REVIEW: Strike Up The Band, Upstairs At The Gatehouse ✭✭
Julian Eaves reviews George and Ira Gershwins’ musical Strike Up The Band at Upstairs At The Gatehouse.
Ira Gershwin
REVIEW: Nice Work If You Can Get It, Upstairs At The Gatehouse ✭✭✭✭
Julian Eaves reviews Nice Work If You Can Get It by Joe DiPietro featuring the music of George and Ira Gershwin presented by Ovation Productions Upstairs at the Gatehouse.
Hidden Gershwin gem comes to Upstairs At The Gatehouse
Alces Productions are to present George and Ira Gershwin’s Strike Up The Band at Upstairs At The Gatehouse in March 2019.
Crazy For You UK Tour
Following a critically acclaimed season at the Watermill Theatre, producers Jamie Wilson, Gavin Kalin and the Watermill Theatre have announced that Tom Chambers will headline a national tour of Crazy For You. Fresh from his roles in Top Hat, Private Lives, White Christmas and winning the 6th season of Strictly Come Dancing, Tom Chambers will play Jerry Travers. Caroline Flack is to play Irene. Caroline won the 12th season of Strictly Come Dancing in 2014 and is currently presenting ITV’s Love Island. Charlotte Wakefield will play Polly. Charlotte made her West End debut as Wendla in Spring Awakening and played Maria in The Sound Of Music to critical acclaim at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre. Opening at the Theatre Royal Plymouth on 17 August 2016, Crazy For You is the ultimate feel-good musical featuring a score of fabulous music by the legendary George and Ira Gershwin. Mistaken identities, plot twists, … Read more
An American In Paris – The Palace Theatre
Directed and choreographed by Tony Award winner Christopher Wheeldon, this incredible company of 25 international and Broadway viruosos bring the magic and romance of Paris into perfect harmony with Tony Award winning orchestrations of songs by the legendary George and Ira Gershwin. An American In Paris features songs including I’ll Build A Stairway To Paradise, I Got Rhythm and The Man I Love. The romantic story of a young American soldier, a beautiful French girl and an indomitable European city are at the heart of Broadway’s breathtakingly beautiful new musical, An American in Paris, the four-time Tony Award-winning production that also earned the awards for Best Musical of the Year from both the Outer Critics Circle and the Drama League. Read our review of An American In Paris
REVIEW: Of Thee I Sing, Royal Festival Hall ✭✭
The comic performance of the night, and the source of most consistent pleasure, came from the very talented Tom Edden who made an acting masterclass out of the portrayal of the reluctant Vice President, Alexander Throttlebottom (is there a character in a Broadway musical with a better name?). Taking his cue from that name, Edden presented a neurotic, chaotic, frantic but ambitious, character: he stole every scene he was in and even some he was not in. Superb.
REVIEW: A Damsel In Distress, Chichester Festival Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭
The cast, like a fine soufflé, is full of first rate choices and rises to the occasion in exactly the right way. The singing here is glorious. The Gershwins make a lot of demands upon singers and Williams ensures that every note is hit truly and that the froth and bubble in the music is given full release. The dance routines in Nice Work If You Can Get It, Stiff Upper Lip, I Can’t Be Bothered Now, French Pastry Walk and Fidgety Feet are effortlessly engaging, thrilling to watch. As you emerge from the auditorium, it is impossible not be cheery.
