CD & DVD Reviews

Music and Lyrics: William Finn Reviewer: Bryony Luther Falsettos is a groundbreaking musical that explores what makes a modern family. It focuses on Marvin, a neurotic gay man who has left his wife and child to start a relationship with his partner Whizzer but wants everyone to get along as a family. The first act focuses on the domestic dramas ...

Reviewer: Mark Clegg Cameron Macintosh achieved universal acclaim when he brought Mary Poppins to the stage over a decade ago. And so it comes as no surprise that he has reunited the team behind it - writer Julian Fellowes and song writing team Stiles and Drewe - for a crack at reimagining another classic musical. Unlike Poppins, Half a Sixpence ...

Writers: Julian Harries and Pat Whymark Director: Pat Whymark Musical Director: Pat Whymark Reviewer: Michael Gray Toad Hall? Wolf Hall? The inspiration behind this bit of harmless fun is mostly Mantel – a Tudor rose projected onto the boards, Thomas Crudwell given a brief mention - but the Bard is in the mix too, together with Adele and Geoffrey Chaucer. ...

Reviewer: Mark Clegg Producing some of the most recognisable and catchy songs of the 20th Century, Robert B. and Richard M. Sherman will forever remain legends, particularly for their work for Disney writing tunes for (among many others) Mary Poppins and The Jungle Book. Following in his father and uncle’s footsteps, Robert J. Sherman has emerged as a writer of ...

Reviewer: Ruth Jepson Starting as a John Waters film in 1988, turned into a stage show in 2002, and a musical film in 2007 Hairspray is the latest show turned into a television event by NBC in America. No matter what stage of its history you were first introduced to the franchise, you cannot deny that it’s a story which ...

Reviewer: Emily Garside Recorded live at New York’s Feinstein’s/54 Below, Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp reunite for an acoustic mix of Broadway and Rock-pop. Ranging across classic 80s pop - as Rapp quips he’s ‘very much a child of the 80s’ across contemporary and classic Broadway songs with a twist, there’s a variety brought out by their different musical styles, ...

Reviewer: Mark Clegg Despite being upstaged by his dog, Charlie Brown was always the central character of Charles M. Schultz’s comic strip Peanuts. Snoopy may adorn more t-shirts and cuddly toys but the ‘blockhead’ Charlie Brown (he is always addressed in full) was pivotal from the strip’s creation in 1950 through to it becoming a worldwide phenomenon.  Snoopy-fever hit its ...

Reviewer: Holly Spanner Girls, Girls, Girls is considerably deeper than the title suggests. Perhaps this is the point, but there’s no denying it gets straight to the heart of the material. Originally conceived for a concert in 2013, the subject matter is reflective of Butz’s quest to better understand the women in his life, and with three daughters, a wife, ...