Comedian Dom Joly and Coronation Street favourite Beverley Callard are among the stars lining up to take on narrating duties when Richard O’Brien’s cult classic The Rocky Horror Show returns to the road next month for a major 12-month tour of the UK. Joly and Callard will join former Big Brother contestant turned TV presenter […]
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Griff Rhys Jones to star as Scrooge in LMTO’s A Christmas Carol
Griff Rhys Jones will star as Ebenezer Scrooge in this year’s London Musical Theatre Orchestra’s concert staging of Alan Menken, Lynn Ahrens and Mike Ockrent’s A Christmas Carol. Now firmly established as one of the highlights of the festive season following sold-out performances in 2016 and 2017, LMTO’s version of the 1994 Broadway musical reworking […]
Star-packed music video accompanies Dan and Laura Curtis song which raises funds for Help For Heroes
Judi Dench, Paul McCartney, Whoopi Goldberg and Steve Martin are among a glittering group of stars who have joined a host of West End favourites in a very special musical video tribute to servicemen and women around the world. Aimed at raising funds for UK charity Help The Heroes, The Hero – A West End […]
Putting It Together – Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
Putting It Together continues at the Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester until 24 November 2018. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ ‘Having just a vision’s no solution, everything depends on execution: putting it together, that’s what counts’ – if ever there was a song to encapsulate the ethos behind the creation and development […]
Girlfriends in Concert – Bishopsgate Institute
Girlfriends in Concert continues at the Bishopsgate Institute, London until 3 November 2018. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ With a five star cast led by Lucie Jones and Lauren Samuels this performance is unmissable. If you by some chance you can’t get along, then it’s being recorded live for release on […]
Amélie The Musical to premiere at the Watermill Theatre before tour
The musical version of hit French film Amélie 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 will debut at the distinctive Berkshire venue from 11 April until 18 May 2019 before heading out on the road from 20 May. […]
Little Match Girl-inspired musical Striking 12 to debut in London
Off-Broadway musical Striking 12 will open at London’s Union Theatre for a Christmas season which will begin previewing on 28 November 2018 ahead of an opening night on 3 December. Inspired by Hans Christian Andersen’s story of The Little Match Girl, the production will be directed by Oliver Kaderbhai and will run until 23 December. […]
Company leads individual production nominations for Evening Standard Awards
Marianne Elliott’s critically-acclaimed gender-swapped version of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Company leads the individual production nominations for the 64th Evening Standard Theatre Awards. Just three weeks after the show’s opening night, Company has been nominated for the award for best musical alongside Caroline, or Change, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie, Fun Home and Hamilton. The […]
Caroline, Or Change – West End run extended
Just weeks before the opening night of the eagerly-anticipated West End transfer of the Chichester Festival Theatre production of Caroline, Or Change, the show’s producers have announced a two-month extension to the Playhouse Theatre run. Following sold-out runs at the Chichester Festival Theatre and London’s Hampstead Theatre, the production which features a critically-acclaimed central performance […]
Cilla The Musical – Milton Keynes Theatre and Touring
Cilla The Musical continues at Milton Keynes Theatre until 3 November 2018. The tour is booking until 1 December 2018. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Cilla The Musical is a fully immersive dive back in time. Transporting the audience back to the humble beginnings of household name Cilla Black (along with […]
Say My Name! (The Unauthorised ‘Breaking Bad’ Parody Musical) – Theatre N16
Say My Name! (The Unauthorised ‘Breaking Bad’ Parody Musical) at Theatre N16, London Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Turning all five seasons of Breaking Bad into an hour and a half long musical is an ambitious concept, but one that the cast and creative team of Say My Name! (The Unauthorised ‘Breaking […]
West End Bares – Top Off the Pops – Shaftesbury Theatre
West End Bares – Top Off The Pops at the Shaftesbury Theatre, London. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ After six years at the Café de Paris and two memorable years at the Novello Theatre, West End Bares moved to a yet bigger house, the Shaftesbury Theatre, home of the Broadway musical Motown for the past three years, so definitely a fitting venue for this year’s production, aptly titled Top Off The Pops. After […]
Full company for Menier Chocolate Factory’s Fiddler On the Roof
