Central Reviews

Original Screenplay: Betty Comden and Adolph Green Songs: Nacio Herb Brown and Arthur Freed Director: Pollyann Tanner Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Arthur Freed couldn’t have known what he was unleashing when he had the idea of a film musical using the back catalogue of songs he wrote with Nacio Herb Brown. The film Singin’ in the Rain was released in 1952 ...

Reviewer: C L Delft Before he became the defining producer of the 80s, Trevor Horn had served an apprenticeship as a performer, topping the charts in 1979 as part of The Buggles with Video Killed The Radio Star and going on from there to front a later incarnation of the progressive rock band Yes, before settling for a life mostly ...

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 ...

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 ...

Writer: Roderick Smith, based on Homer's Iliad Directors: Madeleine Kludje and Philip Morris Reviewer: James Garrington Homer’s Iliad is a lengthy and detailed epic poem, with a huge array of characters – Greeks, Trojans and Gods. That undoubtedly creates difficulties in translating even the essence of a part of it onto the stage. Writer Roderick Smith has had a fair ...

Writer: Eric Gracey from the novel by Mary Shelley Director: Mark Webster Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Most would claim to at least have heard of Mary Shelley’s gothic novel, Frankenstein, about the man who thinks he can play God, creating a living, breathing human. In just short of an hour, Blue Orange Arts presents the story from the monster’s viewpoint with ...