Charlie Stemp will return to the London Palladium to star as the Prince opposite Danielle Hope’s Snow White in this year’s eagerly-anticipated Christmas pantomime. Following his successful Broadway debut in Hello, Dolly!, the Half a Sixpence star will return to the Palladium to join four other favourites from last year’s Dick Whittington, Julian Clary, Nigel […]
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We’ll Live and Die in These Towns – Belgrade Theatre, Coventry
We’ll Live and Die in These Towns continues at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry until 20 October 2018. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ You’d be forgiven for growing wary of the jukebox musical – at its worst, a thoughtless exercise, cynically capitalising on the audience and available back catalogue of an established […]
Saturday Night Fever – Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury and Touring
Saturday Night Fever was reviewed at the Waterside Theatre, Aylesbury. The tour continues until 1 December 2018. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ This production of Saturday Night Fever brought funky dance moves and singalongs to Aylesbury – even on a weekday! The story, of course, follows the lead character Tony Manero (played […]
Eugenius! West End Season cancelled
The last-minute loss of a key investor has forced producers of British musical Eugenius! to call a halt to plans to follow the show’s second critically-acclaimed run at The Other Palace with a West End transfer season. Announcing the cancellation of the limited ten-week season at the Ambassadors Theatre, producer Kevin Wood said: “The past […]
Rachel Tucker leads cast of European premiere of Come From Away
Thirteen actors will take on both lead and supporting roles in the Tony Award-winning new musical Come From Away which is due to land on this side of the Atlantic in December with a premiere run in Ireland ahead of its West End debut in early 2019. Inspired by the remarkable true story of the […]
Oklahoma! – St. Ann’s Warehouse, Brooklyn, New York
Oklahoma! continues at St. Ann’s Warehouse, Brooklyn, New York until 11 November 2018. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The dream ballet that ordinarily ends Act I has been moved to the start of Act II, and it’s performed in stunning muscular fashion and pretty much as a solo by a bare-footed […]
Girl From the North Country – Public Theater, New York
Girl From the North Country continues at the Public Theater, New York until 23 December 2018. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Who knows what prompted the overseers of the Bob Dylan song catalogue to turn to Conor McPherson and suggest he make a musical using whatever of those songs he wanted? […]
Mythic – Charing Cross Theatre
Mythic continues at the Charing Cross Theatre, London until 24 November 2018. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Mythic is a high voltage adaptation of the myth of Persephone and Hades. Lee Newby’s costume designs are eye-catching, a meld of glam punk and goth. The men’s half kilts, in particular, conjuring up […]
Twelfth Night – Young Vic
Twelfth Night continues at the Young Vic Theatre, London until 17 November 2018. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Shakespeare has never been so accessible. This sparkling revamp of Twelfth Night fizzes away like a Berocca and injects vitality and much-needed zazz into the Bard’s ridiculous tale of gender-swapping, mistaken identity, and social […]
Laura Pitt-Pulford to play the title role in Pimlico Opera’s Sweet Charity
Olivier-nominated musical theatre star Laura Pitt-Pulford is to play the title role in Sweet Charity, Pimlico Opera’s 23rd prison production at HMP Bronzefield next month. Bronzefield, in Ashford, Surrey, is the women’s prison where Pimlico staged Chicago in 2006 and Sister Act in 2014. Pimlico is tackling Sweet Charity (Cy Coleman-Dorothy Fields from Neil Simon’s […]
Liberty Rides Forth! – Waterloo East Theatre
Liberty Rides Forth! continues at Waterloo East Theatre, London until 21 October 2018. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ The premise of this show, featuring ‘a mischievous drag queen’, might suggest it’s going to be full of one-liners and a collection of songs pegged to a slim plot. Go see it and get […]
Only Fools and Horses Musical to open in the West End
Del Boy and Rodney will drive into the West End in early 2019 when creator John Sullivan’s dream of bringing a musical Only Fools and Horses to the stage comes to fruition. Nearly eight years after the much-admired writer’s death, the Trotters will step out on stage at the Theatre Royal, Haymarket in February next […]
The Essential Dame Shirley – Natalie Douglas – The Pheasantry
The Essential Dame Shirley was performed by Natalie Douglas at The Pheasantry, London. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★★ ✩ The warm, big-voiced Natalie Douglas is one of the elite, award-winning names on the New York cabaret circuit so it was hugely disappointing that she had a small first-night audience when she brought her Shirley […]