The Menier Chocolate Factory has announced full casting for Trevor Nunn’s eagerly-anticipated new staging of the much-loved classic Fiddler On the Roof. Quadruple Tony Award nominee Judy Kuhn (Chess, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, The Imperial Theatre, New York) will play Golde opposite Andy Nyman (Assassins, Menier Chocolate Factory, Hangmen, Wyndham’s Theatre) as the title […]
New production of First World War musical Brass to open at London’s Union Theatre
Benjamin Till’s award-winning BRASS will receive its professional London premiere at the Union Theatre as part of a series of events to mark the centenary of Armistice Day. Commissioned by the National Youth Music Theatre and set during the First World War, the first production of the moving musical drama at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall […]
Lambert Jackson’s West End Women to play London’s Cadogan Hall
New musical theatre production company Lambert Jackson will follow its successful launch production There’s Nothin’ Like a Dame with another one-night celebration of the genre’s female characters at London’s Cadogan Hall early next year West End Women – A Celebration of Women in Musicals will once again feature a group of popular West End leading […]
European premiere for Little Miss Sunshine musical
Off-beat musical Little Miss Sunshine will receive its European premiere next spring with a new production at London’s Arcola Theatre ahead of a UK tour launching at the New Wolsey Theatre in Ipswich. Presented by Selladoor Worldwide and Arcola Theatre, the Off-Broadway hit will open with a seven-week season in London beginning on 21 March […]
Renascence – Abrons Art Center, New York
Renascence continues at the Abrons Art Center, New York until 17 November 2018. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ In 1912 the budding 18-year-old American poet Edna St Vincent Millay submitted her poem ‘Renascence’ to a poetry contest, winning fourth prize. But there was a general uproar that her poem was the best and […]
‘Brilliantly captures Sheridan Smith in full bloom’: Funny Girl – the movie of the stage musical
Funny Girl – the movie of the stage musical premiered at cinemas nationwide on 24 October 2018. ‘Great’ is a vastly overused word but Sheridan Smith’s Fanny Brice in Funny Girl is indisputably one of the great performances on the British stage and is well worthy of preserving on film for posterity. It rivals Imelda […]
Layton Williams to play the title role in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie from January 2019
Layton Williams is to play the title role of Jamie New in the award-winning musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at London’s Apollo Theatre from 28 January 2019. Producer Nica Burns said: “We’re delighted to welcome Layton Williams as only our second Jamie as we say goodbye to the wonderful John McCrea, who created the role and […]
Baby – Drayton Arms Theatre, London
Baby continues at the Drayton Arms Theatre, London until 9 November 2018. Star rating: two stars ★ ★ ✩ ✩ ✩ The musical theatre composing duo Maltby and Shire are best known for the 1989 revue Closer Than Ever, a song cycle with looks at all stages of love and romance. The composers described that […]
The Midnight Gang – Chichester Festival Theatre
The Midnight Gang continues at the Chichester Festival Theatre until 3 November 2018. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ David Walliams has established himself as a most successful writer of children’s books that are witty, full of fun but also featuring serious themes. The Midnight Gang, adapted by Bryony Lavery, embraces all […]
Watch the new trailer for the The King and I screening in November
A new trailer has been released to promote the special one night only screening of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s The King and I filmed during its acclaimed transfer run at the London Palladium. Featuring Tony Award winner Kelli O’Hara (Anna), Oscar nominee Ken Watanabe (The King), Tony Award-winning Ruthie Ann Miles (Lady Thiang), leading Japanese TV […]
Guys and Dolls – Royal Albert Hall
Guys and Dolls was performed at the Royal Albert Hall, London. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ The legendary Royal Albert Hall turned into musical comedy heaven for a weekend. Though the venue will never be the ideal venue for musical theatre, and there have been better productions lately of Guys and […]
Clive Rowe to star in hip-hop In The Willows
Olivier Award winner Clive Rowe will star as Badger 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 Book, UK and International tour), with music from award-winning composer Pippa Cleary (The Secret Diary of Adrian […]
World premiere of Billionaire Boy musical – casting revealed
Ryan Heenan will take on the title role in the eagerly-anticipated world premiere stage adaptation of David Walliams’ best-selling Billionaire Boy which is due to debut in Southampton next month ahead of a UK tour. Heenan (Grease, UK and international tours, The Sound of Music, London Palladium) will play Joe Spud alongside Lem Knights (Priscilla […]
Cast for tenth anniversary tour of American Idiot
