I have to start this review by admitting I’m not a big fan of Agatha Christie’s work. I’ve never read any of her novels as I’ve always felt Miss Marple was twee in tweeds and Hercule Poirot’s moustache-twiddling never tweaked my interest and although I’m a regular theatregoer, I’ve never had the slightest inclination to see the world’s longest running play The Mousetrap. However, one of Christie’s best-known novels The Mirror Cracked From Side To Side with a brand-new adaptation from Rachel … [Read more...]
Barb Jungr and her Trio: My Marquee
It’s ironic that Barb Jungr unveiled her latest set of songs at The Crazy Coqs last night. The venue is London’s finest cabaret room with its art deco styling, plush red velvet curtains and seating for all - a delight for all the senses. However, Barb’s new set following in her shows featuring Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, features songs connected to another of London’s famous music venues, The Marquee Club. The club which started out in Oxford Street but became really famous when it moved to 90 … [Read more...]
Melissa Errico – Out Of The Dark: The Film Noir Project
During the recent pandemic lockdown, singer Melissa Errico found herself with time on her hands. Her children were homeschooling and her husband (Patrick McEnroe, brother of John) was quarantined in the basement with covid. So Errico turned to those iconic black and white film noir movies of the forties and fifties for comfort and realised that the songs associated with those films could be turned into an album and as soon as lockdown was over, she went into the studio and recorded Out Of The … [Read more...]
Knock Down at Brixton House
Dropped Tea Theatre who have produced Knock Down in conjunction with Brixton House, the superb brand-new theatre in Brixton, are three young, southeast Londoners, Nassy Konan, Eva Bradley-Williams and Jesse Bateson who are interested in making work that celebrates and amplifies London’s lost voices and they’ve certainly done that with Knock Down, a site-specific, promenade production that explores, examines and celebrates the memories and stories of people living in the area. After … [Read more...]
Strictly Ballroom at Bromley Theatre – UK Tour
Strictly Ballroom started out in 1992 as a highly rated and critically acclaimed film written and directed by Baz Luhrmann. Then in 2011, it was turned into Strictly Ballroom The Musical and it has had a checkered history ever since then. There have been a number of productions some using pre-existing songs and some using pre-existing songs combined with songs written especially for the show - the version that’s now touring the UK is of the latter variety. This production too has had its … [Read more...]
The Commitments at The Churchill Theatre, Bromley
The Commitments started life back in 1987 as part of The Barrytown Trilogy of novels written by Roddy Doyle. Then in 1991 director Alan Parker got Doyle, Dick Clement and Ian La Frenais to adapt the book into a screenplay which became a much-lauded movie which won four BAFTAs and an Oscar nomination. Then the next stage in the novel’s journey was to turn the story of these itinerant Dublin musicians into a full-blown stage musical which premiered in 2013 at the Palace Theatre running for just … [Read more...]
2:22 A Ghost Story at The Criterion Theatre
Danny Robins’ play 2:22 A Ghost Story opened at the Noël Coward Theatre in August 2021 to great acclaim garnering three Olivier nominations. It then transferred with a new cast to The Gielgud and is now at The Criterion Theatre with its second cast change at its latest home 2:22 A Ghost Story is set in one of those old Victorian houses you often see on television programmes such as 'George Clarke’s Old House, New Home' where an upwardly mobile young couple have bought an old house and … [Read more...]