Woody Sez - Review

 Underbelly Boulevard, London

****

Devised by David M. Lutkin

Directed by Nick Corley

David M. Lutken

Returning to London for a two week residency at Soho’s Underbelly Boulevard, Woody Sez is a slick 80-minute tribute to Woody Guthrie, a man whose songs were to describe much of America’s 20th century history.

Devised and led by David M. Lutken, this Fringe favourite is a cleverly curated compilation of Guthrie’s compositions, beautifully performed. Via song and narration Lutken steers us through the singer’s life, highlighting his milestone successes alongside numerous tragedies. As we learn and listen to Guthrie’s navigation of the Great Depression, largely through the Dust Bowl of America’s Midwest, the history is compelling. Guthrie's lyrics match the writing of John Steinbeck in their harrowingly ingenious simplicity. 

Lutken, a Texan, is supported by a talented trio of North Americans, with Raquel Chavez, Nyssa Grant and David Finch accompanying him on guitar, fiddle, bass, zither… the list is as endless as the troupe’s playing skills are sublime.

The Guthrie classics are well represented in a setlist that includes This Land Is Your Land, Tom Joad and The Sinking of the Reuben James.

Woody Guthrie fans will love it - not least the evening’s singalong vibe. Classy, sassy entertainment.

Runs until 19th September

Photo credit: Jake Oseland

CATS - Review

Open Air Theatre, London

*****

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber 

Based on 'Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats' by T. S. Eliot

Directed and choreographed by Drew McOnie

Gary Wilmot

A star was born at CATS this week. With the show’s leading lady unable to perform, understudy Taziva-Faye Katsande faced the assembled press for the show’s opening night. Katsande didn’t put a foot (paw?) wrong from the getgo, with her Grizabella proving to be nothing short of sensational. As her voice rose to belt the immortal "Touch me!" from Memory, the audience broke into spontaneous applause before the song had even finished, then rising as one to give a spectacularly deserved show-stopping standing ovation at the song’s conclusion.

CATS has always been a beautiful show - but played under the moonlight of the Open Air Theatre allowed Sami Fendall’s simple set design to take on an ethereal beauty. Where John Napier once designed an impressive garbage dump for his cats to play on, Fendall offers us a more astral vision,  lunar-themed with incomplete circles and rocks, around which the felines gather and dance. Drew McOnie’s reimagined choreography proves not only respectful to Gillian Lynne’s brilliant original, but importantly allows the magic of Eliot’s verse and Lloyd Webber’s music to be shared through the medium of his company's exquisite dancework.

A show that hailed from an era of brave and innovative writing - who today would have the cojones or the talent to set a book of vintage poems to music? - this production has been (mostly) immaculately cast. 

Charlotte Riby kicks off the featured roles with an enchanting Gumbie Cat before Jaydon Vijn oozes testosterone as a gloriously provocative Rum Tum Tugger. There is a hint of déjà vu from producers Lloyd Webber Harrison, with the gender swapping of Old Deuteronomy who’s now played by Melanie La Barrie. A similar switch was made in LWH's recent Starlight Express, where Jade Marvin was cast to play Momma, replacing the originally created Poppa. To be clear, La Barrie is great but she lacks gravitas. The role did not need tinkering with.

The show’s first act may well be gorgeous but after the interval McOnie elevates the whole production to a Heaviside Layer of sheer genius. Gary Wilmot makes his entrance as Gus the theatre cat (and of course as Growltiger) bringing a carefully crafted fusion of frailty, pathos and swashbuckling humour to the role. Wilmot is a rare talent and an inspired casting choice. Skimbleshanks the railway cat is kept immaculately on track by Matthew Caputo, while Macavity, the mystery cat, is impressively performed (accompanied by some stunning pyro effects) by Diante Lodge. Jet Yau takes Mr. Mistoffelees to the next level with a jaw-dropping breakdance routine, and a mention too to Elliot Broadfoot whose Bustopher Jones kicks off the evening’s comic moments. In an understated role that denies him a song of his own, Jack Wilcox’s Munkustrap was key to the show’s fluidity, deftly supporting a number of key routines.

Alex Parker wielded the baton over his lavishly furnished 12-piece band, making fine work of Lord Lloyd Webbers synth-heavy score. This show’s choreography may well be strikingly for the moment, but CATS’s score truly is now and forever ! 

CATS at the Open Air Theatre is a personal best for McOnie. This show ranks alongside Trevor Nunn and John Caird's Les Miserables from 1985 and Richard Eyre's Guys And Dolls from some three years ealier for sheer groundbreaking originality. Setting his sights high, McOnie smashes his target, in a production that drips with carefully rehearsed and immaculately drilled vision.

Drew McOnie has taken CATS, one of modern musical theatre’s finest gems and re-worked it into a completely new piece of exceptional theatre. Touring from the autumn, don’t miss it!

Runs until 19th September, then on tour

Photo credit: Mark Senior

I'm Every Woman The Chaka Kahn Musical - Review

Troubadour Theatre, London

**

Written by Nia T. Hill

Directed by Racky Plews

Alexandra Burke

Chaka Kahn (and a number of her contemporaries) amassed a remarkable body of hits in their careers. Beautiful songs with strong messages and in I’m Every Woman at Wembley’s Troubadour Theatre, Alexandra Burke as Kahn smashes a fair few of them out of the park.

