Here You Come Again - Review

Riverside Studios, London

****

By Bruce Vilanch, Gabriel Barre and Tricia Paoluccio

Additional material by Jonathan Harvey

Directed by Gabriel Barre

Steven Webb and Tricia Paoluccio

Hitting the sweetest of sweet spots, Here You Come Again is a juke-box musical that does for Dolly Parton what Mamma Mia did for ABBA. Oozing with sincerity as much as it defies credibility, the show is built around the importance of recognising one’s self-worth, while staying heart-warmingly true to Parton’s glowing public persona.

Set during 2020’s lockdown, Steven Webb plays 40-yo gay Kevin, freshly dumped by his boyfriend and now returned to his parent’s home where for the purposes of social distancing they have isolated him in the attic den that was his bedroom as a teenager. Festooned in Dolly Parton merchandise, the attic is a tribute to the star that Kevin has never stopped adoring for decades.

In the depths of Kevin’s despair and with more than a hint of Mary Poppins, Dolly Parton herself bursts through a poster on his wall singing the title number and lifting the packed Riverside Studios onto a fluffy pink cloud of joy and exhilaration. The show's writing is clever throughout, but with the shrewd addition of Jonathan Harvey to the creative team, dramatic heft is added to the narrative.

Tricia Paoluccio (a co-creator of the show) plays Parton to a tee. Her personification of the queen of country music is nigh-on flawless with a voice that captures Parton’s unique timbre and a tone and cadence that is so spot-on that if you shut your eyes and listen it might just as well be Dolly herself here in Hammersmith.

Parton’s biggest hits (try saying that after a few drinks) are in the show. A wondrously corny storyline introduces Jolene (with superb red-haired accompaniment from Webb), while the interval is sandwiched between Love Is Like A Butterfly and 9 To 5. Islands In The Stream (with the audience all waving the torches on their phones) and I Will Always Love You are two of the second act’s highlights, as a handful of Dolly’s lesser known delights add to the evening’s songlist.

The story line is simple and neat and if the ending may be a tad twee (no spoilers here) at least it ensures the audience leave with the broadest of grins and the warmest of hearts. The finale of a singalong Dolly megamix (currently followed by a Christmas megamix too) is as cheering as a glass of brandy-laden mulled wine.

Above all, this show stands on the strengths of its two leads. Webb has the challenge of convincing us of the sentimentality and integrity of Kevin, which he does magnificently. Paoluccio of course has to become Dolly Parton and both of them produce a top-notch chemistry that is touching and believable. On press night Aidan Cutler and Charlotte Elisabeth Yorke stepped up to deliver a range of minor supporting roles, while the music was perfectly directed by Jordan Li-Smith’s four-piece band who were both on and off stage as the numbers demanded. Paul Wills' set design is simply effective and his glitzy costumes, magnificent. Lizzi Gee's choreography sees the actors perfectly drilled in some outstanding routines.

Here You Come Again will wrap your heart round its little finger. On tour after its month-long Riverside residency, this evening of pure entertainment deserves to end-up in the West End.

Runs until 18th January 2025, then tours

Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake - The Next Generation - Review

Sadler's Wells, London

*****

Composed by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Directed and choreographed by Matthew Bourne

The Company

Celebrating its 30th anniversary, Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake, now badged “The Next Generation”, plays at Sadler’s Wells over the festive season. This remarkable ballet that has literally introduced and inspired generations of young people into the world of dance remains a radical re-imagination of the classic gothic fantasy.

Bourne’s interpretation veers away from magic and enchantment. His is a modern world of challenged mental health, of society’s demanding expectations, and of a young Prince grappling to define his sexuality – all danced to Tchaikovsky’s music.

On the night of this review The Prince was magnificently danced by Stephen Murray. The show’s principal dancer however is given a gruelling two-role responsibility with this review seeing Harrison Dowzell take the parts of both The Swan and The Stranger. Dowzell is sensational throughout. His Swan, a creation of The Prince’s troubled mind, moves with an avian power and grace that is compelling. Matthew Bourne’s interpretation is very dark, with a tragic climax to the show that reflects Dowzell’s hypnotic influence over the damaged young Prince.

The complementing role that falls to Dowzell is as the charismatic Stranger who appears at the palace ball. Teeming with testosterone, Dowzell asserts himself as the alpha human male, truly the balls of the ball, sweeping all the Princesses - and then the Prince – off their feet. Dowzell’s contribution to an evening of scorching dance-fuelled drama is simply breathtaking.

Of course, it is not just The Swan that stuns. As Bourne’s corps of Swans, all bare-chested and clad in Lez Brotherston’s now famous swan-leg costumes fill the stage, the beauty of the director's vision is ingenious. Their perfect poise and movement only heightening the painful poignancy of the Prince’s mental decline. Rarely have a flock of birds looked so ripped!

Ashley Shaw danced The Queen for this performance as Katrina Lyndon played The Girlfriend. Shaw has long impressed on these pages in her work for Bourne – here, supported by subtle hair and makeup enhancements, she convincingly plays a role way beyond her years as the matriarch emotionally disconnected from her damaged son. Shaw shows sheer talent in a critically important supporting role. Lyndon (also the show’s dance captain) makes the most of a slighter role, mixing moments of comedy with perfectly weighted vacuity as she delivers the complex part of the young woman whom The Prince, at first, so passionately desires.

