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Top 5 Shows of 2025 🏆

You have probably been wondering about the five best British theatre shows of the last twelve months. Well, here you go.

And the best shows of 2025 are…

  1. Kenrex

Jack Holden delivers a brilliant and harrowing monodrama at The Other Palace, based on the true story of a violent US psychopath in small-town Missouri.

Co-written with Ed Stambollouian, Holden’s storytelling is masterful. The music is fantastic, with multiple microphones used to convey Holden’s range of voices. Top dollar theatre.

2. Stereophonic

This struck a chord with me. The story of a fictional 70s British-American rock band trying to make an album for compelling drama resonated with me. The searing songs became the source of much drama, particularly when the group fought over which would make the final album.

To be sure: Stereophonic isn’t a jukebox musical, nor is it by-the-numbers biography. This was a sophisticated and classy production that stood out in a year of movie musicals and deadbeat celebrity reimaginings and revivals.

  1. All My Sons

Bryan Cranston, Marianne Jean-Baptiste, Paapa Essiedu and Hayley Squires shone in Ivo van Hove’s terrific production -Van Hove raised Arthur Miller’s rebuttal of the American Dream to something akin to Greek tragedy.

He also chucked out anything not strictly necessary: he proves it does not have to be radical in terms of staging or the treatment of text itself.

The performance is almost entirely underscored with an atmospheric, solemn score. Electrifying and heartbreaking.

4. Into The Woods Stephen Sondheim’s fiendish score was carried with panache by the immaculate cast in this first London production for almost a decade. James Lapine’s story weaves together several fairy tales, including “Cinderella”, “Rapunzel”, “Jack and the Beanstalk”, and “Little Red Riding Hood”.

    Tom Scutt’s affecting costume and set designs added to the cinematic spell. It was a profoundly moving experience, and I can’t wait to watch it again.

      5. Jesus Christ Superstar

      Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s 1971 Biblical rock musical was strikingly relevant in this powerful summer staging at the Watermill Theatre, Newbury. It featured a large cast of talented actor-musicians and a real garden scene in Gethsemane.

      This memorable revival played to the intimate 220 seat venue, making it a major success and a joy. A treat for all ages. Sod Evita.

      Special mention to: Inter Alia, White Horse, The Habits, One Man Musical, Much Ado About Nothing. Paddington The Musical. Evita.

      Fiascos: Burlesque – the musical, Hunger Games on stage, Elektra, Bacchae, Clarkston, Saving Mozart.

      I will take no further questions.

      Bye for now,

      Carl W x

      P.S I would like to hear about your theatre highlights and lowlights of the year. Share your thoughts now – it’s nice to hear from people.

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      What’s The Point of Evita?

      IF you’re familiar with your folklore, you’ll know the story of The Emperor’s New Clothes in which there is a vain king, who’ll do anything to dress to impress, even if it ends up making him look rather stupid. 

      Basically, a show off. 

      In 2025, director Jamie Lloyd is more of a mogul and less of an auteur.

      Now, in Lloyd’s Evita, Rachel Zegler surprises hundreds of fans when she steps onto The London Palladium’s exterior balcony to sing Don’t Cry For Me Argentina —a controversial staging choice for some.

      Zegler performs not inside the auditorium but outside, live on the balcony. Her performance is broadcast via video to a large screen within the theatre, blending of live theatre and cinematic mediation.

      Lloyd previously directed Evita at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre six years ago, and his fingerprints are unmistakable here once again.

      While Zegler sings to the crowds outside—symbolically placing Perón among her people—those of us inside are left watching from a screen, making the audience itself part of the spectacle.

      The Ryan Murphy of theatre, Lloyd favours stylised minimalism and concepts over sets and props. His acclaimed Much Ado About Nothingtransformed Shakespeare’s lovers amid endless pink confetti.

      But his hit-or-miss approach isn’t without flaws—his critically panned Tempest did little to flatter Sigourney Weaver’s legacy. Poor cow. (“Sometimes a production can be blazing away in rehearsal then around the press performances there’s extra pressure and things shift a bit and it wasn’t at its very best,” Lloyd said recently).

      If anything, the latest Lloyd project feels like lagging indicators of the broader zeitgeist.

