Category: theatre

not a book, theatre

Not a Book: Hadestown

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Another week, another theatre review, and given that the Hadestown cast is changing at the end of this week, I would have posted this last weekend, if it wasn’t for the fact that I think more people know about Hadestown than they do The Battle.

Hadestown tells a version of the story of the Ancient Greek myth of Orpheus and Eurydice, with the story transposed to an industrial factory version of the underworld, which Eurydice escapes to because of poverty and hunger. The show has a slightly complicated production history, which included a run at the National Theatre in London in 2018 before it went to Broadway and won the Tony for Best Musical Tony in 2019. It then returned to London in 2024 to take up residence at the Lyric Theatre on Shaftesbury Avenue, where it has proved tremendously popular and commanded ticket prices and availability to match.

This explains why I only just managed to go and see it – I go to a lot of shows and I have rules about how much I will spend. I did try for the period the other summer when the original Broadway cast came over here for a limited run ahead of a pro-shoot, but the fans were there quicker than me to the cheap seats, and so it took a good ticket offer before Christmas to get me there (and if I’d realised it was during the Winter Olympic Skating programme I would have picked a different date!) to see what all the fuss is about. I have a mixed record with Best Musical Tony Winners. I tend to prefer the Big and Fun when it comes to musicals and the Tony’s can sometimes go with the Not Big and Fun option. There are a few years when I look at the nominees and I am genuinely torn between which I like more (La Cage aux Folles vs Sunday in the Park With George in 1984, Avenue Q vs Wicked in 2004 – and I still wish I had had the chance to see Hugh Jackman in Boy from Oz) but in the main I am a commercial musical girl except when it comes to Sondheim.

All of which is to say that I can see why people love this (and I know several people who do) but it is not my thing. It is clever and it is well staged, but it is not a Verity Show. Our show was sold out – yes it was half term week, but there were also a few understudies on and it is clearly the sort of show that has a fan base who want to see as many different people in the roles as possible – because they have a loyalty card you can get stamped to get access to special merch. And I respect that, even as it makes me feel super old, because I would absolutely have been in the market for that for We Will Rock You back in the day. I would probably still have my special WWRY merch in a drawer the way I still have my Gaga t-shirt. So all in all very much a Nice To Tick Off The List for me more than anything else. I can confirm that my current count is 29 out of 76 best musicals (with another 3 if you count amateur productions), 22 out of 49 Best Musical Oliviers and I still have another seven (across the two lists some appear on both) that I could tick off if I pull my finger out and get to the long runners in the West End I still haven’t seen. Maybe 2026 is the year…

Have a Great Sunday!

not a book, theatre

Not a Book: The Battle

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A bit of regional theatre for you this week, because for Valentine’s Day we headed to Birmingham to see a new play and it was a lot of fun with a dose of nostalgia attached.

The Battle is a play about the period in 1995 which could possibly be called Peak Britpop, where Oasis and Blur fought it out for the top spot in the singles charts. Britpop was a much larger movement than just these two bands, but the rivalry between them was fierce and really defined the era – Blur, southern and arty and Oasis, Mancunian and unfiltered. Some people will ahve it that you were either one side or the other, but there were plenty who liked both. Matthew Dunster, a former music industry A&R man, has written his first play imagining what was going on behind the scenes of the key moments that people might remember about the feud.

Anyway, this isn’t really a review, because we saw it a few days ahead of press night, and judging from the reviews a few things that we didn’t love may have changed, but is a recommendation because we had such a great time and laughed so hard so much of the time. There are some really good one liners here and some fabulous performances. The names in the cast are Matthew Horne (of Gavin and Stacey fame) as the boss of Blur’s record label, who is excellent whenever you see him but you sort of want more of him, and Louisa Lytton (Eastenders and the Bill) as Noel Gallagher’s girlfriend Meg Matthews, but I thought George Usher as Liam Gallagher (who is making his professional debut in the role) was the standout.

