Apart from the infamously expensive (and risk assessment defying) Broadway production of Spiderman: Turn Off the Dark, there hasn’t really been a show that specifically caters to fans of the Marvel/DC comic universes in the musical theatre canon. Eugenius! fits that gap in the genre and is a gloriously silly evening of superheroes and 80s tunes. Following a concert debut at the London Palladium and an initial run at The Other Palace in Spring 2018, Eugenius! returns with a few tweaks, a … [Read more...]
Review of West Side Story at The Great Hall, Bishopsgate Institute
The Bishopsgate Institute is a stone’s throw from Liverpool Street Station. Step inside the Great Hall and you are instantly transported to an Upper West Side Manhattan basketball court framed by chain-linked fence and scaffolding reminiscent of the towering fire escapes associated with the city’s architecture. This is the setting for the Institute’s take on Jerome Robbins’ 1957 masterpiece, West Side Story, directed by Toby Hine. Inspired by Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet, the game-changing … [Read more...]
Review of I Wish My Life Were Like A Musical at Crazy Coqs
Wouldn’t life be better if it were like a musical? Alexander S. Bermange certainly thinks so as he presents his musical revue at Crazy Coqs about the journey of an actor from fresh-faced drama school graduate through to a “past-it” chorus member, directed by Paul Foster. The cast of four actors reunites Suzie Mathers and Oliver Savile from their stints in Company (Aberdeen) and Wicked (London), as well as Liam Tamne and Diana Vickers who were in the 2016 UK Tour of the Rocky Horror Show … [Read more...]
Review of A Spoonful of Sherman at Greenwich Theatre
The Sherman family have been in songwriting business for over a century. Spanning three generations, Al Sherman, his sons Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman (known as “the Sherman Brothers”) and Al’s grandson, Robert J. Sherman, have produced an impressive catalog of uplifting melodies and lyrics for film, theatre and radio etc. Their music has been part of countless childhoods and now Robert J. Sherman has crafted and collated his family’s expansive repertoire into the show A Spoonful of Sherman … [Read more...]
Review of A Girl and A Gun at The Vault Festival – London
Swiss-French film director Jean-Luc Godard once said, “All you need to make a movie is a girl and a gun”. The truth behind this statement is explored in Louise Orwin’s piece A Girl and a Gun, produced by Jen Smethurst, which made a return to the Vaults Festival this week following a successful run last year. Orwin stars as “her” in the piece. Her on-stage partner for each performance is played by a male actor who has not seen the script and is unaware of what will happen over the course of … [Read more...]
Review of Dogfight the musical at the Bridewell Theatre
Before The Greatest Showman, before Dear Evan Hansen and even before La La Land, composers Benj Pasek and Justin Paul wrote Dogfight, based on the 1991 film of the same name, about a group of marines on their last night on the town in San Francisco in 1963 before being shipped out to Vietnam. Their songs paired with a book by Peter Duchan resulted in the creation of Dogfight the musical, which is currently being performed in an amateur production by London's Stock Exchange Dramatic and Operatic … [Read more...]
Overheard at The Bunker Theatre – Review
The premise of Christopher Adams’ production is an intriguing one: an entire piece of theatre sculpted out of overheard conversations in London. On arrival at the Bunker Theatre, I was given some programme notes that outlined the rules that underpinned this performance piece: 1. Recording must only be done in a public place. 2. People must be speaking publicly in that public place. 3. Never go somewhere specifically to record. 4. The text is anonymised. 5. What they said is written down … [Read more...]