Thunderbirds - Review

Trapped In The Sky

Terror In New York City

****

Written by Gerry & Sylvia Anderson and Alan Fennell

Directed by Alan Pattillo, David Elliott and David Lane

Some 60 years after Thunderbirds was first broadcast, and now immaculately restored, two 50-minute episodes are being screened in cinemas across the UK. For the cognoscenti out there, the episodes being shown are Trapped In The Sky and Terror in New York City.

Created back in the day when computers were the preserve of only the very largest corporations and CGI wasn’t even a twinkle in a director’s eye, these British sci-fi epic episodes were filmed in glorious Supermarionation and Videcolor, with full practical effects deployed.

The puppet characters and their unseen voicing artistes were to become national treasures, inspiring the nations young (and in some cases, not-so-young) with their tales of derring-do as International Rescue, from its tropical hideaway island, launched its vehicles to save the world, week after week, from dastardly infernal treachery.

The brains behind the series were the supertalented Gerry and Sylvia Anderson, who assembled some of the country's finest photographers and special effects creatives to film each thrilling tale. Their voiceover artistes were unforgettable too.

The Andersons were shrewd enough to know that if their series was to reach the American market, the Tracy family – who founded, funded and operated International Rescue – needed to be Yanks. Fair enough, but as a British production the series also boasted a glamorous London Agent in the form of the stunning (for a puppet that is) blonde and glamorous Lady Penelope. Lady P’s pink Rolls Royce, registration FAB 1 of course was driven by Parker, her faithful retainer, and where Her Ladyship bore the trappings of aristocracy, Parker was depicted as wonderfully working-class, with an impeccable sense of loyalty. Sylvia Anderson herself voiced Lady Penelope, with the inimitable David Graham voicing Parker. Both were geniuses of vocal expression. Overhead, in the various Thunderbird spacecraft of the Thunderbird fleet, the American (but UK resident) Shane Rimmer was to notably voice Scott Tracy, as well as other members of the Tracy clan.

The cultural markings of the show are iconic. The stories, spectacularly and painstakingly filmed, were all heavy on cliff-hanging melodrama. References to class, and to smoking, that may have a more modern Woke audience clutching their pearls in dismay, abound! 

Who would have thought that not only would Gerry and Sylvia Anderson have shown the world the future of space travel with their range of rocket-powered craft, but that 60 years on, their cinematic brilliance would also offer that same world a 50-minute trip back in time?

FAB!

Screening in cinemas from 20th September

The Code - Review

Southwark Playhouse, London

*****

Written by Michael McKeever

Directed by Christopher Renshaw

Tracie Bennett

Michael McKeever’s The Code opens at the Southwark Playhouse in an evening of stunning drama. In a tight 90-minute one act piece set in the 1950s, the titular code is the puritanical Production Code drawn up by the major film studios and which sought to drive out homosexuality from the movie industry. Lob in a backdrop of McCarthyism and McKeever paints a grim and toxic picture of Hollywood.

The drama’s two protagonists are the actor Billy Haines (played by John Partridge) and the agent Henry Wilson (Nick Blakeley). Haines had famously fallen from the very heights of stardom for his refusal to accept the Code and walk away his long term gay relationship. Willson however defined the very depths of Hollywood’s hypocritical toxicity - hiding his homosexuality and publicly complying with the Code. In an ingeniously and cruelly scripted arc, we see Willson preying on Chad (Solomon Davy), a handsome young wannabe male actor who is deviously and heartbreakingly manipulated by the agent.

McKeever’s masterstroke in this fictional piece is to create a triumvirate of leading voices, drawing Hollywood star Tallulah Bankhead (Tracie Bennett) into the narrative. At times Haines’s sparring partner, other times a Greek chorus, Bankhead’s presence makes the narrative crackle with a riveting intensity. The dialogue throughout is piercingly sharp, with Bennett on her finest form delivering acid drops of perceptive irony that add frequent moments of perfectly formed comedy, and at times where one least expects to laugh. Partridge too brings a compelling authenticity to the nobly principled Haines, while Blakeley’s despicable Willson is chillingly convincing.

Christopher Renshaw’s direction is meticulous – with each of the quartet precisely drilled in the timing and nuance of their performances. Ethan Cheek’s designs for both stage and costume are exquisite. Bennett’s gown is wondrous, while the men’s black patent shoes that complement their tuxedos are to die for!

The Code is as much a history lesson as an evening’s entertainment. Boldly and brilliantly staged, this production deserves a West End transfer.

Runs until 11th October

Photo credit: Danny Kaan

The Producers - Review

Garrick Theatre, London

****

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

Directed by Patrick Marber

Andy Nyman

The two stars of this Menier Chocolate Factory revival of The Producers are Andy Nyman’s stunning take on Max Bialystock and Mel Brooks’s timeless script and libretto which, no matter how many times one may have seen the show or the movie(s), delivers gags that never grow old.

Bestriding the stage like a (diminutive) Colossus, Nyman looks the part. Capturing the impresario’s scheming slobbery, Nyman's is possibly the finest Bialystock to have played on a London stage. He nails the sharp self-deprecating irony to a tee, and what’s more he can hold a note too. Nyman’s flawless singing leads to a glorious delivery of his 11 o’clock number, Betrayed.