I’m trying not to think about the fact that the 90s are as long ago now as the 60s were back then. Because that is impossible and makes me feel a bit sick. When we saw it, the audience was wearing a lot of Oasis and Blur merch – and a report I saw on the TV earlier this week said that the bars at the theatre had reported near record sales so hopefully it’s doing well with the people who remember it when but I’m hoping it will also find an audience among people who don’t remember the original battle. And that’s because the 1990s seem to be back in fashion at the moment and going through a discovery moment for people who weren’t there at the time, which as someone who does remember particularly the second half of the decade is slightly traumatic.

Anyway, this is on at Birmingham Rep until the 7th March and then moves to Manchester Opera House for a week from 17 March. If you’re near enough by, I think it’s worth a trip.

Have a great Sunday everyone.

not a book, theatre

Not a Book: H M S Pinafore

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Happy Sunday everyone! Today I’m talking about last week’s theatre trip, but it’s less a review than some thoughts, because this run of the show has now finished – although as it was a re-staging and got excellent reviews, hopefully it’ll be back again in a couple of years.

H M S Pinafore is a comic opera in two acts by Gilbert and Sullivan, and on its debut in 1878 was their first big international success. It tells the story of Captain Corcoran and his daughter Josephine – he wants to marry her off to the First Lord of the Admiralty, she wants to marry a (very) lowly sailor on her father’s ship. Hilarity ensues. And it really does, because this is directed by Cal McCrystal and its original production in 2021 was nominated for the Best Opera Olivier. I’ve popped the trailer in below, because although the footage is from that prior production, it is at least the same actor playing Captain Corcoran and the sets are the same too.

I have not watched a lot of opera, and I went to see this almost entirely because of Cal McCrystal. he directed Spymonkey‘s Cooped, which remains one of of the hardest times I’ve ever laughed, as well as One Man, Two Gu’vnors and the last opera that I saw – my first Gilbert and Sullivan – Iolanthe. And the two G&S productions have some things in common – namely lots of physical comedy, plenty of innuendo and some fun updating to make the references work as topical today (the way they did when it was first put on). This has also got Mel Giedroyc in it, playing two parts and breaking the fourth wall at every available opportunity.

I’m obviously not familiar enough with the original material to tell you exactly how much tinkering has been done, but I liked it and from what I could tell all the people around me did too, and my section seemed to include lots of G&S fans and amateur performers! The orchestra (conducted by Matthew Kofi Waldren) sounded incredible and the singing was beautiful. Add in some clever choreography, really well executed and a flock of enormous crinolines and I had a ball. My standout performer was John Savournin as Captain Corcoran – he’s a Gilbert and Sullivan specialist (I saw him in Iolanthe as well) who is clearly having a ball as he delivers the material absolutely beautifully. I would happily have gone back to see it again, and will be watching out for the next Gilbert and Sullivan production – having seen two done by McCrystal, I feel like I should see one that he’s not involved in for contrast if nothing else!

I leave you with a dash of Spymonkey, because this clip never fails to make me laugh. If it wasn’t the Winter Olympics, I’d be getting my Cooped DVD out to watch it again about now, but there’s figure skating tonight (Pairs short programme!) and I’ve got a lot of jobs to do first…

Happy Sunday!

theatre

Not a Book: 2026 Theatre Lookahead

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Yes, I know, you thought that I was done with the start of year posts, but no. One of the other things you hear a lot about from me on here is theatre, so here is what’s coming up this year in the theatre.

A view of Shaftesbury Avenue at night

I’m going to start with the things that I’ve already got in the ticket box. Firstly in May I’m off to Essex to see Thespians, Mischief’s first musical. This is set in Ancient Greece and is about the invention of acting and the world’s first play. As you know, I have such a soft spot for Mischief – I wrote about Christmas Carol Goes Wrong just a couple of weeks ago and I’ve seen so much of their other stuff too and I can’t wait to see what they do with a musical.

Also in the (virtual) ticket box is Jesus Christ Superstar. This is a revival and also a restaging – it’s the Regents Park production of a few years ago that I didn’t manage to get to see, but at the London Palladium this summer and starring Sam Ryder as Jesus. This is the last of the Andrew Lloyd Webber mega musicals that I haven’t seen live in the theatre (although I have seen the early 2000s DVD version quite a few times) and although it’s not my favourite musical, after missing out on the hot tickets that were Sunset Boulevard and Evita revivals the last two years this time I’ve decided to go for it!