Waterloo Road star Tom Milner will be joined by two former X Factor finalists who will make their stage debuts in the cast of Green Day’s American Idiot when the award-winning rock musical returns to the UK in 2019 for a special anniversary tour. Milner whose stage credits include Soho Cinders (Soho Theatre) and Waterbabies […]
Dominion run of Bat Out of Hell to end in January 2019
The producers of Bat Out Of Hell – The Musical have confirmed the award-winning show will end its Dominion Theatre run on 5 January 2019. Following on from smash hit runs in 2017 at the Manchester Opera House and the London Coliseum, the musical version of Jim Steinman’s rock classic record stormed into the Dominion […]
Southwark Playhouse run for Hope Mill’s Aspects of Love plus new musicals Stay Awake, Jake & Benjamin Button feature in 2019 season
Hope Mill Theatre’s hit version of Aspects of Love, and the world premiere of a musical based on F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, will be among the Southwark Playhouse’s final productions to play the Playhouse’s current London site. Due to take up residence in two purpose-built new theatre spaces in late […]
Guys and Dolls at the Royal Albert Hall – Exclusive gallery of images
Hailed as the perfect musical comedy, Guys and Dolls is performed at the Royal Albert Hall this weekend with the Royal Philharmonic Concert Orchestra and an all-star cast in a semi-staged concert directed by Stephen Mear (Gypsy, Singin’ in the Rain) and narrated by Stephen Mangan. And you are in for a treat because Musical Theatre Review’s official photographer Roy Tan has taken this fabulous […]
CD Review – Wonderful Town – London Symphony Orchestra and Cast
WONDERFUL TOWN – London Symphony Orchestra and Cast (LSO Live – LSO0813) Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ As part of the Leonard Bernstein at 100 celebrations, the London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Simon Rattle have released their recording of Bernstein’s Wonderful Town. Since it was written in 1953, there have only been four […]
CD Review – King Kong – Original London Cast and Original South African Cast
KING KONG – Original London Cast and Original South African Cast (STAGE DOOR RECORDS – STAGE 9057) Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ I have to confess I actually own this cast recording on vinyl, but I have never played it. Don’t know why – I think the cover put me off – no […]
CD Review – Jazz Goes to the Movies – Ann Hampton Callaway
JAZZ GOES TO THE MOVIES – ANN HAMPTON CALLAWAY (Shanachie Entertainment – SH5464) Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ I must preface this review with these words: I can’t stand jazz! I love all genres of music but there is something about jazz and all those ‘do-do-dah-do-do’s and ‘bap-pah-bah-bah’s that drive me round the […]
CD Review – Imaginary – National Youth Music Theatre
IMAGINARY – National Youth Music Theatre (SimG Records) Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ This is the latest release from SimG Records involving the National Youth Music Theatre and it is a corker! Written by Timothy Knapman and Stuart Matthew Price, the production was staged at The Other Palace last year directed by Shaun […]
Remembering Charles Aznavour
The singer-songwriter and actor left school at age nine having been encouraged by his father to become a performer. Thus began a career that lasted for over 85 years. He was still working, touring in Japan, until a few weeks before he died on 1 October 2018. Michael Darvell recalls the genius talent that was […]
Midnight at The Never Get – The York Theater Company, New York
Midnight at The Never Get continues at The York Theater Company, New York until 4 November 2018. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ A poignant gay love story blends with a respectful but spotty homage to the Great American Songbook in Midnight at The Never Get, playing Off-Broadway at The York Theatre […]
The Distance You Have Come – Cockpit Theatre
The Distance You Have Come continues at the Cockpit Theatre, London until 28 October 2018. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Billed as a song cycle (by Scott Alan who also directs) this two-hour piece sits somewhere between musical theatre and a concert. Six people interact in various roles as we explore, […]
Bromance: The Dudesical – The Other Palace
Bromance: The Dudesical continues at The Other Palace, London until 24 October 2018. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Director Sarah Redmond and producers Daisy Smith (for How Very Productions) and Max Barraclough have assembled a talented cast of five for the London premiere of Kyle Ewalt and Michael Ian Walker’s musical […]
Fame The Musical – Spa Theatre, Bridlington & Touring
Fame The Musical was reviewed at the Spa Theatre, Bridlington. The tour continues until 7 September 2019 before transferring to London’s Peacock Theatre on 11 September 2019. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Approaching the box office, I was determined that I would not be influenced by memories of leg-warmers, sweatbands, sentimental […]