But 30 banging songs do not a musical make, and in between Burke’s sensational singing (and equally Sophie Earl’s fabulously fleeting stint as Joni Mitchell) the narrative that links the numbers is brief, shallow and clichéd.

Sandwiched between two glib family therapy sessions, the show delivers a whirl of brief vignettes, poorly linked, outlining Kahn’s career achievements that were peppered by battles with addiction and domestic violence. If only these darknesses had been treated with more artistic sobriety, the messages may have carried more credible impact. Notwithstanding Chaka Kahn’s real-life endorsement of the show, it all just seems at times too crass.

Give Alexandra Burke an unadulterated setlist of Chaka Kahn’s greatest hits supported by Aron Sood's excellent band from Wembley and it could well make for an evening of musical brilliance. As it is, I’m Every Woman needs an awful lot of work.

Runs until 27th September

Photo credit: Danny Kaan

Fame The Musical - Review

Theatre Royal, Plymouth

****

Music by Steve Margoshes

Lyrics by Jacques Levy

Book by Jose Fernandez

Title song 'Fame' written by Dean Pitchford & Michael Gore

Shoko Ito

Some 30 years after its European premiere in Plymouth, Fame The Musical returns to the Theatre Royal, giving “P.A.”, The New York Academy For The Performing Arts a 21st century interpretation, this time helmed and choreographed by Tom Jackson-Greaves.

Soutra Gilmour designs an ingenious set that perches on Plymouth’s revolve, taking us in and out of the dilapidated arts school located in midtown Manhattan, a blend of decades-old pipework, graffiti and suspended lightbulbs that all create an ingeniously effective, grimy backdrop to the narrative.

Jackson-Greaves’s roots hail from an impressive dance history and his take on Fame’s big numbers is impressive. Opening with Pray and then Hard Work, the staging and structure of the routines is breathtaking, with close harmony work that is gorgeous. Shanay Holmes leads the teaching staff as the highly-principled Miss Sherman. Well cast, Holmes is beautifully restrained throughout, not least in act two’s These Are My Children. It’s a neat touch that sees her given the opportunity to lead a belting singalong reprise of the title song as the cast take their bows.

There are standout gems amongst the cast, not least Megan Ellis as Serena who is exquisite in her singing as Let’s Play A Love Scene and Talia Palamathanan as the tragic Carmen Diaz who has to explore the full range of emotions across both acts, ranging from an outstanding Fame in the first half, to the bleakness of In L.A. after the interval. Harrison Wilde’s comic highlight of Can’t Keep It Down is another of the show’s treats. As Iris Kelly, Shoko Ito's dance moves are phenomenal.

Inspired by Alan Parker’s 1980 movie, Fame is a gritty tale of hope and endeavour, spiked by moments of tragedy. It is a tough script that requires a broad depth of performance from its cast, particularly in the dialogue scenes. Away from the moments of song and dance, the show’s pace drops and one feels that Jackson-Greaves lacks that director’s killer instinct, needed to extract the show’s full dramatic potential from his company. 

But it’s the songs that power this show, not least the final full company numbers of an exhilarating I Sing The Body Electric leading into the bittersweet anthem of Bring On Tomorrow, both songs delivering powerful punches with the latter proving gorgeously poignant.

Only on for a short run, Fame The Musical has the potential to travel far beyond Plymouth. Bring on tomorrow for this beautiful show.

Runs until 15th August

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Trainspotting The Musical - Review

Theatre Royal Haymarket, London

****

Music & lyrics by Stephen McGuiness & Irvine Welsh

Directed and developed by Caroline Jay Ranger

The cast of Trainspotting The Musical

Mainlining straight back to the 90s, Trainspotting The Musical achieves that elusive high of transforming abject human misery into an evening of sharply crafted entertainment. Irvine Welsh whose 1993 book inspired the story’s iconic film, has penned the show and together with Stephen McGuinness has written a dozen or so new songs that fabulously fit this modern fable.

Focussing on the lives of five young men from Edinburgh, Welsh’s tale, much of it drawn from and inspired by his own experiences of 18 months as a heroin addict, delivers an evening of devastation as we witness the drug ripping through their lives.

Lewis Kidd plays the focal, narrative, Renton who tells of his world, his family and his friends. Onstage for almost the entire show, Kidd’s Renton breaks our hearts as he navigates the depths of his addiction. 

Alongside Kidd, Sheridan Townsley is the damaged Sick Boy and Kieran Andrew is Spud. Finlay Paul plays Tommy whose own decline leads to perhaps the show’s most harrowing moments. Completing this leading quintet is the brilliant Frankie O’Connor as the psychopathically menacing Begbie, vividly vicious yet also capable of moments of surprising compassion.

In support, Rebecca McKinnis and Gordon Cooper as Renton’s parents Cathy and Davie make fine work of their modest roles, their anguished pain witnessing their son slide into the opioid’s grip proving almost unbearable to watch.

Rosie Dignan’s Alison together with Ashley J. Russell’s Colleen deliver equally strong grief and anxiety-fuelled performances. 

Death’s tentacles sprawl through the evening and it is a remarkable credit to both the cast and the creatives that a story of such physical and emotional horror can at times prove to be as witty as it is tragic.

The music lifts the show - the classic songs from the movie’s soundtrack are retained with Lou Reed’s Perfect Day closing both halves. As the first act finishes on a moment of unbearable pain, the irony of the full company powerfully delivering Reed's classic makes for a bittersweet symphony of feelings.

