UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

You can forget your troubles or wallow in the richness of Blues in the Night, currently at the Kiln Theatre. The musical revue follows four individuals, known simply as The Lady (Sharon D Clarke), The Woman (Debbie Kurup), The Man (Clive Rowe) and The Girl (Gemma Sutton)....

The View Upstairs tells the story of the 1973 arson attack on a gay bar in New Orleans, through the lens of a time-travelling millennial who exists as part of the modern day LGBTQ+ community....

Straight from a clamorously successful run in the City of Lights (and capital of style), Jean Paul Gaultier: Fashion Freak Show comes to London to celebrate fashion's most renowned enfant terrible. The two-hour raucus revue is hard to define and absolutely impossible to pigeonhole....

An aged couple discover that their seemingly perfect marriage is not all it appears to be and as the past comes back to haunt them, secrets surface and their lives are changed forever in this slightly surreal domestic comedy But is farce back in fashion or does it fall flat here?...

While the beginning of a heatwave raged outside the Menier Chocolate Factory, attendees of the UK premiere production of The Bridges of Madison County, directed by Trevor Nunn, were transported to a hot summer of a different kind in Iowa in the 1960s....

Having children is stressful. Sometimes it's ugly and it's definitely loud, but there's a weird kind of pleasure attached to watching a small human grow because of the love and nurture provided to them. Parenthood details the journey that goes from conception to seeing the former bundles of joy leav...

This epic WNO production captures the scale of Prokofiev's ambition with a chorus that, like the Russian winter, just keeps coming....

Oklahoma! stands at the very start of musical theatre's post-war re-invention on Broadway, Rodgers and Hammerstein's template for storytelling on show for two wonderful hours. However, this production raises some unexpected questions....

It's tricky to find the words to describe this show, seeing as the majority of the positive ones have probably been used before. Comments such as 'amazing', 'spectacular', 'jaw dropping' are lathered across social media and posters advertising the event. All of them are correct. All of them are word...

a?oeParisians hiss new balleta?? read The New York Times upon the première of Igor Stravinsky's The Rite of Spring (with choreography from the renowned Vaslav Nijinsky) back in 1913; it supposedly sparked riots as the audience reacted badly to this daring piece of music, though it's thought that th...

Evolving artists with differing amounts of stage experience formed a variably green, prepared and overworked ensemble in this summer showcase of the Royal Opera's young roster singers....

Immersive dining experiences continue to be a huge trend, especially in the capital. One of the forerunners of the genre, Gingerline, proves that it continues to innovate and entertain with its new immersive dining experience; Chambers_....

Theatre royalty Lea Salonga concluded her tour with a spectacular last night at the London Palladium. The crowds who gathered to catch a glimpse of the prowess of her voice were treated to 17 pieces that included crowd-pleasers as well as stunning arrangements of beloved songs....

*****#JakubHrusa builds a wondrous labyrinth of melodies with @bambergsymphony and @JoshuaBellMusic in the original #BohemianRhapsody @BBCProms...

Baron Pendleton and the (Semi) Reform Club pin teams against one other in the coolest feats in London. With only about 80 minutes' worth of time, participants need to trot around the Southbank and Covent Garden to gather clues, funds, and make pressing purchases ahead of their trip around the world....

The newly launched theatre company 3 hearts canvas take what's supposed to be a caustic look at the world of entertainment assembling an array of Christopher Durang's short plays directed by Lydia Parker....

You must have been living under a rock or watching too much Love Island if you have missed the 50th anniversary of the first manned mission to land on the Moon. The BBC Proms continues this celebration with a fantastically energetic and nuanced Prom 4: The Planets....

First seen touring in 2014, Anthony Horowitz's comic mystery The Falcon's Maltester was a hit at the 2015 Edinburgh Festival and now comes to London's The Vaults for a run that's ideal entertainment for the kids' summer holidays....

In a pitiful bedsit in one of the roughest estates in Hull, Lad and Lass are found surviving on a diet of vodka and cigarettes. The unfortunate circumstances and an already toxic relationship push them to the brink on a daily basis, binding them to each other and to the realisation that they might n...

Our Church looks at how a moral dilemma impacts on a small community and at how pain can vibrate through decades before re-surfacing - and it avoids the glibness of a resolution founded in easy answers....

Written by Ryan Craig, Games for Lovers centres on four individuals looking for sex, love and a well-located flat and so begins a match of rivalry, seduction and one-upmanship....

In Tahiti in 1940, a penniless Tennessee Williams lay in a hammock beside another writer also despairing of ever finding success, both binge-drinking rum-cocos and welcoming the dramatic storms that temporarily eclipsed their melancholy. To make matters worse, a party of German Nazis was bragging ab...

Finborough Theatre hosts the world premiere of Tegan McLeod's first full length play, Lunatic 19's. Originally from Iowa, she moved to the UK to go to Oxford and after a series of short plays she's tackling ICE and deportation in a piece that starts quite strong but gets unfortunately sidetracked....

Oh Lord! The second Biblical Andrew Lloyd Webber opening of the week (taking his current London production total up to a whopping five from next month) is his early collaboration with Tim Rice, celebrating 50 years since its original concept album, and back home at the Palladium. But a joyfully fres...

Jellyfish is a wonderful piece of writing brilliantly brought to life by a marvellous cast in which Sarah Gordy shines....