Talking on missing out and Evita, I’ve already missed out on tickets for the Last Five Years concert perfomances (also at the Palladium) starring Rachel Ziegler and Ben Platt which are happening in March and were gone in the blink of an eye. Even sooner that that though is the Cynthia Erivo one woman Dracula. That starts in early Februrary and is by the same production team who produced the one-woman Picture of Dorian Gray with Sarah Snook that won a bunch of Oliviers and Tonys.

We’ve also got the London premiere of John Proctor is the Villain, which I’ve been reading about on the various theatre forums for a couple of years at this point. It’s play about a group of high school students studying Arthur Miller’s The Cruicible and got seven Tony nominations for the Broadway production last year, which starred Sadie Sink. No news on the cast for this transfer at the Royal Court, but it’s a Sonia Friedman production (like Merrily) so it could be pretty good on that front too.

Another Broadway transfer is Beetlejuice, which premiered on Broadway back in 2019 and I suspect would ahve been in London sooner but for the pandemic and all that malarkey. There are quite a few plays transferring into the West End from other theatres too – there’s Shadowlands with Hugh Bonneville, which started at Chichester; Grace Pervades starring Ralph Finnes and Miranda Raison coming in from Bath; and Rosamund Pike in Interalia which is coming in from across the river at the National. Talking of the National, they’ve got a revival of Les Liasions Dangereuses, starring Lesley Manville and Aiden Turner.

And finally I’m totally fascinated to see the revival of Avenue Q. You might remember that I went to one of the anniversary performances in 2024 and although I still adored it and the original cast, there are definitely things that haven’t aged well and I wonder how it will hit for new audiences who haven’t got the fond memories of the original that I do. I haven’t booked yet, but I’ll definitely be there at least once!

Have a great weekend everyone!

book adjacent, not a book, theatre

Book Adjacent: Christmas Carol Goes Wrong

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Happy Sunday, and I’ve got another show recommendation for you today, as we barrel towards Christmas. And after a musical-at-the-cinema yesterday, today it’s a new comedy play in the West End.

Christmas Carol Goes Wrong is the latest show from Mischief Theatre and the third stage outing for their Cornley Drama Society characters following The Play that Goes Wrong and Peter Pan Goes Wrong. Unlike those previous shows, this has scenes that aren’t part of the production which fills out the world and also enables some new and different twists to the Goes Wrong formula. This is important as you don’t want things to get stale, but also because Mischief did a version of A Christmas Carol on TV a few years back.

This is (slightly?) less dependent on things breaking than the previous stage shows were, but if you like the other Goes Wrong shows you will likely like this (and the reverse is also true). I was practically crying with laughter at several points and the anticipation of what was to come was also brilliant. And I can’t explain what I mean without giving big old plot spoilers. But it’s so funny. This has got a mix of original Goes Wrong cast – Chris Leask as Trevor, Greg Tannahill as Jonathan and Nancy Zamit (in a job share) as Annie with other Mischief regulars along with writers Jonathan Sayer as Dennis and Henry Lewis as Robert. The third of the writing trio Henry Shields isn’t in this but Daniel Fraser is excellent in Shield’s usual role of Chris. I think that Henry Lewis steals the show a little bit – he’s got some amazing moments in the show in terms of phyiscal comedy and of character moments.

I was originally going to save this post for actual Christmas Day because that’s when the action takes place, but actually the reviews for this came out this week and tickets are going to get even harder to get, so I’m throwing it out there now, because it is a limited run. This is in the West End until mid January and then goes on a five venue tour. Tickets for the West End are already at a bit of a premium, so get in there now if you want to see this one. The next nearest venue to London is Aylesbury. Details on Mischief’s site here.

Happy Christmas everyone!

theatre

Not A Book: Fallen Angels

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Happy Sunday everyone, double theatre recommendations this week for you as we head towards Christmas and I get out and about in the run up before the festivities start.