The show’s original compositions are as brilliantly written as Welsh's original novel, highlights including the sardonically Country-themed The Eckies And The Brown and One Skin Too Few, both of which are deservedly reprised.

Caroline Jay Ranger has directed and developed the show, helming a production that is as much a poignant social commentary, as it is a historical take on how grim life can be for those who are either denied opportunity or who lack the ability and vision to strive for it. Ranger’s work is neatly  nuanced, complemented by Colin Richmond’s simply effective sets and Douglas O’Connell’s video projections, transforming the visuals from a row of impoverished city tenements through to the sensations of heroin coursing through Renton’s veins – with some impressive underwater photography that cleverly suggests the character’s escape into the Siren-like embrace of the narcotics. Stuart Morley's band are a blast throughout.

The staging is authentically Scots, with dialects to match and for all that the Scottish brogue is convincingly delivered, there will be moments for many unsophisticated southern ears that may prove unintelligible.

Make no mistake, this is brave and bold new writing. Brilliantly bleak.

Runs until 5th September, then on tour

Photo credit: Matt Crockett

Here Comes J. Edgar - Review

King's Head, London

*****

Music by Peter Matz

Lyrics & book by Harry Shearer and Tom Leopold

Directed by Josh Seymour

Marc Elliott and Bryan Batt

Here Comes J. Edgar makes its world premiere at London’s King’s Head Theatre this week, some 30 years after it was written. This sparkling satire has a remarkable pedigree with book and lyrics penned by LA’s masters of comedy Harry Shearer and Tom Leopold and a stunning score composed by the equally gifted Peter Matz who was to tragically pass away in 2002.

The titular J. Edgar is of course the USA’s J. Edgar Hoover who served as the director of that nation’s Bureau of Investigation for 11 years from 1924, before changing its name to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (the FBI) and remaining in post for a remarkable 37 further years. It has been recognised that the vast amount of surveillance information that Hoover had amassed over the years, including compromising information on all of the Presidents that he served under, went a long way to assist him in corruptly keeping his job for such an inordinately long period of time.

Hoover’s alleged corruption went much further than just holding onto his job for 48 years. The vast extent of the secrets held in his files enabled him to abuse his powers, largely at whim, enabling him to persecute and manipulate politicians, celebrities, activists and ordinary citizens. Tasked with tackling the spread of communism, his association with Senator Joe McCarthy was frightening.

It was however in his approach to matters sexual that Hoover’s hypocrisy was most apparent and Shearer, Leopold and Matz mercilessly mine this rich seam of his life to deliver the sharpest historical satire around.

Hoover never married and was widely believed to be gay – developing over the years a very close association with his assistant Clyde Tolson.  The show opens (and closes) with the dying Hoover on his hospital bed, before delivering a whistle-stop tour through Hoover’s life touching upon a handful of the eight presidents that he was to serve under, from Coolidge through to Nixon.

Mad Men’s Bryan Batt makes a terrific London stage debut in the title role. Capturing the vain, egomaniacal Hoover, Batt’s presence is convincing – and boy can he hold a note too. Wickedly exploring his character’s sexual proclivities, including an inspired dalliance with transvestism, Batt’s performance cuts through the evening like a hoover at a glitter convention.

The King’s Head maybe one of the capital’s fringe venues, but the production values that underscore this show are breathtaking. Alongside Batt, the key principal players include Hugo Bolton as Tolson and Marc Elliott as Walter Winchell, a fading Entertainments Journalist who forges a symbiotic relationship with Hoover, both feeding each other the titbits of scandal they need to survive.

Laura Medforth plays Helen, Hoover’s devoted secretary at the Bureau, while Lucy O’Byrne plays the ghost of Hoover’s long departed mother. Medforth’s and O’Byrne’s vocal work is simply sensational. Equally sharp, albeit in a very brief cameo, is Judith Owen as the Madam of a brothel, tasked with the entrapment of Public Enemy Number One, gangster John Dillinger.

Josh Seymour directs his glorious company at a pace while leading choreographer Bill Deamer, a man more accustomed to the West End’s more glamorous stages, arranges routines that are stunningly executed within the venue’s compact space. And in the show’s closing act, the routine that has a quartet of Presidents ( chronologically FDR, Ike, JFK and LBJ) regretting that they had never acted more decisively to remove Hoover from his post is theatrical magic. 

The genius underlying the construction of this show is breathtaking. Matz’s music deliberately pastiches some Broadway greats – listen out for the nods to Guys & Dolls and West Side Story – with his tunes, often in musical snatches lasting barely a few seconds, covering a wide spectrum of genres. Perched high above the stage, Luke Holman deftly directs the show's small band. 

This is musical theatre at its best. Sharply, hilariously written and faultlessly performed. For those not easily offended, it’s unmissable.

Runs until 16th August

Photo credit: Mark Douet

My Fair Lady - Review

Festival Theatre, Chichester

****

Music by Frederick Loewe

Lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner

Directed by Rachel Kavanaugh

Tony Jayawardena, Kezia Ibe and Hadley Fraser

Rachel Kavanaugh’s take on My Fair Lady is a musical treat. This fiendishly complicated tale of love conquering the shocking prejudices of both sexism and class, although set around the turn of the 20th century remains strikingly relevant today, Kavanaugh showing us the timelessness of those bigotries first outlined in George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion.

