A revival of the classic American musical Barnum will be the centrepiece of the 2024 season at the Watermill Theatre this summer.
Tag Archives | Cy Coleman
Jeff Harnar Sings Cy Coleman – The Pheasantry
Jeff Harnar Sings Cy Coleman at The Pheasantry, London. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The great Harnar was at the top of his game, holding the loving audience in the palm of his hand. An affair to remember indeed.
Broadway star Lillias White takes centre stage at London’s Crazy Coqs
Multi-award-winning Broadway star LILLIAS WHITE will bring two of her most popular shows to London’s Crazy Coqs this April. The star whose Broadway credits include Cats, Fela!, Chicago, Barnum and How to Success in Business Without Really Trying will take centre stage from 14-23 April 2022 for alternate performances of Lillias White Sings Broadway and […]
There will always be a place to enjoy his comic genius’: Remembering Neil Simon
NEIL SIMON, the most prolific comedy writer in the world who died on 26 August 2018 at the age of 91, had a very long career as a writer for television, the theatre and the cinema. There was just nobody else to match him, not even Shakespeare! Michael Darvell looks back at the life of a total comic […]
Barnum – Menier Chocolate Factory, London
Barnum continues at the Menier Chocolate Factory, London until 3 March 2018. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Barnum – “The Greatest Show on Earth” – has, like some double-jointed contortionist worthy of the titular showman, managed to flex, twist and squeeze its way into one of London’s smallest theatres. And the […]
Barnum to be revived at the Menier Chocolate Factory
The Menier Chocolate Factory has unveiled plans for the first major London revival of Barnum 36 years after the classic American musical played the West End. Opening on 5 December, with previews from 25 November, the production is due to run until 3 March 2018. The story of P.T. Barnum, the 19th century travelling circus […]
Interview – Sharon D Clarke on a dream role in The Life and colour-blind casting
Revived at the Southwark Playhouse, The Life at is a revival of a Cy Coleman musical which has not been seen since its original Broadway production 20 years ago. Musical theatre star SHARON D. CLARKE, who was awarded an MBE in the New Year’s Honours list, plays Sonja, a prostitute in 1980s New York. Musical […]
The Life – Southwark Playhouse – gallery of exclusive images
Broadway musical The Life is making its long-awaited London debut at the Southwark Playhouse, directed by original director Michael Blakemore (the run continues until 29 April 2017). See here, Musical Theatre Review official photographer Roy Tan’s gallery of exclusive images. The cast includes: Sharon D. Clarke (Sonja), Cornell S. John (Memphis), John Addison (Jojo), David Albury (Fleetwood), Jalisa Andrews (Chichi), Matthew Caputo (Oddjob), Lawrence Carmichael (Snickers), Omari Douglas (Slick), Aisha Jawando (Carmen), Thomas-Lee Kidd (Bobby), Charlotte Reavey (April), Jo Servi (Lacy), Lucinda Shaw (Tracy), Johnathan Tweedie (Theodore), T’Shan […]
The Life – Southwark Playhouse
The Life continues at the Southwark Playhouse, London until 29 April. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ There are many musicals that deal with society’s underclass, and its criminal element. The Life is one such piece: with music by Cy Coleman (Sweet Charity, City of Angels) and lyrics by Ira Gasman (who […]
Interview – director Michael Blakemore revisits The Life at Southwark Playhouse
Opening this week, The Life at Southwark Playhouse is a revival of a musical which has not been seen since its original Broadway production 20 years ago. For this anniversary revival, the show’s original director Michael Blakemore has returned to the show. With music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Ira Gasman and a book by […]
Performance Preparation Academy – The Life
The Life was performed by the Performance Preparation Academy at the Bellerby Theatre, Guildford. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ The quality of work produced by musical theatre students continues to amaze. In the same week as an outstanding Guys and Dolls by the long-established Guildford School of Acting was wowing audiences […]
The Life at Southwark Playhouse – casting details
Full casting has been revealed for the Broadway musical The Life which makes its long awaited London debut, directed by the show’s original Broadway director Michael Blakemore, at Southwark Playhouse from 25 March to 29 April 2017, with press night on 29 March. The cast includes John Addison (Jojo), David Albury (Fleetwood), Jalisa Andrews (Chichi), Matthew Caputo (Oddjob), Lawrence Carmichael (Snickers), Omari Douglas (Slick), Aisha Jawando (Carmen), Thomas-Lee Kidd (Bobby), Charlotte Reavey (April), Jo Servi (Lacy), Lucinda Shaw (Tracy), Johnathan Tweedie (Theodore), T’Shan Williams (Queen) and Joanna Woodward (Mary). […]
Sweet Charity – Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester
Sweet Charity continues at the Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester until 28 January 2017. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ A whirling dervish of swinging sixties joie de vivre with a perfect storm of creative talent behind it, it’s no wonder that Sweet Charity still holds up so well 50 years after it first hot-footed […]
Cy Coleman’s The Life arrives in London at last
Arriving in the UK for the first time, musical The Life makes its long-awaited London debut, directed by the show’s original Broadway director Michael Blakemore. Starring the brilliantly talented musical theatre stars Sharon D. Clarke (Sonja) and Cornell S. John (Memphis), The Life will run at Southwark Playhouse for a strictly limited season from 25 March-29 April 2017, with press night on 29 March. The Life, featuring a rarely heard […]
Guildhall School of Music & Drama – On the Twentieth Century
On the Twentieth Century, performed by the final-year acting students from the Guildhall School of Music & Drama, continues at the Silk Street Theatre, London until 6 July. Rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ On the Twentieth Century is just the sort of musical show that the Guildhall School of Music & Drama does so well. The […]
