This is the sort of review in which I shall quickly use up all the superlatives I know! First seen in 2021 at Sonning, Top Hat was so successful that it has justifiably just been revived. What a show! Every aspect of it is superb Firstly, of course, the 1935 Astaire/Rogers movie on which it…
This new 90-minute play by Joe White makes for some uncomfortable viewing! Both of the protagonists are alcoholics, though we are not told why, but perhaps that is too simplistic in the scope of the play. Their persistent drinking leads to blackouts of time and memory and they live on a blend of real and…
Mulan Rouge has taken up residence at London’s The Vaults – the tunnels under Waterloo Station – for the next few months. It is a very loud entertainment complete with a four-course dinner. For the meal, which is provided as a banquet by Flavourology, the audience is seated very close together on narrow wooden benches…
It is often interesting to come across the premiere of a new musical, especially when, as here, it is clearly a ‘work in progress’. Much effort and resources have clearly been spent, from the hiring of the vast London Coliseum for two nights, to the expenditure of an orchestra of 29 players in order to…
THE TWO CHARACTER PLAY was Tennessee Williams’ only play to receive its premiere in the UK – in 1967 at Hampstead Theatre, where it is now being revived. Felice and Clare are two actors on tour and are also brother and sister. In a decrepit theatre in a small town they find themselves deserted by…
G AND S EXPRESS was conceived during Lockdown, and is the well-nigh perfect POST-lockdown entertainment, especially for G and S aficionados, but also for anyone who relishes a feel-good, often hilarious, 75 minutes in the company of three highly talented singing actors. John Savournin and David Eaton, who must have an encyclopedic knowledge of everything…
The Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch has a long-standing and deservedly high reputation for staging imaginative and, more importantly, accessible Shakespeare, clearly spoken so that even those who have previously fought shy of seeing one of his plays can understand and enjoy it. But even Douglas Rintoul, the director, must have found this year’s offering a challenge….
The off-Broadway musical Brooklyn has taken sixteen years to reach the UK. The programme (essential reading!) tells the audience that, using the time-honoured ‘play-within-a-play’ structure, the show focuses on five homeless people who use the space under Brooklyn Bridge to stage their story about a Parisian orphan singer, who just happens to be called Brooklyn….