The Last Ship continues at La Seine Musicale, Paris until 8 March 2026. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ There is a moment early in The Last Ship when the chorus swells, voices rising like a tide against the inevitable, and you realise this is no ordinary jukebox vehicle for a global star.
Tag Archives | Lauren Samuels
Gaiety Musical Theatre Festival to launch in 2023
West End and Broadway actress Marisha Wallace has been added to the star-studded line-up for the Gaiety Musical Theatre Festival when it make its eagerly awaited debut in April 2023.
More stars join Gaiety Musical Theatre Festival line-up
West End stars John Owen-Jones, Sophie Evans and Lauren Samuels and vocal group Collabro will complete the main stage line-up at the first Gaiety Musical Theatre Festival in May. Owen-Jones (The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables), Evans (Wicked, The Wizard of Oz), Samuels (Bend It Like Beckham, Grease) and Britain’s Got Talent 2014 champions […]
‘All you have to do is be you’: British Youth Music Theatre’s National Auditions return in early 2022
“I would tell anyone I know to audition for British Youth Music Theatre (BYMT). I know it can be scary but trust me, you will have the time of your life. Everyone is so supportive and uplifting and it is brilliant to do a production with everyone who wants to be there just as much […]
The Best of the West End – Royal Albert Hall
The Best of the West End at the Royal Albert Hall, London Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The breathtaking Best of the West End, presented by Alpha at the Royal Albert Hall, lived up to its name with some of the best stars in musical theatre taking to the stage for a […]
Chasing Rainbows, Finding Judy: Sophie Evans and Lauren Samuels – Album launch at Proud Cabaret
The album launch/showcase for Sophie Evans and Lauren Samuels’ album Chasing Rainbows, Finding Judy took place at Proud Cabaret, London. Not so much a jewel on the Nile, more a treasure on the Thames, the Proud Cabaret venue is a wonderful oasis of kitsch cabaret and calm that, instantly you enter, transports you a million […]
Fundraising Best of the West End concert at Royal Albert Hall announced
A host of the West End’s brightest stars will take to the stage at the Royal Albert Hall for a special concert in aid of Acting For Others on 21 July 2021. Presented by Alpha as part of the iconic venue’s 150th anniversary season, the third concert in the popular The Best of the West […]
CD Review: The Andrew Fisher Songbook – Various Artists
THE ANDREW FISHER SONGBOOK – Various Artists (SimG Records – SimGR-CD040) Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ This is the latest release from the label SimG Records which is dedicated to supporting emerging artists and musical theatre writers and the company is to be lauded for such. The Andrew Fisher Songbook contains songs from […]
Intermissions goes Live at the Vaudeville Theatre
Following the success of last year’s digital shows Alice Fearn is back with Intermissions Live, this time in person at London’s Vaudeville Theatre on 24 May 2021. For one night only the Intermissions team, including vocalist Emma Lindars and musical director Nick Barstow, will reunite onstage for an evening of live music, interviews and very […]
CD Review: Gabriel – Studio Cast Recording
GABRIEL – Studio Cast Recording (SimG Records – SimGR-CD039) Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Written by Andrew Fisher and Nick Stimson, we have a new take on the nativity, seen through the eyes of angel Gabriel who sees this task as his chance to earn his much longed for promotion to […]
Daniel Boys leads West End stars on cast recording of new Nativity-themed musical Gabriel
West End star Daniel Boys takes on the title role in the world premiere recording of Gabriel, a new two act Christmas musical from composer Andrew Fisher (Girl in a Crisis, Billy Bow). Due for release on 14 December 2020 by SimG Records, the studio cast recording features Boys (Falsettos, Spamalot) alongside Lauren Samuels (Bend […]
Crazy Coqs announces August and September live and live-streamed programme
Janie Dee, Maria Friedman, Lauren Samuels, Sophie Evans, Cedric Neal and a celebration of the work of Andrew Lloyd Webber will be among the attractions lined up to feature over the next two months at London’s Crazy Coqs within the Brasserie Zédel complex. Subject to Government guidelines and any changes to lockdown rules, the popular […]