Performance Preparation Academy – Sweet Charity
Sweet Charity was performed Performance Preparation Academy final-year graduates at the Yvonne Arnaud Theatre, Guildford. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Occasionally, very occasionally, you see somebody with ‘star quality’ stamped all over them and watching Natalie Thorn absolutely nail Sweet Charity was pretty special by any standard. This final show from the PPA’s […]
The Life – The English Theatre, Frankfurt
The Life continues at The English Theatre, Frankfurt until 14 February. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ In an era still dominated by big German spectaculars, such as Elisabeth and the Disney imports like Aladdin which has just arrived in Hamburg, we must be grateful to the English Theatre for taking risks and presenting this […]
Sweet Charity – New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich
Sweet Charity continues at the New Wolsey Theatre, Ipswich until 26 September. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ There is a bitter sweet quality in a good production of Sweet Charity, and Peter Rowe’s staging brings out all the comic tragedy of Neil Simon’s book. We see the seedy side of 1960s New York through the eyes of […]
Sweet Charity – Cadogan Hall
Sweet Charity was performed at the Cadogan Hall, London. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ As this year’s summer musical, the Cadogan Hall treated us to a concert version of Sweet Charity, just five years after the last London revival of this classic show transferred from the Menier Chocolate Factory to the Haymarket. Adapted by […]
Rhythm of Life: Cy Coleman – a Celebration in Song – St James Studio
Rhythm of Life: Cy Coleman – a Celebration in Song at St James Studio Theatre, London. Rating: 4 stars ★ ★ ★ ★ As the composer of musicals including Sweet Charity, Barnum and City of Angels, Cy Coleman has contributed more than his fair share of numbers to the Great American Songbook. This new revue collects […]
Cy Coleman revue Rhythm of Life – Marti Webb, Debbie Kurup, Cedric Neal and John Barr in line-up
Marti Webb, Debbie Kurup, Cedric Neal and John Barr are to star in Rhythm of Life, a brand new song cycle celebrating many of the greatest hits by master of the catchy show tune, Tony Award-winning Cy Coleman. Rhythm of Life – which includes five new songs from the Cy Coleman Archive never performed before in […]
New York round-up – tributes to Cy Coleman, Harold Arlen and Irving Berlin
During a recent visit to New York, Patrick Honoré was entertained by top-notch tributes to three of Broadway’s greatest composers – Cy Coleman, Harold Arlen and Irving Berlin. On top of all the new musicals opening this spring, Broadway was alive with the sound of the music from three of its greatest composers. The first of […]
On the Twentieth Century – Roundabout Theatre Company – American Airlines Theatre, New York
On the Twentieth Century continues at Roundabout Theatre Company’s American Airlines Theatre, New York until 5 July. Star rating: 5 stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Roundabout Theatre Company has made its revival of On the Twentieth Century quite a luxe journey. From the smashing sets and glamorous costumes to the perfect casting headed by the diminutive […]
Broadway stream of openings kick off with Honeymoon in Vegas
Looking to the first half of 2015 on Broadway, let’s hope that musical first-nighters have a good supply of umbrellas on hand. As Al Jolson liked to tells us, April is celebrated for its showers, and in the last-minute crunch for Tony Award eligibility for the 2014-15 season (23 April is the cut-off date), an […]
City of Angels – Donmar Warehouse
City of Angels continues at the Donmar Warehouse, London until 7 February 2015. While it was obvious that many people in the Donmar Warehouse audience were seeing librettist Larry Gelbart, composer Cy Coleman and lyricist David Zippel’s City of Angels for the first time, it is a show which always remains in my musical theatre […]
Billy Stritch – My Musical Heroes – The Pheasantry
Billy Stritch: My Musical Heroes continues at The Pheasantry, London, until 4 October. Award-winning composer, arranger, vocalist and jazz pianist Billy Stritch is back in town and deserving of a far bigger audience than the meagre 20 who saw him open mid-week at The Pheasantry. In the full-house Ronnie Scott’s audience the night before to hear […]
Barnum – Bristol Hippodrome and touring
Barnum continues at the Bristol Hippodrome until 27 September and then on national tour until August 2015. When Cameron Mackintosh’s revival of the circus musical Barnum played at the Chichester Festival Theatre last year (appropriately enough in a grand marquee as the main house was being refurbished), it was greeted with a clutch of unfavourable reviews. […]
Full casting revealed for City of Angels at Donmar Warehouse
Full casting has been announced for the Donmar Warehouse production of City of Angels, playing between 5 December 2014 and 7 February 2015 (press night is 16 December). Over a quarter of the tickets for this production have been held back, allowing for more than 550 tickets to go on sale each week, including Barclays Front Row (released […]
Xara Vaughan – Jermyn Street Theatre
Xara Vaughan performed at the Jermyn Street Theatre, London. As well as star names such as Maria Friedman, David Bedella and Barb Jungr, the second London Festival of Cabaret has given opportunities over the last three weeks for emerging talents to showcase their potential. Xara Vaughan’s second Monday night at the Jermyn Street Theatre came […]
Little Me – Encores! – New York City Center
Little Me, presented by Encores!, continues at New York City Center until 9 February. Little Me, with its book by Neil Simon and its score by lyricist Carolyn Leigh and composer Cy Coleman, captures the joy-giving essence of those two oft-maligned words: musical comedy. This show from 1962 has plenty of great comedy and plenty […]
