The nominations for the Olivier Awards 2025 with Mastercard have been announced and Fiddler on the Roof is leading the way, having been recognised in 13 categories.
Tag Archives | Simon Lipkin
Oliver! – Gielgud Theatre
Oliver! continues at the Gielgud Theatre, London, booking until until 29 March 2026. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ A marriage made in heaven between arguably Charles Dickens’ finest work, indubitably Lionel Bart’s – so many instantly recognisable songs – and the supreme Matthew Bourne as director-choreographer.
Oliver! – Chichester Festival Theatre
Oliver! continues at the Chichester Festival Theatre until 7 September 2024. The production will begin performances at the Gielgud Theatre, London on 14 December 2024. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ This show is not lavish; it’s densely packed and full of good stuff like a hearty pie-and-mash supper.
Jon Robyns In Concert– His Majesty’s Theatre
Jon Robyns performed in concert at His Majesty’s Theatre, London. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ This was a wonderful reminder of some lesser-known musical gems and a genuine pleasure to experience.
West End transfer for new production of Oliver!
Cameron Mackintosh and Chichester Festival Theatre’s new production of Lionel Bart’s timeless Oliver! will follow its summer debut in Chichester by transferring to the West End at the end of the year.
Matthew Bourne and Cameron Mackintosh re-conceive Oliver! for Chichester Festival Theatre
A major new production of Lionel Bart’s timeless Oliver! will feature in Justin Audibert’s first season as artistic director of Chichester Festival Theatre (CFT).
Elf The Musical – Dominion Theatre
Elf The Musical continues at the Dominion Theatre, London until 7 January 2022. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Elf The Musical, in short, is an easy Christmas watch, with enough thinly veiled innuendo to satisfy parents who aren’t particularly interested in children’s musicals otherwise. If you’re feeling like giving the local pantomime a miss this year, this is an excellent alternative.
Tom Chambers to play Walter Hobbs in Elf
Tom Chambers will join the previously announced Simon Lipkin and Georgina Castle to lead the cast of Elf: The Musical when the festive family favourite returns to the Dominion Theatre to play a strictly limited eight-week season this Christmas. Chambers whose genre roles include Jerry Travers in Top Hat (Aldwych Theatre) and Bob Wallis in […]
Elf The Musical starring Simon Lipkin and Georgina Castle heads for the West End
Simon Lipkin and Georgina Castle will lead the cast of festive family favourite Elf: The Musical when it returns to London in a new production at the Dominion Theatre, playing a strictly limited eight-week season this Christmas. Known for his scene-stealing performance as Mr Poppy in another seasonal classic Nativity! The Musical in London and […]
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 […]
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change – London Coliseum
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change streamed from the London Coliseum and continues until 30 January 2021. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ I Love You? Yes! You’re Perfect? Nothing ever is, is it, but this clever little revue is guaranteed to give you 80 minutes’ respite from the grim world outside, Now Change… […]
First Date – Crazy Coqs
First Date, a musical streamed from Crazy Coqs, London, continues until 24 October 2020. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Two-hander boutique musicals have been staged before in the Crazy Coqs cabaret room at Zédel’s but First Date is different, a full-blown online show about the dating game with a cast of five that […]
Samantha Barks and Simon Lipkin to star in virtual version of First Date
Samantha Barks and Simon Lipkin will take the lead in a virtual production of the Broadway musical First Date next month. Presented by Lambert Jackson Productions and Crazy Coqs, the production will be filmed at London’s Crazy Coqs and will be made available for streaming on 22, 23 and 24 October 2020 at 7.30pm. Due […]
Nativity! The Musical – Eventim Apollo London
Nativity! The Musical continues at Eventim Apollo London until 29 December 2018. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ An excitable buzz outside and inside the venue at the gala performance of this eagerly-awaited celebrity-laden production more than hinted this was going to be something pretty special. Spectacular and hugely entertaining, it’s a […]
Nativity! The Musical – Milton Keynes & Touring