Of course it is the combined gifts of Alan Jay Lerner’s lyrics and Frederick Loewe’s enchanting melodies that translate this cautionary parable into a fairytale of song and as performed by this Chichester company, every number is exquisite.

In a brave casting choice, debutante Kezia Ibe is cast as Eliza Doolittle, the flower-girl from Lisson Grove who is lifted up to refined eloquence by Hadley Fraser’s Henry Higgins. Ibe is handed the lion’s share of the numbers and if her confidence takes a little while to steady, by the time she delivers I Could Have Danced All Night, the exquisite sweetness of her soprano voice is spine-tingling in its beauty. 

Fraser’s Higgins is flawless in his take on the blinkered, sexist academic whose vulnerabilities slowly emerge through the evening The age difference between Fraser and Ibe is perfect, with Fraser giving us a cleverly crafted insight into the Professor. This, when complemented by his acting through song that manages to find every hint of cynicism and humour (as well as Higgins's appalling chauvinism) is a masterclass in musical theatre performance.

Tony Jayawardena puts in a solid Colonel Pickering, while Finty Williams offers up hints of her gifted mother in possibly the finest Mrs Pearce (Higgins’s housekeeper) to have been seen in quite a while.

Gary Milner masters the show’s comic responsibilities as Alfred P. Doolittle – his Get Me To The Church On Time is a delight that feels like it could go on forever and in the story’s curious and unresolved love triangle, Ben Culleton is a charmingly voiced Freddy Eynsford-Hill who makes glorious work of On The Street Where You Live.

Kavanaugh is supported by creative genius. Stephen Mear’s choreography is spectacular and, as always, conceived and drilled to perfection – highlights being the refined elegance of the Embassy Ball along with the equally ballsy cockney swagger of Get Me To The Church On Time. The other creative ace in the pack is Howard Harrison’s stunning lighting. With so much of the action playing out late at night and into dawn, Harrison has arranged opposite banks of spotlights to suggest the whiteness of moonlight and the golden hues of the sun. It makes for a classy visual touch. Perched atop the stage, Cat Beveridge's 14-piece orchestra are terrific.

Yet again, Chichester have created a summer hit. This magical cast could have danced all night.

Runs until 5th September

Photo credit: Johan Persson

Sinatra The Musical - Review

Aldwych Theatre, London

****

Written by Joe Di Pietro

Directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall

Joel Harper-Jackson

The song, dance and music in Sinatra The Musical is world-class entertainment. A ‘juke-box’ show that threads together most of Ol’ Blue Eyes’s most recognisable numbers, for those who love Sinatra’s style, flair and voice, the evening is one of sublime talent.

Joe DiPietro’s book charts Sinatra’s life from around the 1940s over a handful of decades, peppering the timeline with hit after hit, each loosely woven into the narrative.

What makes this show soar however is not so much DiPietro’s book, as the legacy of Sinatra’s work, breathed into life at the Aldwych by Joel Harper-Jackson in the title role. Harper-Jackson is sensational in both tone and presence, and if you’re lucky enough to catch a split-second glimpse of his profile from the side, the resemblance to Sinatra is uncanny. The show’s creatives have played a smart move (for the most part) in how the songs are deployed through the evening. Opening with All Of Me (that proves to be a mini-motif of the evening), a novel twist sees Come Fly With Me used as the musical backdrop to Sinatra bedding his way through Lana Turner (Becky Anderson), Judy Garland (Jenna Innes) and Marlene Dietrich (Allana Taylor).

These women were of course bit-parts in Sinatra’s life, with the most influential females turning out to be his mother Dolly (Jenna Russell), first wife Nancy (Phoebe Panaretos) and his subsequent wife Ava Gardner (Ana Villafane). This talented trifecta are handed juicy solos across the show, with Villafane shining in Nice And Easy Does It, Panateros making heartbreaking work of In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning, while Russell along with Marty Aguire as her hubby Marty, sparkles in You Make Me Feel So Young. On the night of this review Sylvie Regan was Little Nancy, who sang with an enchantingly commanding presence.

If there is a criticism of the show it is Joe DiPietro’s wafer-thin book, the years playing out with a bland predictability. Aside from Russell’s fiercely matriarchal mamma, there is barely any humour at all, the mark of the perfect juke-box musical being that it can carry one’s interest in between the songs. There are moments during the dialogue when the evening drags. We already know that Sinatra was a serial womaniser with links to the Mob – Di Pietro sheds little new light on the singer’s journey. And deciding that Sinatra should sing The Way You Look Tonight to Little Nancy as she prepares to accompany him to the Academy Awards is the absolute depth of sugary, cutesy, kitsch albeit beautifully sung.

Those looking for Sinatra's classics will not be disappointed. That's Life and My Way bookend the interval, while New York, New York is gifted to the audience as a singalong number during the finale.

Kathleen Marshall directs and choreographs with flair, while Dave Rose’s 17-piece band are sensational (and don’t forget to stay for the exit music when each band member riffs a stunning solo!)

Lavish production values and oh, those magical songs!

Booking unti 10th April 2027

Photo credit: Brinkhoff-Moegenberg

Barnum - Review

RichmondTheatre, London

***

Music by Cy Coleman

Lyrics by Michael Stewart

Book by Mark Bramble

Directed by Jonathan O'Boyle

The cast of Barnum

After a spectacular run at Newbury’s Watermill two years ago, while this innovative actor-muso take on Coleman and Stewart’s classic musical still showcases fabulous talent, the show has lost some of its Big Top magic on the road.