Camelot – London Palladium
Camelot at the London Palladium. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ This concert version of Lerner and Loewe’s Camelot from London Musical Theatre Orchestra was staged to mark the centenary of Alan Jay Lerner’s birth in October 1918, though it seems like yesterday that he was with us, having settled in London in later […]
Twist and Turn – The Musical – The Other Palace
Twist and Turn – The Musical at The Other Palace Studio Theatre, London. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Effusing not so much the smell of the greasepaint, but just grease and the roar of a leather-jacketed crowd, this musical, based around the annual famous Isle of Man TT (Tourist Trophy) motorcycle race […]
Moll Flanders – Mercury Theatre, Colchester
Moll Flanders continues at the Mercury Theatre, Colchester until 13 October 2018. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Based on the 1722 novel The Fortunes and Misfortunes of the Famous Moll Flanders by Daniel Defoe, I fittingly watched this production of Moll Flanders (adapted by Nick Perry) in Colchester where parts of […]
Tony Award-winning Dear Evan Hansen will transfer to the West End in autumn 2019
Producer Stacey Mindich has confirmed the eagerly-awaited West End debut of the multi-award-winning Dear Evan Hansen will be at the Noël Coward Theatre in the autumn of 2019. The West End run will reunite the creative team behind the show’s record-breaking Broadway run which began in 2016 and earned rave reviews and collected six Tony […]
Eugenius! celebrates West End transfer
The Warwick Davis and Kevin Wood produced British musical Eugenius! will follow its second critically-acclaimed run at The Other Palace with a West End transfer for a strictly limited winter season. After playing to packed houses for its extended season at The Other Palace until 21 October 2018, the show will move to the Ambassadors […]
A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) – Gravesend & Touring
A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) was reviewed at The Woodville, Gravesend. The show tours until 3 November 2018 and again in 2019. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Trailing awards including Musical Theatre Review’s first Best New Musical Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017, Silent Uproar’s A Super Happy […]
SIX to return to London in early 2019
Plans for an early 2019 return to the West End for critically-acclaimed musical SIX have been announced just a few days before the end of the show’s current extended London run. Due to end its season at Covent Garden’s Arts Theatre on 14 October, the rock-flavoured show in which the wives of Henry VIII take […]
The Stephen Sondheim Society presents… – Phoenix Artist Club
The Stephen Sondheim Society presents… at Phoenix Artist Club, London. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★★ ✩ The Sondheim Society’s first show after the summer break got this monthly series of Monday cabarets off to a flying start with the delightful Gemma Sutton topping the bill, superbly supported by two exciting new talents, Rebecca […]
Hope Mill Theatre’s Hair to tour the UK
Director Jonathan O’Boyle’s critically-acclaimed 50th-anniversary production of the classic rock musical Hair will take to the road in 2019. Following a successful transfer run at London venue The Vaults in 2017, the award-winning Hope Mill Theatre production of the cult show which captured the vibrancy of the youth movement in 1960s America will open at […]
Neurosis – DR2 Theatre, New York
Neurosis continues at the DR2 Theatre, New York until 7 October 2018. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Neurosis was a late summer entry in the oft-crowded, oft-unheralded parade of Off-Broadway musicals. While not the gem one might hope to find when making it to these offerings, it does present another opportunity […]
Marc Almond and Soft Cell-inspired musical Tainted to be showcased in London
The distinctive songs of Marc Almond and Soft Cell form the basis of new stage musical Tainted which will debut in London with a special public showcase performance later this month. Featuring a book by Michael McManus and Charlie Ross Mackenzie and songs from every stage of Almond’s career, the show is described as a […]
Funny Girl cinema screening: ‘Fans will be able to relive this joyous show’
In less than a month Funny Girl fans will be able to relive this joyous show as a filmed version of the stage production will hit cinemas nationwide on 24 October 2018. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ There’s nothing like live theatre and it does feel quite distant sat in a […]
42nd Street – Theatre Royal Drury Lane
