Cheryl Markosky - Page 5

First Show

Favorite Show

Favorite Stories

• BWW Review: CHARLIE AND STAN, Theatre Royal Bath - Rollicking, life-affirming silent movie-style production with a live piano score and hilarious physical comedy. I saw this during Covid when I really needed cheering up – and I was not disappointed. Charlie and Stan deserves another and wider run.
• Review: JEEVES AND WOOSTER IN PERFECT NONSENSE, Salisbury Playhouse - Riotous, laugh-out-loud-funny farce based on PG Wodehouse's novel that scooped up an Olivier. Luckily, it returned to Salisbury Playhouse for a month after touring. A play-within-a play that breaks down the fourth wall, so the audience is in the know. Great physical comedy. I was particularly charmed by Luke Barton's OTT Bertie Wooster, and Patrick Warner's savvy Jeeves, as well as other roles he gamely took on, including newt lover Gussie Fink-Nottle. You had to be there.
• Review: PHAEDRA/MINOTAUR, Theatre Royal Bath - Astonishing double bill by Deborah Warner, artistic director of Theatre Royal Bath's diminutive Ustinov Studio. First half was mezzo-soprano Christine Rice in an intimate performance of Phaedra. And in the second half, the most amazing moves from ballet dance Tommy Franzen, who's also an avid rock climber. Danish choreographer Kim Brandstrup came up with gravity-defying moves for Franzen on an indoor climbing wall. Something you don't see in ballet very often.
• Review: DEAR ENGLAND, Prince Edward Theatre - I'm can't pretend to be a big football fan, but I loved James Graham's Dear England. This is the against-the-odds story of Gareth Southgate, unassuming manager of England's national team who takes his young team to great heights. The beautiful game is played out against a wider political and social backdrop. Fantastic set, staging, direction and ensemble acting. Joseph Fiennes hits the back of the net with his sympathetic portrayal of Southgate. The other reason I loved this is I talked to some football fans who had never been in a theatre before – and they loved it.
• Review: THE CUNNING LITTLE VIXEN, Opera Holland Park - Savvy, streetwise take on Leos Janacek's forest fairy tale. The perfect example of absolutely the right venue for a production. Stephen Barlow's The Cunning Little Vixen felt at home in the semi-feral greenery of Holland Park where mice scamper, peacocks strut and real foxes roam. Up-to-date references, like a forester trying to ensnare Vixen Sharp Ears with coffee and a sandwich from Pret a Manger – an inside joke, as Pret's a favourite eatery on Holland Park Avenue – made me smile.