As Leo Bloom, the haplessly inadequate accountant sent to balance the producer’s books, Marc Antolin brings musical theatre expertise to the role but lacks an authenticity. With a performance that’s technically sound (the boy can surely sing and dance), there’s something missing in the chemistry of his improbable pairing with the monstrous Bialystock.

The show’s featured roles are all a blast of sheer theatrical hilarity. Joanna Woodward’s Ulla is every inch the blonde Swedish bombshell, Trevor Ashley’s Roger Debris is a work of camp genius, while Harry Morrison’s Nazi playwright Franz Liebling is gloriously overplayed to perfection.

Lorin Latarro’s choreography is another treat, with an array of styles from pastiche Jewish traditional through to Broadway-infused tap numbers. The economy of the show’s staging however, that may have worked cutely well and garnered the audience's sympathy in the extremely confined Menier space, seems a little understated on its transfer into the West End.

An interesting observation on the show is that both Andy Nyman and Zero Mostel (who created Max Bialystock in the first (1967) movie) have trodden similar paths en route to playing Brooks's outlandish producer. Mostel had created Tevye on Broadway in the 1964 premiere of Fiddler on the Roof, a role that Nyman was to assume (again at the Menier) nearly 60 years later. Who knows? Perhaps there is an understanding of the very essence of larger than life Jewish characterisation that an acting journey from the shtetl to the Great White Way provides? Either way, it works!

This revival of The Producers, the West End’s first in 20 years, makes for a great evening of irreverent musical comedy. Brooks’s gags are relentless, perfectly pitched, and guaranteed to offend (almost) everyone.

Booking until 21st February 2026

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

The Unfair Advantage - Review

SohoPlace, London

****

Harry Milas

In an intriguing hour-long show and to a crowd of only 35, Harry Milas demonstrates his extraordinary abilities in both magic and, to be frank, cheating at cards.

The audience have all signed NDAs before the show begins – but once it gets going Milas offers a jaw-dropping display of false deals, riffle shuffles, and a card-counting stunt that sees him perfectly memorise the order of a fully shuffled deck of cards. It comes as no surprise to learn that Milas has been hired by casinos to advise them on the security of their gaming tables.

The NDA prevents any spoilers being gven here – except for the one proviso. Milas makes it clear he has no special powers or abilities. Rather, he has dedicated himself for years in honing and sharpening his abilities. His card genius lies in an ingenious combination of sleight of hand, dexterity and most of all, his coolly deployed brain power.

Stunning entertainment!

Runs until 11th October

Carousel - Review

Birmingham City Academy, Birmingham

*****

Music by Richard Rodgers 
Book and lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II
Based on Ferenc Molnar's play Liliom as adapted by Benjamin F Glazer
Directed by Alexandra Spencer-Jones

NYMT's Carousel

In the most inspired and gorgeous of site-specific settings, the National Youth Music Theatre’s (NYMT) production of Carousel is presented on, and around, an actual fairground carousel! With the audience seated in three tented enclosures around a thrust stage, this traditional, historic, steam-powered fairground attraction creates a stunning backdrop to the Rodgers & Hammerstein classic musical.

For all sorts of reasons Carousel is a mountain of a musical to be scaled, with its dark and complex themes presenting a challenge to any theatrical company, let alone a cast where the performers’ ages range from 10 through to their early 20s . Along with a handful of some of the most exquisite songs in the canon and some gorgeous love stories, the show also offers troubling takes on suicide, loss and, when presented to a 21st century audience, an uncomfortable perspective on domestic violence.

Josephine Shaw and Amie Shipley get the vocal work off to a fine start as Julie Jordan and Carrie Pipperidge respectively. Shipley is gifted most of the show’s (rare) comedic moments that she masters with assured timing and a delightful delivery. Shaw’s delivery of Julie Jordan however is heartbreaking in its excellence. Her soprano voice is as strong as it is fine, and as the narrative evolves she brings an astounding maturity and heartbreaking pathos to her performance that belies her age. Shaw's delivery of What’s The Use of Wond’rin? was a tear-filled joy to listen to. Billy Bigelow is played by Maximus Mawle who alongside his strong baritone voice, also captures his ultimately honest love for Julie. As Mawle’s Bigelow looks down from heaven on the pain of his daughter Louise’s life, his acting is top-notch. Daniel Langford completes the quartet of leading lovers with an assured performance of herring tycoon, Enoch Snow.

There are other notables in this fine young company. Sean Cosgrove’s Jigger Craigin is an absolute delight, with Cosgrove nailing his character’s despicableness with wit, confidence, braggadocio and a superb singing voice. Athena Florence Mensah as Nettie Fowler gets her vocal chops around You’ll Never Walk Alone with equal splendour. 

The Ballet sequence is always a focal point of Carousel and in this iteration Marianna Micallef as Louis smashes the role sensationally. Her dance routine that lasts a jaw-dropping 15 minutes is stunning as, with minimal dialogue, she tells of Louise’s troubled life through exquisitely choreographed movement. And on the subject of dance, a massive nod to choreographer Adam Haigh. Not just in Ballet, but his company routine in Blow High, Blow Low was bold, ambitious and breathtakingly successful.

