Tag Archives: Gary Wilmot

Book: James Lapine Music and Lyrics: William Finn Director: Mehmet Ergen Reviewer: Maryam Philpott William Finn’s adaptation of Little Miss Sunshine promises much, wacky scenarios, a loveable misfit family and the most musical of themes, self-belief. And while no one likes to be upstaged, the success of Finn’s production, receiving its European premiere at the Arcola Theatre, relies on the glittering ...

Book: Rachel Wagstaff based on the novel by Paul Gallico Music and Lyrics: Richard Taylor Director: Daniel Evans  Reviewer: Simon Topping  Director Daniel Evans brings this award-winning 2016 musical, from his previous creative home in Sheffield, to Chichester for its first outing since its revision and shortening of act one. Set in a food and clothes rationed, shell-shocked, south London ...

Writer: Peter Quilter Director: Daniel Buckroyd Reviewer: Mel Duncan ‘Forget your troubles, come on get happy’. A dark and seedy underbelly to the glittering silver screen is exposed when one considers the use of amphetamines on set. Fed to young actors by doctors on studio payroll, these pills were a way of enabling Mickey Rooney and contemporaries cope with the ...

Writer: Peter Quilter Director: Daniel Buckroyd Reviewer: Lauren Humphreys Judy Garland is in London with her soon-to-be fifth husband Mickey Deans, ostensibly to complete a six-week residency at the Talk of the Town, but in reality to pay off her substantial debts and hopefully kick-start her career. Forty-seven years on from her demise, Garland's name still has the power to ...

Writer: Peter Quilter Director: Daniel Buckroyd Reviewer: Selwyn Knight   It’s December 1968 and Judy Garland has been booked to perform at London’s Talk of the Town for a five-week run. There can be little doubt that she needs this engagement – previous concerts in Australia have been a shambles thanks to her chaotic personal life and her finances have ...

Writer: Peter Quilter Director: Daniel Buckroyd Reviewer: Michael Hootman   Second only to Marilyn in the tragic female icon stakes, Judy Garland’s life is a cautionary tale about the perils of too much drink, too many drugs and looking for love in all the wrong places. Peter Quilter’s play sees Judy (Lisa Maxwell) near the end of her life playing ...

Writer: Peter Quilter Director: Daniel Buckroyd Reviewer: Scott Matthewman   There is little doubt that Judy Garland was one of the 20th Century’s most engaging performers – or that the somewhat erratic performance style, particularly late in life, was both fuelled by, and a result of, the drug regime to which she was addicted. Starting from her early days in ...

Writer: Peter Quilter Director: Daniel Buckroyd Reviewer: Glen Pearce   Even 47 years after her death, there is still as much a fascination with Judy Garland’s personal life as there is with her stage and screen career. Garland's life is the ultimate showbiz tale, the child star forced into an endless spiral of drink and drugs by her stage mother ...