Review - [title of show] (Above The Stag Theatre)

First produced off-Broadway in 2006, [title of show] is a post-modern musical with music and lyrics by Jeff Bowen and a book by Hunter Bell, which documents its own creation in preparation for entry into the 2004 New York Musical Theatre Festival.
 
The cast of [title of show]
Photo credit - PBG Studios
One interesting aspect of [title of show] is that its four central characters are based entirely upon the musical's original cast; creators Jeff Bowen and Hunter Bell, and their collaborators, actors Susan Blackwell and Heidi Blickenstaff. In Director Robert McWhir’s production, actors Jordan Fox, Michael Vinsen, Kirby Hughes, and Natalie Williams take on the roles of Jeff, Hunter, Heidi and Susan. Uniformly charming and extremely funny the quartet of actors bring the autobiographical musical to life remarkably well, transporting the audience back to 2004. Their onstage chemistry as an ensemble is pitch perfect, rooting the unusual and at times rather unstructured material in reality, and giving the audience something to latch on to as the events of the musical unfold.
 
The cast of [title of show]
Photo credit - PBG Studios
[title of show] revels in its parred down, stripped back nature, placing its actors centre stage at all times and demanding a constant air of spontaneity from them. Happily, the performers bring it in spades. Fox and Vinsen make a snappy duo as the bickering yet brotherly leading men, whilst Hughes and Williams are equally entertaining as self-professed secondary characters Heidi and Susan, whose self-aware second act duet is a musical highlight. A special mention must also go to Associate Musical Director Oli George Rew, as [title of show]’s long suffering musician.

This is a meta musical which musical theatre aficionados will love. As well as delivering plenty of laughs, it also offers an insightful glimpse into the process of creating a new musical, from its inception all the way through to opening night… and beyond.

Review - Come From Away (Phoenix Theatre)

On September 11th 2001, one harrowing terrorist attack changed the course of history irreversibly, sending shock waves across the world and ushering in a new era of suspicion, anxiety and insularity. It's in the shadow of that unforgettable day 18 years ago that Irene Sankoff and David Hein's surprisingly jolly musical sensation Come From Away flourishes, proving that even in moments of unimaginable horror, human kindness will prevail.

The cast of Come From Away
Photo credit - Matthew Murphy
Rarely do such infectiously heart-warming musicals arrive on the West End, drawing audiences in with genuine warmth and heart, and leaving them feeling utterly fulfilled. 

Come From Away explores what happened when 38 planes from all over the world were forced to land in the small town of Gander, Newfoundland, during the shut down of American airspace following the 9/11 attack. Telling the true stories of the almost 7000 displaced and overwhelmed ‘plane people’ and the Gander natives who welcomed them with open arms, Come From Away is a heartening musical which exemplifies the absolute best of humanity, from its infectiously catchy opening number Welcome To The Rock, right up until the spirited on-stage band plays the audience out at the end. 

The cast of Come From Away
Photo credit - Matthew Murphy
Stitched together by an earthy folk rock score, Come From Away is a patchwork of different stories, told by an incredible ensemble cast. Every character bursts with life, from Gander's gruff yet amicable mayor Claude Elliott, to budding romancers Nick and Diane; a Brit and a Texan who meet whilst trapped on the tarmac at Gander International Airport. Rachel Tucker shines as Beverley Bass, American Airlines’ first female captain, who gives the audience a glimpse into the work of the heroic airline crew rallying together to get people home. Bass' gutsy solo Me and the Sky is just one of the musical's many heart stopping moments. 

The remarkably frank and human script demonstrates the mushrooming dread felt by Gander’s permanent and temporary dwellers, of course, but the friendships and romances formed in the small town in the days after the 9/11 attack take precedence, and so there’s no shortage of roistering song-and-dance numbers to drive the musical’s message of love and kindness home. 

