UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

All the talk about this Richard III will be about Martin Freeman. It's unavoidable really. Well-known television star takes on one of the big Shakespearean roles and a role outside what might be seen as his comfort zone. Any review therefore will need to confront this head on....

Revenge or justice - that's the debate offered by Oliver Cotton's star-studded West End transfer of Daytona. Just how should you react when the past you'd tried so hard to forget suddenly forces itself back into the present?...

Gary Naylor sees the West End's Jean Valjean deliver an exhilarating preview of his forthcoming album, High, with plenty of top notch guests to lend more big voices to an already very big voice indeed....

Gary Naylor takes a magnificently entertaining trip through the history of the British Musical, a show brimming with intelligence, wit and great tunes delivered with great skill and warmth....

It's an unlikely venue for Shakespeare, a 24-storey 60s tower block in East London. But for the talented Rift Company's new production of Macbeth it creates perfect setting for innovative and intimate theatre....

Carrie Dunn reviews the cinematic release of From Here To Eternity: The Musical, starring Darius Campbell, Robert Lonsdale, Rebecca Thornhill and Siubhan Harrison....

With recent theatrical revivals full of fresh interpretations and performances, Jerome Robbins' new production of West Side Story moves directly against recent trends and towards the origins of this story of heartbreaking love....

Forbidden Broadway is back at the Menier Chocolate Factory (last seen there in 2009) and it's like it never left. With a first class cast, excellent musical direction and a ceaseless barrage of jibes about your favourite shows, this is a jolly, fun night out....

Gary Naylor sees a open air promenade production that exhausts cast and audience with its relentless spectacle and cruelty - but believes it was all worth it for such a splendid production....

Gary Naylor sees a magnificently accessible production of Twelfth Night, brimming with charm, music and laughter, aimed at kids, but suitable - recommended - for everyone!...

Mark Benton leads the company for the latest revival of Harold Brighouse's family comedy Hobson's Choice, at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. Moved 80 years in the future to the 1960s this new production attempts to tackle gender politics as well as making the most of the music and fashion from t...

Anne Washburn's Mr Burns at the Almeida Theatre is one of the boldest, most intellectually complex plays to be found on a London stage - and many theatregoers will probably disdain it for celebrating 'low culture'. They are missing the point by about 150 miles....

Happy Days - the Musical is set in a colourful 1959 on a backdrop of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Based on the popular US sitcom which ran for ten years from 1974-1984, the TV show still harbours a mass number of fans on a worldwide scale. Garry Marshall, the creator of Happy Days, decided to write a book ...

The rift between old and new generations is put under the microscope in Brian Friel's FATHERS AND SONS, an adaption of the 19th century Russian novel of the same name. In this new production at London's tiny Donmar Warehouse a fantastic company pull out the wit and emotion in an otherwise philosophi...

Gary Naylor sees a slice of London's Victorian underbelly brought back to life in a play that packs less punch than it might do despite some committed performances and a fascinating set-up....

Picture Perfect, a gloriously sung revue of the work of Scott Evan Davis, provides a reassuring look at the talent working in new musical theatre both in the UK and the USA. Conceived by Simon Greiff, Davis' material is pieced together with the help of occasional fragments of dialogue to create an e...

Life of the Party is a rollicking evening, showcasing Andrew Lippa as a singularly talented theatre songwriter. His work and a supremely talented cast make the show a delight for existing fans of the composer and for those neophytes ready to be converted....

Gary Naylor sees an epic production of Antony and Cleopatra dominated by the two lead actors and the extraordinary, unique, chilly Globe Theatre, down by the Thames, somewhere about 1606 - or so it feels....

BAKERSFIELD MIST, Stephen Sachs' study on authenticity, delivers a theatre masterclass from Kathleen Turner and Ian McDiarmid at one of the West End's smallest theatres - The Duchess....

To be honest, if you're interested enough to read this review, I'm fairly sure you'll enjoy Scooby-Doo - The Mystery of the Pyramid (now touring the UK). It may not be groundbreaking theatre, but that's not what it's there for - it's a brisk romp through your typical Scooby-Doo story, with songs a...

In 2009, Theatre Royal Haymarket mounted what is heralded as the most successful production ever of Samuel Beckett's WAITING FOR GODOT. It was followed by the first-ever staged adaptation of Truman Capote's BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S. Recently, a documentary called THEATRELAND was released to DVD. The 2...

What did BWW:UK's reviewer think of the epic musical's return to London after its lengthy absence? How do the new cast perform the famous score? And are those special effects as stunning as ever?...

Having never been to the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre before, all I knew was the buzz and excitement other people gave off about previous shows there. Walking through the main entrance, immediately there's a warming and unique atmosphere; perhaps it's just because it's that time of year when we ca...

When the orchestra began to play the opening number - Leigh Harline and Ned Washington's Disney signature song, 'When You Wish Upon A Star' - the music began to swell and swirl around the space of the Actors' Church in a way that clearly promised that this was going to be an evening of musical magic...

The St James Theatre is currently presenting a new play by Sheila Feehily, This May Hurt a Bit: a fundamentally very serious play, with relevant, very important themes - and it's kooky and fun!...