REVIEW: All Male Iolanthe, Richmond Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭
Julian Eaves reviews Sasha Regan’s All Male production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s Iolanthe at Richmond Theatre as part of a UK Tour.
Michael Burgen
REVIEW: Blondel, Union Theatre ✭✭✭✭
A thoroughly charming, and fun, experience in musical comedy lies in store for all those who tread the path of the wand’ring minstrel Blondel.
REVIEW: Out There, Union Theatre ✭✭✭✭
Nevertheless, this is another creditable creation from the production stables of Sasha Regan and underlines her continuing commitment to the development of new British musical theatre. Very much worth your serious consideration, which it will repay by pleasing and charming.
REVIEW: Loserville, Union Theatre ✭✭✭
Loserville is a production full of E numbers; bright and sweet but likely to overload you. It’s a derivative script and score made as good as it can get by some talented direction and an energetic young cast.
REVIEW: Our House, Union Theatre ✭✭✭
While this is a deserved revival of an intriguing show, the core material remains in some respects unsatisfactory, and the scale of the show is not a great fit with the location. If this sounds churlish, then that is only because in musical theatre – as in opera – for the whole to succeed to best advantage the list of parts that need to be in great shape is a long and exacting one.
REVIEW: All Male Pirates Of Penzance, Richmond Theatre ✭✭✭
The key is truthfulness: the men play the female roles as truthfully as they can, in the context of the show, and by doing so, unlock different energies and synergies. Just as audiences roared at Mark Rylance’s Olivia in Twelfth Night, not because he was a man playing a woman, but because his so doing simply provided a different palette of choices, so too, in Regan’s productions, they roar at the antics as the men bring fresh perspective to some of Gilbert and Sullivan’s most loved and enduring characters and situations.
REVIEW: Loserville, Union Theatre ✭✭✭✭
With direction from Michael Burgen, musical direction from Bryan Hodgson, and choreography by Matt Kazan, this version of Loserville sparkles with enthusiastic effervescence, combining familiar comic stereotypes with excellent ensemble singing and dancing, and giving some excellent performers a chance to shine, all the while emphasising the inherent gifts provided by book, score and lyrics.