Brotherston’s set design is, as always, a treat, while in the pit, Benjamin Pope conducts the New Adventures Orchestra through a fabulous delivery of Tchaikovsky’s work. Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake remains a chillingly exhilarating evening of dance.

Runs until 26th January 2025 then on tour

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Putting It Together - Review

Playground Theatre, London

****

Music & lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Directed by Janie Dee

In a refreshing contrast to the capital’s typical December when the city’s theatres teem with festive offerings, Putting It Together makes a brief return to a London stage after a 10 year absence. A revue of some of Stephen Sondheim’s sharpest compositions, the show was originally curated by Sondheim himself alongside Julia McKenzie.

In a stripped-back staging at the (packed) Playground Theatre, this iteration of the collection sees Janie Dee make her directorial debut. One of today’s finest interpreters of Sondheim, Dee also steps up to play the Wife amongst the show’s quintet of performers.

Drawn from the spectrum of Sondheim’s work, the revue’s numbers are generously spread amongst the cast. In her usual spectacular form, Dee most memorably gets her chops around Could I Leave You?, The Ladies Who Lunch and Not Getting Married Today. Dee’s ability to extract the cruellest sharpest satire from Sondheim’s writing is possibly unmatched - rarely is the acid in her characters’ lyrics delivered with such fluid, mellifluous, perfect poison.

As Dee makes her entrance as a director, Miriana Pavia boldly steps up to make her professional debut as a performer, here playing the Younger Woman. Vocally astonishing, Pavia displays a stunning range notably in her solo More, as well as in her two duets with Dee, Every Day A Little Death and There’s Always A Woman. She is definitely one to watch.

Edward Baker-Duly as the Husband displays a chillingly predatory charm in Hello Little Girl, his clipped elegance a perfect caricature of the oleaginous patrician. He also delivers a complex wry tenderness in The Road You Didn’t Take. There is equally fine work from Tom Babbage as the Younger Man.

Other than perhaps as a nod to a Xmas pantomime dame, the casting of drag artist Kate Butch as the Narrator is a distraction. Sondheim’s lyrics stand on their own merits, in no need of Butch’s barbed support. That being said, when Butch ditches the garish, patent heels for a more vulnerable, masculine take on Buddy’s Blues it makes for a marked improvement. On piano, as the show’s sole musical accompanist, Archie McMorran is sensational.

As a directing debutante, Dee has much to be proud of, with fine work coaxed from all of her cast and the composer’s acerbic genius shining through both acts of the show. This production of Putting It Together demands a longer run.

The Producers - Review

Menier Chocolate Factory, London

****

Music and lyrics by Mel Brooks
Book by Mel Brooks and Thomas Meehan

Directed by Patrick Marber

Andy Nyman and Marc Antolin

The Producers that has just opened at the Menier Chocolate Factory has sold out for the entirety of its 14-week run before one review has even been published! Patrick Marber directs and his helming of this revival of Mel Brooks’ comic gem, is impeccable. As musicals go The Producers is massive and to have been able to have crammed it into the Menier’s intimacy is quite an achievement. Designer Scott Pask has used the venue’s size to bring us closer to the chemistry of the relationship between scheming Broadway producer Max Bialystock and his apparently timid accountant Leo Bloom.

The show’s plot famously centres around Bialystock and Bloom’s need to create a surefire flop, so as to avoid having to pay out any returns to Bialystock’s “little old lady” angels who he has seduced and defrauded by overselling the profits of his next show many times over. The pair stumble across Franz Liebkind, a Nazi playwright whose Springtime For Hitler they seize upon as a show in the worst possible taste and guaranteed to bomb at the box office. Of course, through an over-plastering of camp and kitsch, the musical goes on to become a Broadway smash and the pair are exposed as scheming crooks.

The accomplished Andy Nyman (who played Tevye at the Menier six years ago) is Bialystock with Marc Antolin playing Bloom. Nyman masters Bialystock’s New York Jewish shtick, getting under the skin of the man’s chutzpah and irreverence. Bialystock however needs to bestride his scenes like a colossus and there is something just a touch diminutive in Nyman’s turn. His take on the monstrous producer is unlikely to be remembered as one of the greats.

It is Marber’s supporting characters, from the show-within-a-show, who really bring this production to life. Playing Broadway director Roger De Bris is Trevor Ashley who gives possibly the finest interpretation ever to this larger than life character. Equally Harry Morrison's Franz Liebkind is a treat. Joanna Woodward gamely steps up to the role of Swedish blonde Ulla, hired as the producers’ assistant and she too delivers a performance that is as fabulous as her stunning looks.

Marber’s ensemble are close to flawless with Lorin Latarro’s choreography proving to be a work of genius within the Menier’s confines. Matthew Samer’s musical direction is also a delight.