Stiles and Drewe Best New Song Prize
Stiles and Drewe Best New Song Prize 2020 – a virtual concert streamed online via YouTube. While the annual Sondheim Student Performer of the Year contest fell victim to Covid-19, the Stiles and Drewe Best New Song Prize which has run alongside it since 2008 was happily saved with the bonus of top musical theatre […]
The Last Five Years – Lambert Jackson Productions and The Other Palace
The Last Five Years, presented by Lambert Jackson Productions, in association with The Other Palace. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ The more a theatre fan learns about Jason Robert Brown’s 2001 musical The Last Five Years, the less appealing a proposition it appears. Between the overdone premise of a failing relationship, […]
All-star line-up for Stiles and Drewe Prize online concert
A host of West End stars have been enlisted to perform the shortlist of 15 compositions in the running for the 2020 Stiles + Drewe Best New Song Prize in a virtual concert to be streamed online next Sunday (5 July 2020). With musical direction by Steve Ridley, the songs will be performed by: Allyson […]
Lambert Jackson Productions announces virtual production of The Last Five Years
Lambert Jackson Productions, in association with The Other Palace, have announced a “virtual lockdown production” of Jason Robert Brown’s The Last Five Years starring Danny Becker (Jamie) and Lauren Samuels (Cathy), with Samuels also making her directorial debut. The actors will record their parts entirely in isolation, using only what is available to them, which […]
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 […]
INTERVIEW: Eliza Jackson on Lambert Jackson’s show West End Women and how to win a place in the cast
When ELIZA JACKSON and Jamie Lambert met six years ago, it was a catalystic moment. “We were both a long way from home when we arrived at Associated Studios in London to do a postgrad course so we had a lot in common,” says Jackson who had trained in musical theatre at the National Institute […]
Lambert Jackson launches new search for musical theatre star
New musical theatre production company Lambert Jackson has announced a second 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 prize for the winning entrant will be a co-starring role alongside a trio […]
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 […]
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 […]
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 […]
Live At Zédel reveals details of summer season
Alexander S. Bermange’s musical revue I Wish My Life Were Like A Musical will make a return visit to Live At Zédel this summer just a few months after its critically-acclaimed world premiere. Announced as part of the summer season line-up at London entertainment hub, the latest work from musical comedy composer Bermange will return […]
Stars line up to record composer Alexander S Bermange’s comic catalogue
Musical comedy composer Alexander S. Bermange has assembled a star-studded line-up of stage and screen favourites to record a double album of his songs. Whit & Whimsy features special performances of some of Bermange’s most popular comic creations by stars including Miriam Margolyes, Nigel Planer, Tracie Bennett and Ian Bartholomew. Produced by Mike Dixon, the […]
Vanities – The Musical – Trafalgar Studios
Vanities – The Musical continues at Trafalgar Studios, London until 1 October. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Trafalgar Studios hosts a brilliant trio of women giving new life to Jack Heifner’s award-winning play Vanities. Premiering in New York in the late 1970s, the play became an international success, only avoiding the London stages because […]
Vanities musical has European debut at Trafalgar Studios
This autumn, Lauren Samuels (Bend it Like Beckham, BBC’s Over the Rainbow, Grease), Ashleigh Gray (Wicked, Cool Rider) and Lizzy Connolly (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Xanadu) star in the European debut of Vanities. The brand new production, which plays at London’s Trafalgar Studios from 1 September to 1 October) features never before seen material with all […]
