The problem with this production of Zorro the Musical isn’t that it’s largely very silly and won’t appeal to everyone’s sense of humour. The problem is that some of the performances aren’t as hammy as they ought to be to maximise the extravagant flair with which certain scenes are almost crying out to be performed. Some of the lyrics weren’t wholly decipherable either, which didn’t help. Set as it is in Spain and Los Angeles in 1805, the cast adopt Spanish accents, some of which are more … [Read more...]
London Musical Reviews for West End and Off West End
If you are planning to visit London to see a musical on stage at one of the West End theatres, or a musical in one of the many Off West End or Fringe venues, then maybe our London musical reviews section can be of help? Read one of the latest reviews or use the search button to find and view one of our previous reviews. We use a star rating system on our site.
Six: ‘something about the feistiness, the sassiness, the riotousness of it all’
There’s a good mix of musical styles amongst the ten musical numbers, though most of the melodies are firmly in the style of what I call ‘minicab music’ – the sort of chart music tunes I would only listen to if I were being driven home and the driver just so happened to have the radio on. But there’s something about the feistiness, the sassiness, the riotousness of it all. I liked the music so much I bought the cast recording on the way out. It only leaves me to wish Six a long and glorious reign.
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The Rocky Horror Show at Churchill Theatre, Bromley
From an audience perspective, the performance of The Rocky Horror Show I attended was a fairly sedate affair: there were no evangelical fanatics protesting outside the theatre, and patrons who had dressed for the occasion were very much in the minority. Every venue on this ‘World Tour 2022’ (as the front cover of the show’s programme puts it), I suppose, is different, and every performance is in front of a different crowd. It was reassuring, as someone who hadn’t ever seen the show before, and … [Read more...]
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie at New Wimbledon Theatre
Recently, I was talking to a graduate about their life. At 18, they had decided they wanted to be a midwife. They took out all the requisite student loans, went to University, studied for three years and two years after passing the course and graduating as a midwife, they are a chartered accountant. It just goes to show that your mid-teens is not necessarily the time to decide where you want your future career to lie. Unless you are someone with a definite sense of where you want to go and where … [Read more...]
Dear Evan Hansen at the Noël Coward Theatre
No matter how good a person you may be, everyone reading this review will have told a lie at some point in their lives. The big question is why do people lie? Many people lie to protect their own feelings, self-esteem, self-confidence, or other personal emotion. Others though will lie to protect the feelings of others and spare someone else pain or hurt. And it's to this second group that the hero of Dear Evan Hansen at the Noel Coward Theatre belongs, or does he? Evan is a 17-year-old … [Read more...]
School of Rock – The Musical at New Wimbledon Theatre
The great thing about taking a show like School of Rock the Musical on tour is that it draws audiences who wouldn’t have necessarily travelled into the West End to see, well, anything – and here, the production’s quality is as good as I recall it was when the show had a residency at what was then called the New London Theatre. Dewey Finn (Jake Sharp) takes a call from Rosalie Mullins (Rebecca Lock), the latter being the principal of Horace Green Preparatory School. There are unexpected … [Read more...]