Winter may be upon us but there's no room for snowflakes at The Producers. Aside from its two protagonists who end up in Sing Sing, this is a show that takes no prisoners. And as Mel Brooks mercilessly mocks a slew of minorities, the evening makes for one big guilty pleasure. 

Runs until March 1st 2025

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Dick Whittington and his Cat - Review

Hackney Empire, London

****

Written by Will Brenton

Directed by Clive Rowe

Clive Rowe

This year’s pantomime at Hackney Empire is Dick Whittington, with local legend Clive Rowe stepping up to the double honours of helming the show as director as well as playing (Dame) Sarah The Cook.

The story of course is a perennial treat and there is fine work from Kandaka Moore in the title role, Hackney’s favourite Kat B as Dick’s cat Tommy. Graham Macduff is King Rat, Tony Timberlake is Alderman Fitzwarren, Aryana Ramkhalawon is his daughter Alice, Beth Sindy throws some magic into the proceedings as Fairy Bowbells and Max Mirza is Sarah's comedy sidekick, Idle Jack.

But, as ever, the night belongs to Rowe who this year surpasses himself with perhaps the best panto ever to grace the Hackney Empire’s stage. Amidst literally countless costume changes Rowe drives the evening’s comedy at a ruthlessly hilarious pace, all the while drawing great work from his supporting cast. The gags are fast, frequent and perfectly timed with none more risqué than cook Rowe entering dressed as a pepper-mill and telling the audience that he’d bought it on grinder (geddit?).

As Rowe pitches his humour perfectly, leaving both adults and children in stitches of laughter, act one closes to the scene of this greatest of dames, clad on this occasion as the ocean liner “Hello Buoys”, and singing Don’t Rain On My Parade from Funny Girl. Rowe’s credentials as an Olivier-winning star of musical theatre are long established and to see him nailing this Streisand classic is to witness genius in action. Not only that, but by including such a classic gem of a song, the show also introduces its younger audience to a taste of Broadway’s golden years. No bad thing!

Act two plays out to include our heroes stranded on Ee El Pie Island after a storm at sea. This turns out to be a psychedelic ashram (yes … me neither) which while being of tenuous relevance to the storyline, allows the show a chance to reference music from Bowie, Beatles, Madness, Elton John, The Kinks and Joan Armatrading. Absolute delight for the grown-ups. 

Cleo Pettitt has done fine design work both in the show’s scenery and in Rowe’s spectacular gowns. In the pit, Alex Maynard directs his five-piece band with finesse.

Dick Whittington at the Hackney Empjre, with Clive Rowe’s damesmanship, is one of the finest traditional pantos in town.

Runs until 5th January 2025

Photo credit: Mark Senior

White Christmas - Review

The Mill at Sonning

****

Music and lyrics by Irving Berlin

Book by David Ives and Paul Blake

Directed by Jonathan O'Boyle

Nic Myers, Connor Hughes, Gabriella Williams and Jason Kajdi

White Christmas, that perennial festive favourite is given a delightful treatment at The Mill Theatre in Sonning. Based on the 1954 classic movie, the stage iteration of this yuletide charmer was only penned in 2000 and yet, with its score of some of Irving Berlin’s greatest songs, the show feels as though it has been around forever.

Jonathan O’Boyle directs an accomplished cast through the wonderfully corny plot that's all about love and loyalty, through the prism of two nationally famous ex-US Army singers who set about trying to woo the sister act of two lesser known chanteuses. Set, for the most part, in snowy Vermont in a 1950s December, the visual white Christmas charm that Hollywood's cameras could create has to be imagined here. O’Boyle however helms his cast and crew magnificently and theatrical magic really does descend onto this intimate auditorium by the Thames.

Elliot Allinson, Connor Hughes, Nic Myers and Gabriella Williams play the four star-crossed leads and they forge a terrific chemistry within this show that is little more than a Yuletide whirl through some of the American Songbook’s favourites. The two guys set the scene with Happy Holidays, while Myers and Williams have their chance to shine early on with Sisters. Perhaps the greatest singing surprise of the evening is Shirley Jameson’s act-one take on Let Me Sing And I’m Happy, a glorious celebration of life and humanity that’s powerfully performed. And of course, as the proceedings conclude, there’s a glorious singalong of the show’s eponymous title number.

The design and staging is ingenious for The Mill’s compact space, with Gary Lloyds choreography an equal treat as the cast of only 14 souls fill the stage with perfectly drilled movement. If there is one criticism, it is that the floor of the stage is too soft and sound-absorbent to really project the aural magnificence of the show’s several tap-numbers, not doing justice to the cast’s remarkable talents. Tucked away out of sight, Jae Alexander's seven-piece band make fine work of Berlin's compositions.

One is left smiling throughout White Christmas – it is a delightfully festive fantasy!

