Director Adam Lenson has something to say about musicals. In this essential text for theatre lovers, he challenges your perceptions of what a musical can, is, and might be.
NEWS: West End showcase will feature 15 up & coming musical theatre writers
A concert to celebrate the Chamber Musical Project will take place on 4 October 2021 at London’s Garrick Theatre. The Chamber Musical Sessions concert will invite audiences to join the selected 15 writing teams from across the UK to hear an array of new songs from the chamber musicals that they are writing.
From Cinderella to the Court: Mark Shenton reflects on another eventful week in the theatre calendar
The week began with Andrew Lloyd Webber being mentioned by Boris Johnson, as he extended the lockdown from the originally hoped-for ‘Freedom Day’ of 21 June to 19 July, at which point theatres may be able to reopen without social distancing in place;
So another delay to the ‘cautious, irreversible’ roadmap out of lockdown: It’s beginning to feel like Groundhog Day
In what is becoming a wearyingly predictable cycle, Boris Johnson’s latest failure to act fast enough to lockdown the country from the arrival of what is now known as the Delta variant of Covid, which originated in India, has resulted in it becoming the dominant strain of the virus in Britain — with the added problem that it is much more easily transmissible than previous strains.
’Takes you on a fast track journey through social media platforms’: PUBLIC DOMAIN – Vaudeville Theatre ★★★★★
Written and performed by Francesca Forristal and Jordan Paul Clarke, Public Domain is now making its first appearance on the West End stage in the Vaudeville Theatre.
‘The wordplay whizzes along’: THE SORROWS OF SATAN (Online review)
Directed by Adam Lenson, with Molly Lynch as The Woman and Stefan Bednarczyk as the mute accompanist, The Sorrows of Satan takes inspiration from Marie Corelli’s 1895 novel, but moves the action to a freer age in 1924.
‘Bubbly & sprightly like champagne’: THE SORROWS OF SATAN (Online review) ★★★★
A new musical play, The Sorrows of Satan, by Luke Bateman and Michael Conley has opened for a run of streamed performances. We were invited to preview the quirky comedy adaptation of the Faust story filmed at the stunning Brocket Hall.
NEWS: ‘Devil of a musical’ The Sorrows Of Satan is set for streaming premiere
Luke Bateman, Michael Conley, Stefan Bednarczyk and Molly Lynch will star in the streaming premiere of The Sorrows Of Satan, ‘a hell of a comedy about a devil of a musical’, from 5-8 May 2021 and then on-demand from 9-31 May.
NEWS: 23 young producers make their West End debuts in Nimax Theatres’ Rising Stars Festival
Twenty-three young theatre producers are being given a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to present their work in the West End for the first time via Nimax Theatres’ Rising Stars Festival.
Remember all the many creatives who have brought us theatre online, not just the big-hitters
There’s no question that, apart from his undoubted brilliance as a composer of instantly memorable melodies, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s greatest gift is as (self) publicist. He’s just wonderful at getting people to speak about him and his shows; and thereby promote them.
‘Fun, witty & incredibly creative’: PUBLIC DOMAIN – Southwark Playhouse (Online review) ★★★★
The cast and creative team involved in Public Domain, streamed from Southwark Playhouse, succeeded in creating a brilliant show which is timely and incredibly thought-provoking.
‘There are some memorable songs’: PUBLIC DOMAIN – Southwark Playhouse (Online review)
Public Domain is a verbatim musical winner which lifts the lid on life online and joins an august group of productions streamed from Southwark Playhouse. Strongly recommended.
‘The music in the show should feel like diving headfirst into the internet’: Francesca Forristal & Jordan Paul Clarke on their new musical Public Domain
Francesca Forristal and Jordan Paul Clarke spoke to Emma Clarendon about their new musical Public Domain being live streamed from the Southwark Playhouse on 15 and 16 January 2021.
‘It has been a bit like the Wild West’: Recognising those pioneers extending the digital frontier
While Matthew Warchus at the other end of the Cut from the Young Vic, may have the Old Vic that he presides over (without any subsidy) dark, too, actually the theatre has been in use regularly and has continued to produce throughout the pandemic, with its “In Camera” broadcasts of live performances that have been staged in its empty auditorium.
‘Charms with its songs & sense of showbusiness’: THE FABULIST FOX SISTER – Southwark Playhouse (Online review)
Luke Bateman and Michael Conley have written a piece in The Fabulist Fox Sister which may still have the odd rough edge, and which rushes through their subject’s string of misfortunes later in life, but which charms with its songs and sense of showbusiness.
‘Touches on subjects that feel so powerfully resonant today’: SHIFT+ALT+RIGHT – ALP Musicals (Online review)
This innovative production by ALP Musicals of Hilmi Jaidin’s new digital musical Shift+Alt+Right points towards the future of new musical theatre.
NEWS: Southwark Playhouse’s winter season includes new production of Constellations & three musical livestreams
The next show announced in Southwark Playhouse’s winter season is Nick Payne’s Constellations starring Ronkẹ Adékoluẹjo and Oliver Johnstone and directed by Jonathan O’Boyle.
‘The less respect you have for the Brontes before you watch this, the more you’ll enjoy it’: WASTED – Southwark Playhouse (Online review)
Wasted is about the Bronte siblings from childhood to death, as they attempt to follow their artistic – and romantic – ambitions.
‘Definitely an interesting way to bring the Brontës to life’: WASTED – Southwark Playhouse ★★★ (Online review)
Empowering in many aspects, somehow elements of the story feel as though they get lost in this ambitious new musical.
‘An explosion of feminist energy’: WASTED – Southwark Playhouse
Wasted at the Southwark Playhouse is an explosion of feminist energy, a dark and angsty account of the lives of the four most famous Brontë siblings.