West Side Story was performed by members of the National Youth Music Theatre at the Birmingham Hippodrome. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ A spectacular new take on West Side Story which would surely make its late creators proud.
Tag Archives | National Youth Music Theatre
National Youth Music Theatre – Lightning Boy
Lightning Boy was performed in the Patrick Studio, Birmingham Hippodrome. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ There is real potential here and it will undoubtedly go on to even bigger and better things.
National Youth Music Theatre – Tuck Everlasting
Tuck Everlasting was performed at the Patrick Studio, Birmingham Hippodrome. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ With strong performances from theatreland’s next generation, Tuck Everlasting is a powerfully beautiful success.
National Youth Music Theatre – Fame
Fame was performed at the Patrick Studio, Birmingham Hippodrome. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ It’s hugely encouraging to see such young talent on the first steps of their potential careers.
National Youth Music Theatre – Catastrophe Bay
Catastrophe Bay was reviewed at Southwark Playhouse Elephant, London. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ It is safe to say the future is very bright for musical theatre.
National Youth Music Theatre – Into the Woods
Into the Woods was performed by the National Youth Music Theatre at Southwark Playhouse, London. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ It is always a delight to see young performers excelling in musical theatre.
National Youth Music Theatre – Merrily We Roll Along
Merrily We Roll Along was performed by the National Youth Music Theatre at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant, London. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩
The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair – Curve Leicester
The Boy Who Sailed the Ocean in an Armchair was reviewed at Leicester’s Curve Theatre (Studio Space). Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩
National Youth Music Theatre – Kiss Me, Kate
Kiss Me, Kate at the Curve Studio, Leicester. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Kiss Me, Kate does unfortunately stand to become a museum piece sooner than the stronger musicals of its time, but NYMT has delivered a fantastic version of it thanks to a helping of acerbic wit and a talented cast of future stars. We look forward to seeing what they do next.
Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year – Sondheim Theatre
There was no arguing with the judges’ choice for Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year (SSSSPOTY for short) after a knock-’em-dead performance of ‘The Worst Pies in London’ by star of the future Milly Willows.
World premiere and two classic musicals to feature in NYMT’s summer season
The world premiere of the stage musical adaptation of Lara Williamson’s best-selling novel The Boy Who Sailed The Ocean In An Armchair is one of three major musical productions to feature in the National Youth Music Theatre’s (NYMT) summer season.
National Youth Music Theatre – Ragtime
Ragtime, performed by National Youth Music Theatre, continues at MCT at Alleyn’s until 27 August 2022. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Terrence McNally, Stephen Flaherty and Lynn Ahrens’ Ragtime is a magnificent, brave, visceral show and it’s hard to imagine it in better hands than those of the National Youth Music […]
National Youth Music Theatre – A Kiss For Cinderella
A Kiss For Cinderella, performed by National Youth Music Theatre, continues at MCT at Alleyn’s until 20 August. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ The story of Cinderella, of a girl reduced to penury after death of her family before a magical intervention sets her on the path to royalty, is often thought […]
National Youth Music Theatre – Chess
Chess, performed by National Youth Music Theatre, continues at Leicester Curve until 13 August 2022. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Following hot on the heels of last week’s Drury Lane concert production, another variation of the musical Chess is being performed at Leicester’s Curve theatre this week by the National Youth Music Theatre […]
NYMT’s summer season productions announced
The National Youth Music Theatre’s 2022 summer season will feature two major musical productions, Chess and Ragtime, along with the world premiere of A Kiss For Cinderella – a new musical based on a play by J M Barrie – and a new showcase concert. A large cast and orchestra of young people will star […]
Billy the Kid – National Youth Music Theatre
Billy the Kid, presented by National Youth Music Theatre at The MCT at Alleyn’s, London. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ In historical real life Henry McCarty – aka Billy the Kid – was an outlaw who shot and killed eight men before being shot at age 21. But you don’t go to the […]
Henrietta – National Youth Music Theatre
Henrietta, presented by National Youth Music Theatre, continues at The MCT at Alleyn’s, London until 21 August 2021. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Commissioned from Alex Parker and Katie Lam by NYMT for last year but, perforce, postponed until now Henrietta is a good piece for a youth organisation. NYMT works with young […]
Anything Goes – The Other Palace
Anything Goes, a National Youth Music Theatre production, at The Other Palace, London. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ This show comes in several versions and I suspect this one, with its clunky dialogue and long tortuous first half, is not the best. Nonetheless this talented young cast, aged from 12-22, imaginatively directed […]
Parade – National Youth Music Theatre – The Other Palace
Parade at The Other Palace, London. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ A good few years ago, the National Youth Music Theatre’s superb production of The Hired Man, at the same venue, left me massively impressed with its very young, superbly talented cast. That production has always remained a benchmark and so expectations were […]
New production of First World War musical Brass to open at London’s Union Theatre
Benjamin Till’s award-winning BRASS will receive its professional London premiere at the Union Theatre as part of a series of events to mark the centenary of Armistice Day. Commissioned by the National Youth Music Theatre and set during the First World War, the first production of the moving musical drama at Leeds City Varieties Music Hall […]