CD review – Ms. A Song Cycle
Ms. A SONG CYCLE – Various Artists (SimG Records – SimGR-CD030) What a wonderful idea to help bring a bit more understanding of a truly dreadful disease – put it in song and get wonderful West End ladies to record the cycle, hopefully give it more substance and let the public know what it’s like to […]
The Buskers Opera – Park Theatre
The Buskers Opera continues at the Park Theatre, London until 4 June. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ In 1728, John Gay’s The Beggar’s Opera debuted. A satirical sideswipe at the political figures of the day, it was one of the nascent breed of operas that dropped the sung recitative between arias, […]
The Buskers Opera at the Park Theatre – exclusive images
The Buskers Opera, a brand new musical from the pen of Dougal Irvine (Departure Lounge, The Snow Queen, Britain’s Got Bhangra), opens this week at the Park Theatre, playing until 4 June. In the cast are David Burt –the original revolutionary Enjolras in Les Misérables in 1985 – as Jeremiah Peachum, alongside comedian Simon Dylan-Kane (best known for regular appearances on Radio […]
The Buskers Opera – relaxed performance and crowdfunding scheme
The producers of The Buskers Opera, a brand new musical by Dougal Irvine (Departure Lounge, Laila, Britain’s Got Bhangra) and Park Theatre have announced the first ever ‘relaxed’ performance at the Park Theatre, to take place on Thursday 2 June 2016. The producers of the show have launched a unique crowdfunding scheme in order help deliver […]
The Buskers Opera at Park Theatre – George Maguire and Lauren Samuels cast
Casting has been revealed for The Buskers Opera, a brand new musical from the pen of Dougal Irvine (Departure Lounge, The Snow Queen, Britain’s Got Bhangra), which will open at Park Theatre on 28 April and play until 4 June, with a press night on 5 May. The Buskers Opera will star Olivier Award-winning George Maguire (Best Supporting Actor in a […]
Bend It Like Beckham The Musical will close on 5 March 2016
Bend It Like Beckham The Musical will play its final performance at the Phoenix Theatre on 5 March 2016, at the end of the cast’s year-long contract. Rehearsals began for the critically acclaimed production in March 2015 with a company led by Natalie Dew as Jess and Lauren Samuels as Jules. The producers are currently finalising both national and international touring […]
Bend It Like Beckham – Jamie Muscato joins cast
From 14 December 2015 Jamie Muscato joins the cast of Bend It Like Beckham The Musical at the Phoenix Theatre to play coach Joe alongside Natalie Dew as football crazy Jess and Lauren Samuels as Jules, a player with the Harriers, a local women’s football team. Sophie-Louise Dann plays the role of Paula with Jamal Andréas as Jess’ good friend Tony. Preeya Kalidas plays Pinky, Jess’ sister, with Tony Jayawardena and Natasha […]
Bend It Like Beckham The Musical – Phoenix Theatre
Bend It Like Beckham The Musical continues at the Phoenix Theatre, London. Star rating: 3 stars ★ ★ ★ Football-themed musicals aren’t exactly all that common. The only West End production that springs to mind is Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Beautiful Game, which (until its recent Fringe revival at the Union Theatre) was best left […]
Bend It Like Beckham – first look at production images
First production images have been released for the new British musical Bend It Like Beckham, currently in previews with opening night on 24 June 2015. Earlier this year a further 200,000 tickets were released for sale at the Phoenix Theatre, taking bookings to 24 October 2015. Pictures by Ellie Kurttz. Natalie Dew plays football crazy Jess with Lauren Samuels as Jules, […]
Olivier Awards 2015 – our Red Carpet gallery
Have a look at our splendid gallery of pictures taken on Sunday 12 April by our photographer Phillip Cowndley at the Olivier Awards 2015 with MasterCard, the most prestigious event in the UK theatrical calendar, held at London’s Royal Opera House. The full list of winners is available at www.olivierawards.com. Hosted by acclaimed actor and comedian […]
New images – Bend It Like Beckham cast heads to rehearsal via Southall