Fallen Angels by Noel Coward is 100 years old this year and this is the first revival in twenty five years. Jane and Julia are best friends and one morning after their husbands leave for a golfing weekend, they hear from a former boyfriend that he’s in London and is planning on paying them a visit. The news throws them into a panic and then into a state of wild excitement and recklessness. The upshot is chaos – very, very funny chaos.

I don’t know how the idea of women having had pre-marital sex and getting drunk will hit to younger audiences who just accept it as a fact of life, but I can see why this caused a huge stir when it was first produced – with the personal intervention of the Lord Chancellor being needed to get it the licence it needed to be performed. This version stars Janie Dee, who I loved in Follies and Stephen Sondheim’s Old Friends but haven’t seen in a play since the Angela Lansbury revival of another Coward play Blithe Spirit more than a decade ago (gosh that’s scary). It was pretty early in previews when I saw it, but it was already in really good shape – although I suspect some of the physical comedy moments will have tightened up by now. I didn’t love it the way I did Private Lives, but that’s a very high bar (current count: four viewings of three different productions of it live and repeat viewings of one of those as well as TV version on streaming services) but if you like Coward, I think you’ll enjoy this. I saw it less than a week after I went to the Cecil Beaton exhibition and I think they’d make a pretty good double bill.

Fallen Angels is on at the Menier Chocolate Factory until 21 February 2026, although judging by how full it was the night I went (it looked sold out) you may want to buy your ticket sooner rather than later.

not a book, theatre

Not a Book: Titanique

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Don’t panic everyone, it not a Sunday everyone, but we’re into December and I’ve seen so much stuff in recently that I want to talk about and as I try valiantly not to go too Christmas, too fast, and all the bookshops are Christmas central at this point with all the same book and gifts I thought I’d treat you to a bonus (non-Christmas) show today – although it would make a good festive outing if you wanted to, just saying.

So in case you can’t tell from the programme cover, Titanique is a jukebox musical parodying the film Titanic. It features the songs of Celine Dion and is told from Celine’s point of view after she interrupts a tour of a Titanic museum to claim that she is a survivor of the sinking. It’s another short show too – 100 or so minutes, no interval* and it really comes in, does it’s thing and ends on a high without outstaying its welcome.

I actually really struggled with how to describe this because it’s so off the wall but also at times it’s closer to a cabaret or comedy night than it is to a traditional musical. I would need to see it again to be sure, but it felt like there was a fair bit of improv coming from Astrid Harris as Celine. And you can see that dichotomy in the Olivier Awards categories it was in – it won Best Entertainement or Comedy Play (beating among others Ballet Shoes) but also Best Supporting Actor in a Musical for Layton Williams as the Iceberg (and various others). Lauren Drew, who was the original Celine was also nominated in Best Actress in a Musical.

I had a great time and would recommend it for people looking for a fun night out, but I think because of all the pop culture references it’s probably more one for adults, and maybe even millennials and up. I’ve never seen the film Titanic, but I’m old enough to remember it coming out and know what happens in it, so all the jokes about the film landed for me all the same. I can feel that this could end up being a show that groups go to on a night out – and there are definitely deals to be had on the tickets to make that happen. It’s in the Criterion which is at the smaller end of West End capacities (as well as being probably the most underground of them all) and also in one of the prime spots for passing footfall on Piccadilly Circus right next to Eros so it has that in its favour to keep it going for a while – The 39 Steps managed nearly a decade in there, and I think The Comedy about a Bank Robbery would have lasted longer than its four years if it hadn’t been for the pandemic. And I liked it enough that I’m not ruling out going back to see how the improv changes – or how a different cast handle it. But there are just so many shows I want to see that I haven’t already been to that I suspect it won’t happen in the near future!

Have a great Sunday.

*which made it three in a row in the West End for me – with Born With Teeth and Clarkston the other two.

book adjacent, not a book, theatre

Book Adjacent: Born With Teeth

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It’s Sunday and I’m back again with another theatre post because I cheered myself up about being back in the UK and the terrible weather with a trip to see a play on Tuesday.