Review - West End Women (Cadogan Hall)

It may only be February, but 2019 is already looking set to be an amazing year for musical theatre, with Broadway showstoppers like Waitress, Come From Away and Dear Evan Hansen on the horizon, and home-grown musicals such as Six and the recently announced & Juliet making waves too. Aside from showcasing the breadth of the musical theatre genre, this theatrical line-up shares one other notable trait; they all feature an assortment of strong female characters in their ranks. And what better way to celebrate this vital leap in the right direction than a look back at almost 100 years of women in musical theatre?
 
Enter West End Women, Lambert Jackson Productions’ one-night-only celebration of some of musical theatre’s most memorable female characters, brought to life by an assortment of musical theatre superstars. 
 
The cast of West End Women
Photo credit - Michael Xavier
Headlining the concert were Rachel John, Lauren Samuels and Celinde Schoenmaker, three of the West End’s most dependable, versatile and spectacularly talented names. All three were given plenty of chances to shine in solo and group numbers. Rachel John delivered a hair raising rendition of Summertime from Porgy and Bess, whilst Lauren Samuels performed Never Enough from the 2017 hit film The Greatest Showman, and former The Phantom of the Opera star Celinde Schoenmaker revisited the mega musical to treat audiences to its ingénue Christine Daae’s star-making aria Think of Me.

Not only was West End Women a stunning showcase for the talents of its headlining performers, it also shone a spotlight on the stars of the future. Several up-and-coming musical theatre voices were on display, including Lauren Shields, Kayla Carter and Martha Boon, who opened the concert’s second act with Chicago’s vicious Cell Block Tango, Brady Isaacs who commanded the stage singing A Piece of Sky from Yentl, and Talia Robens, whose rendition of Everything I Know from In The Heights was a striking tearjerker.
 
The students of MX Masterclass, West End favourite Michael Xavier’s musical theatre training school, were equally impressive, bringing buckets of energy and pizazz to Blow Gabriel Blow from Anything Goes and America from West Side Story, accompanied by a peppy orchestra under the baton of Adam Hoskins.

Despite the omission of several famous female-led musicals, West End Women was a magical musical theatre celebration. The concept was solid, the performances were uniformly faultless, and the audience was left tapping their toes at the joyful and empowering finale, I’m A Woman!

Review - Avenue Q (UK Tour)

Its closing number may reassure audiences that “everything in life is only for now”, but Avenue Q, the uproarious comedy which infamously beat musical monolith Wicked to the Best New Musical Tony Award back in 2004, has been doing the rounds in the UK since it first premiered in London 13 years ago! And now it’s back, touring the UK under the director of Cressida Carré, and fuzzier than ever.
 
The cast of Avenue Q
Photo credit - Matt Martin
Telling the story of 22 year old graduate Princeton, who moves to New York’s to figure out his purpose in life and finds himself living amongst a host of zany humans and puppets, Avenue Q is a pretty unique beast. Positioning itself as x-rated The Muppets or Sesame Street parody, it’s ingeniously zany and riotously racy, but there’s a surprisingly touching moral buried deep amongst all of the fur.

Like it’s notorious sibling The Book of Mormon (songwriter Robert Lopez co-wrote the music for both, before bashing out the tunes for a little Disney film called Frozen), Avenue Q makes fun of just about everybody, and does so with abandon. But it feels loving, in a way, and definitely prompts a bit of self-reflection from its audience, after they’ve finished wiping away their tears of joy.
 
The cast of Avenue Q
Photo credit - Matt Martin
With such a reliance on the use of puppetry, Avenue Q is a show which lives or dies on the ability of the actors to breathe life into their primary coloured puppet counterparts. Thankfully, Lawrence Smith, who multiroles as both the musical’s protagonist Princeton, and his neighbour Rod, a closeted republican banker, undoubtedly has a brilliant grasp of the physicality the role requires, and is completely hilarious and a fabulous singer to boot. Likewise, Cecily Redman is endearing and sweetly voiced as Kate Monster, a Kindergarten Teaching Assistant who catches Princeton’s eye.

Avenue Q is the ultimate laugh-out-loud musical, with catchy songs aplenty, and a book chock-full of cheeky jibes. Deliriously funny, it’s the perfect antidote for the grey malaise of 2019.