Lee Mead is P.T.Barnum and to be fair, much like Matt Rawle before him, he’s a convincing king of flim-flam. Mead sings wonderfully and leads his show with an authentic enthusiasm. Not just vocally, Mead’s takes on There Is A Sucker Born Ev’ry Minute and The Colours Of My Life are magnificent, but his acting too is a blast with a stunning tight-rope act to close the first half.

Supporting Mead are original cast members including Monique Young as Charity, Barnum’s wife and Penny Ashmore as Swedish Nightingale (and Barnum’s mistress) Jenny Lind. Both remain exquisite, Young still breaking our hearts with her take on The Colours Of My Life.

But while the circus skills are breathtaking throughout and the actor-muso take on the score, delightful, the demands on one’s imagination that made General Tom Thumb and Jumbo the Elephant seem so glorious at Newbury, seem little more than bona-fide baloney when squeezed into the cramped confines of Richmond’s proscenium arch. 

If you want to see Barnum because you love the songs, then you won’t be disappointed.

Runs until 27th June, then on tour

Photo credit: Pamela Raith

High Society - Review

Barbican Theatre, London

*****

Music and lyrics by Cole Porter

Book byArthur Kopit

Additional lyrics by Susan Birkenhead

Based on the play "The Phildadephia Story" by Philip Barry

Directed by Rachel Kavanaugh

Julian Ovenden and Helen George

In a glorious whirl through the Great American Songbook, Rachel Kavanaugh’s take on High Society is an immaculately cast revival of Cole Porter’s deliciously frothy yarn.

Drawn originally from the 1939 play The Philadelphia Story, the story opens with divorcee Tracy Lord on the eve of her marriage to George a rather nondescript accountant. Mother Lord and younger sister Dinah are flapping supportively as Dexter, Tracy's dashingly suave ex who still holds a torch for her, turns up as a surprise arrival at the family home for the weekend. Her hitherto estranged father Seth, a disgraceful womaniser also arrives unexpectedly. Lob in a couple of journalist lovebirds and a drunk Uncle Willie and the stage is set. What makes this 2026 revival of such a ridiculously improbable story take flight however is the genius of marrying Cole Porter’s cracking songs to one of the finest character-driven casts in town.

Helen George leads the line as Tracy, the delightfully ditzy and over-privileged heiress who opens the show with the title number, goes on to learn the power of forgiveness and redemption (OK, there is a heart to High Society’s bonkers storyline), making equally fine work of some classily duetted numbers as the story unfolds.

Julian Ovenden plays the dashingly divorced Dexter, a man who is gifted the lion’s share of the show’s songs which he duly smashes out of the park, hit after hit after hit. You Do Something To Me and Once Upon A Time are his softer solos, while his spectacular duets of Be A Clown with Uncle Willie (Nigel Lindsay) and Well, Did You Evah? with journalist Mike (Freddie Fox) take the Barbican's roof off.

Lindsay gets a further chance to show off his singing chops, closing the first half with a spectacular Now You Have Jazz. Matching Ovenden for sheer vocal power and beauty is the always brilliant Carly Mercedes Dyer as Liz (the other aforementioned journalist). In act one Dyer deftly duets with Fox in Who Wants To Be A Millionaire? , but it is after the interval, with her mellifluous take on I’ve Got You Under My Skin, that she re-defines this song as her own.

The final singing accolade of the night has to go to David Seadon-Young as George. This accomplished performer has, at Leicester’s Curve over the past two years, perfected the style of the reserved, clipped gentleman whose complexities are unlocked, firstly as Professor Higgins in My Fair Lady and more recently as Georg Von Trapp in The Sound of Music. Seadon-Young channels his mastery of this particular style of character into, on this occasion, the far more shallow and two-dimensional George. It’s a modest (albeit critical) role to fill, with only one decent solo to perform, All Of You. Nonetheless he is yet another of this production’s gems.

So much for the songs - the show’s gags have been honed to perfection. All of the above-mentioned actors together with the stellar Felicity Kendal as Mother Lord and Malcolm Sinclair as Seth are terrific, hitting their marks with pinpoint precision and making sure that every gag lands just as intended.

Stephen Ridley's 16-piece band are a blast, Anthony Van Laast choreographs his company of 28 with flair, Tom Rogers’s sets, while designed for the road tour that the show will shortly set out on, is suitably glamorous, while Jon Morrell’s costumes are a fusion of both pastels and vivid brilliance. And as ever, Howard Hudson’s lighting plots enhance the whole affair.

High Society is an evening of pure theatrical pleasure.

Runs until July 11th, then on tour

Photo credit: Pamela Raith

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Review

Watermill Theatre, Newbury

****

Written by Ian Fleming
Music & lyrics by Richard M. Sherman and Robert B. Sherman
Directed by Paul Hart

Me Ol' Bamboo danced in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

It is bold and visionary to stage Chitty Chitty Bang Bang within the intimate confines of the Watermill’s 200-seater auditorium, but much like the magic that transforms the car in Ian Fleming’s classic story, so too has Paul Hart’s production of the show spread its wings in one of the most gloriously imaginative productions to be seen this year.

Christian Edwards plays Caractacus Potts, the widowered inventor who has clearly been an inspirational and principled, if somewhat maverick, father to children Jeremy and Jemimah. On the night of this review the Potts kids were played by Francis Adams and Auora Breslin who were both flawless in their portrayal of these cute kids who are wise beyond their years.

