West End
The Night of the Iguana, Noël Coward Theatre review - Clive Owen and Lia Williams burn brightWednesday, 17 July 2019
One of the glories of contemporary London theatre is its revivals of classic American drama. Year after year, audiences are able to revisit and enjoy the great landmarks of postwar American playwriting from greats such as Arthur Miller, Tennessee... Read more... |
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, London Palladium review - bright, brash, largely irresistibleFriday, 12 July 2019
Cheeky and broad and (for the most part) as entertaining as seems humanly possible, this embryonic entry from the collaborative pen of Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber is back at its onetime London home, the Palladium. It's a production far... Read more... |
Captain Corelli's Mandolin, Harold Pinter Theatre review - smart stagecraft, skimpy scriptThursday, 11 July 2019
Better than the 2001 film but likely to disappoint devotees of the book, Captain Corelli's Mandolin onstage works best as a reminder of the identifiable stagecraft of its director, Melly Still. Playful, non-literal, and often endearingly physical (... Read more... |
The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13-3/4, Ambassadors Theatre review - needs a chill pillSaturday, 06 July 2019
Time hasn't necessarily been kind to this slow-aborning West End transfer of a show first seen (and lauded) in its 2015 debut in Leicester and then again two years later for a summer run at the Menier Chocolate Factory. The Secret Diary of Adrian... Read more... |
Dark Sublime, Trafalgar Studios review – sci-fi tribute is less rocket, more Reliant RobinWednesday, 03 July 2019
This lovingly lo-tech visit to galaxies far far away is a curious proposition, which, while neither dark, nor sublime, does have its moments. Framed as a tribute to Seventies sci-fi in all its polyester-clad absurdity, it in fact reveals itself to... Read more... |
On Your Feet!, London Coliseum review - Gloria Estefan bio-musical hits familiar notesFriday, 28 June 2019
This well-meaning biographical jukebox musical about icons Gloria and Emilio Estefan, which did two years on Broadway and a US tour, is good summer scheduling, what with its Latin-pop bangers, infectious dance routines and “Dreams come true”... Read more... |
Three Sisters, Maly Drama Theatre, Vaudeville Theatre review - a Chekhov of luminous clarityThursday, 20 June 2019
Lev Dodin has been artistic director of the famed Maly Drama Theatre for some three and a half decades now, over which time the St Petersburg company has earned itself the highest of international reputations. London audiences have been fortunate to... Read more... |
The Starry Messenger, Wyndham's Theatre review - Matthew Broderick gets all cosmicThursday, 30 May 2019
A small-scale Off Broadway venture late in 2009, The Starry Messenger has arrived in London to mark the belated British stage debut of Matthew Broderick, the movie name much-loved on the New York stage. Reuniting the two-time Tony-winner with his... Read more... |
Rosmersholm, Duke of York's Theatre review - little-known Ibsen lands with forceSaturday, 04 May 2019
The past haunts the present and looks likely to torpedo the future in Rosmersholm, the lesser-known Ibsen play now receiving a major West End revival in welcome defiance of the commercial odds. The protean Sonia Friedman, this venture... Read more... |
Fiddler on the Roof, Playhouse Theatre, review – energetic production whips up an emotional stormThursday, 28 March 2019
In an age where political, social, and gender norms seem to be in perpetual meltdown, it should be pretty much impossible for a musical that begins with a song celebrating ‘Tradition’ to strike a chord. Yet from the moment that the cast of Trevor... Read more... |
Betrayal, Harold Pinter Theatre review - Tom Hiddleston anchors a bold, brooding revivalThursday, 14 March 2019
The grand finale of Jamie Lloyd’s remarkable Pinter at the Pinter season is this starry production of one of the writer’s greatest – and certainly most personal – works, inspired by his extramarital affair with Joan Bakewell. The 1978 play is... Read more... |
The Twilight Zone, Ambassadors Theatre review – retro wit for our new space ageWednesday, 13 March 2019
As China and the US arm-wrestle for world domination in everything from trade to military power, we find ourselves in the throes of a space race again. After China became the first nation to land on the dark side of the moon this January, it seems... Read more... |
