“I wanted to kill you so they couldn’t take you away from me”. As the audience enters the studio, photographs appear on the wall, a slideshow marking a young couple's happy memories. Laughing on the beach, running through cornfields, smiling at a summer's picnic. There are pensive pictures too, gazing into the distance, relaxed but not melancholy. The slideshow is accompanied by the sort of music you'd hear on an advert for Kodak: light, happy, nostalgic, and saccharine. But when the music … [Read more...]
London Theatre Reviews - West End & Off West End
Latest London Theatre Reviews
Read our latest theatre reviews and find out what our team of reviewers thought of London's latest productions of plays, musicals and shows. Browse our website for London Theatre Tickets for London West End Theatres. Book tickets for shows, musicals, plays, drama, opera, dance, comedy & more!
Review of Dirty Dancing at Piccadilly Theatre
My guilty secret is that 'Dirty Dancing' is my favourite film of all time, which is why I have always avoided seeing the musical - I was convinced it would spoil the film's perfection for me. I have to say, this was not the case. The musical sticks strictly to the film, with most lines lifted directly from the film's script, the characters looking almost identical, and the film set cleverly re-created through projection screens, which add a great deal of space and depth to the stage. Even down … [Read more...]
Review of Spamalot Playhouse Theatre London July 2013
Spamalot is currently playing at The Playhouse Theatre, which is situated about two minutes’ walk from the Embankment Underground and the River Thames; perfect for including some sight-seeing with your theatre trip. The theatre itself is rather beautiful and has a gorgeous, sweeping, classic red stage curtain that I completely fell in love with. The seats were, also, very comfy and I had a perfect view from where I was sitting (F14). The only down side I could find with the theatre is that due … [Read more...]
Review of The Matchgirls
John Wilton could not have foreseen this when he built his East London music hall more than one hundred and fifty years ago, but it would become the perfect setting for a musical about one of the most dramatic episodes in the evolution of industrial relations, the matchgirls’ strike of 1888. Partially upstaged by the dockers’ actions the following year, the girls’ walkout from the grim Bryant and May factory in Bow was the more audacious of the two, flying in the face of two prevailing … [Read more...]
Review of Miss Nightingale The Burlesque Musical
Sing, sweet nightingale… The tagline for new musical Miss Nightingale: Sex, Scandal and Showbiz, conjures visions of a raunchy, salacious performance: exciting for the eye, glitz and glamour prioritized over storyline. But though enticing, the tagline perhaps doesn’t do the show justice. This is more than just a spectacle; it’s a moving, funny and grounded tale of taboos and prejudice in Britain during the Second World War. The different musical genres included in the show: from jazz to ballad, … [Read more...]
The Mermaid of Zennor by Moon on a Stick Productions
Until now I had never been to the Rosemary Branch in North London, in fact I have never been to any pub theatre at all. The atmosphere was very relaxed, the same was to be said of the staff, I was greeted and served as if I was one of their friends and seeing as I was alone, this made me feel very comfortable. When I entered the theatre space I was pleasantly surprised, as it was very intimate and inviting. When I took my seat I slowly became aware of the soundtrack being played, sounds of … [Read more...]
Review of Mamma Mia! Novello Theatre London
Prior to the commencement of this evening’s performance of Mamma Mia!, the atmosphere at the Novello Theatre was something I had never felt before. Perhaps it was because this was my first time attending this type of musical. In anticipatory nature, the audience members around me had comfortably taken their seats with smiles that suggested they knew what was coming; they knew that they were about to escape into a world full of foot-tapping music, cheesy dance steps, and ultimate female power. … [Read more...]