Adaptation

Writer: James Lapine Music/Lyrics: William Finn Director: Mehmet Ergen Designer: David Woodhead Musical Director: Arlene McNaught Reviewer: Ron Simpson Little Miss Sunshine is a sort of jollier Grapes of Wrath for the 21 st century. The hint is there in the family name “Hoover” – the Joads in Steinbeck’s classic spend time in squalid Hoovervilles, named for President Hoover. The ...

Source Text: William S. Burroughs Directed & Conceived: Mallory Catlett Reviewer: Adrienne Sowers The pedigree behind Mallory Catlett’s Decoder: The Ticket that Exploded is vastly impressive.  With support from Gibney Dance and Theatre Conspiracy, Stony Brook University, CultureHub, Playwrights Theatre Center, Mabou Mines, the Collapsable Hole, and the Watermill Center (via the National Endowment for the Arts), this is the ...

Book: José Fernandez Music: Steve Margoshes Lyrics: Jacques Levy Director: Nick Winston Reviewer: Maggie Constable Get those dancing shoes and leg warmers on and be ready for the arrival of Fame The Musical at Milton Keynes Theatre this week on its 30th anniversary tour, no less. Based on the much loved and iconic 80s movie of the same name, the ...

Writer: Lisa Holdsworth From the novel by: Adelle Stripe Director: Kash Arshad Designer: Hannah Sibai Reviewer: Ron Simpson Bradford’s Freedom Studios have a distinguished record of site-specific productions in the city, from Drummonds Mill to the Interchange. Black Teeth and a Brilliant Smile doesn’t quite fall into the category, as it soon takes off on an extended tour of pubs, ...

Writer: Oscar Wilde Adapted by: Lucy Shaw Director: Tom Littler Set/Lighting: William Reynolds Sound: Matt Eaton Reviewer: Ron Simpson Jermyn Street Theatre’s Pictures of Dorian Gray, premiered at the Stephen Joseph’s McCarthy Theatre, is, without doubt, a bold concept brought to fruition with stylish elegance. What is less certain is how fully it communicates the drama and the narrative of ...

Book: Melvyn Bragg Music/Lyrics: Howard Goodall Director: Douglas Rintoul Designer: Jean Chan Musical Director: Ben Goddard Reviewer: Ron Simpson Great claims are made for The Hired Man in the publicity for this co-production which has already been well received at the Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch. On this evidence, it’s difficult to accept that it’s the best British musical of the last ...

Writer: Ursula Rani Sarma from the book by Khaled Hosseini Director: Roxana Silbert Reviewer: James Garrington For the many fans of Khaled Hosseini’s A Thousand Splendid Suns, there is a lot here that will be familiar, but there’s also a lot that’s been changed, and not always for the better. Of course, adapting a big novel for the stage will inevitably bring many ...

Writer: Louis de Bernières Adaptor: Rona Munro Director: Melly Still Reviewer: Stephen Bates Setting a fictional romance against the backdrop of real events in Greece during World War II, Louis de Bernières’ 1994 novel Captain Corelli’s Mandolin became a worldwide hit. Many thought that the lavish 2001 film version suffered badly from miscasting, but, unencumbered by pressure to place star ...