Jack and the Beanstalk continues to play at the London Palladium until 15 January 2023. We take a look at what critics have been saying about the London Palladium’s latest pantomime.
NEWS: Lucie Jones stars as West End’s new Elphaba in Wicked from 1 Feb
Lucie Jones will lead the cast in Wicked from 1 February 2022.
‘A ridiculous – & ridiculously enjoyable – show that boasts the finest score in musicals’: ANYTHING GOES – Barbican Theatre
As soon as the title number’s patter chorus kicks in, there’s a smile on every face at the Barbican Centre, where Cole Porter’s Broadway classic Anything Goes runs until 6 November 2021.
NEWS: Rachel York & Haydn Gwynne join the cast of Anything Goes at the Barbican & extra dates added
Broadway star Rachel York and Tony and Olivier nominee Haydn Gwynne will join the cast of critically-acclaimed Anything Goes for the final weeks before the show must end on 6 November 2021.
NEWS: Donny Osmond joins the cast of Pantoland at The Palladium
Donny Osmond will join celebrated pantomime royalty Julian Clary, Paul Zerdin, Nigel Havers, Gary Wilmot, Jac Yarrow and Sophie Isaacs in Pantoland at The Palladium which will open at the West End theatre on 4 December 2021 and run until 9 January 2022 for a strictly limited five-week run.
REVIEW ROUND-UP: Anything Goes at the Barbican
We round up the reviews for Kathleen Marshall’s production of Anything Goes, now playing at the Barbican.
‘Making a splash’: Anything Goes – Barbican / Singin’ in the Rain – Sadler’s Wells
Two classic revivals — both coincidentally first launched in the spring and summer of 2011, one on Broadway (Anything Goes, in a production directed and choreographed by Kathleen Marshall), the other at Chichester, before transferring to the West End’s Palace Theatre (Singin’ in the Rain, directed by Jonathan Church with choreography by Andrew Wright) — have returned in triumph on consecutive nights this week.
NEWS: Further casting & new schedule is announced for Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre
Anything Goes will open at London’s Barbican Theatre from 23 July 2021 for a strictly limited 12-week season until 17 October.
‘Perhaps the best one yet’: The Theatre Channel – Episode 5 The Classics of Broadway (Online review)
We are now into a third lockdown, but the Theatre Cafe and Adam Blanshay Productions continue undeterred with the Theatre Channel’s musical theatre spectaculars.
NEWS: Felicity Kendal & Gary Wilmot join the cast of Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre
Award winning actress Felicity Kendal will make her West End musical debut starring as Evangeline Harcourt, alongside leading actor Gary Wilmot as Elisha Whitney, in Anything Goes at London’s Barbican Theatre, running for a strictly limited season from 5 June to 22 August 2021.
As commercial producers yearn for a return to normal, will subsidised theatre play it safe or break the mould?
Some commercial producers, it appears, wanted the old order to be restored and business to proceed as normal, hence the rush to re-open as quickly as it was legally possible to do so back in November after we emerged from the second lockdown.
‘A theatrical enterprise growing from strength to strength’: The Theatre Channel – Episode 4 Holiday Special (Online review)
Nipping in just before Santa arrives, The Theatre Channel’s fourth episode delivers festive treats aplenty in The Holiday Special.
‘We’ll keep the blue gags flying here!’: PANTOLAND – London Palladium
Not for the very youngest probably, but for the rest of us over-7s and our inner child Pantoland at the London Palladium is a proper, silly, defiant showbiz shot in the arm.
NEWS: Elaine Paige joins the cast of Pantoland at The Palladium
Elaine Paige will join the cast of Pantoland at The Palladium for the three-week festive run from 12 December 2020 to 3 January 2021, which sees pantomime return to the the London Palladium for a fifth consecutive year.
NEWS: Julian Clary leads all-star cast in Pantoland at the London Palladium
This Christmas Julian Clary will lead a star-studded cast in Pantoland at The Palladium, a treasure-trove of the London Palladium panto past devised by Michael Harrison and playing from 12 December 2020 to 3 January 2021.
‘This is the rarest of things, a Working-Class musical’: FLOWERS FOR MRS HARRIS – Chichester Festival Theatre (Online review)
Far from frivolous, this fashion-based drama is a great choice for Chichester Festival Theatre’s inaugural broadcast, from a venue that so often gets it right. Perfect escapism.
‘When You Believe has a choral majesty that is undeniable’: THE PRINCE OF EGYPT (Album review)
There was a moment in the last couple of days as I listened to ‘Make It Right’ for the umpteenth time that I wondered whether I’d been a bit harsh to The Prince of Egypt when it opened in late February.
‘Vibrant & richly rewarding production’: THE PRINCE OF EGYPT – West End
A dazzling cast, a powerful score and mesmerising choreography make The Prince of Egypt a real spectacle to watch.
‘Only really springs to life in the musical numbers’: THE PRINCE OF EGYPT – West End ★★
Who knows, in years to come a Fringe theatre may manage to hit the right tone with The Prince of Egypt. In the meantime, this production could do with a little more creative flair and re-write.
‘Spectacularly well performed musical’: THE PRINCE OF EGYPT – West End ★★★
For spectacle and energy, The Prince of Egypt is worth a visit. It’s not going to change your life but it’ll provide a fun few hours of superfluous theatricality that looks and sounds very pretty.