There are a huge amount of film-to-musical adaptations currently on, or coming soon, to the West End, and the latest is The Time Traveller’s Wife. The 2003 novel has been adapted into a film, a TV series, and now a musical, with music and lyrics by Joss Stone and Dave Stewart, and a book by … More THE TIME TRAVELLER’S WIFE – REVIEW – APOLLO THEATRE
Takao Akizuki and Yukari Yukino meet by chance, on a rainy day under a shelter in a local garden. He is a 15-year-old who aspires to be a shoemaker and skips school when it’s raining to work on his designs. She is in her late 20s, trying to escape issues at work that are heavily … More THE GARDEN OF WORDS – REVIEW – PARK THEATRE
As a huge fan of Carl Grose, known for writing Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs) and The Grinning Man, this reimagined take on a classic story – Robin Hood: The Legend. Rewritten, unfortunately completely misses the bullseye. This remake pulls on political strings regarding the ecosystem, royalty, and capitalism; set in a … More ROBIN HOOD THE LEGEND. REWRITTEN – REVIEW – REGENTS PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE
Dancing penises, nipples that talk, Nigel Garage’s balls – these aren’t things typically seen on a West End stage – but Spitting Image The Musical has arrived! Spitting Image is a satirical TV puppet show first broadcast in 1984; by design, the series aims to make fun of celebrities and famous figures. No sides of … More IDIOTS ASSEMBLE: SPITTING IMAGE THE MUSICAL – REVIEW – PHOENIX THEATRE
Based on the 1993 film starring Bill Murray, Groundhog Day The Musical premiered in 2016 at the Old Vic. The musical garnered critical acclaim during its London and Broadway runs and received the Olivier Award for Best New Musical, the show is now back at the Old Vic for the summer. The plot focuses on … More GROUNDHOG DAY – REVIEW – OLD VIC
F. Scott Fitzgerald’s short story The Curious Case of Benjamin Button, was previously adapted into a feature-length film starring Brad Pitt in 2008, and then in 2019 Jethro Compton and Darren Clark created a musical, which premiered at Southwark Playhouse. Four years on, the show is once again running at Southwark Playhouse, but this time … More THE CURIOUS CASE OF BENJAMIN BUTTON – REVIEW – SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE
Annie Proulx’s ‘97 story of repressed homosexual desire has been at the forefront of the gay imagination at least since Ang Lee’s ‘05 film adaptation lost Best Picture to Crash. And with a stage play landing in London, we are invited to reconsider how its whiskey-drinking, tryst-stealing cowboys stand up today. Is this a story … More BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN – REVIEW – @SOHOPLACE
Bleak Expectations is a new play based on the BBC Radio 4 series by Mark Evans. The play premiered at the Watermill Theatre last year and has now made its way over to the Criterion Theatre in the West End. Set in Dickensian London, the show follows Pip Bin on a madcap adventure, in which … More BLEAK EXPECTATIONS – REVIEW – CRITERION THEATRE
It hits you with a bang – loud and shocking – as the demure, frightened maid Nelly (Giulia Innocenti) is interrogated from a loud menacing tannoy under harsh lighting about ‘The Monster!’ This is in sharp contrast to the delightful bucolic bird song greeting you as you enter the venue. She is frightened, yet still … More WUTHERING HEIGHTS – REVIEW – ROYAL & DERNGATE
There is a relieving lack of bees at The Almeida. Secret Life of Bees, written by Lynn Nottage and directed by Whitney White, is a musical based off the book by Sue Monk Kidd, coming to London from off-Broadway. Unsurprisingly for the Almeida, the stage is impressively set by Soutra Gilmour. Dry, yellowed grass lines … More THE SECRET LIFE OF BEES – REVIEW – ALMEIDA THEATRE
The ever-beloved, honey-filled bear has made his way to the UK along with all his friends as Disney’s Winnie the Pooh, a new musical stage adaptation by Jonathan Rockefeller, begins performances at Riverside Studios. The classic characters are brought to life in this production through gorgeous puppetry which astounds even the knowing adults in the room. … More WINNIE THE POOH – REVIEW – RIVERSIDE STUDIOS
‘A woman can do no good but in childbirth, but she can do evil.’ Medea is an ancient Greek tragedy by Euripides, the basis of which is the myth of Jason and Medea. The play was first produced and staged in 431 BC and has had countless adaptations since then. Robinson Jeffers adapted the play … More REVIEW – MEDEA – @SOHOPLACE
It’s a magical moment when a beloved show returns to the West End! Dirty Dancing has once again found its way to the heart of London, allowing us to immerse ourselves in the ultimate romantic classic. Set in 1963, Dirty Dancing tells the story of Frances ‘Baby’ Houseman, an idealistic girl from a privileged background, … More DIRTY DANCING – REVIEW – DOMINION THEATRE
Virginia Woolf was a known feminist and rather progressive for her time. She wrote Orlando as a love letter to her long-time lover Vita Sackville-West. Orlando is a parodic biography that is heavy on the satire; it follows a young man that becomes a woman at the age of thirty and lives throughout five centuries, … More REVIEW – ORLANDO – GARRICK THEATRE
The Christmas classic that we all know and love, Elf, has been adapted into a stage musical. The show first premiered on Broadway in 2010, and broke box office records during its 10-week run at the Dominion Theatre in 2015. The show is now back for a limited run over the festive period. Elf follows … More REVIEW – ELF THE MUSICAL – DOMINION THEATRE
My first trip to The Mill at Sonning was really a trip to the 1940s. The film Top Hat starred Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers and all the glam of the classical Hollywood cinema era. Top Hat wasn’t adapted for the stage until 2011, premiering in the UK and starring Tom Chambers and Zizi Strallen. … More REVIEW – TOP HAT – THE MILL AT SONNING
The Old Vic has been running its adaptation of A Christmas Carol for the past six years, even putting on a digital version during the pandemic. Most of the production remains the same annually, with a different cast taking over each year. It’s very common to see a pantomime at this time of year, and … More REVIEW – A CHRISTMAS CAROL – OLD VIC
Baz Luhrmann’s successful 1992 film has been adapted for the stage, into Strictly Ballroom the Musical, directed by the renowned Craig Revel Horwood. Fran (Maisie Smith) is from a religious Spanish background, and her dance tradition is Strictly Flamenco. Scott (Kevin Clifton) is from the ballroom dance world, yet he has his own “maverick” style … More REVIEW – STRICTLY BALLROOM – NEW WIMBLEDON THEATRE
In this blistering adaptation from the writer of Barber Shop Chronicles, Inua Ellams, the epic Greek tragedy from Sophocles receives a contemporary retelling. Leslie Travers’ set consists of a huge foam graffiti spelling Antigone, which is used as a fun house style set, creating our youth centre. As the action moves the pieces are literally … More REVIEW – ANTIGONE – REGENT’S PARK OPEN AIR THEATRE
This review is spoiler-free because you absolutely must go see Starcrossed. It has given the unnamed queer people who lived five hundred years ago a voice; it has told their untold story. And, it has given people who are queer the same epic love story as Romeo and Juliet. Although ending in fated tragedy, Starcrossed is a triumph. Directed … More REVIEW – STARCROSSED – WILTON’S MUSIC HALL
