Douglas Mayo

Douglas Mayo has had a life long love affair with musical theatre. He has authored several books on publicity and marketing for amateur theatre groups. He is in the process of developing a musical based on his original story concept.

Lin-Manuel Miranda makes small lyric tweaks to Hamilton London

Features, Hamilton The Musical, News, West End

In the run-up to the London opening of Lin-Manuel Miranda’s award-winning musical Hamilton, some cynics wondered if the musical based on early American history would translate for British audiences. Based on the critical and public reception which greeted the show, those fears were unfounded. Hamilton is a resounding critical success and has been greeted with the type of audience reaction most shows can only dream of. In recent days on Twitter, Lin-Manuel revealed that three small lyric tweaks have been made to the libretto of Hamilton in London. The first tweak is in the song “Take a Break“.  In the original libretto Hamilton’s line “Angelica, tell me wife John Adams doesn’t have a real job anyway” has been changed to “Angelica, tell me wife, Vice President isn’t a real job anyway” making the line about the job title and not John Adams himself. “The Room Where It Happens” sung by … Read more

Stage adaptation of A Passage To India comes to Park Theatre

News, Off West End
A Passage To India at Park Theatre

Award-winning ensemble simple8 have reimagined one of the greatest novels of the twentieth century to bring E M Forster’s A Passage To India to the stage. This co-production with the Royal and Derngate, Northampton will be presented at the Park Theatre from 20 February to 24 March 2018. This question at the heart of A Passage to India challenges us today just as it did a hundred years ago. With their new adaptation of Forster’s masterpiece and a diverse company of fourteen, simple8 finds in the past a mirror for our own divided times, carefully re-imagining this ground-breaking novel for contemporary Britain. simple8 are renown for creating worlds out of nothing, their plays create atmosphere and setting without extravagance, costumes, scenery or props creating dynamic plays that tackle big ideas. This new production will transport their audience to British India, together with its elephants, trains, courthouses and temples. A Passage … Read more

FIRST LOOK: Strangers In Between at Trafalgar Studios

Features, Gallery, West End
Book tickets for Tommy Murphy's Strangers In Between at Trafalgar Studios 2

We are pleased to bring you these great first look production images by Scott Rylander of Tommy Murphy’s play Strangers In Between which plays at Trafalgar Studios 2 from 12 January to 3 February 2018. Strangers In Between tells the story of Shane, a timid 16 year-old who has fled his rural hometown for the glitz and glamour of Sydney’s King’s Cross, in order to escape his troubled past and attempt to establish an urban family. This coming-of-age, dark comedy looks at the importance of friendship and the highs and lows of growing up gay in modern Australia. Directed by the King’s Head Theatre’s Artistic Director, Adam Spreadbury-Maher, the cast includes Roly Botha as Shane, Dan Hunter as Will and Stephen Connery-Brown as Peter. BOOK TICKETS TO STRANGERS IN BETWEEN

My 2017 Theatre Highlights – Douglas Mayo

Features, Reviews, Touring, West End
Book now for 42nd Street at Theatre Royal Drury Lane

We asked our review team to nominate their 2017 theatre highlights. Douglas Mayo nominated his favourites. 42nd Street (Theatre Royal Drury Lane) Never did I ever think I would see a production of 42nd Street on stage on the scale that is currently on stage at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane. The cast including Tom Lister, Jasna Ivir, Clare Halse, Stuart Neal and the sublime Sheena Easton would have been more than enough but add Douglas W Schmidt’s incredible set that fully utilised the enormous stage of the Theatre Royal and Roger Kirk’s fabulous costumes and you were all set for an experience unlike any other. I quite honestly had tears of joy streaming down my face throughout. Book tickets for 42nd Street. Hamilton (Victoria Palace Theatre) Hyped to oblivion, it was great to see a show that lived up to the hype. I’ve been listening to the cast album … Read more

Top Touring Shows of 2017

Features, Reviews, Touring
The Addams Family UK tour

Douglas Mayo nominates the top touring shows from 2017 and congratulates the teams of people who make these amazing shows travel the length and breadth of the UK each week. The Addams Family One of the best new touring productions of 2017, Andrew Lippa’s The Addams Family was an absolute joy. Stunning performances backed up by a stunning production. Producers Katy Lipson and the Music and Lyrics consortium should be justifiably proud. I repeat my call for a cast album since no recording of the revised show exists and hope that the show will return for another tour. Read our review. Legally Blonde As vivacious, wonderful and heart-felt as the original London production, Lucie Jones takes on one of the great modern musical theatre roles and triumphs in this new production produced by UK Productions. A joyous night in the theatre to shake away real life blues! Read our review. … Read more

REVIEW: Must Close Saturday, The Decline and Fall Of The British Musical Flop ✭✭✭✭

Book, Reviews
Must Close Saturday Review by Adrian Wright

Must Close Saturday The Decline and Fall of the British Musical Flop by Adrian Wright Boydell Press 4 Stars ISBN: 9781783272358 Order a copy from Amazon.co.uk If like me you have musical theatre running through your blood, Adrian Wright’s hefty new tome makes for an interesting read. It’s certainly kept me entertained over the festive period. Like Ken Mandelbaum’s Not Since Carrie… which chronicled Broadway musical flops, Wright chronicles British flops from 1960’s The Lily White Boys to 2016’s The Go Between. Whether you agree with Wright’s definition of a flop or not, seeing this weighty collection of British musicals collected together makes you realise that there is probably no subject that is off-limits for musicalisation. The Holocaust, French painters, the Rector Of Stifley, Edward and Mrs Simpson, Marilyn Monroe, Lewis Carroll, Jack the Ripper, the Virgin Mary, sexual problems, the electric chair, the wives of Henry VIII and variations … Read more

FIRST LOOK: Bananaman the musical at Southwark Playhouse

Features, Gallery, Off West End
Bananaman the musical at Southwark Playhouse

Take a look at Pamela Raith’s great first look production images from Bananaman the musical now playing at Southwark Playhouse. Bananaman began life in the Nutty comic in 1980, and was a flyaway success, transferring to The Dandy before joining the world’s longest-running comic, The Beano in 2012 and he is now one of The Beano’s flagship characters. A send-up of the likes of Superman and Batman, he was the subject of the hugely popular TV cartoon that ran between 1983 and 1986 for three series and 40 episodes on the BBC and featured the voices of Tim Brooke-Taylor, Graeme Garden and Bill Oddie from The Goodies. Fans of the the TV series will remember the iconic opening sequence, “This is 29 Acacia Road. And this is Eric Wimp. He’s a schoolboy who leads an amazing double life. For when Eric eats a banana an amazing transformation occurs. Eric is … Read more