Alexandra Spencer-Jones has directed the show with perception throughout, a particularly neat touch being the deployment of a cohort of the company’s younger members as the show’s heavenly troupe.

NYMT’s orchestras always impress, but under Flynn Sturgeon’s baton, Carousel’s 30-strong ensemble make marvellous work of the score. With a heavy strings presence, the music is a lush delight and from the opening bars of the Carousel Waltz there is not a note out of place. It is a rare treat these days to enjoy such a lavishly orchestrated musical.

And finally, a mention to the carousel itself, a gloriously integral component of Libby Todd’s design work for the show. The carousel’s revolve is used sparingly throughout the piece, such that when it does start to turn, the impact is phenomenal. As a gentle revolve is started half way through Micallef’s Ballet, the effect is stunning, and when it slowly turns in the show’s finale to transport the celestial characters back to heaven, just wow!

Only on until tonight, Carousel maintains NYMT’s long established standard of first-class musical theatre!

Runs until 30th August 

Guys & Dolls - Review

Frinton Summer Theatre, Frinton-on-Sea

*****

Music and lyrics by Frank Loesser

Book by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows

Based on a story & characters of Damon Runyon

Directed by Janie Dee

Fabian Soto Pacheco and Lenny Turner

In perhaps the country’s most charming setting, a seaside big top perched on the cliffs of Frinton-on-Sea, Janie Dee has helmed perhaps the most equally charming production of Guys & Dolls to have been seen in quite a while.

This Frinton Summer Theatre musical will only run for two weeks and so of necessity is modestly budgeted. Dee however, and in her first rodeo as director of a fully-staged show too, has carefully crafted the Broadway classic to focus on the individuals rather than the spectacular. Many of the cast are sensibly doubled up in different roles and Dee shifts the opening number Runyonland, which would typically depict New York’s hustle and bustle, to a calmer but imaginative balletic prologue delivered by three local child performers.

Dee’s cast are magnificent, with her four leads’ passion infusing the show with energy and expertise. Lenny Turner and Isabella Gervais play Sky Masterson and Sarah Brown, delivering a chemistry, yea chemistry, between them that is simply sensational. Both vocally stunning with Gervais’ soprano proving exquisite in its fidelity. Gervais also delivers some imaginative and impressive work on an aerial hoop in the Havana scenes. Turner’s Sky is the best to have been seen in years. Not just in his mellifluous tone, but also in his capturing the very essence of Masterson’s cool.

Fabian Soto Pacheco nails Nathan Detroit’s wry New York shtick to a tee. In a thoughtful tweak to the original, and recognising that Frank Loesser’s libretto virtually excludes Nathan Detroit from any singing responsibilities, Dee has changed a couple of lyrics to include him in the title number. Josephina Ortiz Lewis grows into becoming Miss Adelaide - a role that is one of the most complex in musical comedy - with her humour and irony landing perfectly as the show builds to its fairytale ending.

Other notables in the company are Jack McCann’s Nicely Nicely Johnson who dutifully delivers an encore-worthy Sit Down You’re Rocking The Boat, Clive Brill’s genial Arvide Abernathy and Alfie Wickham who neatly delivers the modest roles of Joey Biltmore (in particular) and Scranton Slim with panache.

Tracy Collier not only plays General Cartwright but is also Dee’s choreographer and there is both ambition and flair in her take on the two big dance scenes, firstly in the Cuban nightclub and then in the Crapshooters’ Ballet.

Neil Somerville directs his six piece band delightfully, with a nice touch to the evening’s musicality being provided by Pippa D. Collins’s massed choirs adding vocal heft to the occasion. Sorcha Corchoran’s stage designs use the tented setting perfectly.

A newcomer to directing she may be, but as one of the UK's finest leading ladies Janie Dee is steeped in musical theatre genius. In her programme notes Dee pays a neat tribute to Sir Richard Eyre’s groundbreaking and award-winning production of Guys & Dolls in 1982 at the National Theatre. She is right to do so. Hers is the first Guys & Dolls since then that comes close to replicating Eyre’s masterpiece in unlocking the pathos, humanity and hilarity of Damon Runyon’s stories. 

Find your way to Frinton. It’s a probable twelve to seven that you’ll have a fantastic night at the theatre!

Runs until 6th September

Photo credit: Christian Davies

Brigadoon - Review

Open Air Theatre, London

****

Music by Frederick Loewe

Book & Lyrics by Alan Jay Lerner

In a new adaptation by Rona Munro

Directed & choreographed by Drew McOnie

Chrissy Brooke as villager Maggie Anderson

Written in the 1940s, Lerner & Loewe’s Brigadoon is a love letter to Scotland. In Rona Munro’s new adaptation, Tommy (Louis Gaunt) and Jeff (Cavan Clarke) are the crew of a US Air Force bomber that has crashed into the Scottish hills on its return from a bombing run over Germany in the Second World War.

It’s a tale of enchantment, conceived and written by Alan Jay Lerner, that sees the American airmen stumble across the magical village of Brigadoon that only appears through the Highland mists once very 100 years. Munro has sought to give the narrative an edgy contemporary message, but thankfully her tweakings pale into insignificance when set against a show whose core imagery is as much of a Scottish cliché as a tin of Walker’s Shortbread or a dram of a fine Scotch whisky. Back in the day, the Broadway audiences must have found it charming!

