Producer Danielle Tarento and director Thom Southerland have created another Off-West End mega-hit musical. In fact, Grey Gardens has broken all box office records at Southwark Playhouse whe…
For years Guys and Dolls has been all but ruined for me: that’s what happens when you are lucky enough to see a definitive production and performance. I speak, of course, of Richard Ey…
The 2016 West End season got off to a rollicking start this week with Wednesday’s opening of Guys and Dolls, the latest Chichester Festival transfer to the Savoy Theatre, which follows…
After rounding up various publications' #theatre2015 highlights yesterday, it's time to reflect on my own year in the stalls (well, mainly in the stalls, occasionally in the dress circle). I…
If you know me at all well, you’ll know that I’m a Twitter addict – which includes a love for all sorts of nerdy things to do with Twitter management and monitoring. And th…
After my two-week Christmas roadtrip in the US, I'm finally back at my desk and able to catch up on all the 2015 UK theatrical year round. Have you been keeping up in my absence? Fear not ei…
After Anna Francolini on Monday and the Judy Garlands yesterday, I'm going for a hat trick of blogs about amazing women today so that I can tell you this: if you haven't yet seen Linda at th…
Take your pick of Judy Garlands. On the London stage this week alone, you've got a choice of three " Helen Sheals, Belinda Wollaston and Lucy Penrose – in Ray Rackham's brilliant new p…
"Who are you?" It's the only real question, according to wonder.land via Lewis Carroll. But the main question that kept running through my mind while watching the Damon Albarn musical at the…
I have tried as much as possible to ignore the press around Jeremy Corbyn's attendance of the Stop the War organisation's Christmas do this week. Frankly, I just didn't want to get myself wo…
Have you seen the rave reviews for our Featured Show? After five years away, The Blues Brothers have returned to the West End for a limited season at the Arts Theatre with a festive special …
When wonder.land premiered at the Manchester International Festival in July, reviews were decidedly mixed. National press who made the trip north were underwhelmed, bestowing a raft of three…
When news of the Park Theatre’s pantomime, Rapunzel, came through earlier this year, I remember clocking the name of the hero character Prince Corbyn – names are never a coincide…
In musical theatre happenings, the big news last night was London's first major revival of Jule Styne's Broadway classic Funny Girl. The big question: could Sheridan Smith lay to rest the gh…
On Friday night, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn emailed me and other grassroots members of the Labour Party asking what I think Britain should do about the civil war in Syria, our national secu…
A year ago I was gorging myself on turkey and pumpkin pie and basking in family love in Huntsville, Alabama. It was my first time back to the States for Thanksgiving in over 20 years and it …
In case it escaped your notice, the second annual #LoveTheatreDay (that's opposed to last year's #LoveTheatre Day, for the record) took place last Wednesday. I'd had it marked in my calendar…
I usually prefer to spend Sunday nights in winter holed up at home, but I was glad to make an exception – especially thanks to the considerately early start time of 5.30pm – last…
I've been thinking a lot about new musicals recently. That's not meant to be a blatant plug for my new website Stage Faves. Apart from the small detail that #StageFaves' covers revivals and …
People who see me in the theatre no doubt assume I'm always armed with my little notebook and scrambling for the pen that always seems to have fallen to the bottom of my bag because I'm a cr…
There's nothing like a major theatre event to warm the cockles on a winter's day. And the opening of Kenneth Branagh's return to the West End with a year-long season as actor-manager was und…
Maybe I'm just an old softie. Okay, yes, let's admit it, I am. I'm also a lifelong believer in the restorative power of Christmas music which, like Katrina and the Waves' “Walkin' on S…
Featuring Judi Dench, Ian McKellen, Tom Hiddleston, Jude Law, Ewan McGregor, Ben Kingsley, Ralph Fiennes, Baz Luhrmann, Mark Rylance, Fiona Shaw, James Earl Jones, Rita Dove, Sandy Foster, H…
Belarus Free Theatre (BFT), the underground theatre group routinely censored and persecuted in its state-controlled homeland, is celebrating its tenth birthday this month. Founded by human r…
The play Pig Farm, which is currently receiving its UK premiere at London's St James Theatre, is written by American Greg Kotis, who also wrote the book for the Urinetown, the musical which …