UK / WEST END THEATER REVIEWS

The Prince Edward theatre, currently the home of 'Mary Poppins', witnessed another piece of magic on Sunday 23 September, when it became the venue for a star-studded gala tribute to legendary Broadway lyricist/tunesmith, Jerry Herman - a show scheduled to be aired on BBC Radio 2's Friday Night Is M...

On Saturday September 22 the curtain came down on the last performance of the world premiere of the Maltby/Shire/Weidman musical, 'Take Flight', at the Menier Chocolate Factory - just proverbially of course, as the beautifully intimate space created by set designer David Farley dispensed with the us...

The awakening of members of a Jewish family in 1930s New York serves to represent the awakening of the American nation to a world of social change in Clifford Odets' ground-breaking drama, 'Awake and Sing'. Michael Attenborough's revival at the Almeida theatre recreates the atmosphere of this classi...

As Wicked in London approaches its first anniversary at the Apollo Victoria Theatre, it last night finally saw the arrival of the show's first all-British line up, with Dianne Pilkington, Oliver Tompsett and Andy Mace taking over the roles of Glinda, Fiyero and Dr Dillamond respectively. ...

Often musicals or plays that deal with highly emotive subjects can be accused of taking themselves too seriously and run the risk of becoming pretentious. The problem with the new musical 'Imagine This' is that it perhaps does not take itself seriously enough. Set in the Warsaw Ghetto during the w...

From the second that the new Watermill theatre production of 'Martin Guerre' begins through to its final chilling note, the audience is totally captivated in the atmosphere of a spine-tingling dramatic and musical world that represents all that is best in musical theatre. In the Watermill's intim...

Gary Griffin - fresh from the success of his recent Broadway production, 'The Color Purple' - has returned to London (where his Donmar Warehouse production of Sondheim's 'Pacific Overtures' won him a richly deserved Olivier Award in 2003) to present a revival of the 1950s musical, 'Kismet' at the L...

During the last twenty years or so the 'epic' musical has become a major element in mainstream musical theatre. Now the stage of the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane witnesses what could almost be described as the epic to dwarf all epics. Following in the wake of the award winning box office smash film ada...

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Although originally entitled An Accident Waiting to Happen, this is a show that is anything but: from the first of a barrage of knee-slapping gags to the very last clichéd twist, if taken for what it is, The Drowsy Chaperone is a comic gem that doesn't disappoint...

Last Night, Tuesday 29th May, Sheffield Crucible's transfer of Fiddler On The Roof opened to the press at The Savoy Theatre. Here's what our reviewer thought.....

Despite a much weaker first half, due to a myriad of problems both in script and cartoonish delivery, Merrily We Roll Along rewards audience loyalty by producing a touching, superior second act that has many beautiful moments....

Peter Shaffer's 1973 play, 'Equus', a thoroughly absorbing and gripping psychological drama, rears its head once more in the West End in Thea Sharrock's revival at the Gielgud theatre. And the play has lost none of its power and ability to challenge the mind and shock the senses....

'The Glass Menagerie' is a play about truth and illusion. Rupert Goold's staging at the Apollo theatre manages to reveal truth with appropriate subtlety of direction and paints a pleasantly disguised illusion with atmospheric lighting and a quartet of strong performances...

Thursday January 18 saw the premiere of Jason Robert Brown's 'Songs For A New World' by the Young Opera Company at the E-Werk theatre in Freiburg, Germany. On an opening night when a raging storm ravaged the German countryside, the cast of Martina Muhlpointer, Miriam Lotz, Tobias Weis and Kit Orton ...

Robert McWhir's staging of the Kander and Ebb song showcase 'The World Goes Round', with musical direction by Heather Weir (currently playing at the Landor Theatre until February 10), displays an uneven mix of superb musical renditions and some near misses. Most of the songs are delivered with a hig...

The unlikely friendship between the Good Witch and the Wicked one has a never-ending curiosity for all ages and both sexes, which should therefore see audiences packing the theatre for years. ...

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With all guns blazing, the loud, brash, crude puppet phenomenon of Avenue Q hops over the pond to London's West End....

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Chitty Chitty Bang Bang seems to have won a place in peoples' hearts....

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Stephen Sondheim's Sweeney Todd is a dark tale which is supposed to thrill and entertain in the blackest of ways. It highlights the story of a murderous demon barber who starts to dispense with locals after forming a business partnership with the owner of the local pie shop....

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