But you know what? For all of Munro's meddling, this is still a delightfully whimsical fairytale. There’s a love story that emerges (no spoilers here) along with a gorgeous treatment of some of Lerner & Loewe’s lesser known smash hits. The Heather on the Hill and Almost Like Being In Love are perhaps the show’s most famous numbers - both handled fabulously at Regents Park by Gaunt and Georgina Onuorah as the Brigadoonian Fiona. It is Nic Myers as Meg however who steals the show with her sensational take on The Love of My Life in the first act and My Mother’s Wedding Day after the interval.

Some of the cast’s Scottish accents need some work, but credit to the producers for casting a fair few authentic Scots in the show, not least the always wonderful Norman Bowman who plays Brigadoon’s patriarchal figure Archie Beaton.

Drew McOnie directs and choreographs with an array of swirling Scottish routines that are a delight. Basia Bińkowska has fashioned an intriguing stage design that cleverly suggests Scotland’s hills and streams.

There's an impressive kickstart to the evening as with an impressive backing of drums, pipers David Colvin and Robin Mackenzie skirl through the audience, setting the scene and the tone for a magical night of theatre.

Runs until 20th September

Photo credit: Mark Senior

Good Night, Oscar - Review

Barbican Theatre, London

*****

Written by Doug Wright

Directed by Lisa Peterson

Sean Hayes

Sean Hayes of Will & Grace fame is Oscar Levant in Doug Wright’s scorching new play, Good Night, Oscar. Usually, one might raise an eyebrow at ‘yet another’ American star flown in to tread the boards in London. Hayes however breaks the mould and at the Barbican Theatre, delivers a platinum-plated performance.

A gifted pianist and friend and contemporary of George Gershwin, Levant was to be acclaimed for his interpretation of the composer’s works. Not only that, but he was also endowed with the sharpest of wits becoming a master of brilliantly sharp and often cruel one-liners. He was also a deeply damaged depressive, with Doug Wright’s play boldly focusing on one fictional evening in 1958 when, while on a four-hour pass from the psychiatric wing of LA’s Mount Sinai Hospital, Levant was to make a guest appearance on NBC's Tonight show hosted by Jack Paar. It is a stroke of bold genius that’s up there with Tim Rice & Andrew Lloyd-Webber writing a musical about the relatively unknown (in the UK at least) Eva Peron, that sees Wright having fashioned a blazing work of art in his script about the equally unknown Oscar Levant.

Wright’s writing is inspired - but it is Sean Hayes who lifts Good Night, Oscar into the pantheon of great modern plays. Hayes won the Tony in 2023 for his creation of the role on Broadway and his acting is sublime. As Levant battles his demons and propped up by countless medications, Hayes’s performance is unlikely to be matched on a London stage this year, capturing his character's rapier-like wit and musical gift, alongside the heartbreaking portrayal of his mental decline.

To only add to Hayes's excellence is his virtuoso piano-playing that sees him perform scinitllating extracts of Gershwin's Rhapsody In Blue, live on stage. This is a level of craftsmanship rarely witnessed ever, if at all, and to be present in the auditorium as Hayes plays Oscar Levant, is quite simply one of the greatest privileges an audience member is ever likely to experience. 

The supporting roles may be eclipsed by Levant, but the acting craft on display throughout the company is equally classy. Another American import, Ben Rappaport plays Paar in a role that he too originated on Broadway a couple of years ago. Rosalie Craig similarly shines as Levant’s wife June, capturing pathos and resilience in her flawless delivery. Every character on stage is a perfectly fashioned gem with notable work from Richard Katz as studio head Bob Sarnoff and David Burnett as the embodiment of George Gershwin.

Lisa Peterson’s direction is a masterclass of textual understanding, matched only by Rachel Hauck’s stunning set designs that seamlessly segue from NBC’s offices, to Levant’s dressing room and ultimately the Tonight show’s TV studio, complete with grand piano.

World class drama that is likely to be the best play performed in London this year, Good Night, Oscar is unmissable.

Runs until 21st September

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Grease The Immersive Movie Musical - Review

Evolution, London

****

Based on Grease by Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey

Directed by Matt Costain

Grease - The Immersive Movie Musical Finale

Battersea Park’s Evolution venue is transformed into Rydell High School for a glorious evening of summer loving in Grease - The Immersive Movie Musical.

Secret Cinema’s 2025 London production is a grand translation of the movie into a multi-media experience. The pre-show experience is a funfair in Evolution’s grounds themed on the movie's finale, before the doors open to reveal a vast space that has been stunningly designed by Tom Rogers capturing key scenes from the film in a meticulously created tribute. This is one of those shows where you can see where the producers’ cash has been spent - the staging is as lavish as it is fun and it truly is worth every penny spent on a ticket!

