
‘Brings some much-needed magic and colour into our lives’: Mary Poppins Returns – plus Q&A with director Rob Marshall
Tal Fox review Mary Poppins Returns and reports from a special Q&A with director Rob Marshall. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ It’s been nearly 55 years since Mary Poppins last flew into our lives and 25 years since she left the Banks family. But now that Michael and Jane are all […]
Star of hit US comedy 30 Rock Jack McBrayer joins Waitress London cast
Emmy-nominated 30 Rock star Jack McBrayer is the latest addition to the cast of the eagerly-anticipated UK debut of the hit Broadway show Waitress. The American film and television actor, whose distinctive voice can be heard in hit animated films including Despicable Me and in the lead role of Fix-It Felix in Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph, […]
Bat Out of Hell’s Rob Fowler and Sharon Sexton release album of duets, Vision of You
Two of the original stars of hit musical Bat Out of Hell have united to produce a special album of music celebrating their characters’ turbulent romantic relationship. Taking their inspiration from Jim Steinman’s crowd-pleasing stage show, Bat Out of Hell’s original Falco and Sloane, Rob Fowler (We Will Rock You) and Sharon Sexton (Billy Elliot), […]
Shane Richie joins Everybody’s Talking About Jamie cast
EastEnder Shane Richie is swapping Walford for the West End to take on a leading role in the critically-acclaimed Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. The comedian turned actor who previously starred in the West End in Grease will join the cast of the hit show to play in the role of Hugo/Loco Chanelle from 28 January until […]
First Writers’ Guild musical theatre writing award shortlist revealed
Tom MacRae, Sam Kenyon and Gus Gowland have made the shortlist for the Writers’ Guild of Great Britain new award launched to recognise the creativity of musical theatre writers. MacRae’s Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Kenyon’s Miss Littlewood and Gowland’s Pieces of String are all in the running for the inaugural Musical Theatre Bookwriting Award. Coinciding […]
Voting open for The Curtain Up Show’s Album of the Year
Some of the biggest shows to play the West End and Broadway will battle it out for The Curtain Up Show Album of the Year 2018. Presented in association with TodayTix, the awards linked to popular theatre chat show The Curtain Up Show will once again feature three categories, each with six nominees. They are open to […]
Other Palace season for award-winning Showstopper! The Improvised Musical
The popular Showstopper! The Improvised Musical will celebrate a milestone 1,000th performance during an eight-week limited season at The Other Palace early in 2019. Running from Tuesday 22 January 2019 until Saturday 16 March 2019, the Olivier Award-winning show will bring its own innovative brand of entertainment to Westminster venue following a festive season of […]
