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The Entertainer
The figure of Mrs Thatcher looms larger than the Queen in this timely revival of John Osborne’s critically-acclaimed play The Entertainer, in which the backdrop is updated from the 1950s Suez crisis to Argentina’s 1982 invasion of the Falklands. The first act opens with the voice of the prime minister announcing the invasion in the… →
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Amelie the Musical
There’s something supremely classic about all things French; it’s the je ne sais pas quoi way in which they bring together style, romance, art and music with beautiful simplicity. And hence the phenomenally successful film Amelie, which since 2001 has bewitched and charmed audiences worldwide. Even those audiences that hate sub-titles. The musical theatre version… →
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Annie
I have to confess that I am an Annie virgin. I have never read the cartoons or seen the film, despite really liking 1930s musicals. The first stage production opened in Broadway in 1977, ran for nearly six years and has rarely been off the stage since. It’s obviously popular and well-liked – but what… →
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The House on Cold Hill
Bestselling author Peter James, whose page-turning, murderous works provide the staple reading diet of airport travellers and WH Smith perusers, has extended his chilling reach once more, by adapting his ghostly tale The House on Cold Hill into a stage production. He might be on to a good thing here, as other supernatural productions such… →
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Hormonal Housewives
As a child, I remember my aunties as big-bosomed bundles of middle-aged spread, wearing unflattering clothes (well, that could have been something to do with seventies fashions), whose main form of excitement came from knitting patterns, Tupperware parties and the arrival of the latest Littlewoods catalogue. Feminine identity was never discussed, except for dark references… →
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Club Tropicana – the Musical
Forget the sixties, the eighties was the decade of revolutionary music for me. I started the decade in secondary school and left it with a degree, a husband and a headful of music-anthemed memories; first single bought, first album (on cassette), first school dance snog song, end of exams songs, first summer holidays with friends-not-parents… →
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Dirty Dancing
I must admit, the preponderance of screen-to-stage productions that swiftly sweep their way across the stage at the New Vic these days does make me despair somewhat and crave for something new and original. Not that there’s anything wrong with most of the these productions, but it’s a bit like the fast food dilemma at… →
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The Rocky Horror Show
You may feel decidedly underdressed as you go about your business in Woking this week, as undoubtedly you will spot more than the normal extent of men and women tottering around in high heels, wearing fish-neck stockings, basques and outlandish make-up. This is because the inimitable Rocky Horror Show is in town, giving anyone and… →
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Abigail’s Party
In the programme for Abigail’s Party, director Sarah Esdaile talks about how she has adapted the play to make it her (and the cast’s) own, rather than a karaoke version of the famous TV play starring Alison Steadman. I have never seen the TV version of Abigail’s Party, or if I have I’ve already… →
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Ghost the Musical
Ghost, the movie, is perhaps one of the most well-known and well-loved films in cinema history, and not only by becoming an easy favourite title of Christmas party charade games. It was the highest-grossing movie in 1990 and bagged Whoopi Goldberg a well-deserved Oscar for Best Supporting Actress. It also won the Oscar for the… →
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