Matt Costain directs the show that sees the evening segue between the original movie and live musical theatre performance. The event also offers up the opportunity to reflect on what a brilliant piece of big-screen cinema Randal Kleiser’s 1978 movie really was. It wasn’t just the (30yo!) gorgeous Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta (24) singing and dancing spectacularly. The film was a brilliantly crafted, written, photographed and performed satirical commentary on the 1950s through a 1970s lens. And all delivered with perfectly corny pastiche and not a hint of CGI in sight!

In Battersea Park, the wit and humour that has gone into translating the film's scenes into simultaneously performed tableaux is inspired. All the moments are gems, but when cars are involved (think Greased Lighting , Sandy (sung at the Drive-In) and the big race at Thunder River) the effects are as ingenious as they are hilarious. There is room for audience participation too, in some of the bigger staged numbers, that only adds to the show's joy.

Liam Morris is stranded at the Drive-In

Costain’s cast are a blast. Liam Morris and Stephanie Costi are perfectly cast as Danny and Sandy, both capturing the style of their on-screen characters to a tee. A nod too to Leah Dane’s Cha Cha whose dance work in Born To Hand Jive is sensational.

The creatives alongside Costain are equally talented, with Jennifer Weber’s choreography, Susan Kulkarni and Martina Trottmann’s costumes and Howard Hudson’s as always outstanding lighting designs all adding to the evening’s magic.

With food and drink available throughout the evening the whole gig becomes more of a party than a show and with at least half of the audience having made the effort to dress up as Pink Ladies or T-Birds, what's not to love?

Grease - The Immersive Movie Musical is playing until September so head to London's very own Rydell High for.... Oh,  those summer nights!

Runs until 7th September

Photo Credits: DannyWithACamera and Matt Crockett

2.36 - Review

Etcetera Theatre, London

****

Written by Anoushka Cowan and Elijah Lifton

Directed by Guy Rapacioli and Jessie Millson

Anoushka Cowan and Elijah Lifton

In a tightly written 45 minute piece playing as part of the Camden Fringe, 2.36 marks the debut of actor/writers Anoushka Cowan and Elijah Lifton. 

2.36 is the average size of a family household in the UK, with Cowan and Lifton respectively playing Keira and Josh Carrington, two siblings midway through their undergraduate lives. Having been brought up in a family of immense wealth and privilege, this one-act drama follows the pair on a trip to Luxembourg as they seek to discover more about their history and heritage.

The ailing health of their grandfather triggers a series of revelations and as the story plays out, a number of carefully constructed themes and surprises emerge. There’s sibling rivalry (natch), but there are also some well crafted observations on loneliness within a loving family, and the complexities of an unconventional family structure.

Cowan and Lifton have created a compelling play that brings a mature context to some fascinating issues that belie their relatively youthful ages. Only on for three days at the Etcetera Theatre, it merits a much longer run.

Runs until 3rd August

Inter Alia - Review

National Theatre, London

****

Written by Suzie Miller

Directed by Justin Martin

Rosamund Pike

Inter Alia is another theatrical gem from Suzie Miller, who in 2019 premiered Prima Facie. Staying within the jurisprudent ambit of the English legal system, Inter Alia sees Miller focus on Crown Court judge Jessica Parks and the challenges she faces in her domestic life when teenage son Harry is accused of a sex crime. 

Miller offers a meticulously detailed analysis of Park’s privileged life on and off the bench, where with her KC husband Michael, middle-class luxuries are plentiful until the idyll is painfully pierced. The script offers up a troubling glimpse of the manosphere, alongside Parks’s descent into her own personal hell as she finds herself facing profoundly personal conflicts. 

Coincidentally (one imagines), there are hints of the recent TV drama Adolescence in Miller’s narrative and if there is a flaw in the play that otherwise offers up a powerfully sympathetic critique of 21st century feminism, it is that much like Adolescence, the completely white casting of these stories’ lead families fails to reflect some of the more complex diversities of today’s world. And the end of Miller’s story, while being acutely painful, lacks a credibility.

The evening’s stagecraft however is world class. Rosamund Pike is Parks, onstage throughout the play’s 1 hr 40min one-act entirety, in a performance that is a breathtaking tour de force. As her character faces agonising realisations, Pike’s mastery of the dialogue is sensational, picking up the slightest nuances and inflections in Miller’s acutely perceptive script.

Jamie Glover steps up as her husband, also delivering a stunning take on middle-aged husbandry and fatherhood, with Jasper Talbot completing the play’s adult trio as the hapless Harry, again with an assured turn.

The production also showcases the flawless technical competencies of the National Theatre. Ben and Max Ringham’s sound design is exquisite, equally Natasha Chivers’s lighting work. Miriam Buether’s set is a wonder. In essence a staging of simple domesticity that momentarily can transform into a courtroom - however the brilliance of Buether’s achievement in the play’s final act has to be seen to be believed.

Runs until 13th September

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Top Hat - Review

Festival Theatre, Chichester

****

Music & lyrics by Irving Berlin

Book by Matthew White & Howard Jacques

Directed & choreographed by Kathleen Marshall

Lucy St Louis and Phillip Attmore

Broadway’s gifted director and choregrapher Kathleen Marshall returns to the UK to helm a gorgeous production of Irving Berlin’s Top Hat.

