Barnum

Top 100 Greatest Musicals Results: 90 – 81

Features, News
Top 100 Musicals of All Time Poll Results

Welcome to our second instalment of votes from our Top 100 Greatest Musicals of all time poll. There are a few new entries and some bona fide classics in this part of the list. Congratulations to all those who are listed in our roll call of truly great musicals. Did your favourites make the Top 100? Don’t forget to let us know your thoughts in the Comments section below. 90. Sweet Charity One of the first Fellini movies to be adapted as a musical, Sweet Charity brought together some of the greatest musical theatre talent of all time, starting with music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Dorothy Fields and book by Neil Simon. Sweet Charity was directed and choreographed by Bob Fosse and starred his then wife Gwen Verdon. The show was nominated for 9 Tony Awards and is well know for showstoppers including Big Spender, If My Friends Could … Read more

REVIEW: Barnum, UK Tour ✭✭

Touring Reviews
Barnum starring Brian Conley touring the UK

Mikey Jay-Heath is superb as Tom Thumb and his big number, Bigger Isn’t Better, is wonderful in every way. Landi Oshinowa displays great vocal chops, twice. Her Joyce Heth number, Thank God I’m Old, is vocally aglow and her second Act number, Black and White, is a solid jazz/blues number. There are some terrific cameos from Nick Butcher and Edward Wade, both of whom are accomplished triple-threats with bright futures. But this is not Barnum at its best.

INTERVIEW: Brian Conley On Playing PT Barnum On Tour

Features, Interviews, News, Touring
Brian Conley plays PT Barnum in Ct Coleman's Barnum the musical on tour across the UK

Following a season at the Chichester Festival in 2013, Cy Coleman’s much loved musical headed out on the road with Brian Conley in the role of Phineus Taylor Barnum, a role originally played by Michael Crawford when the show opened in London in 1981. Barnum is a musical biography of the great American showman, utilising circus acts to document the great mans life and highlight the struggles and conflicts that he encounters personally along the way. We caught up with Brian Conley during an afternoon session of wire-walking, a weekly rehearsal regimen that he maintains to keep in form as he tours with one of the toughest musicals currently on tour. “It is very demanding, it has to be one of the toughest roles in musical theatre” Brian said, “I started training six months before we started the tour. I went to circus school to learn how to walk on … Read more