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The finalists of The ONCOMMs 2021

The OnComm is the new award for online shows from across the UK (and beyond) and was introduced in
May 2020. 

1. Recording pre-lockdown (direct)
(i.e. with little or no editing)
Going Viral / Daniel Bye
Hysteria / Spymonkey
Jane Clegg / Finborough Theatre
The House Of Bernarda Alba / Graeae

2. Recording pre-lockdown (edited)
(i.e. with significant editing)
Bubble / Theatre Uncut
Cyprus Avenue / Royal Court & Abbey Theatre
SeaWall / Simon Stephens
The Encounter / Complicité Continue reading “The finalists of The ONCOMMs 2021”

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News: The Barn Theatre Presents – The Music of Amies & Clements

I love the Barn’s focus on some of the lesser-sung British musical theatre composers, shining their light this time on Amies & Clements

The Barn Theatre has announced an all-star West End line up for their fourth virtual concert, The Barn Theatre Presents: The Music of Amies & Clements, which will celebrate the work of award-winning musical theatre composers Stephanie Jayne Amies and Teddy Clements.

The concert, which will be hosted byBarn Theatre producer Jamie Chapman Dixon, is the fourth edition of the Barn Theatre in Cirencester’s virtual concert series, The Barn Presents, which celebrates the work of British musical theatre composers. Continue reading “News: The Barn Theatre Presents – The Music of Amies & Clements”

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News: line-up for week 10 of Leave A Light On

The lineup has been announced for the 10th and final week of Leave A Light On

West End stars Joel Harper-Jackson, Adam Bailey, Scott Hunter and David O’Reilly will perform live-streamed concerts from their own homes. And then to finish the series, multi-award winning artist Beverley Knight will perform an exclusive live show.

The festival presented by Lambert Jackson Productions in association with The Theatre Café was started as a way to keep the West End in people’s minds during the lockdown. The initiative aims to not only to provide financial support for the performers involved, but also to provide entertainment for people in self-isolation. Stars including Cassidy Janson, Louise Dearman and Jordan Luke Gage have already performed to viewers in their own homes via the live-streaming service.  Continue reading “News: line-up for week 10 of Leave A Light On”

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Review: Dusty, Lowry / Aspects of Love, Hope Mill

2 quickies from a flying visit up north to Manchester to Dusty the Musical at the Lowry and Aspects of Love at the Hope Mill Theatre

“Left alone with just a memory”

Does the world really need another Dusty Springfield musical? I avoided the car crash at the Charing Cross a few years back, and wish I had avoided Son of a Preacher Man last year. But still they come and now we have Dusty the Musical which at least boasts a better pedigree than most, with Jonathan Harvey writing, Maria Friedman directing and Katherine Kingsley starring.

And with that level of quality, particularly from the mega-wattage of Kingsley’s titanic performance, it certainly emerges as the best of the bunch, relatively speaking. It is far from a great show though, its book weighed down with the tension between meticulously researched facts and figures and the greater freedom that comes from invented characters who allow story to flow. If it is to make it into the West End, more tinkering needed and Kingsley locked down. Continue reading “Review: Dusty, Lowry / Aspects of Love, Hope Mill”

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Review: Chicago, Curve

“Nothing stays in fifty years or so, it’s gonna change you know”

The thrills of Kander & Ebb’s iconic work Chicago became somewhat lost as the show grew into a stalwart long runner in London’s West End, turning to an unending procession of stunt casting moves to keep the crowds coming. But though I’m a great fan of the show, the temptation to go and see it again was never there, not even as it closed, the innate razzle-dazzle had gone missing. So the prospect of a brand new production at Leicester’s Curve Theatre, directed by Paul Kerryson and choreographed by bright young thing Drew McOnie, raised hopes that it might be back.

And boy is it ever. The Curve has been home to some excellent musicals during Kerryson’s tenure and Chicago is right up there with the best, as a vibrant recasting of the familiar elements of the show infused with a fresh vitality that literally sparks off the stage. Away from the faux glamour of the latest evictee from the jungle or fading Hollywood star, the focus on genuine musical theatre talent restores an integrity to the show which allows it Kerryson to really play up the viciously biting satire of sensation-hungry audiences which is as relevant today as it ever was. Continue reading “Review: Chicago, Curve”

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Review: Bare, Greenwich Theatre

“The boys have gonorrhea, now they burn for you each time they pee”

Not really being a fan of rock musicals, I didn’t make the journey to the Union Theatre to see Bare earlier this year and I was kind of reluctant to go and see its belated transfer to the Greenwich Theatre. And true to form, it really wasn’t my cup of tea. A cast of bright young things sing well and deliver a great level of performance but the show, written by Jon Hartmere and Damon Intrabartolo, feels dated both dramatically and musically, its off-Broadway high-school charms very much eluding me.

Set in the senior class of a Catholic high school, these 17 year olds race towards graduation whilst battling with issues of sexuality and identity, religion and reality, all the while rehearsing a production of Romeo and Juliet which ham-fistedly reflects the tortured inter-relations between this tangled group. Clunky comedy turns into deficient drama as boy meets closeted boy meets girl, but the nearly entirely sung-through lyrics rarely give such an emotive issue as homosexuality in high schools the sensitivity and complexity it deserves. Continue reading “Review: Bare, Greenwich Theatre”

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Review: Richard Beadle – Songs , St James Studio

“With grace and poise, not hate and noise”

Nestled in the basement of the newly-built St James Theatre in Victoria is a studio with an ambitiously varied programme of events that runs throughout the week but at weekends, it turns into a cabaret space hosting a range of singers from the world of musical theatre and beyond. And this Sunday saw the turn of songwriter and West End musical director Richard Beadle to showcase his work in a concert mainly featuring songs from his album, simply entitled Songs, sung by a host of West End stars. 

The show was split into two halves – the first taking in songs from his musical work-in-progress Today Is My Day and the second, an assortment of other numbers from his songbook and from the albums of other people with whom he has worked – but unifying the whole evening was Beadle’s clear gift for songwriting. His ear for a clean and uncomplicated melody is perfect for the effective telling of story through song and so the simple but powerful emotions behind songs like the traumatic ‘1967’ delivered beautifully by Niamh Perry and the melancholy ‘Here We Are’, Rachael Wooding revelling in the chance to show a subtler side to her voice, shone through with an impressive lyrical naturalism. Continue reading “Review: Richard Beadle – Songs , St James Studio”