Berlin’s wondrous songs and the original RKO movie may hail from the 1930s, but the stage show is very much a 21st century confection that takes the film’s ridiculous plot, a narrative so corny that it is the very definition of” musical comedy”, using it as a framework on which to showcase nearly 20 of the American Songbook’s most sparkling gems.

The musical’s story sees two young Americans fall hopelessly in love, albeit their path to happiness is blocked by a delightfully entertaining spin around mistaken identities. Phillip Attmore as Jerry Travers and Lucy St Louis as Dale Tremont lead the show  and while both  deliver perfection in their song and dance, it is left to the show’s gifted supporting characters to truly flesh out the evening’s comedy drama. Alex Gibson-Giorgio plays a preening Italian fashion designer with more than an amorous eye for Miss Tremont, while James Clyde turns in a grand performance as Bates, a manservant who pops up throughout the tale in a range of disguises.

Delivering the evening’s most exquisitely defined masterclasses in stagecraft however are the performing legends Sally Ann Triplett and Clive Carter who play Madge and Horace Hardwick respectively. These two actors are just a crowd-whooping delight whose take on Outside Of That I Love You displays their experience and skill in knowing “just how” to deliver that killer lyric or gag punchline to perfection. To be truthful, the show’s jokes are as old as the hills – but in the hands of Triplett and Carter who cares? Their work puts the humour back into humanity and makes the evening soar! Stephen Ridley directs his 12 piece band masterfully, making fine work of the classic and much-loved melodies.

Top Hat does what it says on the tin. An evening of fabulous Broadway fun that will light up the country on its nationwide tour well into 2026.

Runs until 7th September, then touring

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Sing Street - Review

Lyric Hammersmith, London

***

Music & lyrics by Gary Clark & John Carney

Book by Enda Walsh

Based on the motion picture written and directed by John Carney

Directed by Rebecca Taichman

Grace Collender and Sheridan Townsley

Together with Gary Clark, John Carney has taken his 2016 movie about the power of music, love and dreams to conquer the poverty of 1980’s Dublin, translated it into a musical.

It’s a tall order for any story to be so transformed and (for the show’s first half at least) the photographed beauty that underscored the movie fails to be replicated on Hammersmith’s Lyric stage. Enda Walsh has been drafted in to write the musical’s book, but for all Walsh’s innate understanding of Irish culture, his storyline lurches clumsily through too much expositional cliche.

The evening’s strengths however rest on the extraordinary talents of its young cast of gifted actor-musicians, many of which are making either their London or professional debut in the show.

Sheridan Townsley and Grace Collender (respectively Conor and Raphina) lead the narrative as the young lovers destined to be together. Both have a vocal strength  and charisma that suspends disbelief and drive the story through its cliched backdrop. There is great work too from accomplished singer Adam Hunter as Conor’s older brother Brendan.

It is Carney and Clark’s songs however that power the show, restoring this jaded reviewer’s faith in new writing. Where so much new musical writing can fail to land, in Sing Street, and in the second half in particular, as Walsh’s book fades into insignificance, the songs and more importantly, the passion and power with which they are delivered, make the evening soar.

This show's actors and songs are fab. With a sharper storyline and the 2hr 40 running time trimmed by half an hour, this could yet be a fantastic show.

Runs until 23rd August

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

The Addams Family - Review

Curve, Leicester

*****

Music and lyrics by Andrew Lippa

Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice

Based on characters created by Charles Addams

Directed by Matthew White

Ricardo Afonso and Alexandra Burke

The Addams Family hail from back in the day when The New Yorker magazine offered some of the sharpest cynicism in the world and with few contributors sharper than cartoonist Charles Addams, as the gifted artist created a deliciously dysfunctional Gothic clan who resided in a haunted mansion beneath Central Park. The Addams Family’s values were as inverted as they were recognisable and their distinctive Manhattan chic was to spawn television series and a movie and lead to this beloved menagerie of deeply damaged individuals becoming one of 20th century America's cultural icons.

Translating such utterly ghoulish satire into musical comedy requires brilliant writing that demands to be matched by equally outstanding performances. Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice who penned the show’s book have an excellent pedigree behind them. Paired with songsmith Andrew Lippa, the show is based on fabulous foundations and in this iteration of The Addams Family that has just opened at Leicester’s Curve, the cast unite to deliver an evening of arguably the finest musical theatre this year.

The Addams Family musical has been around for a few years now – last reviewed by this site in 2017 -  however this production takes its excellence to the next level. Alexandra Burke and Ricardo Afonso head the family as Morticia and Gomez. Burke bringing the seductive contemptousness that her most fatale of femmes demands, while Afonso adds Latin authenticity to Gomez’s delightful despicability. The couple’s breathtaking flamenco-enhanced Tango De Amor that brings the show towards its conclusion is just joyous and the hallmark of Alistair David’s classy choreography

This production’s strengths however are bolstered not just by such strong leads, but by epic casting throughout. The legendary Clive Rowe plays the genderless Fester, enchantingly in love with the Moon. Rowe is a giant of his generation and his big number, But Love, is as tender as it is hilarious. Lesley Joseph steps up to the plate as the 102yo Grandma of the family. There are few performers who can nail the bittersweet comic delivery required of a wry centenarian, with Joseph delivering in spades. Dickon Gough’s Lurch is a demonstration of understated physical comedy at its finest, while Lauren Jones as Wednesday is all that this infernally rebellious teenager should be.

