Stop! In The Name Of Love - 1988 - West End Articles Page 1

Everyone's favorite plus-sized civil rights crusader is on stage again in Columbus.

Based on the beloved 1988 film but modernized around the edges, “Working Girl” at the La Jolla Playhouse has big expectations and even bigger hair, but never quite hits the mark.

What did our critic think of HAIRSPRAY at Scherr Forum Theatre? 5-Star Theatricals' production of Hairspray, which opened October 10 at the Scherr Forum Theatre in Thousand Oaks, is the bubbly, effervescent morality tale about civil rights in Baltimore in the early ’60s that won Tony awards for best musical, book, and score.

Perhaps no one is more surprised Steve Hackett is doing a retrospective on THE LAMB 50 years after the fact than the guitarist himself. THE LAMB was ranked in the top ten of Rolling Stone magazine’s top 50 progressive rock albums of all time. The BBC called it a “conceptual masterpiece.” Hackett has another word for it: an anomaly.

Brian Wilson, musical genius and founder of the Beach Boys, died today (Wednesday, June 11, 2025), so in honor of him, here is an article of the 40 greatest Beach Boys songs that I wrote for Broadway World two years ago.  Love & Mercy, Brian!

Proctors and Capital Repertory Theatre have announced 2025-26 seasons, featuring a mix of Broadway blockbusters, beloved classics, and bold new works. Learn more here!

'Mystic Pizza,' the marvelous new musical, is now being performed at Paper Mill Playhouse (PMP). It is based on the fan-favorite 1988 Metro Goldwyn Mayer rom-com by the same name with story and characters by Amy Holden Jones. 

This Halloween season, BroadwayWorld is taking a look at Tim Burton's musical theater connections, both onscreen and onstage, as well as offering some spooky listening to match the vibes of spooky season.

54 BELOW will present some of the brightest stars from Broadway, cabaret, jazz, and beyond in September. Learn more and see how to purchase tickets.

Tickets for BEETLEJUICE, RENT, Itzhak Perlman, Neil deGrasse Tyson, and more go on sale August 13 at the Lied Center. Don't miss these exciting performances and events.

The Lied Center's 2024-2025 season will feature more than 35 events including top artists and ensembles from around the world in dance, classical music, jazz, musical theater, comedy, family, illusion, and more.  

This week, the touring production of HAIRSPRAY presented by Broadway Across Canada made its stop in Vancouver. Playing at the Queen Elizabeth Theatre from April 2nd the 7th, the musical made an indelible mark in Vancouver theatre as a truly memorable and energetic show. 

A lively, vibrant new jukebox musical based on the 1988 film, La Mirada Theatre's fun and entertaining new production of MYSTIC PIZZA—now playing through February 11, 2024—is a charming, if forgivably predictable coming-of-age tale featuring 80's/90's hits and a cast of likable actors and characters that will easily win audiences' affections.

North Reading resident Greg Kalafatas was studying theater at the University of New Hampshire when a road trip with friends to see the Broadway production of “Hairspray” introduced him to a character that has become his dream role – Edna Turnblad, the  zaftig housewife-and-laundress with a big heart.

Single tickets are on sale today for the Dallas stop on the North American Tour of BEETLEJUICE, the edgy and irreverent Broadway smash hit musical comedy. BEETLEJUICE will play Dallas’ Music Hall at Fair Park from February 20 - March 3.

Are you bound for the Philadelphia area this fall.  There’s so much to see and do that our readers will like to know about. 

Audiences can expect remarkable contemporary dance, powerful theatre, delicious cuisine, engaging conversations and brilliant musicians when OzAsia Festival, Australia’s leading contemporary arts festival engaging with Asia, returns to Adelaide Festival Centre from October 19 to November 5.

Arkansas is saturated with an abundance of talent, whether it be on a theatrical stage, a concert hall, or on the radio. Quite often the talent overlaps from one avenue to the next. This can be said about Radio Royalty Sharpe Dunaway. Though he has switched from radio to videography (you know....video killed the radio star- Trevor Horn, Geoff Downes and Bruce Woolley ca. 1979), Sharpe has a lot of history when it comes to Arkansas entertainment. Broadway World’s favorite MC Blake Woodson sat down with Sharpe to reminisce about all of the Rockstars he has met over the years, but first we wanted to know how he got into videography.  

HAIRSPRAY is a chipper, wildly energetic show, and if you can leave your inner skeptic at the door, you might see a glimmer of hope. If not that, then you’ll certainly have basked in some joy for a couple of hours.

'Good Vibrations'? 'California Girls'? 'I Get Around'? See where your favorite Beach Boys songs land on the list!

If there is a Heaven on Earth, Barth Grayson Farms in Bald Knob could possibly be it. At approximately 1,000 acres, give or take a few hundred, this land has it all: walking trails, a gorgeous 8-acre lake, vegetable gardens, herds of frolicking deer, and rolling hills that cater to the multitudes of music lovers that visit the area.  

​​​​​​​This weekend will see the grand final of the biggest music event in the world come to Liverpool. The Eurovision Song Contest has created many a musical theatre star, but Sweden have been delighted for 14 years by commentary from a powerhouse of Swedish theatre, TV and film. I spoke with writer, director and TV star Edward af Sillén about his career and love for the contest.

As if the universe knew that our increasingly divisive country is in desperate need to revisit this hit 2002 Tony Award-winning musical again, HAIRSPRAY has now embarked on a brand new non-equity national tour starring RuPaul's Drag Race fan favorite Nina West. The show, now at Segerstrom Center for the Arts through April 30, does not disappoint.

After a momentous 50th anniversary season, MainStage Irving-Las Colinas has announced their 2023-2024 season entitled “Secrets, Lies, and Chaos.” The season will begin with a production of the play Tigers Be Still - MainStage's first produced show at their downtown Irving venue, MainStage 222 - and continue with five productions each running for three weekends at Irving Arts Center – Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The 39 Steps, Dear Brutus, Grand Hotel, the Musical, and The Children's Hour. 

Bobby McFerrin, Nirvana, Ma Rainey, Nile Rodgers, Slick Rick 'The Ruler,' The Supremes, and Ann Wilson and Nancy Wilson of Heart are the 2023 Recording Academy Lifetime Achievement Award recipients; Henry Diltz, Ellis Marsalis and Jim Stewart are the Trustees Award recipients.