The show’s classic love story is the understated romance that blossoms between Caractacus and the confectionery heiress Truly Scrumptious (Lydia Louise) and it is a credit to this production that the tender humanity that sits at the core of the story is so delightfully picked out. Without veering into cheesy sentimentality, the strong familial love that binds the Potts clan together is beautifully portrayed.

Even more remarkably, not only was the versatile Edwards the face behind West End Producer, a man with whom I shared many an interval conversation over the years, but Louise is making her professional debut in this show. Based on the quality of this performance, a stunning career awaits her.

The show’s carefully crafted comedy is top-notch. Sam Pay as Boris and Alexander Zane as Goran, the two bungling Vulgarian spies, have honed their timing to perfection. And from a musical perspective Zane, the onstage MD in this actor-musician show, delivers some exquisite percussion on the glockenspiel during act two’s Doll On a Music Box. The other half of the evening’s hilarity is delivered by Samuel Morgan-Grahame as Baron Bomburst and Mairi Ikegami as his wife, the Baroness. These two nail their lampoonery to perfection, taking the scripts gags that, like a pantomime, are aimed at both the young and the not-so-young in the audience and delivering them immaculately.

The star of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang will always be, to use the vernacular, a car that’s more than spectacular, and the Katie Lias's designs for the Watermill do not disappoint. In a neat turn of staging that sees the audience de-camped half way through act one into a fairground marquee for a choreographed treat of Me Ol' Bamboo, on returning to the theatre, the magically powered car has been brought on stage and hidden under dustsheets (think of that chandelier in Phantom…). And of course, as the story unfolds, the car first drives, then takes to the sea, before finally, before our eyes, soaring into the skies with the Potts family and Truly all aboard.

Fabulous family theatre!

Runs until 13th September

Photo credit: Pamela Raith

Avenue Q - Review

Shaftesbury Theatre, London

*****

Book by Jeff Whitty

Music & lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx

Directed by Jason Moore

Emily Benjamin, Charlie McCullagh and Meg Hateley

LP Hartley famously wrote that “The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there” Never has this been more true than in musical theatre, where today marks 20 years since Avenue Q first opened in London. With its brilliantly scripted and piercing satire puncturing many of today’s pretentious pomposities, one has to reflect that this show would never be written today, our modern lyricists lacking both the wit and the temple-tumbling cojones of Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx. Quite simply, Avenue Q returns to reclaim its title as one of the funniest shows in town.

Who knew that this inspired parody of Sesame Street would prove so timeless? Lopez and Marx’s songs may drip with an inspired cynicism - but what makes this show really soar is that the brilliantly animated puppets convey stories of powerfully poignant humanity - their furry appearances belying beating and sometimes broken, hearts of gold.

Minorities are mercilessly mocked, the cruelty of this libretto proving a slap in the face to today’s relentlessly entitled generations. But as with the very best of clowns, when they ridicule our society, they hold a mirror to us all and as some of the evening’s monstrous animations ultimately find paths towards love, redemption and a joyously happy ending, they make us shed tears of both hilarity and also profound joy. It is a rare show can hit both of those emotional sweet-spots simultaneously.

Jason Moore, who directed the show to glory both on Broadway and in London all those years ago, returns to helm this revival with a neat touch seeing him assisted by Julie Atherton who back in the day created Kate Monster /Lucy The Slut  in the show’s London premiere.

This time around Emily Benjamin is simply magnificent as Kate/Lucy, at times delivering both sides of her characters’ deliciously barbed exchanges. Benjamin is matched by the equally talented Noah Harrison who is fabulous as the preppy Princeton and investment banker Rod, perpetually struggling with his sexuality. These two performers have both a physical presence and a vocal genius that delivers passion in their puppetry. As with all good puppetry, our focus is on their respective animated characters - but sneak a glimpse at their (human) faces as they perform, and the integrity and commitment of their performances is just joyous.

Benjamin and Harrison may be doing most of the narrative’s heavy lifting, but this show is truly an ensemble piece. Equally stunning are Charlie McCullagh’s hilarious Trekkie Monster and (Frank Oz soundalike) Nicky, Amelia Kinu Muus is an horrifically blunt Japanese therapist Christmas Eve, Oliver Jacobson is her Jewish husband Brian, as  Dionne Ward-Anderson steps up as Gary, the show’s only black character. Amidst the mayhem, Meg Hateley silently animates other characters that drive the story. The energy across this entire company is relentless and with pinpoint timing, all of the show’s gags make perfect touchdowns. 

There’s a classy creative crew too. Ben Holder directs his five-piece band to make fine work of the deeply varied score. Ebony Molina’s choreography is tight, Anna Louizos’s (also ex-Broadway) scenic design is a treat, enhanced by Tim Lufkin's nifty lighting plots.

Blink and you’ll miss them but there are some barely perceptible script-tweaks that bring the show into the modern era. The song Mix Tape is enhanced with a ‘playlist’, as ChatGPT gets a brief mention too. But overall, Avenue Q remains 99.9% true to its brilliant, original self.

They don’t write ‘em like this any more – and more’s the pity for that. Only here for the summer, take a stroll down Avenue Q for a night of outrageous comedy and brutal social comment. Musical theatre does not get better than this!

