Peter Pan – The Never Ending Story was performed at Wembley Arena, London and continues to tour to Glasgow and Newcastle. Written by JM Barrie in 1904, Peter Pan is a story that has provided the basis for many different productions. As well as the famous Disney animated movie, there have been several musicals, live […]
Tell Me On a Sunday transfers to the Duchess
Tell Me On a Sunday has always commanded a loyal following as the 1979 collaboration between Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyricist Don Black produced a number of still-popular songs, not least the title number and the even bigger hit ‘Take That Look Off Your Face’. Even so, the news that, due to public demand, this […]
Happy Days – A New Musical opens this week
This Tuesday (7 January), Musical Theatre Review has been invited to an exclusive cast performance of three tracks from Happy Days – A New Musical (‘Run’, ‘Message in the Music’, and the feel-good title song ‘Happy Days’) at the Churchill Theatre, Bromley. Happy Days – A New Musical, written by Garry Marshall with music by Paul […]
Miss Saigon – Malmo Opera
Miss Saigon continues at Malmö Opera until 30 January 2014. The Malmö Opera is one of three Swedish opera houses that regularly has musical theatre in its repertoire. Malmö, like Gothenburg, has to deal with the challenge of a vast main stage and a big house. Finding the right musical of the right quality which […]
Stephen Ward the Musical – Aldwych Theatre
Stephen Ward the Musical opened at the Aldwych Theatre, London on 19 December. Set in the swinging 1960s, Stephen Ward the Musical is a biographical piece describing the rise and fall of the society playboy who fell foul of the ruling classes. Known eternally as the lynchpin to the Profumo affair –a sexual scandal that precipitated […]
Oliver! – Crucible Theatre, Sheffield
Oliver! continues at the Crucible Theatre, Sheffield until 25 January, 2014. If I’m the one who’s reviewing the situation, the Crucible’s Oliver! could transfer to Broadway tomorrow. From top to bottom, it’s that good. It all starts – and ends – with director Daniel Evans and choreographer Alistair David. From ‘Food, Glorious Food’, a slick, […]
Christmas With the Sondheim Society
A Christmas Evening With the Sondheim Society at the Leicester Square Theatre, London. Five of the brightest young names in the musical theatre world went into cabaret mode for the Christmas edition of the Stephen Sondheim Society evenings in Leicester Square, mixing the old with the new. The last two winners of the prestiguous SSS Student Performer of […]
Meet Me in St Louis – Landor Theatre
Meet Me in St Louis continues at the Landor Theatre, London until 18 January. A perennial favourite 1944 MGM movie starring a young Judy Garland, Meet Me in St Louis is filled with memorable musical numbers, whimsical family comedy and features the artistic direction of Vincente Minnelli, then making his mark in Hollywood. It is […]
A Christmas Carol – Charing Cross Theatre
A Christmas Carol continues at the Charing Cross Theatre, London until 4 January 2014. Charles Dickens’ transformative Christmas favourite A Christmas Carol – a show that’s no stranger to musical adaptation – gets a heartwarming new airing at the Charing Cross Theatre courtesy of Talkwood Productions. A relatively new group, Talkwood formed in 2008 and specialises […]
Carousel – Oper Graz, Austria
Carousel runs in rep at the Oper Graz, Austria until 5 June 2014. Matthias Davids, who in 2012 directed Gigi at the Oper Graz, has returned with the Rodgers and Hammerstein classic Carousel. There are many reasons why this could have been problematic: firstly, because the works of Rodgers and Hammerstein are unfortunately hardly ever […]
Kiss Me Kate – Upstairs at the Gatehouse
Kiss Me Kate continues at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, London until 26 January 2014. Cole Porter’s lovely Kiss Me Kate (comma deleted in line with the recent Old Vic revival and all the better for it) is one of those special musicals, like West Side Story and My Fair Lady, in which virtually every song […]
Chicago – Leicester Curve
Chicago continues at the Curve, Leicester until 18 January 2014. Back in 1991, John Kander and Fred Ebb’s Chicago was Paul Kerryson’s choice for his first production as artistic director of the Leicester Haymarket. Now it’s the centrepiece of Curve’s fifth birthday celebrations, a work of genius, with brand new choreography by Drew McOnie, and a […]
