Reviews by Chris Omaweng

I wouldn’t exactly say Ben Forster appearing as himself in this musical comedy is a career highlight (he is, after all, someone who has played the title role in the West End production of The Phantom of the Opera) but it’s evident that he doesn’t take himself too seriously in A Killer Party. The narrative arc is as predictable as night follows day. In short, this is a murder mystery story in which various leads are followed up, some more plausible than others, before eventually there’s a … [Read more...]

It’s an intricate plot, laced with some subversive humour - that the female character is simply called ‘The Woman’ (Molly Lynch), for instance, is itself a kind of commentary on how women were treated a century ago. There is an objection to some of the more overtly misogynistic lyrics (in the show within the show), arguably from a surprising source, but the discussions around what could or should be sacrificed to make a show more appealing have some contemporary applicability. Geoffrey … [Read more...]

Andrea McArdle didn’t, when the 1978 movie Rainbow was released, look or sound like Judy Garland, and she still doesn’t. You’d be forgiven for thinking that this is neither here nor there, except she played the role of Garland in the film and so one might reasonably expect the casting director to have considered someone who broadly resembles the person they are playing, especially someone as well-known as Garland. It is not, of course, McArdle’s fault, and neither are the negative experiences … [Read more...]

Mandy Gonzalez is one of those Broadway actresses with a number of dedicated fans and followers, and it’s easy to see why given her sunny disposition that lit up the (virtual) room in this episode of The Seth Concert Series. She is still contracted to the Broadway production of Hamilton, where she has played the role of Angelica Schuyler Church since September 2016, though the audience was treated to a rendering of ‘You’ll Be Back’, ordinarily performed (as fans of the show will know) by King … [Read more...]

The narrative is so credible one wonders if there are autobiographical elements to In Pieces. Set in New York City, the show portrays the transitory nature of living in the Big Apple, particularly for an age group whose lives often end up being vastly different to whatever plans they may have previously set out - assuming, of course, they had firm plans for the future in the first place. These characters come across as the sort of people who might just struggle ever so slightly with the dreaded … [Read more...]