Book: Arthur Laurents Music: Leonard Bernstein Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Director: Matthew Hawksworth Reviewer: John Kennedy Everything was possible in Bernsteins’s late 50s Atomic-Age ‘America’ where inter-racial antagonism imploded with incendiary, teenage trouser-powered cool, hormonal-hip braggadocio to a Romeo and Juliet riff. ‘Is that a GAT in your cod-piece buddy - or are you just frightened to see me?’ Plus ça change, ...
Read More »
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 ...
Read More »
Book: Marsha Norman, based on the novel by Alice Walker Music and Lyrics: Brenda Russell, Allee Willis and Stephen Bray Director: Tinuke Craig Reviewer: Tim Harding Based on Alice Walker’s 1982 novel, The Color Purple tells a story with an epic sweep spanning over forty years in the life of Celie and the community in Georgia where she lives. It may be ...
Read More »
Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Lyrics: Tim Rice Director: Bill Kenwright Reviewer: Clare White It was the first of musical writing duo Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s creations to be produced back in the 1970s and famously launched the West End stage careers of Jason Donovan, Philip Schofield and Lee Mead. Five decades later, Joseph and his coat of many ...
Read More »
Writer: Kevin Fegan Director: Christopher Elmer-Gorry Reviewer: Katie Burchett Reparation Island: a place to share, to think, to repair, to rebuild. Kevin Fegan’s one-act play is performed by the ex-service men and women who make up Bravo 22 Company and is based on first-hand experiences from within the Armed Forces community in the Midlands. As the lights come up, eleven ...
Read More »
Writer: Emma Reeves from the novel by Jill Murphy Director: Theresa Heskins Reviewer: Nicole Craft Jill Murphy’s The Worst Witch has been entertaining children for the best part of three generations. Continuing to go full circle, the television series (two versions of!) inspire yesterday and today’s youngsters to seek out the books; the books inspiring those who haven’t discovered the ...
Read More »
Writer: Grace Chapman Director: Nicholas Pitt Reviewer: David Guest Asylum seekers and their plight is an issue regularly seen on the news, but increasingly the topic is being explored on stage as more and more people ask the question, “What can be done?” The impact on the refugees is portrayed on a large scale in plays such as The Jungle, ...
Read More »
Book: Harvey Fierstein Music & Lyrics: Cyndi Lauper Director & Choreographer: Jerry Mitchell Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Kinky Boots is bright, brash and brilliantly enjoyable. Based on the 2005 film of the same name, which was itself inspired by a 1999 BBC documentary, Trouble at the Top, Kinky Boots tells the story of how a traditional Northampton shoe factory reinvents itself ...
Read More »
The Reviews Hub Champions of truly nationwide theatre coverage