42nd Street continues at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London, booking until 5 January 2019. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ It’s hard for me not to feel a tad sentimental about 42nd Street. Despite the fact I am getting older and there are moments when I enter a room, not remembering […]
Pasek & Paul’s A Christmas Story to receive European premiere at Waterloo East
Waterloo East has won the battle to stage the European premiere of Pasek and Paul’s Broadway hit A Christmas Story The Musical. After acquiring the rights for the show which features music and lyrics by the already multi-award-winning team of Benj Pasek and Justin Paul, the London venue has spent months working with the original […]
New King to lead ten new cast members into London’s Hamilton
Alexander Hamilton will face a new King George from early December when Avenue Q’s Jon Robyns will take over from Olivier Award winner Michael Jibson in the smash hit London version of Hamilton. Robyns, who was last seen on stage in the UK tour of The Wedding Singer, is one of ten new cast members […]
Bake-Off’s Sandi Toksvig to write UK’s Mamma Mia! The Party
Comedian and Bake-Off co-host Sandi Toksvig has been enlisted to adapt ABBA’s Björn Ulvaeus and producer Ingrid Sutej’s successful project Mamma Mia! The PBarty for UK audiences ahead of its launch in a specially-adapted venue within London’s O2 next year. Tickets will go on sale from Tuesday (2 October 2018) for the show which features […]
The Return of the Soldier – Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester
The Return of the Soldier was reviewed at the Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester. The production transfers to the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich from 2-6 October 2018. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★★ ★ Writing in 1918 as the effects of the First World War still raged around her, Rebecca West’s The Return of the Soldier holds […]
Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage – Brighton and Touring
Dirty Dancing – The Classic Story on Stage continues at the Theatre Royal, Brighton until 29 September 2018 and is on UK tour until 5 July 2019. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ It’s 1963 and the times they are a-changin’. Kennedy’s Camelot is about to be ended by an assassin’s bullet, […]
CD Review – Float Like a Butterfly – Barb Jungr and John McDaniel
FLOAT LIKE A BUTTERFLY – BARB JUNGR & JOHN McDANIEL (Kristalyn Records – KLCD05) Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ I just know before I even start writing this review that it is going to make me quite unpopular – I just know it, but that is the drawback of reviewing. I’ll start […]
Inaugral MTR Winner A Super Happy Story heads out on UK tour
The winner of Musical Theatre Review’s first Best New Musical Award at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2017, A Super Happy Story (About Feeling Super Sad) has launched its first UK tour. Co-produced by Hull UK City of Culture and marking award-winning Silent Uproar Productions’ first UK tour, the show which also won the Fringe First […]
Cast for Caroline, Or Change West End transfer season
Full casting has been announced for the eagerly-anticipated West End transfer of the Chichester Festival Theatre production of Tony Kushner and Jeanine Tesori’s Caroline, Or Change. Following sold-out runs at the Chichester Festival Theatre and London’s Hampstead Theatre, the production which features a critically-acclaimed central performance from Sharon D. Clarke will play the Playhouse Theatre […]
‘The whole point of the show is for us to all share an energy’: Ramin Karimloo on his upcoming performances with Seth Rudetsky… and lots more
The international musical theatre star RAMIN KARIMLOO will be joining Seth Rudetsky onstage for three intimate performances of Seth Rudetsky’s Broadway @ Leicester Square Theatre on 5 and 6 October 2018. The show will combine performances from Ramin with interview sections and ‘behind-the-scenes’ stories. Ramin is best known for his Olivier-nominated performance in Love Never Dies […]
Busking It – High Tide Festival, Walthamstow
Busking It at the High Tide Festival, Walthamstow (also runs at Shoreditch Town Hall from 9-20 October 2018). Star rating: three and a half stars Maybe I’m a bit of a grump but I would rather have a urinary tract infection than listen to most buskers on the Tube. The mass of commuters passing them at […]
Full cast for record-breaking Les Misérables tour
Rehearsals have begun for the November launch of the eagerly-anticipated new UK and Ireland tour of Cameron Mackintosh’s acclaimed production of Boublil and Schönberg’s Les Misérables. Returning to the road in this country for the first time in over a decade, the production is already set to break records ahead of its opening season at […]
Southwark Playhouse’s Seussical The Musical cast announced
