Aliya Al-Hassan - Page 84

BWW Reviewers Reflect On Why We Return To Long-running Shows

In this time of endless Brexit questions, the NHS in crisis and the world generally seeming to be going to hell in a handcart, a lighthearted and exuberant show like Legally Blonde is sometimes the perfect antidote. Based on the 2001 film, the award-winning show follows the cutesy and seemingly vacuous American sorority girl Elle as she finds her way into Harvard Law School in pursuit of her ex-boyfriend who claimed she wasn't 'serious' enough. Glittery, camp and very pink, the production follows Elle as she makes a surprising success of her quest through abounding positivity and stellar levels of self-belief.

In an age of Instant Messenger, Snapchat and Twitter, many of us may have never experienced the quiet thrill of receiving a handwritten, personal letter. 84 Charing Cross Road is James Roose-Evans' adaptation of Helene Hanff's charming and very personal book of letters. It goes back to a time when people not only hand wrote correspondence, but had to buy their books from a physical bookshop, rather than clicking to purchase them online. The story is an account of the New York playwright's own twenty-year relationship with the manager of Marks & Co. bookshop, conducted entirely through letters.

In many ways, the timing of the European premiere of American playwright Emily Schwend's award-winning play Utility could not be more prescient. The portrayal of a quotidian Texan family trying to live an ordinary life and having to battle to stay afloat in challenging economic circumstances is an all-too familiar story in today's financial climate.

For those not around in 1971, it's easy to be ignorant of the huge impact that Carole King's seminal album, Tapestry, had at the time. Beautiful The Carole King Musical opens with King's concert at Carnegie Hall to celebrate the amazing success of that album. It then quickly flashes back to a 16 year old Carole about to sell her first song. What follows is the incredible story of her marriage, motherhood and stellar song writing partnership with her husband Gerry Goffin.

Iolanthe is arguably one of Gilbert and Sullivan's finest works. This frivolous and frothy opera was successfully revived by the ENO earlier this year, but now returns as something a little different. After surprising audiences with an original run at the Union Theatre and then a successful transfer to Wilton's Music Hall in 2011, Sasha Regan returns to her most critically acclaimed production; an all-male Iolanthe.

On the face of it, a play based upon a 13-year-old boy being expelled from his naval college for allegedly stealing a five-shilling postal order does not sound like the stuff of captivating drama. However, in the masterly hands of Terence Rattigan, this story does indeed enthral and quietly impress.

Director Lucy Bailey has solid form with adaptations of Agatha Christie stories; her Olivier-award nominated version of Witness For The Prosecution is currently a hit at County Hall. She has also directed Dial M For Murder and Gaslight, so it is not entirely surprising that this touring version of Love From a Stranger is a taut and compelling thriller.

At a time when anti-Semitism appears dangerously current and desperate refugees flee their homelands, a revival of Diane Samuels' engrossing play Kindertransport could not be more timely. Anne Simon directs the remarkable true story of a series of rescue efforts that brought thousands of refugee Jewish children to Great Britain from Nazi Germany between 1938 and 1940.

Historically, Richmond's Orange Tree Theatre was a well-known champion of new talent. However, until now, Artistic Director Paul Miller and Executive Director Sarah Nicholson were yet to stage a debut play. Joe White is an alumnus of the Orange Tree Writers Collective, and his first play has clearly impressed them. Mayfly is based on the heartbreakingly short life cycle of a mayfly; a lifetime can happen in just one day. It is a grandiose idea and one that White makes a courageous and often very successful attempt to explore.

To kick off its 10th anniversary season, the Rose Theatre turns to Shakespeare to give it a needed boost. This new production of Much Ado About Nothing is not quite a hit, but still an entertaining if slightly manic evening.

In our new series, BroadwayWorld UK writers nominate the shows they'd love to see revived!

Following a chance encounter with an escaped convict, orphan Pip is given an unexpected opportunity to visit the reclusive Miss Havisham. In the decay and faded grandeur of her house, Pip falls in love with her adopted daughter Estella and helped by an anonymous benefactor, he moves to London to attempt to become a gentleman and win the hard heart of Estella.

The first major revival of Charlotte Jones' play Humble Boy is another interesting choice by the Orange Tree's Artistic Director Paul Miller. It is surely a challenge to pull off a play that combines astrophysics, bee-keeping and Shakespearean family angst, but Miller achieves this in a neat and clever way, whilst maintaining tenderness and gentle comedy.

It is Ida's 86th birthday, but it's a milestone she would rather have not reached. Her family wants to gather and celebrate, but she would rather be removed from her small world of pain and confusion. She sits in the midst of the manufactured joviality of family members who feel both guilt of their own past absences and annoyance at the need to be at her party at all.

In essence, there is not much to Conor McPherson's intimate play; four men drink in a remote Irish pub, entertain a female newcomer with ghost stories and then leave. However, The Weir is a taut and unexpectedly gripping insight into rural communities, isolation, loss and loneliness.

Strangers On A Train was a highly successful, taut thriller written by Patricia Highsmith in 1950. Master of suspense Alfred Hitchcock adapted it into a highly charged and provocative film noir soon afterwards. It is a shame, therefore, that Anthony Banks' new production lacks any similar tension or intrigue.

Originally intended as a stinging satire on Victorian politics and the House of Lords in particular, Gilbert and Sullivan's supremely silly comic opera Iolanthe is in fine form as it returns to the Coliseum. The story is of the eponymous fairy Iolanthe, banished from fairyland as she married a mortal. Her son Strephon wants to marry Phyllis, but all the members of the House of Peers wants to marry Phyllis as well. When Phyllis suspects Strephon of being unfaithful, she sets off a huge confrontation between the fairies and the peers.

Robert Louis Stevenson's gothic thriller has had such an impact on the public psyche that a reference to 'Jekyll and Hyde' is universally known as referring to a person with a dual personality. An adaptation at Kingston's Rose Theatre attempts to convey the dark horror of the story where upright Dr Jekyll's secret experiments split his personality in two and reveal the murderous Mr Hyde. Unfortunately, the shocking impact of the story is lost in this overly long and un-engaging adaptation.

For many people, their first introduction to The Jungle Book is the Disney film of the same name. This new adaptation from Olivier award winner Jessica Swale deserves the effort of disassociation, as it rewards in numerous ways. Swale has adapted Rudyard Kipling's beloved story of the boy Mowgli being raised by wolves in the jungle into a modern, relevant and hugely entertaining show.