UK / West End Theater Reviews

Review: KATHY AND STELLA SOLVE A MURDER!, Ambassador's Theatre
by Alice Cope - June 11, 2024

A delightful comedy murder mystery musical that expertly blends humour, intrigue, and heartfelt friendship....

Review: CIRQUE: THE GREATEST SHOW, Leicester Curve
by Franco Milazzo - June 11, 2024

With its live singers, superb clowning and disappointing vaudeville acts, The Entertainers’ Cirque: The Greatest Show is bringing its dazzling show around the country....

Review: MOFFIE, Riverside Studios
by Alice Cope - June 10, 2024

The powerful story of a tender and gentle human forced into a brutal environment filled with hate and toxic masculinity....

Review: SARASOTA BALLET GALA - ASHTON WORLDWIDE, Royal Opera House
by Matthew Paluch - June 10, 2024

The final Ashton Worldwide bill at the Royal Opera House (23-24 season) was a Gala programme performed by the Sarasota Ballet in the Linbury Theatre...

Review: MY FAIR LADY, Leeds Playhouse
by Gary Naylor - June 08, 2024

Two terrific leads will delight audiences, but the source material's misogyny proves too much to simply sweep aside...

Review: ASHTON CELEBRATED - PROGRAMME 2, Royal Opera House
by Matthew Paluch - June 10, 2024

We're back for more Ashton, with a variation on the initial Royal Ballet programme...

Review: MARIE CURIE, Charing Cross Theatre
by Cindy Marcolina - June 08, 2024

She was exceptional, but the musical written about her is anything but. It tends to be old-fashioned and traditional in structure, willing itself to be a majestic epic, but never reaching that stage. Her life story feels rushed and vague, the songs are run-of-the-mill, standardised, lacking that big...

Review: CLOSER TO HEAVEN, Turbine Theatre
by Mica Blackwell - June 10, 2024

The talented cast and creatives can only do so much to elevate the musical’s inherent camp, but Jonathan Harvey and the Pet Shop Boys' script and songs feel underbaked with characters who aren’t able to be fleshed out. With this in mind, it feels closer to hell....

Review: IVO GRAHAM: CAROUSEL, Park Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - June 10, 2024

Ivo Graham: Carousel is a step in a new direction for Graham, who is most well-known for his standup comedy, having been performing since the young age of eighteen. In this show, he “invites you onto his own carousel,” bringing you into his world through an hour of remembrance....

Review: DIVA: LIVE FROM HELL, King's Head Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - June 10, 2024

DIVA: Live From Hell has arrived at the King’s Head Theatre. With a book and characters by Nora Brigid Monahan and music/ lyrics by Alexander Sage Oyen, the one-man musical brings us into the eternal punishment of Desmond Channing, a high schooler from Florida who is forced to reenact the final few ...

Review: ASHTON CELEBRATED - PROGRAMME 1, Royal Opera House
by Matthew Paluch - June 07, 2024

The Ashton Worldwide (2024-2028) international festival continues at the Royal Opera House with the Royal Ballet on the mainstage in Ashton Celebrated. The company is performing two mixed bills with slight repertoire changes....

Review: WEDDING BAND, Lyric Hammersmith
by Cindy Marcolina - June 07, 2024

Interracial marriage has been legal in the United States for less than six decades. To put it into perspective, sliced bread was first sold forty years earlier. Set in 1918 South Carolina, Wedding Band is a blistering portrayal of unjust laws and discrimination, of conscious and unconscious bias, of...

Review: THE BARBER OF SEVILLE, Opera Holland Park
by Franco Milazzo - June 05, 2024

Even if the press night weather for this open air production suggested otherwise, this latest take on The Barber Of Seville is the perfect summer opera with its fluffy blend of humour and romance and some of the art form’s best known arias....

Review: HOUDINI'S GREATEST ESCAPE, King's Head Theatre
by Gary Naylor - June 05, 2024

New comedies are hard to get right and often land in a highly subjective space, but this one has to be called out as a bit of a dud...

Review: SARASOTA BALLET - PROGRAMME 1, Royal Opera House
by Matthew Paluch - June 05, 2024

'wit, charm and elegance' are the words used to describe the work of Royal Ballet founding choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton (1904-1988). English ballet, or rather style wouldn't exist without him, so The Frederick Ashton Foundation have understandably instigated the Ashton Worldwide (2024-2028) in...

Review: JAMIE FINN: NOBODY'S TALKING ABOUT JAMIE, Soho Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - June 10, 2024

Walking into the Soho Theatre Upstairs for Jamie Finn: Nobody’s Talking About Jamie, you are greeted by a bit of an unusual sight - an exercise bike. Finn enters wearing an outfit one might find someone wearing at the gym, with a Blondie t-shirt and bright green gym shorts, and the show begins with ...

Review: GANDINI JUGGLING'S SMASHED, Peacock Theatre
by Franco Milazzo - June 04, 2024

Juggling not only apples but comedy, dance and socio-sexual commentary, the troupe co-founded by Sean Gandini and Kati Ylä-Hokkala in 1992 bring back their signature production to London....

Review: VIOLA'S ROOM, One Cartridge Place
by Franco Milazzo - June 03, 2024

In a sudden lurch away from their epic 2022 creation The Burnt City, immersive specialists Punchdrunk’s next effort is a far more cosy affair. Small barefoot groups walk their way through the Nineties fairytale world of Viola’s Room with the story relayed over headphones by Helena Bonham Carte...

Review: A VIEW FROM THE BRIDGE, Theatre Royal Haymarket
by Louise Penn - June 05, 2024

The first major revival of Arthur Miller's A View From The Bridge in a decade plays on the downfall of the 'Everyman'. Eddie Carbone is a hard-worker, popular, a man's man. But something deep and dangerous is gnawing at his heart....

Review: FUN AT THE BEACH ROMP-BOMP-A-LOMP!!, Southwark Playhouse
by Franco Milazzo - June 02, 2024

Advertised as “Grease meets Squid Game”, Fun At The Beach Romp Bomp A Lomp!! manages to go from the ridiculous to the sublime, even if it does lose its way every now and then....

Review: THE BOYS FROM THE BLACKSTUFF, National Theatre
by Gary Naylor - May 30, 2024

It's not a seamless transition from screen to stage, but it works well enough and, sadly, it still resonates with a truth albeit in a very different world...

Review: MAY 35TH, Southwark Playhouse Elephant
by Cindy Marcolina - May 31, 2024

It’s a sophisticated manifestation of human activism that’s unafraid to display shared trauma and address the threat of authoritarianism. An ode to dissidents and a celebration of the legacy of those who were brutally murdered during the demonstrations and whose deaths have been weaponised to furthe...

Review: STRATEGIC LOVE PLAY, Soho Theatre
by Franco Milazzo - May 30, 2024

Miriam Battye’s hilariously brutal and dark dissection of modern relationships - from tentative beginnings over a pint to their varied ends - returns to Soho Theatre for its second run in less than a year. ...

Review: ROMEO AND JULIET, Sadler's Wells
by Vikki Jane Vile - May 30, 2024

Leeds based Northern Ballet always pack a punch when they visit London every May, and this time was no different, with Massimo Moricone’s slick and captivating Romeo and Juliet. This year’s touring production held extra poignancy, with the costumes and set requiring full restoration and repair from ...

Review: FANNY, Watermill Theatre
by Mica Blackwell - May 31, 2024

With a captivating performance from Charlie Russell leading a fantastic ensemble and a well crafted script by Calum Finlay, this should mark your next visit to the Watermill Theatre in its amazing summer season....