West End Show Reviews & Critics' Ratings

Inspired by a true story and based on the Miramax motion picture written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth, Kinky Boots features a warm and witty book by four-time Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein and a richly diverse musical score from Grammy Award-winning rock icon Cyndi Lauper, in her stunning theatrical debut. The production is directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell , with music supervision, arrangements and orchestrations by Stephen Oremus. Starring Strictly Come Dancing's Johannes Radebe as Lola and X-Factor star Matt Cardle as Charlie, this revival is directed by Leicester Curve's artistic director Nicolai Foster, What did the critics think?

See what the critics are saying about the West End transfer of Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain, making its European premiere at The Royal Court Theatre in London. Read BroadwayWorld's Review Roundup here!

It’s a hot, beautiful summer in 1905, and Russia’s elite retreat to the countryside to swim, sip champagne and start affairs. When they’re having this much fun, why care about anything else? But Varvara just can’t shake the feeling that their holiday idyll is built on borrowed time. As the party continues, how long can they ignore the storm on the horizon?

The world premiere production of Sea Witch, is now officially open at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. See what the critics are saying in BroadwayWorld's Review Roundup.

Reviews are in for Cynthia Erivo's starring solo turn in in DRACULA, now playing London's West End. Did critics have a bloody good time with Cynthia? Find out in our review roundup.

The West End production of William Nicholson’s Shadowlands, directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, is now playing at London’s Aldwych Theatre. See what the critics are saying about the production in BroadwayWorld's Review Roundup.

Eccentric artist Fenella Harford (Sylvestra Le Touzel) inherits her family’s stately home and uncovers a cache of hidden diaries that may rewrite its history. She recruits ambitious academic Marva (Rakie Ayola) to authenticate them, who in turn brings in her overlooked mentor Abi (Cherrelle Skeete), a meticulous expert with sharper instincts than she lets on. As the three women probe deeper into the documents, the house begins to yield uncomfortable truths about its colonial past. Personal histories begin to intertwine with national ones, tensions rise between the trio, and what starts as scholarly inquiry spirals into a confrontation with buried trauma, ownership, and the ghosts of Britain’s slave-trading legacy.

Lifeline is the kind of play that feels as though it was composed with the help of a mindmap with one word circled in the centre, around which all parts of the drama must orbit. In this case, that word – or phrase, in fact – was ‘antibiotic resistance’.

Gabby’s Dollhouse Live! delivers a bright and engaging theatrical experience that leans confidently into its message of friendship, resilience and imaginative play. This four star production translates the charm of the popular series into a lively stage show that keeps its young audience firmly at the centre of the action.

With countless depictions of Queen Victoria in the media, Daisy Goodwin has managed to create something original and thought-provoking. Forcing the audience to question both history and memory, it's the wonderful cast and stunning visuals that complement her script and make for an all-around exciting evening.

Pierre Choderlos de Laclos’s scandalous 1782 novel, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, has received several adaptations over the years. None more resonant than Christopher Hampton’s 1985 reinvention which is now revived and updated in a masterful manner by Marianne Elliot at the National Theatre.

Having been on and off, in London, LA, and  New York, since 2012, Choir Boy clearly isn’t going away any time soon. While occasionally off-kilter, this immaculately performed powerhouse production is proof that it’s the kind of show that deserves a place among the classics

Good songs and good performances but a curiously mixed message from Sara Bareilles's smash hit show

Inspired by a true story and based on the Miramax motion picture written by Geoff Deane and Tim Firth, Kinky Boots features a warm and witty book by four-time Tony Award-winner Harvey Fierstein and a richly diverse musical score from Grammy Award-winning rock icon Cyndi Lauper, in her stunning theatrical debut. The production is directed and choreographed by Tony Award-winner Jerry Mitchell , with music supervision, arrangements and orchestrations by Stephen Oremus. Starring Strictly Come Dancing's Johannes Radebe as Lola and X-Factor star Matt Cardle as Charlie, this revival is directed by Leicester Curve's artistic director Nicolai Foster, What did the critics think?

Robert Icke is back in the West End with another star-studded classic in tow. After tackling Sophocles last year, he returns to Shakespeare, revisiting the Bard’s most misrepresented tragedy: Romeo and Juliet. Fourteen years after his directorial debut for Headlong with a radical rendition of the same play, Icke doesn’t have anything to prove - we already know he’s in a league of his own. Stylised with an ampersand like all the cool kids do these days, this production is slick, focused, and profoundly sincere.

Agatha Christie’s Death on the Nile—here adapted by Ken Ludwig and directed by Lucy Bailey—arrives on stage with all the glamour and menace you’d hope for: a sun-soaked cruise, a clutch of suspiciously well-dressed passengers, and, inevitably, a murder that sends everything spiralling.

Last seen in the West End in 2019, Cyndi Lauper and Matt Fierstein's uplifting musical Kinky Boots finally struts its way back to London after a national tour. Originating at the Curve Leicester and directed by its artistic director Nikolai Foster, it brings starry sparkle to the stage with the casting of Strictly's Johannes Radebe, but fails to capture the energy and vigour of its previous iteration.

Mayerling is an experience - let no one tell you otherwise. Kenneth MacMillan’s 1978 ballet delves into the true story of the 19th century Austro-Hungarian court, and specifically the experience of the heir apparent; Crown Prince Rudolf.

**** 'It would be hard to not fall for the charm of Jaja’s African Hair Braiding. A celebration of femalehood, Black culture and community, it’s filled with a vibrant joy and celebration in part thanks to a cast who share a wonderful chemistry. As client Jennifer says, it’s like being at home for the day watching their 12-hour day unfold.'

​There aren’t many times in your life where you can safely say you’ve watched a lip-sync routine to a song about being on Jobseeker’s Allowance, all the while having just watched a clown piece seemingly about how Year 7’s always have backpacks larger than them. However, Long Night Production’s Chaos III brought audiences of The Pleasance Theatre exactly that last night, in a two-and-a-half-hour piece showcasing some new emerging talent, and a whole load of unexpected twists and turns.

Henry V of England is one of those big roles for an actor. Alfie Enoch follows in the footsteps of Laurence Olivier and Tom Hiddleston as the king who led a battalion of tired and outnumbered soldiers to victory. Excellent performances may save it, but co-artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company Tamara Harvey’s take on this history play is unfortunately bland and unfocused. It’s something we’ve seen too many times before.

What did our critic think of BOOK REVIEW: THE PLAYS OF HENRICK IBSEN, BY DAVID IRVIN at Bookshops?

Revival of 1935 play could have much relevance to today, but cannot find a route out of slow and dated writing

When John Proctor is the Villain opened on Broadway last year, it lit a fire. Kimberly Belflower’s response to Arthur Miller’s The Crucible is more than play, it’s a movement. After shaking things up overseas, the piece is taking on London now (in the same venue that saw the U.K. premiere of Miller’s chef d’oeuvre seven decades ago almost to the day!) with its full creative team in tow and a brand new cast.

A new production by Natalie Abrahami and Michael Levine, The Turn of the Screw at the Royal Opera House haunts with eerie staging, finely judged performances, and Benjamin Britten’s still-chilling score.

When this Rigoletto first opened the Royal Opera House’s first full season after the long pandemic silence, it felt less like a return to normality and more like a statement of intent. To relaunch with Rigoletto, arguably Giuseppe Verdi’s bleakest work, was a bold, almost confrontational choice. This is, after all, an opera in which a young woman is roughly kidnapped at the whim of one man and murdered by another. No sugar-coating, no operatic comfort blanket. Just darkness, undiluted.