Matthew Bourne’s Romeo and Juliet to premiere in 2019
New talent will perform alongside seasoned professional dancers when Matthew Bourne’s version of Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet receives its world premiere next year. Directed and choreographed by Bourne, the re-imagining of the ultimate romantic tragedy will feature established stars alongside the finest emerging male and female talent selected following a nationwide talent search which began […]
New look Company’s West End season extended
Just hours after a star-studded opening night, the producers of Marianne Elliott’s critically-acclaimed gender-swapped version of Stephen Sondheim and George Furth’s Company have released 100,000 extra tickets for the hit show with booking now extended until 30 March 2019. Andrew Garfield, Graham Norton and Emma Thompson were among the stars in the audience at the […]
Video released of Lucie Jones and Lauren Samuels singing a track from LMTO’s Girlfriends
Video has been released of Lucie Jones and Lauren Samuels performing the song ‘Seize the Moment’ from Howard Goodall’s Girlfriends as a preview of the upcoming London Musical Theatre Orchestra’s version of the show at the Bishopsgate Institute early next month. Due to play a total of three shows at the Bishopsgate Institute on the […]
Company – Gielgud Theatre
Company continues at the Gielgud Theatre, London until 22 December 2018. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Fuddy-duddy traditionalists who don’t normally like great works being tweaked or updated will be approaching this gender-bending revival of Stephen Sondheim’s 1970 musical Company with trepidation but they needn’t worry – it’s wonderful. This most […]
Further casting for Only Fools and Horses musical
Dianne Pilkington and Pippa Duffy will play Del Boy and Rodney’s leading ladies in the eagerly-anticipated musical version of Only Fools and Horses when the Trotters will step out on stage at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in February 2019. Young Frankenstein star Pilkington will play Del Boy’s long-suffering Raquel while Duffy (Mid Morning Matters With […]
Alexandra Burke and Duncan James to play extra dates in West End’s Chicago
Alexandra Burke and Duncan James will be spending a little more time in the hit revival of Chicago at London’s Phoenix Theatre in response to public demand. Originally scheduled to give her last performance as Roxie Hart last Saturday (14 October 2018), X Factor winner and recording artist Burke will now return to the show […]
Featured Content: ABRSM offers the exam with songs you’ll love to sing
Do you, your children or your friends love to sing? Are they fans of musical films and shows? Then, the new ABRSM (Associated Board of Royal Schools of Music) Singing for Musical Theatre exams offer a great new goal to work towards. ABRSM’s Singing for Musical Theatre exams provides a clear learning journey, supporting motivation, […]
Principal cast for Menier and Nunn’s Fiddler On the Roof
The Menier Chocolate Factory has announced principal casting for Trevor Nunn’s eagerly anticipated new staging of the much-loved classic Fiddler On the Roof. Quadruple Tony Award nominee Judy Kuhn (Chess, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, The Imperial Theatre, New York) will play Golde opposite the previously announced Andy Nyman (Assassins, Menier Chocolate Factory, Hangmen, Wyndham’s […]
UK Theatre Award for Best Musical goes to Theatr Clywd’s Assassination of Katie Hopkins
Theatr Clwyd’s world premiere production of The Assassination of Katie Hopkins was crowned the UK Theatre Awards’ Best Musical Production at the weekend. The production which debuted at Emlyn Williams Theatre in Mold fought off strong opposition from the RSC’s Miss Littlewood, the Mercury Theatre, Colchester and TBO productions’ Pieces of String and Bolton Octagon’s […]
Piaf – No Regrets: Christine Andreas – The Pheasantry
Piaf – No Regrets: Christine Andreas at The Pheasantry, London. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ One of the finest voices in the cabaret world, two-time Tony nominee Christine Andreas was at her electrifying best in a three-night residency at The Pheasantry. Superbly accompanied by composer husband Martin Silvestri on piano and […]
Eighties-inspired Club Tropicana star cast announced
Former Sugarbabe Amelle Berrabah will make her musical theatre debut alongside multiple TV talent show winner turned stage favourite Joe McElderry, former EastEnder Neil McDermott, comedian Kate Robbins and Wicked star Emily Tierney in Club Tropicana The Musical. Inspired by the distinctive sounds and colourful fashions of the 1980s, the musical comedy which has been […]
Porgy and Bess – London Coliseum
Porgy and Bess continues at the London Coliseum until 17 November 2018. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ This co-production of Porgy and Bess (the Gershwins, DuBose and Dorothy Heyward), directed by James Robinson, is to be seen at the Dutch National Opera and the Metropolitan Opera New York in later seasons. […]
