The best showbiz anecdote I’ve heard concerns bequiffed 50’s rock n’ roller Little Richard, and the time he was pulled over by traffic Police in a state of agitation. Where was ‘Richard Perryman’ (real name) driving to so early on Sunday morning? A...
Erich Kästner was an exceptional writer of fiction for children (Emile and the Detectives is perhaps his best known work). Identical is a new musical adaptation of another of Kästner’s tales, Lisa and Lottie. If you’ve seen any of the film versions...
Finisterre, the sixth studio album by English pop group Saint Etienne, features a series of spoken word interludes from actor Michael Jayston. ‘Rock could be so good’, he solemnly intones, ‘but we make it all so rubbishy.’ It’s hard to disagree...
Singin’ in the Rain is the musical equivalent of comfort food. We know what we’re getting but it’s so good we never grow tired of it. In many ways it is an easy sell – audiences come because they love the 1952 movie. But once the theatre is...
Who doesn’t love The Addams Family? Full of crazy, hilarious characters, obsessed with darkness and death, the franchise originally created by Charles Addams has been revamped and warped onto many different platforms over the years. But rest...
The tale may be as old as time, but this brand-new production of Disney’s Beauty and the Beast is ever a surprise. Imagine an enchanted castle where you’re served dinner by dancing plates, entertained by a quick-fire candlestick, warmed by a mumsy...
I love a good show celebrating women, especially when they’re so rarely done. Fantastically Great Women who Changed the World is a new musical directed by Amy Hodge and based on the picture book by Kate Pankhurst (who is, in fact, a very distant...
Do you hear the people sing? Yes, I do. And I hear them cry – there are even nose-blowing sobs to the left of me. I also hear the roar of approval with thunderous applause that sees the whole auditorium on its feet as soon the stage goes black. This...
It may have been going for more than five decades but you will not see a more vibrant show this year than the current touring production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Given its popularity and longevity it is hard now to imagine...
“Where did all the happy endings go? Where can all the good times be?” asks Eglantine Price. Is there an adult in the audience who isn’t thinking the same? As the song goes, many of us are at ‘The Age of Not Believing’ but Disney always has the...
Steve Timms
Martin Thomasson
Carmel Thomason
Niamh Melody
Paul Thomason