UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

After seeing Missing, and experiencing an evening at BAC, all's that left to say is that this venue has truly risen from the ashes, and its future is definitely bright....

The musical phenomenon that continues to take audiences by storm is arguably uplifting and depressing in equal measure. In this new book, Sarah Whitfield explores the audience's relationship with Les Miserables and offers an entertaining dissection of the show's success....

It isn't often that the trifecta of the writing, directing and acting of a play harmonise perfectly into a deeply satisfying whole, but when that happens - as it does in Milly Thomas's award winning one-person play Dust - it makes for a very thrilling 80 minutes of pure theatre....

Jermyn Street Theatre kick off their Rebels season with the world premiere of Alice Allemano's About Leo. Aspiring journalist Eliza Prentice (Eleanor Wyld) lands in Mexico, bright-eyed and armed with pesky curiosity, pursuing her quest to interview ageing artist Leonora Carrington (Phoebe Pryce in h...

Stephen Karam's The Humans won numerous awards during its off-Broadway and 2016 Broadway run, picking up four wins out of six nominations at the Tony Awards. Now the New York cast and director, Joe Mantello, have transferred over to the Hampstead Theatre for its autumn term....

Take a feuding mother and daughter, a rebellious teenager granddaughter and throw in an outspoken lesbian feminist and you have the recipe for an unexpected treat at the Southwark Playhouse. Unexpected Joy is a new musical, written by Janet Hood and  Bill Russell, making its UK debut and follows ...

This version of the life of Hamilton - not that one, Hamilton (Lewis) - is a lot of fun for anyone in that crossover in the venn diagram for fans of Formula One and Musical Theatre. And, fortunately for the box office, plenty that are not....

Under the baton of Sir John Eliot Gardiner, the evening exuded Romantic electricity - of a calibre not always the most musical or Berliozian....

Hobson's Choice is given a late 50s makeover in this fine revival of a play the themes of which remain as relevant today as ever they were....

After opening to critical acclaim in 2009, the Original Theatre Company in collaboration with York Theatre Royal are bringing back Alan Bennett's The Habit of Art in its first revival since the original sell-out run. Centred around a fictional meeting between two of the 20th century's most influenti...

If people really do have layers, then Yasmina Reza's God Of Carnage is 80 minutes of stripping them away. Removing the layers of politeness and civility one by one until you're left with the core, for better or worse....

As the Proms enters September and we approach the end of the run of a staggering 91 concerts, Prom 70 sees the inaugural Tango Prom. Tango is celebrated for its sultry melodies and atmospheric use of the bandoneon, creating its unique identity known to social dancers and music fans alike....

Wild, raw, hilarious and tender, Clare Barron's electrifying play - first seen in New York earlier this year - is a candid portrait of prepubescent girls, rare compared with the myriad male coming-of-age tales. But, like its warrior women, Barron's piece fights for its space, and with a formal darin...

A show that bursts with great tunes, witty lyrics and fine singing that puts the six wives of Henry VIII back into the narrative - and about time too....

Caterpillar takes us to a seaside town guesthouse within which three dysfunctional people circle each other, troubled and needy....

National Youth Ballet has been providing opportunities for young dancers to perform as a company since 1988. Make no mistake, NYB is a wholly professional outfit that attracts upcoming and emerging choreographers to create work for its skilled performers. Perhaps most impressive of all, the work...

The London Palladium and The King and I have welcomed back to the stage Ruthie Ann Miles with a warm embrace. Miles, who was forced to quit performing after a devastating accident earlier in the year, reprises the role of Lady Thiang - the King of Siam's (Ken Watanabe) chief wife - to great acclaim....

As part of their 5th anniversary, the London Cabaret Club presents their new show Queen of Roses as a celebration of the reigns of Elizabeth I, Victoria and Elizabeth II. Originally a pop club at the Arts Club in London, they now have a permanent home within the beautiful Bloomsbury Ballroom. It is ...

A favourite at the Proms since its first inclusion in the programme in 1956, Giuseppi Verdi's tribute to the Italian poet Alessandro Manzoni had a standalone performance this week, helmed by conductor Andres Orozco-Estrada. Verdi's Requiem has a strong connection with the Royal Albert Hall, having f...

The first edition of the Italian Theatre Festival concludes with a work-in-progress performed by Complicite's co-founder Marcello Magni. Created by Magni himself with Gilles Aufrey and Oliver Barwell-Aufrey, But Why? Ma Perche consists of small profound sketches told and improvised on stage....

Italian tradition lands on the stage of The Print Room in the second (and last) day of the Italian Theatre Festival with Dario Fo's Mistero Buffo, directed by Eugenio Allegri and performed by Matthias Martelli. The series of monologues taps into popular tradition, drawing from Biblical apocrypha and...

Come down to the Southbank for a little circus, a little cabaret and a little naughty banter with the singer, the tumblers and the fire breathing woman....

Love's Labour's Lost is one of Shakespeare's earlier comedies and has never been one of his more popular plays. Even attempts to make it more appealing by Kenneth Branagh in 2000 by turning it into a musical did little to sway public opinion. Nick Bagnall's production focuses more on slapstick comed...

Lambert Jackson's debut show, There is Nothin' Like a Dame, was a smash hit with four talented actresses celebrating one hundred years of women in musical theatre. West End stars Louise Dearman, Ria Jones, Alexia Khadime, and Rachel Tucker showcased famous female roles from the past century in chron...

Alessandro Baricco's Novecento, beloved monologue of many an Italian and more, is presented as the second bill of the Italian Theatre Festival. It's directed by Gabriele Vacis and starring by Eugenio Allegri, the team who brought the show to life for the first time in 1994....