Marc Pickering’s mischievous Cat in the Hat will lead the line-up of fantastical characters taking over the Southwark Playhouse in a major new production of Seussical The Musical this Christmas season. One of the stars of the popular HBO TV series Boardwalk Empire, Pickering who previously appeared in the Southwark Playhouse’s The Toxic Avenger will […]
Breaking Bad spoof musical Say My Name! to debut in London
Cult crime series Breaking Bad is the subject of a new musical parody which will debut at London’s Theatre N16 next month. Created by Rob Gathercole, Say My Name! (The Unauthorised Breaking Bad Parody Musical) will play the North London venue from 14 October until 2 November 2018 with a press night on 16 October. […]
Love Island’s Dani Dyer joins her father in London run of Nativity The Musical
Love Island winner Dani Dyer will end her winning year by joining her EastEnder father Danny Dyer for the London run of Nativity The Musical. Dyer, who previously appeared alongside her father in four British feature films, will make her stage debut playing the aspiring actress daughter of her father’s character in the show, Hollywood […]
Women in Power – NST City, Southampton
Women in Power continues at NST City, Southampton until 29 September 2018. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Southampton’s new theatre NST City opened earlier this year with director Sam Hodges at the helm. The theatre is well-equipped, with a spacious foyer and bar area, and has good access. The night I visited, […]
Chicago’s new Velma Kelly is Laura Tyrer
Laura Tyrer whose West End credits include Matilda and Ruthless! secured the role of Velma Kelly in the West End production of Chicago at London’s Phoenix Theatre with an audition which will be screened as part of the new ITV series The Big Audition. From the makers of the First Dates television series, Twenty Twenty Productions, […]
Once – New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich
Once was reviewed at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich. The show transfers to the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch from 3-20 October 2018. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Once, a multi-Tony Award winner, clearly delighted its Ipswich audience. It is original too: declining the avenue of clichéd musical, it embraces music and lyrics […]
MMD & MTN announce the BEAM Follow-Spot Programme to help regional musical theatre writers
Mercury Musical Developments (MMD) and Musical Theatre Network (MTN) have launched a new regional initiative designed to support emerging musical theatre writers. The BEAM Follow-Spot Programme is a year-long scheme aimed at providing sustained development support for writers launched in partnership with the National Theatre of Scotland and the Royal Exchange, Manchester. Announcing the project […]
Travels With My Piano: Steve Ross – The Pheasantry
Travels With My Piano: Steve Ross at The Pheasantry, London. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The London cabaret scene is a better place when New York legend Steve Ross is in town and on the first of a three-night stint at famed Chelsea nightspot The Pheasantry he took us on a magical […]
Songlines – High Tide Festival, Walthamstow
Songlines continues at the High Tide Festival, Walthamstow until 30 September 2018. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Coming of age tales are almost as common as coming of age itself. Yet there’s still the impulse to revisit that emotionally raw and turbulent time. Some of the fire is lost as we settle […]
Sweet Charity – Nottingham Playhouse
Sweet Charity at the Nottingham Playhouse. Star rating: five stars ★★★★★ Sweet Charity is back in vogue, if it was ever out. The Watermill, Newbury’s wildly popular production has just closed. Over the pond, Marriott Theater in Illinois is mounting an eight-week run through September and October. Long Island’s BroadHollow Theatre will stage it throughout January […]
Michelle Visage to join the cast of Everybody’s Talking About Jamie
TV talent show judge and platinum-selling recording artist Michelle Visage will make her West End musical debut in the hit West End transfer production of the critically-acclaimed Everybody’s Talking About Jamie. Best known as a judge on Ireland’s Got Talent and Emmy Award-winning RuPaul’s Drag Race, Visage will take on the role of Miss Hedge […]
Sylvia – The Old Vic
Sylvia continues at The Old Vic, London until 22 September 2018. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ At a comedy fundraising night for the Women’s Equality Party at their conference two weeks ago, comedian Sophie Duker talked about this year’s 100th anniversary of the first women in the UK being allowed to vote. […]
Cast for world premiere of Mythic finalised
Georgie Westall will star as Persephone in the new rock musical Mythic which will receive its world premiere at London’s Charing Cross Theatre next month. Westall who previously played a Siren in Myth: The Rise and Fall of Orpheus at The Other Palace will star alongside Daniella Bowen (Made in Dagenham, Queens Theatre, Hornchurch) as […]
