Posted on

Musicals update for March

So much musical casting news!

The Hope Mill Theatre’s upcoming revival of Passion opens in May with Ruthie Henshall as Fosca, Dean John-Wilson as Giorgio and Kelly Price as Clara. The company is completed by Adam Robert Lewis, Charlie Waddell, Danny Whitehead, Dalton Harris, Ray Shell, Steve Watts and Tim Walton.

Michael Strassen directs with movement director Sundeep Saini and musical director Yshani Perinpanayagam, with orchestrations by Stuart Barr, musical supervision by Paul Schofield, set and costume design by Elin Steele, lighting by Charlie M Jones, sound by Dan Samson and casting by Rob Kelly.

The new cast for Cabaret, starting on 21st March will be Fra Fee as the Emcee (replacing Eddie Redmayne) and Amy Lennox as Sally Bowles (replacing Jessie Buckley). Also joining the show will be Omar Baroud as Cliff Bradshaw and Vivien Parry as Fraulein Schneider whilst Elliot Levey as Herr Schultz, Stewart Clarke as Ernst Ludwig and Anna-Jane Casey as Fraulein Kost continue in their roles. Continue reading “Musicals update for March”

Posted on

Review: Cabaret, The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre

Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley shimmer and scintillate in this striking reworking of Cabaret, in the immersive surroundings of The Kit Kat Club 

“Gather together to greet the storm”

There’s a lot that has gone into tempting us out from sitting in our room. Director Rebecca Frecknall and designer Tom Scutt have done an awesome job in reconfiguring the Playhouse Theatre into the risqué surroundings of The Kit Kat Club. From sweatily intimate pre-show entertainment (that could possibly benefit from a touch of crowd control) to a transformed auditorium, there’s no doubting the welcome im cabaret, au cabaret, to Cabaret…

And for the eye-wincing levels that ticket prices go up to in this first casting period, as well that welcome should be extended. There’s a lot that works supremely well in this production of John Kander, Fred Ebb and Joe Masteroff’s iconic musical. The dazzle of recognisable showtunes is stripped away to focus on the uncompromising weight of a narrative about the untrammelled rise of fascism, ostensibly in 1930s Germany but in reality, in any society at all. Continue reading “Review: Cabaret, The Kit Kat Club at the Playhouse Theatre”

Posted on

Some September casting news

Dana Al Fardan, one of the Middle East’s leading contemporary composers, and West End star Nadim Naaman today announce that their second major stage musical, Rumi: The Musical will get its world premiere as a semi-staged concert at the London Coliseum on November 23rd & 24th 2021.

Rumi, based on a story about the 13th century philosopher and poet Rumi by Evren Sharma, follows Al Fardan and Naaman’s 2018 debut Broken Wings, which premiered in the West End at the Theatre Royal Haymarket before touring the Middle East.

Led by Ramin Karimloo (as Shams Tabrizi) and Nadim Naaman (Rumi), Casey Al-Shaqsy (Kimya), Soophia Foroughi (Kara), the London Coliseum cast will comprise entirely of performers of Middle Eastern, North African and South Asian heritage, and will also feature a 25+ piece orchestra, conducted by Joe Davison.

Tickets will go on sale on Tuesday 14 September via the London Coliseum website Continue reading “Some September casting news”

Posted on

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”

Posted on

Album reviews: Working / Bat out of Hell / 42nd Street

A trio of West End cast recordings (well, one’s off-West-End…) show that it is sometimes hard to recapture the stage magic 

© Robert Workman

Starting off with the best of this bunch, the Southwark Playhouse’s production of Working might not have seemed like the obvious choice for a cast recording but maybe the lure of a couple of new Lin-Manuel Miranda tracks was a real sweetener.

Truth is, it is the quality of the cast’s performances that make this a fantastic addition to the list of albums you need to hear. From Siubhan Harrison’s impassioned ‘Millwork’ to Dean Chisnall’s gleeful ‘Brother Trucker’, and the highly charismatic Liam Tamne nails both of Miranda’s contributions – the wilful ‘Delivery’ and a corking duet (with Harrison) on ‘A Very Good Day’.

Experience pays though, as Gillian Bevan and Peter Polycarpou take the honours with some scintillating work. The latter’s ‘Joe’ is beautifully judged, as is the former’s ‘Nobody Tells Me How’, both demonstrating the uncertainty that can come at the end of a long career, when retirement doesn’t necessarily hold the joyful promise it once did. Highly recommended.  Continue reading “Album reviews: Working / Bat out of Hell / 42nd Street”

Posted on

The Curtain Up Show Album of the Year 2017 nominees

Best UK Cast Recording
42nd Street – 2017 London Cast Recording
Bat Out Of Hell The Musical – Original Cast Recording
Dreamgirls – Original London Cast Recording
Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Original Concept Recording
Girl From The North Country – Original London West End Cast Recording
The Wind in the Willows – Cast Recording

Best American Cast Recording
Anastasia – Original Broadway Cast Recording
Come From Away – Original Broadway Cast Recording
Dear Evan Hansen – Original Broadway Cast Recording
Hello, Dolly! – New Broadway Cast Recording
Spongebob Squarepants – Original Cast Recording
Sunday in the Park with George – 2017 Broadway Cast Recording

Best Solo Album/Non Cast Recording
Collabro – Home
Leading Ladies – Songs From The Stage
Marisha Wallace – Soul Holiday
Patti LuPone – Don’t Monkey With Broadway
Rachel Tucker – On The Road
Sheridan Smith – Sheridan

Posted on

Review: 42nd Street, Theatre Royal Drury Lane

“You’re going out a youngster, but you’ve got to come back a star”

In the rush to dole out the five star reviews that seem de rigueur for any big musical these days (22 for An American in Paris so their new poster shouts proudly), there appears to be a willingness to overlook storytelling for spectacle. As at the Dominion, the newly opened 42nd Street is a massive dance show which is undoubtedly hugely, well, spectacular. And it also suffers from not being particularly dramatically interesting, Michael Stewart and Mark Bramble’s book contains hardly any dramatic tension at all – will the show-within-the-show be alright on the night? What do you think?!

I start with this line of thought because as much as I was impressed by 42nd Street, it rarely moved me in the way that Golden Age musical theatre (my favourite genre of all, surprising no-one) at its best does. Based on a novel from the 1930s, the book here – as directed by Bramble – sacrifices any hint of suspense or meaningful character development for the headlong rush from production number to production number. And it just about gets away with it due to the sheer scale of what is being mounted here. 40+ bodies tap-dancing in unison in bucket-loads of sequins – bawdy and gaudy indeed.

Continue reading “Review: 42nd Street, Theatre Royal Drury Lane”

Posted on

Preview – 42 reasons to see 42nd Street

“Where the underworld can meet the elite…
Naughty
Bawdy
Gaudy
Sporty
Forty-Second Street!”

I was lucky enough to be invited to the first preview of 42nd Street at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane and whilst any official opinions about the show are under embargo until press night, I thought I’d give you all some hints and teasers and a little sneak preview (assisted by these beautiful photographs courtesy of Brinkhoff & Moegenburg) through these 42 reasons to see 42nd Street. 


1 Where else are you going to see a cast of over 50?
2 Just look at them Continue reading “Preview – 42 reasons to see 42nd Street”