Julian Eaves

Writes book, music and lyrics of new musicals. Currently completing, 'Generation Rent', a contemporary college-reunion comedy. New project: 'Kate The Great', set in the City. Previous productions with: Iris Theatre; LOST Theatre; So-and-So's Arts Club; Chichester Festival Theatre (National Theatre Connections); Courtyard Theatre; Arc Theatre, Trowbridge; Harlequin Theatre, Redhill. Also for Royal Court Young People's Theatre, Edinburgh Fringe, National Youth Theatre.

REVIEW: The Night, Live at Zedel ✭✭✭✭

Cabaret, Reviews, West End
PÖJJ perform as part of The Night at Crazy Coqs

The Night Crazy Coqs at Brasserie Zedel 2nd January 2017 4 Stars Fast becoming one of the most significant events in the cabaret calendar, this entertaining monthly gathering, pioneered by the indefatigable Tom Crowley and trusty cohorts, is a wonderful place to enjoy ‘alternative’ comedy and music in the comparatively safe surroundings of a respectable West End club.  On this occasion, the event was made particularly special through its coincidence with Mr Crowley’s keenly anticipated 30th birthday: an anniversary milked tonight for all its ominous and portentous worth by regulars Molly Beth Morossa as Molly the Imaginary Friend, Lucy Farrett as Tina Claessens the Stage Manager, and the cheerful Professor Expert the Producer, made flesh by the charming Andy Goddard: all of whom, if we are to believe what we are told, are still younger than their MC.  So much for the company. The guests tonight rejoiced in the headliner, … Read more

My 2017 Theatre Highlights – Julian Eaves

Features, Off West End, Reviews, West End
Girl From The North Country

We asked our review team to nominate their 2017 theatre highlights. Julian Eaves nominated his favourites. This has been a terrific year for new musical theatre writing, with so much great talent on show that it’s difficult to know where to begin. ‘The State of Things’ by Thomas Attwood and Elliot Clay made a dazzling debut at the ever-enterprising Brockley Jack Studio Theatre, with a score that easily outshone some much more celebrated new productions in the West End, and a book that holds promise but needs more development.  Speaking of which, ‘Everyone’s Talking About Jamie‘ arrived from Yorkshire as a terrific collection of songs by Dan Gillespie-Sells and Tom MacRae, although the latter’s book doesn’t exert quite the same grip on the imagination.  This seems to be a frequently experienced problem with new musical theatre and it is one that occupies the mind of many in the industry. Read … Read more

REVIEW: A Christmas Carol, Lyceum Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

Reviews, West End
London Musical Theatre Orchestra A Christmas Carol Lyceum Theatre

A Christmas Carol London Musical Theatre Orchestra Lyceum Theatre, 11th December 2017 5 Stars Book Tickets Seeing this sprawling, grand, majestic musical entertainment again in the once splendid surroundings of Bertie Crewe’s opulently spacious rococo interior (behind Beazley’s proudly neo-classical facade), with the full resources of the LMTO massed on stage, complete with a chorus and a line up of superb soloists, all in evening dress, flanked by a brace of sparkling Christmas trees, and beneath the trademark red banners of this specialist orchestra, in this melodramatic, sentimental story of vice and redemption, it is easy to think that there is rather more of nineteenth century French grande-opera about it than the conventional trappings and concerns of Broadway showbiz.  Hearing Alan Menken’s stunning score, given lush and vivid life in Michael Starobin’s gorgeous orchestrations, it is easy to imagine oneself back in the world of Meyerbeer, Gounod and Berlioz, where … Read more

REVIEW: The Barricade Boys, The Other Palace ✭✭✭✭✭

Off West End, Reviews
The Barricade Boys

The Barricade Boys The Other Palace Studio, 7th December 2017 5 Stars Book Now If there’s something that is guaranteed to make a festive season truly joyful, then it is a perfectly constructed and executed cabaret, and that is what you get – in spades – from this tightly focussed and intimately presented entertainment, designed, produced, directed and performed by a quartet of male alumni of ‘that’ long running show in the West End about revolution, dreams and bringing him home.  Since their foundation a couple of years ago, ‘The Barricade Boys’ have become a welcome addition to the occasional lighter end of musical theatre entertainment, with their well constructed and expertly delivered packages of the familiar and the much less well known, smart outfits, nifty stage moves, and a glamorously generous band of seven, as they have toured an interesting choice of medium sized venues around the country.  Now, … Read more

REVIEW: The Woman In White, Charing Cross Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

Reviews, West End
The Woman In White at Charing Cross Theatre

The Woman In White Charing Cross Theatre, 4th December 2017 5 Stars Book Now Who believes in ghosts?  Everyone has their own story to tell with its own special particulars, and mine concerns a night some years ago, about the time that the original production of this musical was coming to the end of its run at the magnificent Palace theatre in the West End.  I was cycling home from a night out in Southampton, crossing the Itchen valley down a long straight stretch of highway; it was cold, and clouds of fog and mist had rolled in from the Solent in opaque billows obscuring the way ahead and shrouding where I had come from in an impenetrable, silent, white wall of vapour.  And there, down the centre of the road, wrapped only in a long, white nightdress, strode a woman, her long hair down and falling over her shoulders … Read more