REVIEWS Archives - Page 4 of 596

12Jul

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

Princess Sparkles – Museum of Comedy

If Disney ever collided with a psychological breakdown, the result might look something like ‘Princess Sparkles’. Lily Maryon's debut solo show is gloriously unhinged, unapologetically absurd, and one of the most confidently bonkers princess character comedies I've seen in quite some time. The premise is deceptively simple, Princess Sparkles is a princess-for-hire expecting a room full of excited five-year-olds. Instead, the audience becomes those children, willingly swept into an increasingly chaotic birthday party as reality slowly unravels beneath the glitter. Her repeated insistence that she is "definitely not a Disney princess", something that is totally believable, only makes the comparison even funnier. Maryon demonstrates remarkable command of the room throughout the hour...

12Jul

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Shanay Holmes in Concert – Cadogan Hall

Shanay Holmes' first solo concert proved to be a considerable success, her powerful voice presenting a repertoire of well-known musical theatre classics and the songs that have formed part of her own theatrical story. From Oliver! which garnered her the Best Female Lead award in a Musical at the Black British Theatre Awards, to Rent, Annie, The Sound of Music, West Side Story, Miss Saigon and Sweeney Todd, Holmes' clear soprano created an entertaining evening. She hasn't appeared in all these shows, but has chosen songs which she loves and been moved by, as well as those she's performed. And mostly these are great choices which perfectly match her impressive range. Initially slightly nervous, she quickly settled into the roles and the emotional characters in the songs, interspe...

Spamalot – Portobello Town Hall, Edinburgh

12Jul

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Spamalot – Portobello Town Hall, Edinburgh

There are some shows where you spend your time analysing every directorial choice, every dramatic beat and every performance. Then there are shows like Spamalot, where after about ten minutes you simply surrender to the sheer joy of it all. Happy Sad Productions' latest musical is exactly that kind of evening. Based on the classic Monty Python and the Holy Grail, the musical lovingly embraces absurdity, gleefully mocking both the original film and the conventions of musical theatre itself. It's a show that positively encourages performers to throw caution to the wind, and this company responds with infectious enthusiasm. One of the production's greatest strengths is its scale. A large ensemble fills the stage with energy throughout, ensuring that even the smallest roles have ...

12Jul

By David S ClarkeNo Comments

North West

Grease – The Forum Theatre

Well, seeing as this is one of the most iconic shows ever produced, I don’t think there is much point in my writing a synopsis of this except to say, “Welcome to Rydell”! This is actually by way of a swansong for many of the seniors at NK as a large number will be leaving to go onto further education, whether in the musical theatre forum or in alternative areas of study. I am proud to say that I have followed the journey that many of these young performers have been on for the past 12 years plus and have seen them grow from little 5-year-olds to super confident performers who have developed into outstanding young men and women who all have an amazing stage presence. A nice touch was the section of the programme devoted to the memories of the leavers, where they could each come up wi...

This Machine Kills Fascists – The Empty Space

10Jul

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

This Machine Kills Fascists – The Empty Space

The words “This Machine Kills Fascists” emblazoned across Woody Guthrie’s guitar have become one of the defining images of American protest culture. In David Dunn’s spirited musical—ending a short UK tour as part of the Greater Manchester Fringe—that slogan becomes both mission statement and challenge, asking whether songs still possess the power to confront intolerance, inequality and authoritarianism in an increasingly polarised world. A musical biography of Guthrie could easily descend into reverential myth-making. Dunn wisely resists that temptation. Instead, he presents a man of extraordinary talent, fierce conviction and deeply uncomfortable contradictions. Guthrie’s loathing of racism and exploitation is rooted in a childhood overshadowed by poverty and by a father whose prej...

10Jul

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Fun Home – Royal Exchange Theatre

In the same month that Something Rotten! delights audiences with its joyous Shakespearean irreverence at the Opera House, Manchester welcomes another long-awaited Broadway success whose journey across the Atlantic was delayed by the pandemic. Almost a decade after its Tony Award-winning run, Jeanine Tesori and Lisa Kron’s adaptation of Alison Bechdel’s groundbreaking graphic memoir finally reaches the Royal Exchange, joining a growing wave of American musicals—including Dear Evan Hansen, Come From Away, Jagged Little Pill and next month’s London premiere of Kimberly Akimbo—that have reshaped the genre by favouring emotional realism over escapism. Its arrival continues the Royal Exchange’s renewed commitment to musical theatre. After years in which the genre appeared only occasionally in...

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast – Montgomery Theatre

9Jul

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Disney’s Beauty and the Beast – Montgomery Theatre

In the sweltering heat the audience of Woodseats Musical Theatre Company’s production of Beauty and the Beast blazed into Sheffield town and the Montgomery Theatre, inviting us to be there guests and subsequently delighted all. With an impressive creation team - book by Linda Woolverton, Music by Alan Menken and Lyrics by Howard Ashman and the legendary Tim Rice. Woodseats did a fine job without the big budget set and scenery to create a beguiling ‘Tale as old as time’. As Director/Musical Director Rowan Alfred does a good job to steer the production’s legendary tale - this was no mean feat at times with nothing more than limited back projection and a rear dais with a central set of four steps. The actors were very much carrying the entire storytelling and did so with a very strong prin...

9Jul

By Saloni SanwalkaNo Comments

London

Operation Blank – Etcetera Theatre

Just off Camden High Street and up the stairs of the wonderfully cosy (and air-conditioned) Oxford Arms is Etcetera Theatre which, for the next two days, is home to Operation Blank, a 50-minute thought experiment about what happens when hopeless British bureaucracy meets nuclear crisis. The result is a rambunctious disaster which paints a grim albeit accurate picture of the collective “screw it” we all seem to have said in response to the world’s current state of affairs. At its core however Operation Blank is The George Grant Show and therein lies the audience’s true reward. When speaking with Grant (writer and lead performer) after the show, I learned that Operation Blank was born from a 10-page drunken rant after a night out. And— I mean this in the best possible way—it fee...

9Jul

By Paul AckroydNo Comments

London

Richard III: The Cockpit Theatre

This is an extraordinary production. Directed and starring Nicolas Perez Costa it was per formed to great acclaim at Madrid’s Teatro Infanto Isabel. It is in English but with a largely Spanish speaking cast it is a highly physical, visceral and arresting interpretation of Shakespeare’s classic play about power, ambition and evil. The cast paint their faces white with heavy black make up, along the lines of the Joker in the famous Batman films, and are dressed in dysfunctional costumes of black, translucent tops and heavy ragged cloaks. Something like a cross between grunge and steam punk. The set consists of nothing more than six oil drums and two wooden ladders. These the cast move into the positions required for each scene often standing atop them. The most amazi...

9Jul

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

East – The King’s Arms

Nearly 50 years after its premiere, Steven Berkoff’s East still has the power to provoke. What was once notorious for its profanity and sexual explicitness now shocks for entirely different reasons. In 2026, it is the casual misogyny, blatant racism and everyday homophobia that land with the greatest force, exposing attitudes that have aged badly while prompting uncomfortable reflection on how much has – and hasn’t – changed. If Shakespeare met Shameless, the result would look much like East. Berkoff fuses muscular, poetic verse with the grit of London’s East End, creating a theatrical language that is exhilarating one moment and exhausting the next. Performed in the intimate surroundings of The Kings Arms as part of the Greater Manchester Fringe, Stir Crazy Productions fully embrac...