The Orchestra

REVIEW: The Orchestra, Omnibus Theatre ✭✭✭

REVIEW: Mack and Mabel in Concert, Hackney Empire ✭✭✭✭✭

an LMTO show is - ultimately - all about the orchestra. Here we got the full 32-pieces of the publishers´ dreams, and this was - we were reliably informed - the biggest band EVER assembled for any performance of this exquisite score. They played magnificently.

Julian Eaves

News & Reviews

REVIEW: Amazing Grace, Nederlander Theatre ✭✭

While the tunes and harmonies for the new material might not be memorable, the orchestrations and playing is first rate. Kenny Seymour and Joseph Church, together with the 13 piece orchestra led by Aaron Jodoin, make great, evocative and stirring sounds. And when the title tune finally comes, the fusion of its simple majesty, the brilliant harmonisations of the cast and the clever arrangements, see the whole musical end on an intensely satisfying note.

REVIEW: Honeymoon In Vegas, James Nederlander Theatre ✭✭✭

Here, Jason Robert Brown has set out to write fun, jolly music for a silly story, and he has added some gorgeous ballads along the way and a couple of genuinely delightful show-stoppers. The orchestrations are terrific and Tom Murray's musical direction full of zest and zing. The band are hot, a true Las Vegas sound comes to them easily.

REVIEW: Cats, London Palladium ✭✭✭✭

The very best aspect of this production is the power, energy and sheer musicality Graham Hurman brings to the score. The orchestra is sizzling, sparking musical energy through every bar of Lloyd-Webber's rich and diverse score. There is discipline, sensuality, a real sense of tribal connection and acrobatic excellence in the dancing here; it all feels fresh, precise and vigorous.

REVIEW: Stephen Ward, Aldwych Theatre ✭

The piece has no idea what it is doing: it does not tell any story well or with feeling. You know as much about Stephen Ward and his part in the Profumo scandal when the final curtain falls as you do when the opening notes sound in the orchestra.