Booking until 29th August

Photo credit: Matt Crockett

Kinky Boots - Review

London Coliseum, London

****

Book by Harvey Fierstein
Music and lyrics by Cyndi Lauper
Directed by Nikolai Foster

Johannes Radebe

Strutting back into the West End, Cyndi Lauper’s Kinky Boots takes up a 16-week residence at the London Coliseum. Nikolai Foster directs, stunt-casting a brace of reality TV stars with Johannes Radebe of Strictly fame playing Lola and former X-Factor champion Matt Cardle as shoemaker Charlie Price.

Set around the turn of the century and loosely based on real events, the story moves on some clever pivots. Drag queen Lola bemoans that glamorous boots for men are impossible to source, at the same time as Price’s Northampton factory is on its uppers.  Harvey Fierstein's book sprinkles a hint of fantasy over the proceedings, as his glamorous tale of the bootmaker and the queen plays out to a spectacularly sequinned happy ending.

The role marks Radebe’s debut in musical theatre and he smashes it out of the park. Immaculate footwork is a given for the South African performer (whose accent to be fair, doesn’t quite match up to his having grown up in Clacton in Essex as the story demands), however it is not just his dance, but also his vocal strength and acting that add depth and colour to a complex role.

Cardle delivers a competent cobbler but is outshone by Radebe. Vocally strong - with the duet sung by the two leads in the first act, I’m Not My Father’s Son proving to be one of the evening’s more poignantly sensitive moments - his acting at times seems strained.

Lauren, the factory girl who falls in love with the boss, is played by Courtney Bowman in a powerhouse performance. Her solo The History of Wrong Guys (another first-half banger) is simply magnificent, with Bowman sustaining impressive energy levels throughout the show. A number of smaller roles are crucial to the story’s narrative and there are marvellous contributions from Billie-Kay, Billy Roberts and Rachel Izen that keep the evening perfectly paced. On the day of this review Joshua Beswick and Rio-Blake Power played Young Charlie and Young Lola respectively, with both boys delivering delightful work.  

The show’s creative credentials are excellent. Leah Hill choregraphs the dance-heavy production with whip-smart flair and precision. Robert Jones set design ingeniously appears to crop itself with luminous borders scaling the proscenium’s height and width – and his representation of the Northampton shoe factory is ingenious. Jone’s work is well complemented by Ben Cracknell’s lighting plots. In the Coliseum’s pit, Grant Walsh directs his nine-piece band to make fine work of Lauper’s powerful score.

With sky-high heels, a full-throttle score and a star turn stealing his every scene, this Kinky Boots doesn’t just return—it kicks down the door in spectacular style.

Booking until 11th July

Photo credit: Matt Crockett

The Producers - Review

Garrick Theatre, London

*****

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

Directed by Patrick Marber

Richard Kind and the company of The Producers

It seems almost impossible to believe that The Producers came out as a film in 1967, nearly 60 years ago. It remains a comedic masterpiece written by surely one of the greatest comics of all time, the legendary Mel Brooks, himself now a sprightly 99 years old. To many, turning the film into a stage musical was akin to drawing a moustache on the Mona Lisa. Why attempt to improve perfection? In 2001 they achieved the impossible, turning a brilliant film into an equally brilliant and hilarious musical.

The plot is simple. It seems that there is more money to be made in producing a guaranteed failure on Broadway than a hit show, so Bialystock and his naïve accountant partner Leopold Bloom, set out to create a guaranteed disaster and pocket $2 million. 

After a highly successful run at the Menier Chocolate Factory, the show transferred to London's Garrick Theatre. Andy Nyman, who opened at the Menier as Bialystock is taking a brief sabbatical and has handed his cardboard belt to Broadway actor Richard Kind. Kind's on-stage energy levels are never dialled to less than eleven, and he has the comedic ability to earn a round of applause with just a look or a simple, subtle gesture. He inhabits the role as if it were a tailor-made suit and eeks out every single molecule of the crooked producer. He’s as crooked as a politician, but the audience loves and roots for him.

Elsewhere, this tried, tested and fabulous company continue. Marc Antolin plays the neurotic, shy accountant, Leopold Bloom, drawn into Max’s nefarious, fraudulent scheme. Antolin can sing and dance superbly, having everything one needs to be a musical star and shining in every scene. 

The rest of the cast are equally superb, wringing every last ounce of comedy gold from the simplest, even throw-away lines, turning already inspired characters into even better, funnier versions. Australian Trevor Ashley is hilarious as the hopeless director Roger Debris, and is clearly loving every on-stage moment, as is his ‘assistant’ Carmen Ghia played by Raj Ghatak. The duo bring a new dimension to camp and the result is a gem. Harry Morrison as the deranged playwright  Franz Liebkind, eats the scenery whenever he’s on stage - the laughter he induces is painful! Special mention to the pigeons scene – a terrific touch. 

The always reliable Joanna Woodward plays Ulla, the barely intelligible ‘Swedish secretary’ hired by Max and Leo, and her Monroe-esque presence illuminates the stage as does her comedy timing. 

What is communicated so clearly to the packed audience is that every member of the entire ensemble is having a blast, seemingly enjoying their roles as much we are enjoying watching them. Is this a show for the easily offended? No. But that's the point. A musical entitled "Springtime for Hitler" was shocking in 1967. Now the swinging sixties have evolved into the grim, divided, angry 2020s and in many ways, the show's message is stronger and more relevant than ever.

