Reviews

REVIEW: Jason Robert Brown In Concert, Royal Festival Hall ✭✭✭✭

Reviews, West End
Jason Robert Brown at the Royal Festival Hall

The unstoppable, extraordinary Cynthia Erivo proved, twice, what a potent combination Brown’s music and lyrics can be in the hands of a singer whose voice can electrify every note. Her rendition of Stars And The Moon was perfectly judged, poetical and gorgeous in every way, each word ablaze with intense feeling, each note true and rich. But her staggeringly powerful I Can Do Better Than That served as the 11 o’clock number here and, quite rightly, brought the house down.

REVIEW: Just Jim Dale, Vaudeville Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭

Reviews, West End
Jim Dale

It is genuinely delightful to be able to report that anyone, child, adult, theatre sceptic or theatre lover, should have no hesitation in snaffling a ticket to the one man sensation that is Just Jim Dale, now playing at the Vaudeville Theatre after what can only be described as a glittering press night. Theatrical luminaries, critics, fans and audience members were seemingly all of one mind – Jim Dale is one hell of a performer.

REVIEW: As You Like It, Shakespeare’s Globe ✭✭✭

News, Off West End, Reviews
As You Like It At Shakespeare's Globe

Blanche McIntyre, whose revival of As You Like It now at the Globe, uses every trick in the book to make Shakespeare’s play clear (it is, very), risqué (it is, very), engaging (it is, almost always) and funny (it is, often). There is music, dancing, cross-dressing, the carcass of a deer, lusty jostling, a tap-dancing clown, and a cross-dressing God of Marriage. There is much for the groundlings to delight in, as well as a few “oohs” and “awws”.

REVIEW: The Beaux’ Stratagem, Olivier Theatre ✭✭✭

Reviews, West End
The Beaux Stratagem at the National Theatre

Of all the cast, it is the gifted Susannah Fielding who comes closest to the right style of acting. She really is a tremendous performer, winning in her winsome style, with a voice as agile as her facial features and just as expressive. She keeps her Mrs Sullen to the naturalistic style Godwin has chosen, but you can feel, just below her gorgeous exterior, that within lies the right style, the right character, the right attitude, desperately wanting to break out of the confines of naturalism and take shape in proper Restoration Comedy mode.

Tony, Tony, Tony – A Look At This Year’s Tony Awards Race

Broadway, News, Reviews
Tony Awards 2015

Tony, Tony, Tony… On June 7, the 69th Annual Tony Awards will be presented in a glittering ceremony hosted by Kristin Chenoweth and Alan Cumming. As, arguably, the most prestigious award ceremony in the world, the Tonys carry enormous weight. When nominations were announced this year, two shows which received none – Dr Zhivago and Living On Love – posted notices for premature closing. Commercially, then, the Tonys represent real power. Shows which receive Tony Awards see their sales boosted almost always – so producers work hard to garner votes for their productions. This raises the question, squarely, of whether or not the Tony Awards represent acknowledgement of excellence or whether they acknowledge possible commercial prospects. If you win the Tony for Best Actor, are you getting it because you are the very best actor to tread the boards in the season or are you given that award for reasons … Read more