Runs until 25th January 2025

Photo credit: Pamela Raith

The Devil Wears Prada - Review

Dominion Theatre, London

*****

Music by Elton John

Lyrics by Shaina Taub and Mark Sonnenblick

Book by Kate Wetherhead

Based on the novel by Lauren Weisberger and the motion picture screenplay by Aline Brosh McKenna

Directed and choregraphed by Jerry Mitchell

Vanessa Williams

In a whip-smart fusion of stunning style and content, The Devil Wears Prada arrives in the West End to deliver the capital's most impressive new musical theatre production this year. Elton John's score soars from rock through blues, to balladry and soul, transforming this modern classic’s take on the fashion industry’s soulless brutality. Matching Sir Elton’s music, Jerry Mitchell’s direction and choreography takes the story on a sparkling transition from screen to stage.

Vanessa Williams returns to the London stage to lead the show as Miranda Priestly, the editor of fashion glossy Runway and a woman who can make or break careers in haute couture. Williams is an inspired casting choice with the presence that she imbues in Miranda as razor-sharp as her Louboutin heels. 

In an astonishing West End debut Georgie Buckland is Andy (Andrea), the story’s protagonist whose arc we follow as she starts off as Miranda’s novice personal assistant, but who rapidly learns how to shin the world of publishing’s famously greasy pole. Buckland is handed the lion’s share of the evening’s big numbers, closing both acts of the show with Miranda Girl and What’s Right For Me respectively, songs in which she rises to fill the Dominion’s massive space.

The show’s two other featured roles are Runway’s creative lead Nigel played by Matt Henry and Miranda’s long serving assistant Emily played by Amy Di Bartolomeo. Both are equally magnificent bringing power, pathos and humour to their respective performances.

Tim Hatley’s scenery, Gregg Barnes’s costumes and Bruno Poet’s lighting make for stunning visuals from the outset, while Katharine Woolley’s musical direction offers a fine interpretation of the compelling score.

The Devil Wears Prada is famous for showcasing fashion’s cutthroat competition with a story that revolves around aspirations, dreams and treachery in both the boardroom and the bedroom. It is a credit not only to Elton John, but to lyricist Shaina Taub and Mark Sonnenblick and to bookwriter Kate Wetherhead, that they have crafted such a fine adaptation of Weisberger’s original.

This musical is a mutli-million dollar extravaganza built on the highest production values. For those who enjoy a good story, compelling new writing and brilliant song and dance, The Devil Wears Prada is unmissable. 

Booking until 18th October 2025

Photo credit: Matt Crockett

My Fair Lady - Review

Curve Theatre, Leicester

*****

Music by Frederick Loewe

Lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner

Directed by Nikolai Foster

Molly Lynch

Yet again the good people of Leicester are blessed with the most stunning festive gift from the city’s Curve theatre. This year it is Nikolai Foster’s sumptuous production of My Fair Lady that sparkles.

Molly Lynch, who is no stranger to Foster and Curve following her stunning Betty Schaefer in the venue’s Sunset Boulevard a few years back, now steps up to her rightful place as a leading lady, giving the most powerful yet sensitive interpretation of Eliza Doolitle to have been seen on these shores in years. Lynch has a voice that can capture both power and pathos. We are first treated to her excellence in Wouldn’t It Be Loverly and as her character tumbles into perfect received pronunciation with The Rain In Spain, her development is as seamless and as charming as her voice is sweet. From there it’s into I Could Have Danced All Night and on glancing around the Curve’s audience, the smiles on the audience's faces defined the joy that Lynch was bringing in her take on this, one of musical theatre’s most enigmatic women.

My Fair Lady of course revolves around the relationship between Eliza and Henry Higgins, and with David Seadon-Young’s playing the professor of linguistics the pair are perfectly matched. His is a sensitive take on the emotionally crippled academic and rarely has chauvinism sounded so charming as in Seadon-Young’s interpretation. As he implores the world to fit his view of how things should be, firstly with Why Can’t The English and later with A Hymn To Him, the range of his singing is just delightful. And then with I’ve Grown Accustomed To Her Face, Seadon unlocks the man’s complexities and vulnerabilities with a heartbreaking depth.

Foster has assembled a company of talent to match the two leads. Minal Patel is in fine form as Colonel Pickering, while Steve Furst keeps the flame of old-fashioned sexism burning brightly with his hilarious take on Alfred Doolittle. Get Me To The Church On Time is one of the canon’s comedy highlights that sets the audience up for the traumatic ups and downs of the story's final act. Djavan Van de Fliert is a marvellously voiced Freddy Eynsford-Hill, while Sarah Moyle playing both Freddy’s mother and Higgins’ housekeeper Mrs Pearce is equally en pointe. The venerable Cathy Tyson as Henry’s wise mother brings the perfect weighting of gravitas to her small but critical role in the evening’s proceedings.

Michael Taylor’s lavish set designs fill the Curve’s vast space with height, depth and ingenuity, Mark Henderson’s lighting complements the visuals perfectly, while out of sight (apart from a delightful centre-stage cameo at the Embassy Ball), George Dyer’s nine-piece band make fine work of the classic score. Jo Goodwin's inspired choreography is at its finest in the company numbers, with Get Me To The Church On Time evolving into a spectacle of perfectly rehearsed movement.

Playing until the new year, My Fair Lady at the Curve is quite possibly the finest show to be found this Christmas. Don’t miss it!

