Carole Gordon, Author at North West End UK

Bronco Billy The Musical – Charing Cross Theatre

1Feb

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Bronco Billy The Musical – Charing Cross Theatre

"There's a world out there that has lost its way, full of dark and hateful things to say." The first line of Dennis Hackin's Bronco Billy - The Musical is as relatable to the current world as it is to the 1979 in which this musical is set. Powerfully delivered and led by Karen Mavundukure as Doc Blue, the opening song, "Ride With Us" sets the scene with a wow start to the show. With music and lyrics by Chip Rosenbloom and John Torres, and based on Hackin's earlier movie, this is a wonderful triple-threat of a production. Marvellous vocals, credible characters with chemistry and a clever set that almost steals the show. Bronco Billy and his small troupe of Wild West show people are touring the US in a beat-up bus to ever-dwindling audiences. They've made it to Kansas when Bil...

26Jan

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Rita Lynn – Turbine Theatre

Louise Marwood's one-woman performance is informed by her own lived experience, a dark tale of depression, drink, drugs and self-deprecation. "Rita Lynn" lays bare the life of an addict who struggles to break free from the grip of cocaine after her dance career has failed. Imogen has lost everything; with her drug addiction enabled by her toxic boyfriend and dealer Dexter, and her drag queen pal Melian, also an addict. Imogen spirals from overdose to overdose between occasional unsuccessful trips to AA meetings. Then, purely by accident and in a moment of drug-induced delusion, she offers to counsel a wealthy woman as a life coach, adopting the name Rita Lynn. She sees this as an encouraging new start, a way forward out of her chaotic lifestyle and a release from the trauma of her pa...

10Jan

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

The Unfriend – Wyndham’s Theatre

We've all done it - you're on holiday, you're relaxed, you meet a fellow tourist and strike up a vacation-friendship. You say, "We must keep in touch", even exchange contact details without ever really meaning anything other than "Goodbye" and never really wanting to see that person again. Maybe you exchange Christmas cards but nothing more. It's part of the British psyche to avoid appearing even a little impolite, so you will do everything to escape a hint of awkwardness or embarrassment. Thus, when Peter and Debbie meet ebullient far-right-wing American, the Trump-supporting Elsa Jean Krakowski, on a cruise and she invites them to visit her in Denver, they reluctantly give her their email address. A few weeks later she's manipulated them into letting her stay for a few days and she turns...

Chriskirkpatrickmas: A BoyBand Christmas Musical – Seven Dials Playhouse

6Dec

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Chriskirkpatrickmas: A BoyBand Christmas Musical – Seven Dials Playhouse

Everything about Valen Shore and Alison Zatta's musical looking back at 90s boyband NSync is quirkily eccentric. Even the title is a tongue-twister! This is a show that oozes nostalgia, while offering a commentary on the meteoric rise to fame of some very young guys, and their subsequent sudden break-up. It's Christmas Eve 2009, seven years after Justin Timberlake decided to pursue a solo career and NSync was said to be "on hiatus". The band's founder Kirkpatrick (Valen Shore) waits in a queue in a Hollywood coffee shop, still recognised by fans. He wistfully sings that he used to be on MTV as he continues his long wait for Timberlake (NIcole Wyland) to call him to get the band back together for a reunion tour. Every year he meets up with the three other members of the band - Lance (Riley...

23Nov

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

A Christmas Carol – Old Vic

Dickens' classic tale of redemption, empathy and love remains a powerful and timely reminder of the gross discrepancies between rich and poor. Seeing the intense deprivation many Londoners were experiencing, Dickens took up his pen and created Scrooge, a character whose name has become synonymous with miserliness. First published in 1843, the message of A Christmas Carol sadly remains just as valid in 2023. Ebenezer Scrooge is a man alone whose only love is money who literally receives a wake-up call on where his life will end up if he doesn't change his ways. Berated by a harsh father who showed no love to his son, but inculcated in him a need to pursue wealth, Scrooge leaves Belle, the love of his life and a secure position with Belle's father to take up an opportunity as Marle...

16Nov

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

SuperYou – Lyric Theatre

Katie is a young girl struggling to find her way in the world, overwhelmed by self-doubt, and feeling that her older brother, Matty, a talented comic book artist, is their mother's favourite. Mother is dealing with her own difficulties. Domestic abuse has led to the break-up of the family and frequent house moves. The mother's eventual spiral into alcoholism results in her losing job after job leaving her daughter to care and provide for her. Like her brother, Katie has a talent for art and immerses herself in drawing, in particular developing her own comic book character, Lightning Girl. With her brother's encouragement, she creates a team of superheroines who she literally brings to life. In dealing with life's problems and losses, she learns to love herself and have faith in her o...

17Aug

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Express G&S – Wilton’s Music Hall

As if Gilbert and Sullivan's operettas weren't already bonkers enough, along comes the Charles Court Opera Company to pile on additional splendid craziness. This is a murder mystery tour in G&S song, with myriad references along the journey to many of their well-known, and some not so well-known works, from Pirates of Penzance and The Mikado, to Princess Ida and The Sorcerer. Some songs are kept intact, others rewritten to fit the narrative. There are puns both subtle and groan-worthy, clues and red-herrings galore, appropriately melodramatic and over-the-top acting by the three cast members and a slew of great sight gags. To make this show work though, it needs the attention to detail that G&S always brought to their writing, the superb diction to perform those word...

The Flying Dutchman – The Grand Junction

14Jul

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

The Flying Dutchman – The Grand Junction

Glyn Maxwell and Laura Bowler's reworking of the mythic tale of the seaman condemned to sail the seas unless he finds his true love puts a topical spin on Wagner's 1843 opera, "Der fliegende Holländer". In this version, England's borders are closed to strangers, the vigilante Watch group scan the sea from the cliffs on the look-out for anyone trying to "invade", harsh measures are being implemented to deter those trying to cross the sea. One of the Watch, Starlight, begins to empathise with those seeking refuge and tries to persuade others to have more compassion. Mari, leader of the Watch and the antithesis of Starlight, sees her sympathy as treason. There's also a thread of unrequited love coming into play between Mari and Starlight. Meanwhile, the Mariner, injured and alone on his raft,...

28Jun

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Dear England – National Theatre

In 1996, Gareth Southgate stepped up to take the final kick in England's semi-final penalty shoot-out against Germany - and missed. That moment haunts Southgate, the team and the fans, exacerbating the "thirty years of hurt" and failure since England's World Cup win in 1966. James Graham's latest work explores the struggles of the England men's football team to turn failure to success, a metaphor for the plight of the country seen through the lens of football. Southgate, appointed manager of the England team in 2016, recognises that the team, while talented, are sabotaging their own efforts and brings in a psychologist to help them address their fears. One day, maybe, the nation would not be cowering behind the sofa in buttock-clenching terror every time an international match was de...

11Jun

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

The Mikado – Wilton’s Music Hall

Take one classic operetta, mix it up a bit, add some brilliant choreography, phenomenal singing and a fantastically talented all-male ensemble and you have a witty and joyful new show. Gilbert and Sullivan purists might object, but Sasha Regan's imaginative take is stuffed full of all the elements that make a hit show. First performed in 1885, Gilbert and Sullivan's The Mikado was set in Japan so they could take sideswipes at the British establishment and idiotic laws, but with plausible deniability, by referencing a far-off land. At the heart of the convoluted plot is the law enacted by the Mikado that makes flirting a capital crime. Along comes the Mikado's son, in the guise of a wandering minstrel, who has fallen in love with a young lady who is the ward of the Lord High Execut...