Nativity! The Musical continues at the Milton Keynes Theatre until 18 November 2018 before the tour continues. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Nativity! The Musical definitely brought Christmas cheer to Milton Keynes, even if it was a little early! Based on the 2009 Christmas comedy film directed by Debbie Isitt, the […]
Danny Dyer & Jo Brand to star in Nativity! The Musical in London
Danny Dyer will star as Hollywood Producer and Jo Brand as The Critic in the London run of Nativity! The Musical at the Eventim Apollo, from 19 to 31 December. Jo Brand will also star as The Critic when the show heads to the Festival Theatre in Edinburgh from 28 November to 2 December. Dyer is currently best known for his […]
Nativity! The Musical – Birmingham Repertory Theatre and Touring
Nativity! The Musical continues at Birmingham Repertory Theatre until 12 November and then tours until 6 January 2018. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ Scrap the panto. If you see one thing this season, let it be this. Gathering a cult following in 2009, Debbit Isitt’s comic Christmas masterpiece Nativity! hit the […]
Nativity! The Musical – Louis Walsh to make stage debut in London leg of tour
X Factor judge Louis Walsh will make his stage acting debut as a Hollywood producer in the London run of the eagerly-anticipated Nativity! The Musical at London’s Eventim Apollo. The pop manager and TV talent show judge will step into the role played on film by stage and screen star Clarke Peters from 13 until […]
The Wind in the Willows – London Palladium
The Wind in the Willows continues at the London Palladium (booking until Saturday 9 September 2017). Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ✩ ✩ Appearing at last weekend’s benefit concert for the victims of the Grenfell Tower fire, composers George Stiles and Anthony Drewe introduced themselves as: “the chaps with two musicals in the […]
Interview – Simon Lipkin gets Ratty in The Wind in the Willows at the London Palladium
SIMON LIPKIN is playing the role of Ratty in the major new musical theatre adaptation of the family classic The Wind in the Willows which has its official opening at the London Palladium this week. Based on Kenneth Grahame’s timeless novel, The Wind in the Willows has been adapted for the stage by the team of Julian […]
Nativity! The Musical – Daniel Boys, Sarah Earnshaw and Simon Lipkin cast
Casting has been revealed for the world premiere of Birmingham Repertory Theatre’s production of Nativity! The Musical opening at the Rep on Friday 20 October 2017. Daniel Boys will play Paul Maddens, Sarah Earnshaw is Jennifer Lore and Simon Lipkin plays Mr Poppy. They will be joined by Andy Barke, Jamie Chapman, Jemma Churchill, Gary […]
Whisper House – The Other Palace
Whisper House continues at The Other Palace, London until 27 May. Star rating: two stars ★ ★ ✩ ✩ ✩ For its second major staging in its new rebranded guise as the home for new musical writing, The Other Palace has chosen curiously. Whisper House is a 2009 piece with music and lyrics by Duncan […]
Sheik’s ghostly Whisper House to open at The Other Palace
Multi award-winning Duncan Sheik’s musical ghost story Whisper House will play The Other Palace from 6 April until 27 May. Based on the rock singer/songwriter’s 2009 concept album and conceived with 30 Rock actor Keith Powell, Whisper House features a book and lyrics by Obie award winner Kyle Jarrow. Following on from his critically-acclaimed Spring […]
Wind in the Willows at the Palladium – full cast revealed
Denise Welch, Gary Wilmot, Simon Lipkin and Craig Mather will join Rufus Hound and Neil McDermott in the cast of The Wind in the Willows which will speed into the London Palladium in June. Announcing the new casting details, producer Jamie Hendry also revealed previews would begin ahead of schedule on Friday 16 June (opening […]
Honeymoon in Vegas – Maxwell Caulfield and Simon Lipkin join cast
Maxwell Caulfield, Rosemary Ashe, Nicolas Colicos and Simon Lipkin have joined the principal cast for the London Musical Theatre Orchestra’s concert staging of Honeymoon in Vegas at the London Palladium on 12 March. Caulfield (Guys and Dolls), Ashe (Sister Act), Colicos (Annie Get Your Gun) and Lipkin (Guys and Dolls) will join the previously announced […]
WhatsOnStage Awards – Simon Lipkin and Vikki Stone to host
Stage and screen favourites Simon Lipkin and Vikki Stone will present the 17th Annual WhatsOnStage Awards at the sold-out concert event at the Prince of Wales Theatre on 19 February. Lipkin and Stone will take charge of the popular awards concert which will feature performances from cast members of some of the West End’s biggest […]
Disaster! – Charing Cross Theatre
