Never in a million years would you guess that Grand Hotel – now brilliantly revived at the Southwark Playhouse – is one of Broadway’s great rescue jobs. That something seemingly so organic, so cohesive, so intricate, could…
The venerable and venerated Philadelphia Orchestra swept into London bearing gifts and mixed messages from Nico Muhly. Actually that was the title of his crowd-pleasing opener for the orchestra – Mixed Messages (UK Premiere) – and for…
It took 30 years for High Society to make its laborious transition from screen to stage. There are good reasons for that. The indelible impression left by the movie and its star Grace Kelly was undoubtedly the…
Let it never be said that English National Opera hasn’t done its bit for Gilbert and Sullivan – but the fact that only one its several stagings has achieved recognition and longevity surely says something about the…
Review for this week’s edition of The Spectator… Attend the tale… http://www.spectator.co.uk/arts/theatre/9486232/sweeney-todd-eno-review-blunt-and-bloody/… [Read More]
Musicals stand or fall on their books; docu-musicals are defined by them. Even a bunch of great songs won’t entirely carry an evening on Broadway or in the West End and it’s certainly no coincidence that Marshall…
Simon Rattle’s Sibelian journey has been long and fruitful and has taken him all the way from Birmingham to Berlin and more particularly the revered Philharmonic where the spaces between the notes now resonate in extraordinary ways…
It’s true that there is something wildly, garishly, theatrical about Pedro Almodóvar’s films – none more so than this rampant farce – but it’s equally true that their sensibility is far removed from what the English might…
Everything about this little-known and largely forgotten show – including the title – suggests epic. Multiple locations, ambitious concept, big ideas. But like so much of Jerry Herman’s work – and the received wisdom on it is…
Santa Claus does make it to the Menier Chocolate Factory this Christmas but his name is Sam Byck and he plans to fly a 747 into the White House and “incinerate Dick Nixon”. So not the Christmas…