Rent

Our Top 10 Tony Award Performances

Broadway, News, Video
Britishtheatre.com selects its Top 10 Tony Award performances

With the Tony Awards coming up we thought we’d nominate some of our favourite Tony Award performances from previous years. Thanks to You Tube we are able to bring you video of these great performances. Let us know your thoughts and nominate your own favourite Tony performances. In the meantime enjoy our selection. In no particular order:- Rent (1996) Newsies (2012) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_Sz7_7T50Q Grand Hotel (1990) Dreamgirls (1982) Kiss Of The Spiderwoman (1993) Hamilton Evita (1980) Sweeney Todd (1979) The Phantom Of The Opera (1988) Ragtime (1998) And just to top off these incredible performances here’s Neil Patrick Harris in what must be considered the greatest (and biggest) Tony Award opening number EVER! Find out more about the Tony Awards

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 100 Greatest Musical Results: 20-11

Features, News
Vote for the 100 greatest musicals of all time

20. Jesus Christ Superstar Jesus Christ Superstar was the second work from Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice. Superstar began life as a rock opera in double concept album form. Looking at the last days of Jesus Christ from the viewpoint of Judas Iscariot, the rock operas route to the stage was never assured but a concert staging in front of 13,000 in Pittsburgh paved the way for a Broadway staging that opened in October 1971. Jesus Christ Superstar arrived at the palace Theatre London in 1972 where it remained for eight years. The show has since played around the world continually since that time most recently winning a 2017 Olivier Award for Best Musical Revival. Book tickets for Jesus Christ Superstar at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre 19. Cats One of the most unlikely musicals ever to reach the stage, Cats was the brainchild of Andrew Lloyd Webber who … Read more

CRITIC’S CHOICE 2016: Alexa Terry

Critic Round Ups, Off West End, Reviews, West End
Book now for Vanities The Musical

We asked our reviewers to take a look at 2016 and to nominate some stand out productions for 2016. Alexa Terry replied with the following:- The Pianist of Willesden Lane Often, I find myself leaving the theatre with tear-streaked cheeks and puffy eyes. But, I was not prepared for the sobs that engulfed me, as I watched Mona Golabek’s The Pianist of Willesden Lane’ – a true story of how Lisa Jura, Golabek’s mother, was sent to Great Britain on the Kinderstransport and became a concert pianist. Overwhelming, powerful and hauntingly current, this is undoubtedly, one of the best and most moving pieces of theatre I have experienced. Vanities ‘Vanities’ completely provoked my emotions as I laughed out loud, had my heartstrings plucked and tried to cough away the lumps in my throat (I will get a reputation for being a cry-baby if I’m not careful!). With a satisfying score … Read more

What’s New In October – Editor’s Pick

Features, News, Off West End, Touring, West End

October is going to be a busy month in theatreland with new exciting productions opening all over the place. Here are just a few of the shows we are looking forward to this month. WEST END – The Dresser – Duke Of York’s Ronald Harwood’s The Dresser comes to the West End in a revival starring Ken Stott and Reece Shearsmith at London’s Duke Of York’s Theatre. First seen in 1980 in the West End and on Broadway, this much-loved play tells the heart-breaking story of an ageing actor-manager and his long-suffering dresser as they struggle to keep the show on the road against the backdrop of a down-at-heel regional theatre in wartime. BOOK TICKETS FOR THE DRESSER WEST END- Murder Ballad – Arts Theatre Starring West End and Broadway legends Kerry Ellis (Wicked, Cats), Ramin Karimloo (The Phantom of the Opera, Les Misérables), Victoria Hamilton-Barritt (Flashdance, In the Heights) … Read more

Rent UK Tour

News, Touring, West End
RENT UK Tour

Robert Mackintosh and Idili Theatricals Limited, in association with Theatr Clwyd and Wales Millennium Centre, will present the 20th Anniversary production of Jonathan Larson’s award-winning musical Rent. Jonathan Larson’s musical, inspired by Puccini’s opera La Bohème, won four Tony Awards, six Drama Desk Awards and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1996. Ben Brantley’s New York Times review was a love letter to the show, calling RENT an “exhilarating, landmark rock opera”. RENT ran on Broadway for 12 years, from 1996 to 2008. The show premiered in London’s West End in 1998 at the Shaftesbury Theatre, where it ran for 18 months. It was adapted into a film in 2005. Larson’s world is inhabited by a group of bohemian artists who struggle to maintain their friendships and their non-conformist ideals in New York’s East Village. Facing their problems head on, they make personal self-discoveries and find what really matters most … Read more