Disaster! was performed at the Charing Cross Theatre, London. Star rating: five stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ It is perhaps appropriate that, in the first of two performances of Disaster!, Seth Rudetsky and Jack Plotnick’s homage to 1970s disaster movies, should suffer a disaster of its own – as actors Oliver Tompsett and Mark […]
Simon Lipkin joins cast of Disaster! London premiere this weekend
Guys and Dolls star Simon Lipkin joined the cast of Broadway spoof musical Disaster! as rehearsals began this week ahead of the show’s London premiere at the Charing Cross Theatre this weekend. The two gala concert performances of the show, which takes its inspiration from the star-studded disaster movie genre which dominated cinema screens in […]
London Guys and Dolls to close early
Producers of Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows’ Guys and Dolls at London’s Phoenix Theatre have confirmed that the show will close four months early, on 21 August 2016. The closure will coincide with the departure of award-winning actor Rebel Wilson (playing Miss Adelaide) who joined the West End cast for a strictly limited eight weeks only on 28 June. A […]
Guys and Dolls – Phoenix Theatre
Guys and Dolls continues at the Phoenix Theatre, London. Star rating: three stars ★ ★ ★ ☆ ☆ Damon Runyon’s stories of 1950s New York, which form the basis of Frank Loesser’s musical Guys and Dolls, show a side of Broadway vastly at odds with the backstage antics and tap dancing mayhem of the usual […]
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change to return to London
The critically acclaimed revival of long-running off-Broadway musical I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change is returning for two performances in London in August. Reuniting the cast that helped the production win a nomination for Best Revival in last year’s Broadway World Awards, the show will play an afternoon and evening performance at the Arts […]
Guys and Dolls – Simon Lipkin joins Rebel Wilson in West End cast
Simon Lipkin will take over the role of Nathan Detroit opposite Australian screen star Rebel Wilson’s Miss Adelaide in Frank Loesser, Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows’ Guys and Dolls at London’s Phoenix Theatre later this month. Lipkin who trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School and then at Arts Ed, will join the West End cast […]
Oliver! – Grange Park Opera
Oliver! continues at the Grange Park Opera at The Grange, Northington, Hampshire until 2 July. Rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Getting to the latest revival of Lionel Bart’s 1960 masterpiece in deepest Hampshire is quite a schlepp. Just when you think you’ve cracked it, there’s yet another narrow, windy country lane to […]
Oliver! at Grange Park Opera – Jodie Jacobs and Simon Lipkin star
The classic musical Oliver! will be the first of the four productions that will make up this year’s Grange Park Opera Festival at The Grange in Hampshire. This year’s Swansong Festival begins on 2 June with the company’s version of Lionel Bart’s timeless re-working of Oliver Twist performed in the picturesque grounds of one of […]
Miss Atomic Bomb – St James Theatre
Miss Atomic Bomb continues at St James Theatre, London until 9 April. Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩ Hurrah! A new British musical and one that is original. It’s not been adapted from a classic novel nor does it rely on music hall knees-ups. Its originality derives from the British sense of […]
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change – Above the Arts Theatre
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change continues at Above the Arts Theatre, London until 18 July. Star rating: 5 stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ These days Joe DiPietro is best known for Broadway and West End musical Memphis, for which he wrote the book and, with composer David Bryan, co-wrote the lyrics. But the smaller scale […]
I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change revived – Julie Atherton and Simon Lipkin star
This June, Hartshorn – Hook Productions are proud to present a revival of the American revue I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change for a strictly limited run in the new studio space Above the Arts. The production will be the first musical venture for the space that officially opened its doors in March. The […]
Interview – Carly Bawden and Simon Lipkin on Sondheim’s Assassins at the Menier Chocolate Factory
When asked to name his favourite self-penned musical, Stephen Sondheim’s response, if he deigns to answer such a trite question, is often Assassins, the show he wrote with book writer John Weidman. “I wouldn’t change a thing,” he says of this 1990 revue-style musical about the people who’ve made attempts on the lives of American […]
