L’Etoile, Royal Opera House
It’s a kind of French Mikado. In a distant and exotic kingdom a victim must be found to celebrate the King’s name-day. No little list, no W H Gilbert wit, either, but a handful of delicious tunes,…
Grey Gardens, Southwark Playhouse
It’s not hard to see why Grey Gardens – the musical – has become such a collector’s item. This strange but true tale of American royalty gone rogue, of Jacqueline Kennedy’s rebellious relatives, of a stain on…
Funny Girl, Menier Chocolate Factory
It’s hard not to invoke the B word – Barbra, that is, not Brice – and I speak as one who bunked off school to catch her at a mid-week matinee. It was standing room only at…
Elf, Dominion Theatre
There’s nothing wrong with Elf that a decent song or two wouldn’t help put right. Oh, wait, there is one – “Nobody Cares About Santa” – which bucks up act two no end and turns rather deliciously…
The Stationmaster, Tristan Bates Theatre
Aria Entertainment’s From Page to Stage platform for new writing in musical theatre is another of those life-lines which refreshes the parts that the West End so rarely reaches – and to see a fledgling musical like…
In the Heights, King’s Cross Theatre
Lin-Manuel Miranda is America’s new Poet Laureate. When I first saw his fledgling opus IN THE HEIGHTS on Broadway it struck me that here was the moment where all the existing catergories previously used to define musical theatre…
Kinky Boots, Adelphi Theatre
If the shoe fits, they say, wear it. But in truth there’s always been a bit of a size differential between Kinky Boots, the modest urban Brit-flick, and the Cyndi Lauper/ Harvey Fierstein musical that it spawned.…
Grand Hotel, Southwark Playhouse
Never in a million years would you guess that Grand Hotel – now brilliantly revived at the Southwark Playhouse – is one of Broadway’s great rescue jobs. That something seemingly so organic, so cohesive, so intricate, could…
High Society, Old Vic
It took 30 years for High Society to make its laborious transition from screen to stage. There are good reasons for that. The indelible impression left by the movie and its star Grace Kelly was undoubtedly the…
The Pirates of Penzance, London Coliseum
Let it never be said that English National Opera hasn’t done its bit for Gilbert and Sullivan – but the fact that only one its several stagings has achieved recognition and longevity surely says something about the…