James Phillips’s award-winning play The Rubenstein Kiss, inspired by the true-life story of Soviet spies Ethel and Julius Rosenberg, is to be revived at Southwark Playhouse.
Treading similar terrain as the recently seen ‘Mrs Henderson Presents’, it has an infectious score, well-written dialogue, and a story that revolves around more than one centre of gravity.
Following five UK tours Miss Nightingale the original British musical by Matthew Bugg will return to London for an extended run of eight weeks at The Vaults nearly six years after the show was originally seen in the capital. (Special ticket offer below). Miss Nightingale is a completely new British musical which has garnered success since 2011 completing five national tours, playing more than 300 performances to 50,000 people at 30 theatres across the UK. Last year Miss Nightingale was named in the Guardian Readers’ Top 50 Shows of 2016. It was also voted into the Top 100 Greatest Musicals of All Time. The poll organised by BritishTheatre.com invited the public to nominate their five favourite musicals from both stage and screen. The final count saw Miss Nightingale placed at number 80 beating musical theatre classics such as Sweet Charity, Hello Dolly!, Top Hat, Show Boat, Sister Act, and even, … Read more
It was fascinating to hear the animated discussion in the auditorium, in the intervals or scene breaks, about the identity of the murderer(s) (not to give anything away, you know) and there was an audible gasp from many when the final revelation came. It is rare indeed – and an indication of the success of the piece – to witness this level of genuine engagement between stage and audience. Gravitas comes from a detached but dead-accurate performance from Paul Nicholas and Ben Nealon’s welcome brio is the pulse of the play.