Born with Teeth is a play about the relationship between William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe. In this European premiere, Will is played by Edward Bluemel and Kit by Ncuti Gatwa. The exact relationship between Marlowe and Shakespeare is a matter of huge scholarly debate, but in this telling the two men are collaborators at the least. Over the course of a tight 90 minutes you see the changing fortunes of the two men as we go from 1591 to 1593. Elizabethan England in this telling is a surveillance state rife with spies, where a playwright can struggle to make enough money to live unless they have a wealthy patron – or a side hustle.

For me, the performances are the star here – I find it hard to work out if the play would actually work anywhere near as well with two different actors. Gatwa and Bluemel play brilliantly off each other, and the similarity in their statures is an asset as the fortunes of the two men change and their relationship develops – there’s no physical dominance in terms of height – it’s all in the performances and charisma.

We saw this on Tuesday, and before we went to Wyndams theatre we spent half an hour people watching at the Noel Coward (which basically backs on to it) where it was the opening night of The Importance of Being Earnest, which has transferred in from the National, where Gatwa played Algernon. I love Earnest and was annoyed to have missed out on that one (too slow on the ticket buying front for it to be in my budget) so was keen to see Born With Teeth to see Gatwa and also to see why he might have chosen to do this rather than transfer in with Earnest (Olly Alexander is now playing Earnest, with Stephen Fry as Lady Bracknell instead of Sharon D Clarke) and I can see why this appealed to Gatwa – a two-hander, with plenty of scope to stretch your acting chops, rather than re-visit something you’ve already done. Gatwa was my favourite but I was both pleased and surpirsed to see that Bluemel who I only knew from My Lady Jane (RIP) was so good and so nearly as good as him!

This is on until November 1 – we got a good deal on tickets and it was definitely worth it for the performances. And if you like Shakespearean speculation, go and see this now, because I don’t think it’s something that will work as well without performances as good as these!

not a book, theatre

Not a Book: The Producers is back

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Happy Sunday everyone and your reminder that if you missed the Menier Chocolate production of The Producers last Christmas, it’s now transferred to the West End and previews started last night (30th August). I’m off to see it again in about ten days time – so I may yet report back on how or whether it has changed a lot in the move from a very small theatre to a bigger one, but in the meantime, here is my review from last winter as well as their performance at West End Live in June.

book adjacent, theatre

Book Adjacent: The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe

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I’ve got another lovely theatre visit to tell you about this Sunday – but if you want to see it in London, you’ll need to hurry, because it is only on in London until September 7th, then it’s back out on tour around the UK.

I can’t believe there’s many people out here who don’t know the story, but in case you don’t the four Pevensie children have been evacuated to escape World War II and find themselves living in a big house, owned by a professor. In the house there is a wardrobe that leads to the land of Narnia, which the children help free from the tyranny of The White Witch, with the help of Aslan the Lion and some talking animals. This is a really neat and compact adaptation – it’s a tight two hours ten including interval, which considering the 2005 movie was two and a half hours, and the 1988 tv series which I grew up on was 6 parts and nearly three hours in total. It’s still got all the stuff you remember – Mr Tunmus, the Turkish Delight, the Beavers, Father Christmas etc – so you won’t be disappointed on that front, but short enough that children (hopefully) don’t get too fidgety*.

I wouldn’t exactly describe this as a musical, but it has got some songs – wartime inspired in the “real” world and then folky ones in Narnia. The supporting cast are playing the instruments as well as dancing and playing multiple characters so they’re a really talented group. The children near me seemed to find Maugrim (the chief of the secret police) scary, but that was the only bit that seemed to be an issue- and I think the child in question was about five. There are some great bits of stage illusion and puppetry too so it would make a great alternative to a panto if you’re near Salford at Christmas.

Honestly it really flew by and I would totally recommend it, maybe not as a first show for children but certainly as an early theatre experience. It’s got some really clever puppetry and set design to turn a stage into a magical land. I don’t even think you really need to be familiar with the original book to enjoy 5)3 show.

The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe is at Sadlers wells until early September and then it goes back out on tour around the UK. You can find tour dates here.

*the night I was there someone had been giving out bags of popcorn and the noise was insane for the first 20 minutes or so, but there wasn’t any restlessness before the interval.