Musical

Writer:  Enid Blyton Music and Direction: Emma Rice Reviewer:  Julia Beasley There’s the swot, the bully, the wimp, the joker, the tomboy, the dreamer, and the leader. Adapter and director Emma Rice has been faithful to the original Enid Blyton characters in this gentle morality tale of friendship at a girls’ boarding school. The premise of Wise Children’s latest musical ...

Director: Kirk Jameson Choreographer: Fabian Aloise Designer: Tom Rogers Reviewer: Dan English Getting the stage musical treatment, and carting audiences off to ‘move it, move it’ for two hours of silly fun, is the hit film Madagascar, now converted into a musical and hitting Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre as part of its UK tour. Opening night in Canterbury is particularly poignant ...

Music: Gary Barlow Lyrics: Gary Barlow and Tim Firth Director: Matt Ryan Reviewer: Kelyn Luther This is not the first adaptation of the film Calendar Girls. The original stage adaptation (non-musical) had two national tours, the second of which lasted for two years. Will Gary Barlow’s musical adaptation, previously titled The Girls, equal this success and does it capture the ...

Book: Thomas Meehan Music: Charles Strouse Lyrics: Martin Charnin Director: Nikolai Foster Reviewer: Hannah Powell The 2019 cast of Annie certainly does not disappoint. In a world of government bankers and a society which seems to treat the working classes as something to exterminate, Annie brings with it not only incredibly orchestrated music and intricate choreography but most importantly an ...

Book and Lyrics: Gerome Ragni and James Rado Music: Galt McDermot Director: Jonathan O’Boyle Reviewer: Selwyn Knight It’s hard to imagine now that until 1968, the Lord Chamberlain’s Office had the power to censor theatre in Britain so that only licensed plays could be performed. Literally the day after censorship ended, Hair, the brainchild of friends Gerome Ragni and James ...

Book: Berry Gordy  Director: Charles Randolph-Wright Reviewer: Maggie Constable You may have heard it through the grapevine; yes Motown The Musical hits Milton Keynes this week. With so many well-known songs,  in fact over 50 classics, who will be able to resist singing and toe-tapping along? Songs like Stop In The Name of Love, My Guy, and I Heard It ...

Writers: Rodgers and Hammerstein Director: Jeremy Sams Reviewer: Kimberley Knudsen Some seventy-odd years on from its opening this version of Oklahoma! stays true to the original production and is probably all the better for it. From the opening number sung beautifully by Laurey, played by the delightful Amara Okereke, all the way through to a triumphant finale the audience is ...

Book: Craig Lucas Music: Daniel Messé Lyrics: Nathan Tysen & Daniel Messé Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Amélie the Musical is a sweet and quirky story of a French girl. Brought up by a distant father and neurotic mother, she is isolated from the world and retreats into her own imagination. When her mother is killed in a freak accident, Amélie leaves ...