A few years ago, singer songwriter Judith Owen and husband Harry Shearer (of Spinal Tap and The Simpsons fame) opened their Santa Monica home for an annual gathering at Christmas for family and friends where music would be played, songs sung, and jokes told, and the evenings grew into heart-warming house parties. Then in 2005, the couple decided that they would move … [Read more...]
Annie at New Wimbledon Theatre | Review
In 1979 I took our two daughters to see Annie at the Victoria Palace and they loved it. Last night, 40 years on, I took one of my grand-daughters to see it at Wimbledon Theatre and she loved it too. The show is one of those hardy perennials that just goes on and on and refuses to die - and quite right too. Annie with music by Charles Strouse, lyrics by Martin … [Read more...]
Maria Friedman: From the Heart at the Queen Elizabeth Hall
As the audience enters the auditorium of the Queen Elizabeth Hall, a single spotlight shines down from the ceiling highlighting a single microphone stand. The dust and atmosphere drift like smoke up into the rafters; it’s an iconic image - like moonlight in a forest. Then Maria Friedman enters from stage left and a marvellous evening of entertainment begins as the … [Read more...]
Murder In The Cathedral by T.S. Eliot at Southwark Cathedral
As we entered the nave of the cathedral to watch a site-specific performance of T S Eliot’s verse drama Murder In The Cathedral, we were seated almost in the back row with the stage a long, long way in the distance. My companion turned to me and said “The stage is almost in a different borough” which was apt as were actually in Borough as this wasn’t Canterbury … [Read more...]
The Entertainer at Churchill Theatre, Bromley | Review
John Osborne wrote The Entertainer in 1957 after Laurence Olivier asked him to write a play about an angry, middle-aged man and the fading (and failing) music hall artist Archie Rice was born. It became one of the defining roles of Olivier’s illustrious career - he also starred in the 1960 film of the play and was nominated for an Oscar. Since then the part has been … [Read more...]
Ghost Quartet at the Boulevard Theatre | Review
As someone who’s been going to the theatre for almost fifty years and has been reviewing for the past decade or so, it takes a lot for this old theatre cynic to be swept away and astounded by a musical but that’s what happened to me last night watching Ghost Quartet at London’s newest theatre the Boulevard in Soho. The last time it happened to me was a few years ago … [Read more...]
High Fidelity at The Turbine Theatre | Review
When Nick Hornby wrote High Fidelity a book about love and relationships set in a run-down north London record shop back in 1985, he probably didn’t visualise it becoming a film and then a musical that would be running over thirty years later but that’s exactly what’s happened and there’s even going to be a TV series next year! The film was transposed from London … [Read more...]
Sweet Little Mystery – The Songs of John Martyn | Review
First of all, I have to come clean. I’m a big fan of Sarah Jane Morris. I’ve seen her many times live and have all of her albums. I’m also a big fan of John Martyn’s music although the only time I saw him live was when he staggered drunkenly onto the stage at the Shepherd’s Bush Empire to sing with The Band and almost fell off into the audience! Sarah Jane has … [Read more...]
Nigel Slater’s Toast at Richmond Theatre | Review
In the past I’ve sat a few rows away from Stephen Sondheim at a performance of Follies. Sat two seats away from Leslie Bricusse watching The Roar Of The Greasepaint, The Smell Of The Crowd and sat a few seats away from Stephen Schwartz watching Pippin. I’ve probably sat in a theatre with the author of a play I was watching but can’t be certain of that. However last … [Read more...]