Runs until 4th January 2025

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

A Christmas Carol - Review

Theatre Royal, Windsor

****

Written by Charles Dickens

Adapted and directed by Roy Marsden

Having played for just the one week at Windsor’s Theatre Royal, Roy Marsden’s adaptation of the famously festive ghost story made for a charming lead-in to the Christmas season.

Staged as a radio play, the cast sit onstage throughout, costumed as befits their various characters, stepping up to microphone stands to read their lines as Foley Artist Michael Workman creates all sorts of background noises to set the scene. All the sounds are real rather than digitised and it is a treat to see radio drama performed much in the style of how it would have been created during the mid-20th century.

Marsden is Ebenezer Scrooge. Clad in the traditional nightgown as Scrooge receives his three ghostly visitations over the night of Christmas Eve, Marsden’s portrayal of the old miser, from curmudgeonly to compassionate, is the work of a deft old hand who cleverly captures Scrooge’s complexities.

Playing (a Scots) Ghost of Christmas Past as well as Mrs Cratchit, Jenny Seagrove brings a glorious combination of chilling wisdom together with firm but humble homeliness to her brace of  characters. There is a kind familiarity to Seagrove’s performance that is as gorgeous to watch as it is professional in its delivery.

Michael Praed, Robert Duncan and Holly Smith take care of a handful of other key characters that the old yarn requires, while Shannon Rewcroft adds a glorious soprano touch to her roles as Ben Stock steps up to lead the audience in a handful of carols for all after the cast have taken their bows.

The ‘On Air’ series of radio plays is an imaginative concept that the Theatre Royal’s company appear to have skillfully mastered.  Classic dramas, delivered in a way that is both traditional and yet innovative. 

This opinion is published after the show’s run has ended – however it seems that irrespective of this critic’s praise, the Windsor audiences know a good show when they see it. On the night of this review, the house was packed with an audience that spanned the ages and generations, all enjoying an evening of fabulously crafted theatre.

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - Review

Ambassadors Theatre, London

*****

Music & lyrics by Darren Clark

Book, lyrics & directed by Jethro Compton

Clare Foster and John Dagleish

“It’s all just a matter of time…” a recurring lyric throughout this musical iteration of F Scott Fitzgerald’s classic short story – and over the last few years it has been a slow but enchanting journey, watching this show evolve through two iterations at the Southwark Playhouse into its West End premiere at the Ambassadors Theatre.

The story of Benjamin Button is a modern classic. Born in the early 20th century, by a freak of the fates as a 70 year-old man, Button goes through his life gradually becoming younger until he finally expires as an infant in swaddling. Stripping away all the Oscar winning digital/CGI enhancements incorporated in the 2008 movie, writers Jethro Compton and Darren Clark shift the fable from its New Orleans origins to their native Cornwall, and in so doing create a show that gloriously celebrates story-telling through its inspirational cast.

John Dagleish plays Button and in a simple depiction of his age, arrives in the show as a hunched, bespectacled, bowler-hatted and pipe-smoking curmudgeon. Its an ingenious touch that celebrates Button’s age, yet allows him to evolve through the show with simple  costume and make-up adjustments. Dagleish has a fine voice and through an outstanding performance also captures the quizzical yet paradoxically wise, innocence of Button through the show’s first act. The second half brings moments of heartbreaking poignancy as Button's freakishly evolving youthfulness sees him encounter rejection and disbelief from some of those around him.

The show’s company of actor-musicians lend a rustic-folksy authenticity to the evening that imbues it with a mystical Cornish air. Designed by Compton with Anna Kelsey the stage is rough-timbers and staircases with fishing nets draped across the ceiling – subtle and understated, yet a beautiful evocation of this story’s roots.

Opposite Benjamin is his love interest, Elowen, played by the magnificent Clare Foster. Elowen’s character ages in the natural way through the show and it is a mark of Foster’s genius that she embodies the woman not only as a coquettish teenager, but also, sensitively, through the loving and passionate years of her middle-age, through to her ultimate passing, all with a tenderness and an authenticity that mark hers as one of the more fabulous female performances in musical theatre to have graced a London stage in quite some time. 

Leave your memories of the movie at the door. Clark and Compton’s interpretation of this whimsical story, together with their inspirational melodies, mark this show as perhaps the finest new writing to hit the West End this year. If the media gods allow, this production almost deserves a movie of its own. Who knows? Surely it’s all just a matter of time….

Booking until 15th February 2025

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

Amaze - Review

Criterion Theatre, London

****

Directed by Jonathan Goodwin

Jamie Allan

Half-term week sees London’s Criterion Theatre packed for Jamie Allan’s Amaze, the latest magic show from this talented UK performer.

Themed around Allan’s childhood, his background and his evident love for his (now deceased) parents, Amaze includes some spectacular sleight of hand and illusions. Close up cameras ensure that even those in the cheaper seats can catch the details, and for the most part the audience are wowed by Allan’s genius. Decks of cards are toyed with, mathematical improbabilities leave us stunned and there’s even a woman who’s levitated off the stage - what more could anyone want from a magic show?

