Month: March 2015

Cuddles – Vampire Tale Announces Spring Tour – NYC Run

Broadway, Off West End, Touring
Cuddles Vampire Tale

Cuddles is a new play from the creative team that presented The Sluts Of Sutton Drive. The play was was created in the wake of the London riots and is a damning look at how society teaches us that what we consumes dictates our identity.This sharp and bleakly funny exploration of the co-dependent relationship between sisters Tabby and Eve is also a consideration of the ways in which our parenting choices directly shape the world of tomorrow and is re-staged amidst a rise in food banks, personal debt, the cost of living and continued austerity measures. Following the national tour, Cuddles will be presented for a month in June as part of New York’s Brits off Broadway festival. Teenage vampire Eve has never known what sunlight is. Everything the 13-year-old knows about the world is derived from what her sister Tabby has told her. She has never left her darkened … Read more

Critic’s Choice – Top 10 West End Musicals (31 March 15)

Features, News, West End
Siobhan McCarthy and Jeremy Secomb in Tooting Arts Club's Sweeney Todd.

What Musical should you see first in London? We have compiled this list to save you the trouble of working it out! It’s just our view – and everyone has one – based on our Reviewers’ thoughts. We will update the list regularly so new productions get on your radar and when original casts change that is factored in. Plays which have been running for more than three years are not included – this is a list for new or relatively new productions running in London. So go see them! 1. Beautiful: The Carole King Musical The throbbing, majestic and luminous heart of this production comes from Katie Brayben’s faultless, radiant and absolutely triumphant turn as Carole King. Brayben recreates the feel, the sound, the look of Carole King in a completely authentic and resonant way – she feels like the natural woman. Read Our Review | Book Tickets 2. … Read more

Sweeney Todd At ENO – First Look Photographs

Gallery, News, West End
Emma Thompson and Bryn Terfel in Sweeney Todd

Yet another Sweeney Todd sets up shop in London this week on a vastly different scale to the intimate affair at Harrington’s Pie And Mash Shop on Shaftesbury Avenue. Starring Emma Thompson, Bryn Terfel, Matthew Seadon-Young, Katie Hall, Philip Quast, Jack North, Alex Gaumond, Rosalie Craig and John Owen-Jones, this production runs until April 12 at the London Colliseum. Tickets are still available for Sondheim’s masterpiece at the ENO. Photos by Tristram Kenton

REVIEW: Something Rotten, St James Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

Broadway, Reviews
Something Rotten at the St james Theatre

There is noting rotten here. Rather, Something Rotten is firm, juicy, fruity, perfectly cultivated, tart, sweet, and every segment, every layer that is peeled back, is full of life. It is almost an orgasm of enjoyment; an ode to the musical form, one that both satirises it’s subject and treats it with loving affection. Broadway will be hard pressed to find a tighter, more superbly tuned company than this one.

REVIEW: Hamilton, The Public Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

Broadway, Hamilton The Musical, Reviews
Hamilton The Musical Wins Eelevn 2016 Tony Awards

Directed by Thomas Kail, with astonishing choreography from Andy Blankenbuehler, Hamilton is a remarkable piece of theatrical alchemy; inspiring, packed with historical interest, revelatory about the problems that beset the founding fathers and, yet, intensely human. Lin-Manuel Miranda is electrifying as Hamilton. It’s a real tour de force, full of passion and absolute commitment. Jonathan Groff is blisteringly good as the odious King George.

Hairspray UK Tour – Manchester And Liverpool On Sale Today

Hairspray the musical, News, Touring
Hairspray musical

Tickets for Hairspray The Musical in Liverpool and Manchester go on sale today. This new production of the award-winning musical starts it UK tour in September 2015 at the Leicester Curve and will then tour to 29 venues across the UK. It’s Baltimore 1962, where Tracy Turnblad, a big girl with big hair and an even bigger heart, is on a mission to follow her dreams and dance her way onto national TV. Tracy’s audition makes her a local star and soon she is using her new-found fame to fight for equality, bagging local heartthrob Link Larkin along the way. Hairspray is directed by Paul Kerryson with choreography by Drew McOnie and musical direction by Ben Atkinson. Click Here for the full Hairspray UK Tour schedule

REVIEW: Charlie And The Chocolate Factory, Theatre Royal Drury Lane ✭✭✭✭

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory the Musical, Reviews, West End
Charlie And The Chocolate Factory At The Theatre Royal Drury Lane

Sam Mendes’ production of the musical adaptation of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory is in excellent shape. Nothing indicates that more clearly than the show not missing a beat despite the fact that three understudies were called upon to perform. The company didn’t hiccup. Routines are polished and well-drilled; Mark Thompson’s wonderfully colourful, and sometimes colourless, costumes and sets are in pristine shape and conjure up the requisite sense of magic effortlessly. The tunefulness and sprightly fun of Marc Shaiman’s music remains infectious and sweet.