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow – National Youth Music Theatre – The Other Palace
The Legend of Sleepy Hollow continues at The Other Palace, London until 25 August 2018. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Washington Irving’s short horror story, set in a secluded, superstitious community in post-Revolutionary New York state, has proven a fertile basis for many an adaptation, from Disney animations to Tim Burton blockbusters and […]
NYMT announces three-week London season
The National Youth Music Theatre a three-week summer residency at The Other Palace will include a new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Ben Elton’s award winning Beautiful Game. Running from 15-18 August 2018, the musical set during ‘The Troubles’ in Belfast in 1969 will feature Jasper Britton, the NYMT alumnus who spoke the first lines […]
Music Review – Billy the Kid: A New Musical – National Youth Music Theatre
BILLY THE KID: A NEW MUSICAL – National Youth Music Theatre (Download) Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Again the National Youth Music Theatre has proved there is nothing to fear about the future of the musical theatre in the UK. The talent included in this wonderful new musical would put some […]
CD Review – The Battle of Boat – Original Cast Recording
THE BATTLE OF BOAT – Original Cast Recording (ROCHE Records) The Battle of Boat is a new musical written by Ethan Maltby and Jenna Donnelly and produced on stage by the National Youth Music Theatre. This is the original cast album of that production. The first thing this show has going for it is that […]
CD Reviews – Funny Girl – Lost West End 2 – Prodigy – Eyles and Gould – Tom Solomon – Simon Beck
Nick Wakeham casts an eye over some of the latest CD releases. FUNNY GIRL – Original London Cast 2016 (DECCA – 4793670) There was so much hype regarding this new production of Funny Girl from the Menier Chocolate Factory and the fact that our latest national treasure, Sheridan Smith, was going to be playing the lead role […]
Brass – National Youth Music Theatre – Hackney Empire
Brass was performed by the National Youth Music Theatre at the Hackney Empire on 27 and 28 August 2016 Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ ‘Pals battalions’ were First World War military units formed from local recruitment offices that promised to keep friends, families and neighbours together in a battalion, rather than assign […]
National Youth Music Theatre – gala marks 40th birthday
Stage and screen stars are lining up to appear in a West End gala celebrating the 40th birthday of the National Youth Music Theatre this autumn. ENCORE 40 Years of NYMT will feature past and present NYMT students for one special evening of entertainment at London’s Adelphi Theatre on 30 October. The line-up of established […]
St James Studio autumn season – 16 new shows
London’s St James Studio has announced a diverse mix of 16 new shows for a packed autumn season that also includes the previously announced EFG London Jazz Festival. Tickets are on sale this week for the line-up that begins with audience favourite Eve Ferret accompanied by musical partner and guitarist Roddy Matthews in Eve Ferret: […]
NYMT’s Prodigy – original cast recording released
Auburn Jam Records and National Youth Music Theatre have released the original cast recording of Prodigy, the new musical from Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary, commissioned and developed by NYMT for its premiere production at the St James Theatre in August 2015. The recording is released today (Monday 25 July), with CDs available at http://prodigy.auburnjam.co.uk, and digital […]
New theatre company Jord&Co Productions launched
Royal Academy of Music graduate Jordan Li-Smith has launched a theatre company aimed at producing both new and rarely seen material on the London stage. With Li-Smith serving as artistic director, Jord&Co Productions is also promising to offer aspiring performers the chance to develop their theatre skills through an extensive workshop programme. The Wrexham-born musical […]
Sweet Charity – National Youth Music Theatre – Curve Leicester
Sweet Charity was presented by the National Youth Music Theatre at Curve, Leicester. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ In a month other than August, this outstanding production by the National Youth Music Theatre (NYMT) could have graced the main stage at Curve, where it wouldn’t have been out of place against any of the high-profile musicals […]
Prodigy – National Youth Music Theatre – St James Theatre
Prodigy continues at the St James Theatre, London until 15 August. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ With the very physical motion of descent into the St James’ intimate and sheer curved arena, you may get the feeling you’re leaving your disbelief at sea level. The curved, violin-esque wooden set, with an inset piano and band at […]
Brass – NYMT – City Varieties, Leeds
Brass, presented by National Youth Music Theatre, continues at the City Varieties, Leeds until 23 August. The casualties suffered by the Leeds Pals Battalion on the first day of the Battle of the Somme were appalling. Of the 900 Pals, 750 were killed or wounded. No wonder the National Youth Music Theatre team chose to personalise their […]
The Hired Man – NYMT – St James Theatre
The Hired Man, presented by the National Youth Music Theatre, continues at the St James Theatre, London until 16 August. Timed perfectly to mark the centenary of the outbreak of the First World War, this National Youth Music Theatre (NYMT) production is a moving and fitting tribute to the men that died in the so-called ‘war […]
The Ragged Child – National Youth Music Theatre
The Ragged Child was performed by the National Youth Music Theatre at the Rose Theatre, Kingston and continues until 27 July. Whether there were any Jude Laws or Jonny Lee Millers in the latest edition of The Ragged Child we shall have to wait and see, but this NYMT flag-bearer received an enthusiastic, worthy and full-of-promise performance in […]
West Side Story – Victoria Warehouse, Manchester
West Side Story, a National Youth Music Theatre production, was staged at the Victoria Warehouse, Manchester. It’s new for the National Youth Music Theatre to launch a show outside London, and it’s a triumph that West Side Story has been staged – like Graham Vick’s Birmingham Opera Company stagings or Kenneth Branagh’s riveting Macbeth – in […]
