Three hour-long plays, two intervals, three men in black frock-coats explain some financial history in a revolving glass box in front of a projected, mainly monochrome, cyclorama. When The Lehman Trilogy triumphed at the National Theatre in 2018 I wrote “this show has no right to be so much fun”. Recast and home again, it still is a treat after waltzing Broadway and LA and winning a Tony for Best Play.
‘The sumptuous score is showcased to the highest degree’: CHESS THE MUSICAL IN CONCERT – Theatre Royal Drury Lane ★★★★
After the success earlier in the year of Bonnie and Clyde in Concert, the bar has been set rather high for what concert productions at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane can provide, and Chess the Musical in Concert certainly hits the mark.
‘I can happily report Lily Allen is just fine’: 2:22 A GHOST STORY – Noel Coward Theatre
While Danny Robins’ debut play 2: 22 A Ghost Story is adept at ratcheting up the tension, the biggest source of it is whether Lily Allen, making her West End stage debut, would be up to the task.
NEWS: Lily Allen will make her West End debut in the world premiere of a new play by Danny Robins
Lily Allen is to make her West End debut in the world premiere of Danny Robins’ new play 2:22 – A Ghost Story at London’s Noël Coward Theatre from 3 August to 16 October 2021 (press night is 11 August). The production will feature Julia Chan, Hadley Fraser and Jake Wood and will be directed by Matthew Dunster.
‘A whole lifetime of joy & pain packed into this tale’: BEFORE AFTER – Southwark Playhouse
Filmed simply and elegantly in the Little auditorium at Southwark Playhouse, Before After places all our attention on the problems of these two people as they begin again.
‘A musical that celebrates the power & beauty of music’: THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA – Royal Albert Hall (Online review)
As part of The Show Must Go On’s series streaming Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musicals online, this glorious celebration of The Phantom of the Opera highlights how it is a musical that celebrates the power and beauty of music.
NEWS: Five years after Donmar sell-out, City of Angels transfers to West End’s Garrick Theatre
Josie Rourke’s critically acclaimed and Olivier Award-winning production of City of Angels makes its West End transfer five years since opening at the Donmar Warehouse in 2014.
‘This is a writer with lots to say’: THE ANTIPODES – National Theatre
While the descent into a kind of collective insanity may seem strange in lieu of a plot in Annie Baker’s Antipodes at the National Theatre, as with all her work you find your thoughts returning to it again and again once the curtain comes down.
‘Hilariously brilliant night at the theatre’: YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN – West End ★★★★
This show is funny beyond belief and a real joy to watch. If it’s a feel-good show you want, then Young Frankenstein is the one for you.
‘Madcap success & monstrous consequences’: YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN – West End ★★★★★
If you want thoroughly entertaining, which requires no thought, just the ability to laugh, then this is the show for you. Young Frankenstein is a monstrously fun night out.
Rosalie Craig & Hadley Fraser star in The Light Princess concert in July
Rosalie Craig and Hadley Fraser will appear in the first ever concert performance of The Light Princess at London’s Cadogan Hall in July.
‘Lovers of the original movie will be thrilled’: YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN – West End
A decade after the mega-budget follow-up to The Producers flopped on Broadway, Mel Brooks is back with a scaled down Young Frankenstein, this time on London’s West End. The sets may be smaller, but the laughs are just as big.
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN – West End ★★★★★
It might be too early for pantomime, but it’s never too soon to see Mel Brooks’ ingenious updating of Young Frankenstein delivered as a spoof both of the horror movie genre and of the theatricality of stage musicals.
What do revivals of Hair & Five Guys Named Moe have in common?
Terri Paddock rounds up three musicals she’s seen recently: Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein in the West End, Five Guys Named Moe in the specially erected Marble Arch Theatre and the 50th-anniversary revival of Hair at The Vaults.
What do revivals of Hair & Five Guys Named Moe have in common?
Terri Paddock rounds up three musicals she’s seen recently: Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein in the West End, Five Guys Named Moe in the specially erected Marble Arch Theatre and the 50th-anniversary revival of Hair at The Vaults.
Album Review: Before After (2016 Studio Cast Recording)
Confession time – I’ve had this album for an unforgivably long time, mainly because I managed to forget about it, despite the fact I was meant to be reviewing it. D’oh, and sorry Mr G. And more fool me, because Before After is just lovely.
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN – West End ★★★★
Like The Producers before it, Young Frankenstein hails from a Brooks movie of some 40 years earlier with the veteran writer/director reframing the comedy-horror flick around his own composition of words and music.
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN – West End ★★★★
This cult movie-cum-musical is a smash hit with those who don’t take themselves too seriously – and who appreciate that same quality in musical theatre. Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein is outrageously funny and devilishly naughty.
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN – Garrick Theatre ❤❤❤❤❤
Mad and bizarrely brilliant, this musical based on the classic 1974 film is a great way to cure the blues. If there is a more madly brilliant show than Young Frankenstein in the West End then I have yet to see it.
YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN – West End
It’s alive…barely. Mel Brooks’ Young Frankenstein staggers into the West End after some more time on the operating table since its 2007 Broadway opening. But for a piece of new musical theatre, it is so desperately old-fashioned that you half expect Russ Abbot and Bella Emberg to pop up and do a turn.
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