Reviews of musical theatre and plays
Sorry, cannot resist. Jekyll and Hyde again. Because the stage setting was black box (no scenery or cloths other than a white cyc upstage) with no flying except one chandelier(!) it also left a lot of freedom for once as … Read More
The 25th anniversary Les Miserables concert at the O2 was a very special occasion indeed, topped by a great cast and tailed by the appearance of leading players from the 1985 cast including Colm Wilkinson and Michael Ball.
We went to see the 25th anniversary production of Les Misérables at the Barbican last night. Within the first minute it became clear that the production is very different from the original. Different as in better or worse? No, we came to the conclusion it was just different. All of which shows the ultimate influence a production team has on the base material of a show.
Have just returned home from seeing Starmaker Theatre Company‘s production of Fame at the Wilde Theatre in Bracknell. It was really good to see a decent audience there and they were rewarded with an excellent performance by a fine cast, … Read More
We went to see Sister Act at the London Palladium on a trip organised by Sainsbury Singers on 6 October. I had heard that it was quite different to the film and so it proved.
It was hard to fault the show. The first couple of numbers in the nightclub seemed a bit ordinary. But then things took off with the appearance of the nuns and the evening roared through.
Theatre adaptions of films don’t always work well but Billy Elliot is a notable exception to that rule.
We saw this show for the first time on Saturday and the matinee performance held our party of eight fully in its grip from beginning to end. Indeed one of our number was in pieces after the finale to Act 1 where Billy dances with great anger in a dream scene against an ensemble of riot shield-wielding policemen; never has the timeout of an interval been so well placed since Les Miserables‘ One Day More.
Have just been to the Sound of Music and must admit to being a bit puzzled about the experience and my reaction to it, until I read a blog from Dominic Cavendish of The Telegraph. He was there the night … Read More