There are moments when Allan’s reflections on his life’s journey - while no doubt sincere - are perhaps too intense, but that’s his choice and it’s his show.

For an evening of traditional family entertainment, Amaze is amazing!

Runs until 23rd November

Photo credit: Danny Kaan

Dr Strangelove - Review

Noel Coward Theatre, London

****

Adapted from Stanley Kubrick's film by Armando Ianucci and Sean Foley

Directed by Sean Foley

Steve Coogan

It is 60 years since Kubrick’s movie Dr Strangelove stunned audiences. Playing to a world still grappling with the aftershocks of the Cuban missile crisis, his satirical take on the superpowers’ governments and their armed forces tapped into existential fears of mutually assured nuclear destruction. Today, Armando Ianucci and Sean Foley offer up an adaptation of Dr Strangelove in an entertaining tribute to Stanley Kubrick’s brilliant original.

On screen it was the comedic genius of Peter Sellars that played three of Kubrick’s key roles:  a stiff upper lipped British RAF officer (itself a character offering a precursory hint towards Rowan Atkinson’s Blackadder of later years); the American President; and finally the eponymous Strangelove, a crazed nuclear scientist. The story’s satire was inspired, with Kubrick’s movie now recognised as one of the great anti-war narratives of the last century.

In a bold casting move, Ianucci and Foley give Steve Coogan the Peter Sellars responsibilities - adding to his roles by also making him Major Kong, the maverick pilot of the nuclear-armed B-52 bomber. Coogan is a class act, not least when playing Strangelove afflicted by alien hand syndrome. But his evening on stage is a tough gig and he perhaps needs a little longer to become fully fluent in his performance. The supporting company are a blast, with notably great work from Giles Terera as US General Turgidson and John Hopkins as the deranged General Ripper.

It was always going to be a challenge - transferring the opening salvos of a B-52-delivered Armageddon from the broad canvas of film, to the comparative intimacy of a West End stage - and hence it is little surprise that the production team rely on projections (aka film) to convey some of the story’s more graphic moments. The videos are strong but they have a few distracting glitches that need attention.

Wrapping the whole show up, Penny Ashmore rises from the Noel Coward’s bowels to assume the part of Vera Lynne and lead the company in We’ll Meet Again as the world explodes around them. It’s a neat theatrical moment that almost leads into an audience singalong, but it doesn’t match the powerful brutality that Kubrick achieved in his juxtaposition of that song, set to a backdrop of global conflagration.

Dr Strangelove may cut corners in its interpretation of Kubrick’s masterpiece but it still makes for a hilarious night at the theatre as well as a sad reflection upon our world today.

Booking until 25th January 2025 - then on tour to Dublin

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Fly More Than You Fall - Review

Southwark Playhouse, London

****

Music and lyrics by Nat Zegree

Book and lyrics by Eric Holmes

Directed by Christian Durham

Keala Settle and Robyn Rose-Li

In a show founded on the writers’ personal experiences, Fly More Than You Fall is an exploration of loss through the eyes of 15year old Malia. An aspiring writer, we often see Malia’s emotions expressed through the development of her two fictional creations, a pair of injured birds, Willow and Flynn. 

Whisked back from summer camp early following her mother Jennifer’s diagnosis with a stage-4 cancer, the show’s first half offers a sensitive interpretation of Jennifer’s decline and its impact upon her husband Paul and upon Malia. As well as the most painful of sadnesses there is also an anger that is expressed at the cruelty of Jennifer’s dying - and all portrayed through song and dialogue that is perfectly weighted and free of mawkish sentiment.

The second act opens following Jennifer’s death - and while it delivers some moments of poignant grief there are also patches of shallow cliche that detract from the evening’s impact, particularly in the exchanges with and between the two imaginary birds.

The performances are exquisite. Keala Settle's Jennifer, journeying through the ghastliness of chemotherapy yet trying to remain strong for her family, is an acting masterclass. Cavin Cornwall makes fine work of the more two-dimensional Paul, however it is Robyn Rose-Li as Malia who soars throughout the show. And in particular, those numbers that involve multi-part harmonies are gorgeously delivered.

Fly More Than You Fall is a powerful concept for new musical theatre based on a strong core narrative. With a re-worked second half, it could yet prove sensational.

Runs until 23rd November

Photo credit: Craig Fuller

The Duchess [of Malfi] - Review

Trafalgar Theatre, London

****

Written and directed by Zinnie Harris

After John Webster

Jodie Whittaker

Zinnie Harris offers up an imaginative swipe at John Webster’s The Duchess of Malfi, taking the Jacobean tragedy and thrusting its 17th-century themes into a modern-day staging.

Making her return to the London stage, Jodie Whittaker is the recently-widowed Duchess who, against the wishes of her brothers, wishes to rebuild a life of emancipated sexual independence, much to their controlling shame. Harris follows Webster’s broad plotline, with her dialogue reflecting a modern parlance – and notwithstanding the play’s centuries-old roots, its message remains timely.

Harris places the story's misogyny of the story centre-stage. While her women may be the tragic victims of their controlling menfolk, they are all bestowed with a divine afterlife that offers a display of their strengths not often seen in this tale’s retelling. That being said, the violence meted out to them is cruel, graphic and deliberate, while most of Harris’ menfolk die through Tarantino-esque bungled shootings.

