Cats continues at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, London until 19 September 2026. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ It’s not a reinvention but an improved and dusted-off version of a classic.
Tag Archives | Melanie La Barrie
18th annual Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year – the finalists
The Stephen Sondheim Society has announced the 12 finalists in the running for the 18th annual Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year (SSSSPOTY).
New cast members to join Bridge Theatre’s Into the Woods
A number of new cast members will join the Bridge Theatre’s hit production of Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine’s magical musical Into the Woods next month.
Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s new production of Cats – the full cast and tour dates
The full cast has been confirmed for Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats this summer.
Once on This Island concert – Marisha Wallace joins cast
Marisha Wallace will take on the role of Erzulie in next month’s London concert presentation of the multi-award-winning Broadway musical Once on This Island.
Starlight Express wins big at the WhatsOnStage Awards 2025
The most awarded show of the evening at the 25th annual WhatsOnStage Award was Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express, taking home seven out of its nine nominations and winning Best Musical Revival.
Music Review: Hadestown – Live from London
Hadestown: Live from London (Warner Music Group’s Arts Music and Sing It Again Records). Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ Life imitates art as Hadestown: Live from London recalls Hadestown: The Myth. The Musical, the original cast recording, some two years before the show debuted on Broadway.
Musical Con 2024 – check out the schedule
The full schedule has been unveiled for Musical Con 2024 – the world’s biggest musical theatre fan convention which returns for the third consecutive year this weekend (19 and 20 October).
Star line-up revealed for Musical Con 2024
Over 700 special guests will take part in the world’s biggest musical theatre fan convention Musical Con when the popular event returns for the third consecutive year on 19 and 20 October 2024.
WhatsOnStage Awards – Guys and Dolls leads the nominees
The Bridge Theatre’s critic and crowd-pleasing production of Guys & Dolls leads the nominees for the 24th WhatsOnStage Awards.
Cast for West End premiere of Hadestown
The cast has been unveiled for the West End premiere of American folk singer Anaïs Mitchell’s record-breaking and multi-award-winning Hadestown.
& Juliet is Broadway bound
Multi-award-winning musical & Juliet will make its Broadway debut at the Stephen Sondheim Theatre this autumn. Currently playing its North American debut run in Toronto, the production will begin preview performances in New York on 28 October ahead of an opening night on 17 November. The production stars Lorna Courtney (Dear Evan Hansen) who will […]
The Theatre Channel – Stephen Schwartz special
The Theatre Channel – Stephen Schwartz special (Episode 8) Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ The Theatre Channel’s focus on the phenomenal career of Stephen Schwartz, doyen of musical theatre, film for his work with Disney, and even an opera (Séance on a Wet Afternoon), is time restrained to a mere taster, but […]
The Theatre Channel Episode 8 will celebrate the work of Stephen Schwartz
The work of multi-award-winning composer and lyricist Stephen Schwartz will be in the spotlight when the popular pay-to-stream musical theatre flavoured web series The Theatre Channel returns next month. Presented by Adam Blanshay Productions, Park Theatre, Playbill and The Theatre Café, the special episode will be narrated by Schwartz who will also join the resident […]
Award-winning stars head returning cast of & Juliet
Olivier Award-winners Miriam-Teak Lee, Cassidy Janson and David Bedella will be among a largely unchanged cast when & Juliet makes its eagerly-anticipated return to the Shaftesbury Theatre from 24 September 2021. Best Actress Lee (Hamilton, On the Town) will return in the title role alongside Janson (Beautiful: The Carole King Musical, Chess) who collected the […]
Cast and creatives announced for MTFestUK 2021
Paul Taylor-Mills has confirmed the line-up of award-winning and international performers and creatives assembled for next month’s MTFestUK 2021. Due to open at the Turbine Theatre in London from 17-29 May 2021 before embarking on a digital tour from 31 May until 4 July, the third edition of the annual celebration of new musical theatre […]
Old Vic plans live-stream performances of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax
The Old Vic will celebrate Earth Day next month with six live-streamed performances of Dr. Seuss’s The Lorax. Part of the popular Old Vic: In Camera initiative launched last year as a means of bringing live performances back to the prestigious venue, the production will feature Hamilton’s Jamael Westman as the Once-ler with Audrey Brisson […]
Perfect Pitch & Stream.Theatre collaborate on showcase of new British musicals
Not-for-profit theatre company Perfect Pitch is partnering with online venue stream.theatre to present a regular monthly preview series spotlighting new British musicals and UK writing talent and featuring performances from West End stars. Part of a drive to promote new contemporary musicals to a wider audience, each episode of Rise:Up will focus on a different […]
Musical theatre favourites to feature in Reunited series of streamed concerts on Thespie
Over 30 of the UK’s leading musical theatre artists are lined up to feature in Reunited, a series of filmed concerts premiering on theatre platform Thespie. Following on from last month’s successful The Reunion show featuring seven Queens from the original West End run of Six, the Reunited series of four concerts will be filmed […]
New Novello-inspired show to close London Song Festival
This year’s London Song Festival will close with a specially commissioned show featuring West End stars and the music of Ivor Novello and Noël Coward. Set on the empty stage of Theatre Royal Drury Lane on 5 September 1939 when all theatres were closed due to the outbreak of the Second World War, Ghost Lights […]
Black British Theatre Awards 2020 to air on Sky Arts
Hamilton, Thriller Live and Tina – The Tina Turner Musical are in the running for the Best Musical Production Award at the 2020 Black British Theatre Awards in late October. Following on from last year’s inaugural live ceremony, the winner of the Best Musical category will be announced during a special socially distanced event at […]
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 […]
Award-winners join star-packed line-up for Turn Up! live stream
Sharon D. Clarke, Noma Dumesweni, Norm Lewis and Clive Rowe are among the West End and Broadway performers who will unite with community leaders for TURN UP! – next month’s online charity event in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Raising money for four charities – The Bail Project, The Okra Project, The Black […]
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 […]
Performers and community leaders to join forces for Black Lives Matter movement fundraiser
West End and Broadway performers will unite with community leaders for Turn Up! an online charity event next month in support of the Black Lives Matter movement. Raising money for four charities – The Bail Project, The Okra Project, The Black Curriculum and UK Black Pride – the online concert will be recorded with a […]
WhatsOnStage Awards nominations revealed
New British musical & Juliet leads the nominations for the 20th annual WhatsOnStage Awards.
& Juliet – Shaftesbury Theatre
& Juliet is booking at the Shaftesbury Theatre until May 2020. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Jukebox musicals tend to get a bad rap. And to be fair, many such constructions deserve their poor reputations: plundering an artist’s back catalogue in order to appeal to fans, often with a wafer-thin book […]
Alice Fearn and Sophie Evans lead Wicked principal cast changes in July
Alice Fearn and Sophie Evans will take on the central roles in the hugely successful Wicked at London’s Apollo Victoria Theatre from Monday 24 July. Fearn (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Shrek The Musical), who originally joined the West End production last year as Standby Elphaba will step into the role she understudied alongside show newcomer Sophie […]