The Producers is an outrageously offensive, camp, rude, and irreverent musical from which no one is safe from being the butt of a joke. I loved every moment of it. One word sums it up, a word we hear less and less these days – fun. Enjoy it while it’s still legal.

Reviewed by Russ Kane

Booking to 19th September

Photo credit: Manuel Harlan

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry - Review

Theatre Royal Haymarket, London

***

Music & lyrics by Passenger

Book by Rachel Joyce

Adaption co-created by Rachel Joyce, Peter Darling & Katy Rudd

Directed by Rachel Joyce

Mark Addy, Jenna Russell & company

There’s a flicker of a good yarn at the heart of The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry. Rachel Joyce’s story sees the titular Fry walk 500 miles across England, fleeing the baggage of a grief-laden marriage, to visit the bedside of a dying friend.

Not only are there the makings of a good story, the show also boasts standout excellence from Mark Addy as Fry and Jenna Russell as his wife Maureen. Both leading characters are deeply damaged and it is a credit to both performers that they deliver performances of a tender complex fragility.

It’s just a shame that such excellence is smothered in an evening of mediocre musicality, wrapped up in a plot that lurches from one shallow cliche to the next. Passenger’s lyrics are found to be frequently expositional and witless, while the band of crusties who follow Fry on his pilgrimage appear to be little more than a bunch of lazily drawn two-dimensionals, straight out of central casting. 

The musical’s (rare) highlights both fall in act one with a classy tap-routine in From The Rooftops, and a moderately amusing set of lyrics in Out of Luck. 

Those who love Rachel Joyce’s book will probably enjoy the show. Otherwise The Proclaimers’ 1988 single I’m Gonna Be (500 Miles) offers a similarly themed story, and in under four minutes.

Runs until 18th April

Photo credit: Tristram Kenton

Paddington The Musical - Review

Savoy Theatre, London

****

Music and lyrics by Tom Fletcher

Book by Jessica Swale

Directed by Luke Sheppard

Based on A Bear Called Paddington written by Michael Bond and the film ‘PADDINGTON’, by special arrangement with STUDIOCANAL

James Hameed and Arti Shah

Newly arrived from deepest, darkest Peru, Paddington The Musical has opened at London’s Savoy Theatre and visually, it’s a treat!

On the night of this review Abbie Purvis, the alternate Paddington, played the onstage bear as James Hameed voiced Paddington, the two of them combining to create one of the finest characters to be found on a London stage. The fusion of technical wizardry, Tahra Zafar's fabulous bear designs and the pair’s acting talent (with Purvis making her West End debut too!) truly brought Michael Bond’s kind and inquisitive bear to life. The magic of the show is lifted by Tom Pyle’s scenic design work and Ash J Woodward’s videos that give a glorious excitement to the Savoy’s stage and surrounds.

There are some absolute gems in the show’s supporting cast, with Bonnie Langford as the wise old Mrs Bird stealing her scenes with her stunning stage presence. Matching Langford is Tom Edden, arguably the nation's master of physical comedy who nimbly steps back and forward across the fourth wall as Mr Curry, the bad guy who finds redemption. Victoria Hamilton-Barritt is deliciously boo-able as the baddy Millicent Clyde, as the quartet playing the likeable Brown family all put in a decent shift.

Jessica Swale has written the show’s book and Tom Fletcher, the music and lyrics. Paddington at heart is a simple fable and while the creative pair retain the essence of Bond’s stories, too much of their take on London plays out too politically, their rose-tinted view of the capital at odds with many of the city's more ugly realities. Musically, many of the show's early melodies are bland and often with lyrics that are disappointingly inaudible. It really takes until the second act for Fletcher’s compositions to break free of the constraints of his pop-music background and display true wit.

Luke Sheppard, truly the wunderkind of modern musical theatre direction knows how to direct a family show that looks wonderful, is acted brilliantly and makes for fine, fun family entertainment.

Booking until 25th October 2026

Photo credit: Johan Persson

My Fair Lady - Review

The Mill At Sonning, Sonning

****

Music by Frederick Loewe

Lyrics and book by Alan Jay Lerner

Directed by Joseph Pitcher

Mark Monoghan and the cast of My Fair Lady

Joseph Pitcher directs an entertaining take on My Fair Lady at The Mill at Sonning that sees Nadim Naaman play a perfectly clipped Henry Higgins opposite Simbi Akande's Eliza Doolittle.

In a class act Naaman nails the Professor in a performance that captures both the man’s genius as well as his insensitive chauvinism. Akande brings vocal excellence to Eliza but she needs to dig a little bit deeper to bring out her character’s complex fragility and chemistry.

There is excellence elsewhere in Pitcher’s company. Jo Servi’s Colonel Pickering is drilled to perfection. Sophie Louise Dann delivers her usual flawless work, doubling up firstly as Mrs Hopkins and also as an outstanding Mrs Higgins, while the inspirational Mark Monaghan offers up perfectly executed comic relief as Alfred P. Doolittle.

Sonning’s intimate space is transformed by Diego Pitarch’s designs that elegantly suggest the story’s locations, from Covent Garden to Wimpole Street to Ascot. Pitcher and Alex Christian co-choreograph the show with Get Me to the Church on Time an exquisite riot of dance.

My Fair Lady at Sonning is a Christmas treat!

Runs until 17th January 2026

Photo credit: Pamela Raith