The musical’s plot revolves around a deliciously improbable romance between Wednesday and Lucas Beineke (Jacob Fowler) but it is the gem of a performance that Kara Lane delivers as Lucas’s mother Alice singing Waiting towards the end of the first half, that almost takes the roof off the Curve. Credit too to Dale Rapley as Alice’s husband Mal – a tough role with few, but nonetheless very dry, sweet spots of humour. Rapley nails them all. And a nod to Nicholas McLean who makes fine work of Wednesday’s younger brother Pugsley.

The Addams Family is more than just musical comedy. It is the finest, most acutely observed satire, that is delivered exquisitely. This tour needs to lead all the way back to the West End. Musicals do not get better than this!

Runs until 10th August, then on tour

Photo credit Pamela Raith

The White Chip - Review

Southwark Playhouse, London

****

Written by Sean Daniels

Directed by Matt Ryan

Ed Coleman and Ashlee Irish

The White Chip (a reference to the Alcoholics Anonymous programme) is a meticulous exploration of one man’s journey through alcohol addiction. Following acclaimed USA productions, Sean Daniels’s play now makes its London debut under the sharp eye of director Matt Ryan and producer Danielle Tarento.

In a Herculean performance of physical and mental prowess, Ed Coleman is Steve, Daniels’s loosely autobiographical protagonist. Lee Newby’s simple yet effective designs create a space in which we follow Steve from his first beer (aged twelve) through his stumbling into the grasp of addiction and the ensuing college and workplace trauma and on into rehab admittances and despair.

Daniels’s script is relentless in its tracking of Steve’s tragic arc, with the extent to which we witness the denials and deceptions, to family, friends and co-workers proving harrowing and profoundly well written theatre.

Alongside Coleman, Mara Allen and Ashlee Irish deliver all the necessary supporting roles to flesh out the narrative, both giving performances that reflect the energy of the show’s leading man. Amidst an array of Tarento’s typically excellent production values, with the evening’s dialogue being so rapid-fire and intense, there are some disappointing moments when the usually excellent Max Pappenheim’s sound design wanders in its accuracy.

But for all this play's brilliance in its writing and its powerhouse performances and notwithstanding the story's uplifting endgame, at 100 minutes with no interval it all makes for an evening of tough drama that at times prove too exhausting to effectively digest. The breakneck sequencing of scenes and tableaux, all key points in the narrative that are lined up to demand our attention can feel overwhelming. 

The White Chip is an important play that demands to be seen. Tough gig though.

Runs until 16th August

Photo credit:Danny Kaan

Till The Stars Come Down - Review

 Theatre Royal Haymarket, London

*****

Written by Beth Steel

Directed by Bijan Sheibani

Dorothy Atkinson

The West End transfer of the National Theatre's Till The Stars Come Down sees this stunning new play evolve into a production that is as stellar as its title.

Powerfully perceptive and set in a northern mining village where the pit has long since closed, Beth Steel’s writing focuses on three sisters on the day of the youngest sibling’s wedding. Rarely does a narrative soar from brilliantly observed (and perfectly timed) hilarity one minute, to harrowing family despair the next as passions, secrets and lies merge to fuel a narrative that culminates in perhaps the most exquisitely performed heartbreak to be found in London today.

This is a story about love, desire, resentment, ageing, grief and bigotry with Bijan Sheibani’s company of 10 all delivering faultless expertise in their acting. The sororal trio comprises Sinead Matthews (as Sylvia, the bride) and Lucy Black (as Hazel) returning to the production from the National, with Aisling Loftus (Maggie) a newcomer to the transfer. All three are powerhouse performers. Also returning are Philip Whitchurch as the bride’s Uncle Pete and Alan Williams as Tony, the sisters’ widowered father. Williams in particular delivers a turn that is a masterclass in understated excellence.

The evening’s comedy moments are driven by Dorothy Atkinson’s Aunty Carol, a woman who is as monstrous as she is relatable and recognisable. Gifted most of the evening’s snappy one-liners, Atkinson is the definition of tragi-comical brilliance.

The show is a technical treat with Samal Blak’s ingenious revolve being perfectly lit as ever by Paule Constable.

Beth Steel’s writing was good last year on the South Bank. Performed by this company at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, it’s bloody brilliant and the capital's drama highlight of the summer!

Runs until 27th September

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

Evita - Review

London Palladium, London




***



Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber
Lyrics by Tim Rice
Directed by Jamie Lloyd

The cast of Evita

Six years after bringing an outstanding Evita to London’s Open Air Theatre (click here for a review of that 2019 production) and amidst a blaze of well orchestrated publicity, Jamie Lloyd helms his show into the London Palladium. But what was once wondrous in Regents Park, fails to stun in the West End.

In 2019 it was Samantha Pauly, an actor relatively unknown in the UK who played Eva, delivering a performance that shone both in its excellence and its leading of her supporting company. Today however it is Hollywood’s wunderkind Rachel Zegler who heads the bill, a young woman who knows how to play to the camera but who lacks the chops to convincingly act through song on stage.

