Two time Olivier award-winner Janie Dee is to star in the London premiere of Christopher Durang’s Tony Award-winning Best Play comedy Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike.
‘Sparkling production’: THE BOY FRIEND – Menier Chocolate Factory ★★★★
Just walking into the theatre and seeing Paul Anderson’s vibrantly coloured set for The Boy Friend chases away the winter blues and transports you to 1920s Riviera in this sparkling production.
‘Maintains its crisp choreography’: THE BOY FRIEND – Menier Chocolate Factory ★★★★
The Boy Friend is an ideal show to lighten these dark winter days, providing a healthy dose of escapism and pure joyousness for all.
‘A colourful & escapist retreat’: THE BOY FRIEND – Menier Chocolate Factory ★★★
At the end of a year in which female-forward and feminist theatre has made so much progress, The Boy Friend looks regressive as well as nostalgic. On the other hand, it is a colourful and escapist retreat from the winter, and we could all do with a night off from angst.
‘A surefire hit if ever there was one’: THE BOY FRIEND – Menier Chocolate Factory
As light as a madeleine and as frivolous as a macaron, Sandy Wilson’s The Boy Friend proves a festive treat at the Menier Chocolate Factory.
NEWS: Menier Chocolate Factory announces initial casting for major revival of The Boy Friend
The Menier Chocolate Factory has announced initial casting for its major revival of Sandy Wilson’s The Boy Friend running at the theatre from 22 November 2019 to 7 March 2020 (press night is on 3 December 2019). Full casting will be announced shortly.
CD Review: Company 2018 London cast / Follies 2018 National Theatre cast
We should celebrate the fact that within the space of a year London has played host to stagings of not one but two Sondheim masterpieces that have all but redefined them in theatrical terms: Company and Follies.
‘I predict a hit’: VANYA & SONIA & MASHA & SPIKE – Bath ★★★★
Jonathan Church has a showman’s eye for the popular and it’s a relief to report that Vanya & Sonia & Masha & Spike provides a strong start to another Bath summer season.
NEWS: Katherine Parkinson & Vanessa Redgrave join line-up for Theatre Royal Bath’s summer season as new productions are announced
Jonathan Church, artistic director of Theatre Royal Bath’s summer season, has announced further productions and new casting for the 2019 programme. Katherine Parkinson joins Rupert Everett in the cast of Uncle Vanya which he also directs.
‘As perfect a piece of musical theatre as I could hope for’: FOLLIES – National Theatre
Just a quickie for this revisit to Follies, which remains as perfect a piece of musical theatre as I could hope for. I loved it then but I really love it now.
Joanna Riding & Janie Dee talk Carousel, Follies & friendship
Janie Dee and Joanna Riding are two of the UK’s finest musical theatre performers. At the National Theatre the return of Dominic Cooke’s acclaimed production of Follies currently stars the two actresses.
‘A simply outstanding piece of musical theatre’: FOLLIES – National Theatre
The Olivier Award-winning Follies returns to the National Theatre in richer, deeper, more resonant form and just blows me away.
‘Scoring top marks across the board’: FOLLIES – National Theatre ★★★★★
Eighteen months on and with a couple of well-placed casting changes Stephen Sondheim’s Follies returns to the National Theatre with the excellence of this devastating musical a breath of fresh air amidst a slew of disappointing recent openings in the capital.
‘It’s worth a visit to see how theatre should be done’: FOLLIES – National Theatre ★★★★
After its sold out run in 2017, Follies is back in true glamorous style as it follows a group of dancers reminiscing and reliving their youth.
‘Provides a combination of dark humour & precisely honed language’: PINTER FOUR – West End
The fourth instalment in Jamie Lloyd’s consistently enjoyable season of Harold Pinter’s short plays contrasts plays from either end of the writer’s career.
‘Exploring how subjective memories can be’: PINTER FOUR – West End
Pinter Four serves up something of a difficult double bill at the Harold Pinter Theatre, but Bríd Brennan and Janie Dee are there to help us through the dark times.
‘The two plays are starkly different’: PINTER FOUR – West End
Pinter Four continues Jamie Lloyd’s Pinter at the Pinter season with the Lyndsey Turner-directed Moonlight starring Robert Glenister as a dying patriarch who bemoans his family’s absence at his deathbed to his long-suffering wife (Brid Brennan).
‘Top drawer cast, top drawer production’: PINTER FOUR – West End
Like ripping off a dramatic plaster, now that I’ve done one show’s worth of Harold Pinter it’s time to plunge headfirst into another. Pinter Three down, Pinter Four to go.
‘Showcasing comic brilliance & an ability to move an audience’: PINTER THREE & FOUR – West End ★★★★
The Pinter at the Pinter season continues with parts Three and Four which showcase both Pinter’s comic brilliance and his ability to move an audience.
‘Someone to hold you too close’: 10 takes on ‘Being Alive’ to celebrate Company’s opening
My Top 10 ‘Losing My Mind’ post has been one of the most popular on the site, so I thought I would repeat the exercise with what is arguably Company’s most iconic song ‘Being Alive’.