Thelma & Louise - Review

Young Vic Theatre, London

****

Music and lyrics by Neko Case

Book bu Callie Khouri

Directed by Trip Cullman

Rachel Tucker and Amy Lennox

Thelma & Louise was one of the defining movies of the 1990s. With an Oscar winning script from Callie Khouri and Ridley Scott behind the camera, this unlikely road trip following two girlfriends on the run, tapped into a powerful condemnation of misogyny and a profound celebration of friendship.

Fast forward 35 years and Khouri has returned to her story, translating the fable from screen to musical theatre, with music and lyrics penned by Neko Case.

It’s a fair transformation of the tale that sees Amy Lennox and Rachel Tucker playing the titular protagonists, and it is within their performances that much of Case’s songwriting shines. Lennox defines Thelma’s journey of sexual and emotional emancipation, while Tucker peels away the layers of Louise’s carapace to reveal a deeply damaged woman. As Tucker sings of her character’s back story beneath a starlit desert sky, the moment is profound and powerful.

But there are times when the stage show falls short of the brilliant original. While Lennox and Tucker are an inspired choice to replicate the movie’s Geena Davis and Susan Sarandon, casting the (talented) Trevor Dion Nicolas as Hal, the cop on the women’s tail and a role originally played by Harvey Keitel, is less successful, not helped by a thinly written sub-narrative involving his wife and daughters.

Christine Jones and Brett J. Banakis have designed the show’s setting - that imaginatively suggests America's bars, motels and highway traffic. But one of the outstanding components of Scott’s stunning movie was its magnificent cinematography- and for all the best intentions of the musical’s producers, their attempts to recreate the film’s original vistas on stage, miss the mark. 

The show’s creative contributors are impressive. Choreographers Bobbie Jene Smith and Or Schraiber deliver some moments of impressive footwork, while straddling the stage atop the wings Kimberly Grigsby conducts her 9-piece band that is deliciously loaded with strings.

Female-focussed theatre.

Runs until 24th October

Photo credit: Helen Murray

Hercules - Review

Theatre Royal Drury Lane, London

**

Music by Alan Menken

Lyrics by David Zippel

Book by Robert Horn and Kwame Kwei-Armah

Directed and choreographed by Casey Nicholaw

Luke Brady

Rarely does a show descend from the pantheon of animated Hollywood class to the underworld of live-action West End mediocrity, but so it is with the legend of Disney’s Hercules that sees a gloriously witty movie regress into an evening of overpriced tedium.

It is hard to know where to rest the blame for this Herculean disappointment. Does it lie with Robert Horn and Kwame Kwei-Armah for their luke-warm, cliche-riddled book? Or with Casey Nicholaw for sloppily helming an overly camped-up show that is riddled with wardrobe and prop malfunctions? Or with James Ortiz and Dane Laffrey’s designs whose clunky depictions of beasts and monsters appear to have learned nothing from the puppetry genius of The Lion King? Or with Jeff Croiter’s lighting design that incredibly (for a stage as large as Drury Lane’s) dispenses with follow-spot operators, relying instead on pre-programmed lighting plots that frequently fail to illuminate their subject? 

Mostly the acting is strong - Luke Brady goes the distance in the title role, looking and sounding dutifully divine. Mae Ann Jorolan as Meg makes fine work of her solo numbers, while the five Gospel-infused Muses are a blast. Trevor Dion Nicholas reliably turns in a decent shtick as Phil, Hercules’s guide on his path to godliness.

The biggest casting disappointment however lies in Stephen Carlile’s Hades. James Woods’ 1997 voicing of Disney’s original Hades was an inspired delivery of the sharpest satire and to be fair, a devilishly tough act to follow. Carlile emasculates this most infernal of bad-guys, reducing him to a poorly performed pantomime villain. 

Alan Menken’s two strong compositions, Go The Distance and Zero to Hero support act one. The second half offers nothing that’s hummable, in a show that (almost) takes Disney’s Hercules from hero to zero.

Booking until 28th March 2026

Photo credit: Matt Crockett

Next to Normal - Review

Wyndham's Theatre, London

*****

Music by Tom Kitt

Book & lyrics by Brian Yorkey

Directed by Michael Longhurst

Caissie Levy

There are moments when new writing touches the very essence of humanity. So it is with Next to Normal that has now opened in the West End following an acclaimed run at the Donmar Warehouse last year.

Caissie Levy is Diana, a woman who we learn early on in the show is grappling with significantly impaired mental health. Jamie Parker is her husband Dan, battling to support her, while there are perfectly nuanced performances from Eleanor Worthington-Cox as daughter Natalie and Jack Wolfe as son Gabe. To say much more about the plot would be to spoil the story’s reveals, as Levy and her three co-stars take Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey’s inspired songs and narrative, delivering harrowing entertainment punctuated with moments of perfectly weighted ironic humor.

In support are Trevor Dion Nicholas as the story’s two doctors, and Jack Ofrecio as Natalie’s would-be suitor Henry.

The words and music are fast-flowing with credit to Nick Barstow’s six-piece ensemble perched atop Chloe Lamford’s ingeniously designed set.

Ultimately uplifting, the two-act show plumbs the depths of grief and suffering and it makes for an inspirational evening that is probably not suited to those who are emotionally fragile. That being said, Next to Normal is exquisitely crafted musical theatre.

Runs until 21st September

Photo credit: Marc Brenner