As I write this, I am envious of those who are yet to see this brilliant 20th-anniversary production which offers unparalleled, penetrating rawness, performed by a modest cast who surrender their souls to the book, score and to the broken New York artists whose stories they tell.
Thom Sutherland’s production of Allegro is a definite success, putting a positive gloss on a perhaps unfairly maligned play. It is intelligently directed, perfectly sung and well acted – an entertaining slice of Americana in SE1 .
You will be hard pressed to see a better production of this musical. The casting of Grey Gardens is near perfect. Southwark Playhouse is building a strong reputation for presenting wonderful modern musicals and like some of their previous productions this one is sure to sell out so don’t miss it.
Final casting has been announced today for the European premiere of Grey Gardens the musical which will play at the Southwark Playhouse from Saturday 2 January – Saturday 6 February 2016. The musical Grey Gardens is based on the iconic documentary, telling real life rise and fall of Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’s aunt and cousin, Edith and Edie Bouvier Beale. Starting in 1941 at an engagement party at Grey Gardens, the Bouvier’s mansion in East Hampton, Long Island, the musical tracks the progression of the two women’s lives from American aristocrats to reclusive social outcasts living in such squalid conditions, in a home overrun by cats, that the Health Department deemed the mansion ‘unfit for human habitation’. Joining the previously announced Olivier Award-winning West End stars, Sheila Hancock and Jenna Russell are: Billy Boyle, who has just finished two years playing Grandpa George in Charlie and The Chocolate Factory at the … Read more
Proud’s choreography is redolent with an acute understanding of all this and everything he does aims to help involvement in and understanding of the work’s intent. The hotel is seen as reflective of the Berlin experience and that is reflective of world experience: the microcosm in the hotel provides universal truths and observations. From the almost military opening routine, through the set pieces and the smaller incidents, the big, joyous all-in numbers, and the more intimate moments of pain or joy, Proud sees to it that dance propels the action, accentuates the fun and underscores the darkness.
Is a kiss with a fist better than none? Rodgers & Hammerstein’s Carousel: From 1945 to 2014 in a single hit I know what you want me to do. You want me to write a review – to churn out something interesting and witty about Morphic Graffiti’s production of Carousel at the Arcola. And yes, I can attempt to satisfy you in that to an extent – lest I fail entirely in my role as reviewer/critic/ writer, or whatever it is you wish to call me. I can tell you about the space – a space that, when entered, inspired involuntary and audible gasps from its unsuspecting audience (somewhat attributable to the humidity, sure, but mostly due to the theatre’s radical transformation), the band perched high overhead preparing to chirp, and more ropes, pulleys and levers than PGL. Stuart Charlesworth’s design is simple and yet sumptuous, suggestive rather than … Read more