It’s not just misogyny that Harris puts in the spotlight. Paul Ready’s Cardinal makes an excellent display of the promiscuous hypocrisy of the Catholic church and if one then considers the  honour-killing that sits at the very heart of this story, one has to reflect on the prevalence of such murders that are sadly all too prevalent amongst some UK communities today.

Harris’ narrative is exciting and her violence graphic. Whittaker plays a sympathetic victim, far more sinned against than sinning ably supported, in particular, by Jude Owusu’s deeply flawed Bosola and Elizabeth Ayodele’s naively trusting Julia. Tom Piper’s staging is brutally simple, with Jamie Macdonald’s jarring videos adding to the evening’s horrors.

The Duchess is an intelligent revision of a classic that forces us to recognise the timelessness of evil.

Runs until 20th December

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

The James Bond Concert Spectacular - Review

O2, London

***

A evening that was definitely for James Bond fans played for one night only on the O2’s Indigo stage.

Q The Music - a tribute orchestra dedicated to performing the Bond classics, provided a sparkling delivery of the franchise’s unforgettable melodies with Kerry Schultz and Matt Walker on vocals. Some of the singing was glorious - GoldenEye, originally performed by Tina Turner was a spectacular cover, however the take on Skyfall, with its demands to replicate Adele’s original understated complex melancholy, failed to hit the spot.

David Zaritsky compered the night with perhaps more patter than was needed and while the music may have been magnificent the O2’s decaying fabric - allowing smells from the adjoining lavatories to permeate the auditorium - detracted from what really should have been a sparkling evening and left some in the audience shaken, not stirred.

Q The Music know their tunes and with perhaps just a quantum of solace added to their programme, this evening could yet prove an all time high.

Filumena - Review

Theatre Royal, Windsor

***

Written by Eduardo de Filippo

English version by Keith Waterhouse & Willis Hall

Directed by Sean Mathias

Felicity Kendal and Matthew Kelly

Felicity Kendal and Matthew Kelly star in Eduardo de Filippo’s classic Neapolitan folly Filumena, delivering the 1970s translation penned by those stalwarts of modern English literature, Keith Waterhouse and Willis Hall.

There are moments of comedy gold in the play's first half, particularly early on, as we learn of Kelly’s cantankerous, philandering Don Domenico being outwitted by his bride Filumena Marturano (Kendal) on the day of their marriage, a union which itself is a formalisation of their hitherto 35-year cohabitation.

Theirs is an unlikely romance. Filumena in her youth was a prostitute and the Don one of her clients, and from there blossomed a prickly love. Kelly and Kendal sparkle in their roles, with an electricity in their sparring that is frequently hilarious.

But Filumena (the play) cannot just rest on Kendal’s seductive, knowing wiles and Kelly’s frequent states of exasperation, brilliantly delivered though they may be. The story’s narrative offers a glimpse into the foibles and strata of 1940s Naples, but what once may have been an enchanting farce now seems dated and wordy. This review will not spoil any of the plot’s reveals, but especially in the second act, the comedy fast evaporates with the story condensing into a yarn that it is difficult to care about.

One imagines that de Filippo's original may well, like a fine chianti or prosciutto, have been steeped in l'italianità, the very essence of Italian culture, that will have added a richness to the tale that would have been recognised and adored by the cognoscenti.  Waterhouse and Hall’s translation however, for all its wit, strips away the beautiful Italian linguistics and the English that they replace it with quite simply lacks a romantic charm.  

The supporting cast – and all credit to producer Bill Kenwright Limited for employing such a large company – are for the most part a talented bunch with standout work from Julie Legrand as the faithful retainer Rosalia, and Jodie Steele as the Don’s latest young squeeze, Diana. 

At Windsor for another week and then touring, Filumena offers an evening of gentle entertainment.

Runs until 19th October and then on tour.

Photo credit: Jack Merriman

Giant - Review

Royal Court Theatre, London

***

Written by Mark Rosenblatt

Directed by Nicholas Hytner

John Lithgow

Set in a bucolic summer’s afternoon in Buckinghamshire in 1983, amidst the drilling and banging of a country residence that’s being lovingly restored, Giant is a drama loosely based on facts, about the antisemitic views and writings of that hero of children’s literature, Roald Dahl.

Bearing a striking resemblance to how we recall Dahl from his appearances in the media, with perhaps a nod to JR Hartley too, John Lithgow makes his Royal Court debut as the author. His foils across the lunch table are real life publisher Tom Maschler (played by Elliot Levey) and the fictional Jessie Stone (Romola Garai), an agent from Dahl’s US publishing company. Dahl has recently published a book review, widely seen as antisemitic, and the two publishing professionals are there, over glasses of Chablis, to coax him into drafting an apology.

