Book, Music and Lyrics: Kevin Murphy and Laurence O’Keefe Director: Andy Fickman Based upon the 1988 cult movie starring Christian Slater and Winona Ryder, Heathers is embarking on a UK-wide tour. The story follows angsty nobody, the impressionable Veronica Sawyer (Eleanor Walsh) who attempts to survive high school by forging hall passes for the tantalising trio at the top of the food chain – The Heathers. Veronica is taken under the wing of head Heather, Heather Chandler and from here the teen hijinks ensue. But will Veronica regret her decision to become the de facto fourth Heather? Without releasing any spoilers,…
Author: The Reviews Hub - Central
The Reviews Hub - Central
The Central team is under the editorship of Selwyn Knight. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.
Writer: Michael Frayn Director: Lindsay Posner Nothing On is a classic Brian Rix-style farce with all of the usual elements: double entendres, mistaken identity, rapid-fire entrances and exits, young girls in their underwear and, of course, middle-aged men with their trousers around their ankles. And, bizarrely, sardines. It’s set in a house that is currently standing empty as a procession of characters tries to take advantage of that fact to rent it or use it for trysts, each set unaware of the others’ presence – and mayhem ensues. And if you think you’d quite like to watch Nothing On, then…
Book: Jeff Whitty Music: Tom Kitt and Lin-Manuel Miranda Lyrics: Amanda Green and Lin-Manuel Miranda Director: Pollyann Tanner The Birmingham Stage Experience bills itself as giving young people the opportunity to ‘tread the boards’ and get a feel for what stage life, and giving your all to a performance, is really like. However, they are sure to say that the finished performance should be just as professional as any other to grace the Alexandra stage. With a huge ensemble, and an ambitious, musical taking-on of the American High School classic, Bring it On, the bar is set very high and…
Writer: Brad Birch Director: Aaron Parsons In the Summer of 1982, the brutal Argentine military junta declared that the Falkland Islands in the South Atlantic Ocean were, by historic rights, their property as The Malvinas and landed an expeditionary occupational force. The British Government responded by sending an armada Task Force of Royal and Merchant Navy ships together with distant and close RAF air support to retake them. They succeeded, by lethal force, to restore UK sovereignty. Many lives were lost. The Junta fell. The issue of sovereignty remains to this day. Falkland Sound is a sea strait that divides…
Book: Thomas Meehan Music: Charles Strouse Lyrics: Martin Charner Director: Nikolai Foster Little Orphan Annie has been enchanting us since 1924 when she started life as a comic strip by Harold Gray. Since the twenties, she has spawned books, films and indeed musicals, with the first Broadway production opening in 1977. Indeed, it is the 1982 movie version starring Aileen Quinn and Albert Finney that lives in our collective consciousness due to its iconic storytelling. The 2023 revival tour very much leans into its classic history, feeling safe and familiar throughout. The story follows Annie, an eleven-year-old orphan who had been…
Book and Lyrics: Joe DiPietro Music: Jimmy Roberts Director: Karl Steele The Old Joint Stock is carving a niche for itself presenting musicals in its intimate theatre. Its latest offering is a version of I Love You, You’re Perfect, Now Change, which in its structure is perfectly suited to the Old Joint Stock’s space. Originally performed Off-Broadway in 1996, the show became the second longest-running Off-Broadway musical and was nominated for the Outer Critics Circle Award as Outstanding Off-Broadway Musical. It has evolved since then, taking account of changing times, but remains a series of short standalone scenes that depict…
Writer: Tanika Gupta Director: Pooja Ghai The Empress is a touching, hard-hitting, and joyful new production from the Royal Shakespeare Company, written by Tanika Gupta. The classic Swan Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon has become a lovingly dressed home for this play exploring themes of colonialism and migration in Victorian England. As the audience enters, we’re greeted by two towering rope ladders which become the setting of the first scene: a ship travelling from India to England. The cast and band captivate from the beginning with a song and exploration of the complex relationships between those on board. Rani Das (Tanya Katyal)…
Music and Lyrics: Take That Writer: Tim Firth Directors: Tim Firth and Stacey Haynes When can a show that’s billed as “The Official Take That Musical” not actually be about Take That? When it’s Greatest Days – and although a previous incarnation of the show was titled The Band it’s not even really about the (unnamed) band. What it’s about is people – people who are music fans, their excitements, their hopes and their fears. Rachel, Zoe, Heather, Claire and Debbie are sixteen, and they are very excited because they have won tickets to see the band live. We learn…