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