Mark Rosenblatt’s drama is tightly written. In what feels like a slightly overlong 2hrs 20mins, the pace never falters, with Rosenblatt’s dialogue proving well-structured and his characters, credible. Garai and Rachael Stirling, as Dahl’s Mitford-like fiancée Felicity Crosland are both outstanding. Levey plays a recognisably luke-warm diaspora Jew, not too bothered by Dahl’s pronouncements and more concerned with trying to smooth things over at all costs. Of the three supporting characters, his is perhaps the least compelling.

Lithgow’s work however is tremendous - and under the direction of Nicholas Hytner, turns in an Olivier-worthy performance.

But other than some smug references to Ian McEwan and the literary world of that time, ultimately what is the point of this play other than to provide a platform for Dahl’s rabid ravings? Giant drips with Dahl’s criticism of Israel (the 1982 Lebanon War was raging), with clear echoes of criticisms that have been levelled at the Jewish state in more recent times during the Gaza conflict. Unsurprisingly for the Royal Court there is little offered by way of challenge to Israel’s actions, although it ultimately has to prove some comfort that Dahl’s rants against Israel are coming from the same mind and mouth that throughout the play utter the vilest antisemitic slurs. There remains of course the sad but realistic possibility that much of that irony may have soared over the heads of many of the Royal Court’s audience.

That this is brilliantly crafted theatre is unquestionable. That it also provides a soapbox for countless tropes makes for an evening that is ultimately deeply unsatisfying.

Runs until 16th November

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

1984 - Review

Theatre Royal, Bath

****

Written by George Orwell

Adapted by Ryan Craig

Directed by Lindsay Posner

Keith Allen and Mark Quartley

In our world today with its visibly two-tiered criminal justice system, where citizens are imprisoned for the crime of having expressed their opinions while at the same time a notoriously shamed paedophile, convicted of viewing pornographic images of the most depraved child abuse can escape a custodial sentence, it feels like a re-visiting of George Orwell's 1984 is long overdue. 

Orwell's Oceania is a totalitarian state presided over by Big Brother. A society where the militia brutalise the citizens into surrendering their capacity to think. As the regime edits the languge of its day into the continually updated 'Newspeak', the modern-day resonances with the West are troubling. Orwell's classic has long been a harsh prediction on where our democracies are heading and in Lindsay Posner's production, staged against Justin Nardella's bleak but effective video projections, there are moments of deeply harrowing horror. 

Mark Quartley plays protagonist Winston Smith, a role that is physically demanding and consuming. On stage virtually throughout, it is his arc that we follow as his secrets are betrayed and he is violently subject to electric-shock torture, its objective to destroy any sense of right and wrong that we see him desperately try to cling on to.

Opposite Quartley is Eleanor Wyld playing his love interest Julia. The pair hold our suspense throughout and as we learn of their ultimate mutual betrayal of each other, the evening's endgame is a heartbreaker.

Astride the whole work and seated on stage throughout, in what should have been a stroke of perfect casting, is Keith Allen's O'Brien. Not at his best on press night, there is more that Allen can likely bring to the role. O'Brien is a man devoid of any shred of humanity and compassion and while that harshness was at times apparent in Allen's work, there were moments when his carapace appeared to be more of a soft underbelly.

This production can only improve on the road - an intelligent treatment of one of the 20th century's finest stories.

Runs until 28th September, then on tour to Malvern, Poole, Guildford, Cambridge, Brighton, Richmond and Liverpool

Photo credit: Simon Annand

Waiting For Godot - Review

Theatre Royal Haymarket, London

****

Written by Samuel Beckett

Directed by James Macdonald

Ben Whishaw, Lucian Msamati, Tom Edden, Jonathan Slinger

With a luxurious cast, Samuel Beckett’s opus drama returns to London’s West End.

Lucian Msamati and Ben Whishaw are Estragon and Vladimir, the hapless duo prescribed to await Godot’s arrival on Rae Smith’s set that is as bleak as the narrative. A barren setting, save for a tree, captures the pair’s desolation in a story that is hard to define. 

Beckett’s tragicomedy plays with aspects of loneliness, co-dependency, base humanity, cruelty and abuse - there is also a theme of faith and divinity that underpins the whole piece. Premiering some 71 years ago, in Vladimir and Estragon we can see some of the comedic duos that were to follow in the 1960s and 70s. Think of Albert and Harold Steptoe, Rigsby and his tenants in Rising Damp, Basil and Sybil Fawlty to name but three examples - all relationships doomed to an eternity of complex mediocrity from which no protagonist can ever escape. But unlike a 30minute sitcom episode, Waiting  For Godot is a challenging 2 1/2 hours (including interval) that at times makes huge demands on its audience to keep up with its dry genius.

Msamati and Whishaw are superb in their interpretations. They are brilliantly assisted by Jonathan Slinger as the cruel yet ultimately vulnerable Pozzo and Tom Edden as his unfortunately named slave, Lucky. Edden’s first-act monologue is a masterclass in spoken and physical drama. On the evening of this review Luca Fone played the (Christ-like?) boy, perpetually sent to herald the next-day’s arrival of Godot.

A rare treat to find this work on a major London stage and for those with an appetite for Absurdist Theatre, the show is unmissable.

Runs until 14th December

Photo credit: Marc Brenner