Tag Archives: Curve

Book: Arthur Laurents Music: Leonard Bernstein Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Director: Nikolai Foster Reviewer: Selwyn Knight West Side Story, it could be argued, broke new ground when it burst on to the scene in the late 1950s. With a gritty story of New York gangs based on Romeo and Juliet, a sublime score from Leonard Bernstein, smart lyrics from Stephen Sondheim ...

Book, Music & Lyrics: Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey Director: Nikolai Foster Choreographer: Arlene Phillips Reviewer: Lauren Humphreys The first new production in 25 years, and with the promise of a return to the gritty, raw, original 1971 production, the odds would seem stacked in favour of this Leicester Curve production of Grease, one of the world’s most beloved musicals. However, ...

Music: Andrew Lloyd Webber Book and Lyrics: Don Black and Christopher Hampton Director: Nikolai Foster Reviewer: Barbara Michaels Billy Wilder’s 1950s film, set in the late 1940s/1950s about an ageing movie star whose career has faded along with her looks, is the basis for Sunset Boulevard the musical.  Norma Desmond (Ria Jones) is living in the past, desperately pretending to ...

Book and Music: Claude-Michel Schönberg Lyrics: Richard Maltby Jr and Alain Boublil with additional lyrics by Michael Mahler Director: Laurence Connor Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Everything about this touring production of Miss Saigon is big. The cast is big – nearly forty cast members are named in the programme – the orchestra is big – 15 credited musicians –  the sets and ...

Writer: Roald Dahl Adaptor: Sam Holcroft Director: Maria Aberg Reviewer: Jay Nuttall  “No-one outfoxes a fox”. It’s an adage that is at the heart of Roald Dahl’s beloved tale – pardon the pun.  But when Mr Fox isn’t quite as fantastic as he once was – besieged by his nemesis and minus his bushy tail – he’s going to need ...

Writer: Irvine Welsh Adaptor: Harry Gibson Director: Adam Spreadbury-Maher and Greg Esplin Reviewer: David Robinson The advance promotion promises a punchy and immersive evening. This In Your Face Theatre production certainly doesn’t disappoint on those two scores, far from it. Directors Adam Spreadbury-Maher and Greg Esplin almost insist from the first incredibly loud moment that there are no passengers in ...

Writer: Anthony Burgess Director: Julia Thomas Reviewer: David Robinson The Curve is partnering with the performing arts students from De Montfort University on this immersive and brave adaptation of the Anthony Burgess dystopian classic. The novel sits proudly on the Time magazine’s top hundred books in the English language, a novel Burgess admitted to writing in a matter of a ...

Book, Music and Lyrics: Jim Jacobs and Warren Casey Director: Nikolai Foster Reviewer: Laura Jayne Bateman The 1978 film of Grease is one of the most-loved movie musicals of all time, but its inspiration, the 1971 Broadway show, is a lesser-known predecessor. Revived by Nikolai Foster for a Christmas season at Curve, the show is taken back to its original Broadway roots, ...