November 28, 2019

Les Misérables: The Staged Concert

There really aren’t enough words to describe how amazing this show was! I’d specifically booked to see John Owen-Jones’s last night and, my goodness, it was phenomenal. He is always sensational, but this performance was on another level. The characterisation, the emotion - everything was heightened, more detailed, more heart wrenching. ‘Valjean’s Soliloquy’ was absolutely breathtaking, and ‘Bring Him Home’ was simply incredible. It was pure magic to watch. I feel absolutely privileged to have seen this performance, but I fear that I have been spoilt for seeing Les Mis again because I don’t think that anyone else as Valjean could even come close to compare with Mr Owen-Jones on a normal day, let alone the performance he gave tonight.

November 25, 2019

White Christmas

With the first proper winter frost this week, what better show to see than White Christmas to get you in the wintery festive spirit? With dance numbers, sets and costumes reminiscent of an MGM movie musical from the Golden Age of Hollywood, this production is fabulous to watch. Everything is in glorious technicolour and a visual spectacular. The Dominion Theatre is ideal for such large numbers, although I did find that the sheer scale sometimes made it a little difficult to take in the number as a whole - I found myself focussing on various performers rather than watching the entire stage.

November 16, 2019

& Juliet

This show is somewhat absurd, but it deals with some pretty hefty issues and is, actually, quite good fun. The premise is simple - what happens if Juliet doesn’t kill her herself at the end of Romeo and Juliet? An interesting question, and I was intrigued to see how it would be answered. I liked the way that the answer came through William Shakespeare (Oliver Tompsett) and his wife, Anne Hathaway (Cassidy Janson), live-writing the story through possession of the writing quill.

November 13, 2019

The Sleeping Beauty

Well that was an eventful evening! Ryoichi Hirano injured himself weeks ago and I was emailed to say that he would not be dancing and that the role of Prince Florimund would be danced by Alexander Campbell. The director of The Royal Ballet, Kevin O’Hare, came on stage and made a pre-performance apology about this. The performance started and it was beautiful. And then the second interval lasted about half an hour rather than the scheduled 20 minutes.

November 9, 2019

Mary Poppins

Such potential. Such promise. Such a stellar cast. This show should be magical. And yet this production fell flat and left me cold. Visually, this show is something special to behold. The inside of Number 17 Cherry Tree Lane is magnificently detailed, and the transitions between the different sections of the house are so clever. The through-the-picture scene is like an MGM technicolour musical (I particularly liked the penguin in the pram), and the Shop of Conversation is a magical safe haven.

October 30, 2019

Mamma Mia

I saw this show 15 or so years ago and my memory is that it was a fun bit of nonsense - I don’t remember it being this terrible! The performances were overacted caricatures, amateurish, and pretty painful to watch. Lucy May Barker’s Sophie was a complete brat who you had no sympathy for; and Richard Trinder’s Sam Carmichael lacked any kind of charm or charisma, so Donna still being in love with him made absolutely no sense at all.

October 2, 2019

The Man in the White Suit

This show is trying too hard. It is trying so hard to be funny that it ends up being unnatural and wooden, and painful to watch. The pace is also all wrong as it feels slow and laboured. Everyone completely gives their all in this show, and the set is pretty incredible in the ways in which is transforms between scenes. For example, the ‘reveal’ of Daphne’s car and the driving scene, where Sydney tells her all about his idea, is pretty clever.

October 1, 2019

Groan Ups

This show tells the story of five individuals from Year 2 through to their early 30s, and how nothing really changes from when we were children! We see the characters in Year 2, Year 9 and at their school reunion years after they have left. I absolutely loved the way that the set changed to represent them growing up. For example, when they were in Year 2, the chairs were bigger than the actors, the doors were huge, the door handles were a full arm length above their heads and the hiding place was a huge grate in the wall.

September 30, 2019

Les Misérables: The Staged Concert

Umm, wow. Just wow. This show was great when I saw it a month ago, but this time was even better! John Owen-Jones was phenomenal as always, but there was something extra-special about his performance this time. I’m not entirely sure what it was, but I think that it was that the characterisation was even more detailed and vibrant than I have seen before. He was utterly sensational. Michael Ball was amazing, and there was so much more characterisation than last time.

September 29, 2019

Fiddler on the Roof

There isn’t much more I can say about this show that I haven’t said already in previous reviews. This is a great production, poignant and powerful, with just enough humour to keep the audience from crying throughout. Watching Andy Nyman’s Tevye’s internal struggle as he is confronted again and again by the complete and utter annihilation of his beliefs and way of life - ‘traditions’ - completely breaks my heart. And, when he accepts them for the love of his family, it is touching and inspiring.