Before rehearsals began, the West End cast of Bend It Like Beckham spent the day in Southall, West London, where the story of the musical is set, so here is a sneak peek at what they got up (images by Uli Weber). London previews begin for the new British musical Bend It Like Beckham on 15 May 2015 with opening night on […]
Bend It Like Beckham – Natalie Dew, Lauren Samuels and Jamie Campbell Bower lead cast
Casting has been revealed for Bend It Like Beckham which opens at the Phoenix Theatre on 24 June 2015. Natalie Dew will play football crazy Jess with Lauren Samuels as Jules, a player with the Harriers, a local women’s football team, and Jamie Campbell Bower as their coach Joe. Directed by Gurinder Chadha, with original music by Howard Goodall and lyrics by Charles Hart, Bend It Like Beckham has a new […]
The Follow Spot: Duets with Lucie Jones and Lauren Samuels – Proud Cabaret
The Follow Spot: Duets with Lucie Jones and Lauren Samuels was performed at Proud Cabaret, London. I can only say it is a shame that the word hadn’t spread wider about this event, as it was a wonderful night of singing, laughter and great entertainment. West End On Sea Productions, normally located in Brighton, made its London […]
West End Heroes – Dominion Theatre
West End Heroes 2014 was performed at the Dominion Theatre, London. Following the phenomenal success of West End Heroes last year, Dominion Theatre general manager David Pearson pulled out all the stops again to raise money for Help For Heroes who work to rehabilitate servicemen, women and their families who have suffered life-changing injuries in combat. Pearson […]
West End Heroes – Britain’s Got Talent winners Collabro lead line-up
Britain’s Got Talent winners Collabro will headline the 2014 West End Heroes gala concert at the Dominion Theatre on Sunday 28 September. The chart-topping group – the fastest selling new British band of 2014 – will be perfoming a song from their debut No. 1 album Stars. They will join double Olivier Award winner and recording artist Michael Ball who is hosting as […]
The Writers’ Playground – Union Theatre
The Writers’ Playground, An Evening of British Writers, was performed at the Union Theatre, London. One of the biggest problems that up and coming musical theatre composers have is getting a wider audience to hear their work, to gauge their feedback, and to develop their skills as a result. Comedians (and to a lesser extent, […]
Anything Can Happen – St James Theatre
A workshop presentation of Anything Can Happen, a revue celebrating the songs of George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, took place at the St James Theatre, London. Composer George Stiles and lyricist Anthony Drewe have been creating musicals together for 30 years now. So a revue which aims to catalogue those three decades in a two-hour […]
Daniel Boys and Lauren Samuels star in Stiles and Drewe revue Anything Can Happen
West End performers Annalene Beechey, Daniel Boys, James Gillan and Lauren Samuels will star in the exclusive workshop presentation of the new musical revue Anything Can Happen! – celebrating the diverse repertoire of the Olivier Award-winning British writing team George Stiles and Anthony Drewe – on Friday 25 July at 1.30pm at the St James Theatre. Anything Can Happen! has been specifically created […]
Love Story – Octagon Theatre, Bolton
Love Story continues at the Octagon Theatre, Bolton until 12 July. “What can you say, about a girl, a 25-year-old girl, who died?” A lyric that comes at the end of the very first song in Stephen Clark and Howard Goodall’s blisteringly powerful musical adaptation of Erich Segal’s novel Love Story and in answer to the question asked – […]
Water Babies – Curve, Leicester
Water Babies continues at Curve, Leicester, until 17 May. Steampunk meets end-of-the-pier show in a lavishly marketed musical that is visually stunning and technically wizard but doesn’t hang together and doesn’t quite know what it really is. Water Babies has its premiere at Curve, where the great height of the stage provides the perfect launch pad […]
Richard E Grant to star as hologram in Water Babies musical
Richard E Grant will play Kraken: Lord of the Oceans in a 3D hologram interactive scene in the world premiere of Water Babies (inspired by Charles Kingsley’s classic novel). Directed by Ed Curtis, with music by Chris Egan, and book and lyrics by Curtis and Guy Jones, this new musical, with landmark special effects, will open […]
