I consider myself a huge Sondheim fan, but for one reason or another, I had never managed to attend the annual Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year competition. This was the 17th year of the competition hosted by the Stephen Sondheim Society, itself now over 30 years old. Held appropriately at the Sondheim Theatre, my anticipation and expectations
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This classic G&S Operetta, the Mikado, not only fields an all-male cast, but has been transported to a 1950s private boys’ school camping trip: an inspired idea to ramp up the comedy to the max, even if there was a little ‘modified rapture’ in places. Except for retaining the name of the town of Titipu (it is, after all, the
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Families finding it difficult to put a decent meal on the table, town councillors lining their own pockets and an imminent Royal Occasion could indicate Britain today, but this is in fact the post-war Britain of 1947 magically conjured to life in the production of Betty Blue Eyes at the Union Theatre. The war has ended but Britain’s citizens are
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The Rise and Fall of Little Voice premiered at the Royal National Theatre, garnering winner of the Evening Standard Award for Best Comedy in 1992 and the Olivier Award for Best Comedy 1993. This Cinderella-esque story centres on the reclusive young woman LV (Little Voice) who lives her life in her bedroom, listening to and singing along with the record collection
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A Celebration of Paul Simon’s Graceland live at O2 Shepherd’s Bush Empire. In 1984 Paul Simon became so fascinated by a bootleg cassette of South African township music that he travelled to Johannesburg and spent two weeks recording with South African musicians. This recording session formed the basis of his seventh and most commercially successful solo album, Graceland. This concert
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As a long-time fan of SEDOS, I was excited to be able to attend the first night of their first full dance production and intrigued to see how Dangerous Liaisons could possibly be adapted for this medium. Rest assured, my expectations were exceeded on both counts as the evening unfolded into a masterclass of dramatic contemporary dance which fully captured
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I’ve been a fan of NYMT since stumbling across their production of Bugsy Malone in 1997, so I was thrilled to be able to review one of their annual London productions for Musical Theatre Musings. Anything Goes is a 1934 musical, set aboard the ocean liner S.S. American, en route from New York to England. On board is a cornucopia
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As a perennial fan of all things Sondheim, I was delighted to be asked to review this production of A Little Night Music- in fact I had already purchased tickets as it happens! Based on the Ingmar Bergman film of 1956 ‘Smiles of a Summer Night’, A Little Night Music is a tragic farce- ’whipped cream with knives’- and has the
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