Familiar with delivering leading roles in starry close-up on the big screen, Zegler has amassed a following of millions. But with only a modest exposure to having performed in (let alone leading) a major show on Broadway or in the West End, it appears that much like Eva Duarte herself, Zegler has been hired for star quality over experience. 

Any production of Evita has to rest on the strengths of its leading lady, who in this production is sometimes found to be missing in action. As has been widely reported, Zegler sings Don’t Cry For Me Argentina, from the Palladium's outside balcony to a bunch of assembled passers-by, while the paying crowd *inside* the theatre are reduced to mere voyeurs, watching her via a big screen livestream. That the translucent screen barely shields the show’s upstage orchestra who remain visible throughout, is a distraction. 

Much has been made of Lloyd’s use of live-action video, notably with his 2023 take on Sunset Boulevard that saw Tom Francis careering around London’s Strand before winding up back on stage at The Savoy. But that of course was different. Francis was not the show’s main star, nor his song the evening’s biggest number.

At the Palladium we find Evita performing one of the most exquisite songs in the canon, from a remote location that is at best, acoustically compromised. Unlike previous on-stage Evitas, remove this Eva’s microphone and she doesnt just become hard to hear, she becomes completely inaudible, Lloyd's staging denying the audience the experience of hearing Zegler's natural tone and timbre as she delivers the classic number. It is not an unreasonable expectation that a live musical (and especially this musical, for which the money keeps rolling in at up to £245 per ticket) should deliver songs that are sung live on stage, all performed to the highest standard that the performers’ voices and the venue’s acoustics will allow. At the Palladium, the audience is being cheated. 

And while the outside throng of several hundred are no doubt appreciating the nightly free rendition of the show’s nine o’clock number, as Lloyd’s camera pulls back to reveal Soho’s mostly empty Argyll Street (including the distracting logo of the next door Pret restaurant that hoves into view), it all seems a little tacky and contrived and, both literally and artistically, many miles away from the narrative's intended romance of Buenos Aires and the Casa Rosada. Good theatre should suspend the audience's disbelief, transporting the audience to another place. When the only place that they are transported to is a grimy London side street, then that fragile bubble of imagination bursts.  

Back inside the theatre, Fabian Aloise’s choreography remains exciting and imaginative, equally Jon Clark’s brutal lighting designs heighten the violence of Peron’s fascism. But the production's sound design is ghastly, with too many songs coming across as though they are being shouted from the stage into an inaudible oblivion.

The Palladium balcony scene has proved a brilliant marketing gimmick, with the show having grabbed news headlines across the country and word of mouth spreading like wildfire. In reality however, the scene’s flaws see it amounting to little more than a modern interpretation of The Emperor’s New Clothes.

Jamie Lloyd’s revived Evita proves that star quality is no substitute for talent.

Runs until 6th September

Photo credit: Marc Brenner

Quadrophenia - A Mod Ballet - Revew

Sadler's Wells, London

*****

Written by Pete Townshend

Choreographed by Paul Roberts

Directed by Rob Ashford

Paris Fitzpatrick

Pete Townshend’s Quadrophenia is a glorious fusion of classical modern music, outstanding dance and world class stagecraft that creates an evening of outstandingly provocative entertainment. Playing at Sadler’s Wells, the classic 1973 album that became a movie in 1979, is now translated into ballet under Rob Ashford’s direction and Paul Robert’s choreography.

To be fair, both men have had their visionary work enhanced by the musical foundations laid down by Rachel Fuller’s orchestration that had taken The Who’s legendary album, stripped out the lyrics and let the music sing its own narrative. As a mark of the evening’s pedigree, the backing soundtrack has been recorded by the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra.

Quadrophenia speaks of  Britain’s culture in the 1960s played through the eyes of Jimmy, a teenage Londoner and his post-adolescent journey through desires, frustrations, music and gang culture. This was the Mods v Rockers era, with Townshend’s narrative picking out with pinpoint precision Jimmy’s mental anguish. And as a part of the meticulously created backdrop to this dance, as the Mods battled the Rockers beneath Brighton Pier, there’s more than a hint of West Side Story’s Jets vs Sharks in the conflict.

On the night of this review Jimmy was danced, spectacularly, by Paris Fitzpatrick. Notable characters (though the entire company are outstanding) that impact Jimmy are The Mod Girl (Taela Yeomans-Brown) and The Ace Face (Dan Baines). Townshend’s story also picks out the impact of the horrors of the Second World War on Jimmy’s father, where Stuart Neal delivers a haunting routine.

The stage set may be beautifully simple, but the projections designed by Yeastculture.org are state of the art. Bending our sense of perception and reality, the multi-dimensional imagery elevates the music and dance to a level rarely seen on a London stage. And don’t forget that this ballet’s costumes are designed by the legendary Paul Smith and yes, there is even a Lambretta on stage too!

Quadrophenia as a ballet takes a glimpse of England's history, portraying it with authenticity and unbelievable imagination, with flawless components from both its cast and creative team. Only on for a short while, it is unmissable!

(And dare I ask - any chance of Pete Townshend and Rachel Fuller transforming Tommy into a ballet???)

Runs until 13th July then on tour

Photo credit: Johan Persson