      Instead, the endless deluge of typical Lloyd fare continues: cast a celebrity, dress them in black leisurewear, lead male stripped to the waist, crank up the dry ice, dim the lights, and absolutely no costumes.

      Anyway. I saw the second preview of Evita last night.

      For me, the Don’t Cry for Me Argentina scene is the only thing that really works— it’s slick, high quality. The staging is not just theatrically effective, but thematically resonant; it sobbingly pleads with its listeners to do the opposite of what it says. 

      However, everything else feels rushed in Jamie Lloyd’s rapid-fire Evita—scenes blur in a conceptual fog. Literally. Zegler, in fine voice, gets lost—Evita evaporates.

      Some of it is so off—no timing, no rhythm, no point—you hate yourself for watching. But when it’s good, it’s good. But like I say, you can’t keep up with it all.

      Indeed, sending Zegler – in a dress that’s a puff of white gauze – out into the real world isn’t an outlier for Lloyd. In his Olivier and Tony-winning revival of Sunset Boulevard, Tom Francis famously wandered out onto the street mid-show. It worked. With Evita, he doubles down on this approach. 

      I guess it’s free publicity, too.

      If you are in central London around 9.00pm you too can watch this for free. Around 600 people gathered yesterday outside.

      For many, Lloyd has cashed in on creating like-minded shows that feel like one long continuous sequel. 

      It’s our funeral, too.

      Evita runs at London Palladium from June 14 until September 6

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      Why I’m Worried About Regional Theatre

      THEATRE has been viable for thousands of years. 

      But we live in chaotic times where conventions and norms are disintegrating by the day.

      Speaking at the Olivier Awards in London, Lesley Manville urged increased funding for theatres across the UK, highlighting chronic underinvestment in regional theatre as her greatest frustration.

      Manville emphasised the urgent need to support theatres beyond the capital.

      She’s right, of course.

      And so to today’s BBC report that indicates that between 2015 and 2025, (feels like 50 years -one of the bleakest of arts eras) UK theatre production in 40 of the highest-funded Arts Council England NPO (National Portfolio Organisations) has plummeted by around a third. 

      This is not just a crisis for artists; it’s a slow-motion collapse of a national cultural infrastructure. 

      But when times are hard, why should you care? Because theatre matters. Culture is one of the few world-class sectors this country has left.

      I have worked in producing and receiving house theatre education departments in Salisbury, Dorchester, Winchester, Colchester, and Lancaster. (I mention this only in case you don’t know and so you understand that I know what I’m talking about.)

      Indeed, from Truro to Liverpool these provide training and opportunity as a key pipeline for talent, feeding Britain’s burgeoning television and film industries, too. True story.

      It’s also the reason that the annual RTST Sir Peter Hall Director Award is vital. The winner gets the chance to direct a full-scale, fully funded production. 

      Alas, these kind of opportunities for talent are dwindling.

      And here we all are. Across the country, the majority of beloved UK theatres are struggling. It’s not only social change, culture wars, and pandemics that demand agility—it’s also shifting attitudes toward funding.

      In the past decade, the economics have radically changed.

      ACE’s airy “Let’s Create” strategy, now under government review, has failed to reverse the decline. It’s failed full stop.

      This ‘Equality Action Plan’ nobly prioritises “underrepresented protected characteristics groups and lower socioeconomic backgrounds.” 

      Now, though, a panel chaired by Baroness Hodge is soliciting public input—questions like “What changes would you like to see in ACE’s mandate?” need urgent and honest answers. 

      Meanwhile, the former government’s scattershot “Levelling Up” agenda— that saw ENO forced out of London and relocate to Manchester— has blurred ACE’s priorities. 

      So what has gone wrong? It is now common—and I use the word “common” in its every sense— for creative learning within regional theatres to be driven primarily by funding opportunities, with the community work in these departments largely disconnected from the stages and the broader artistic life of the organisation. 

      The sector’s issues are structural. We need bold leadership and systemic reform, not more bureaucracy. 

      Instrumentalism.

      ACE’s budget now stands at £446 million—£3 million less than in 2010. In real terms, public arts funding has fallen by 48% over the past 14 years, while production costs have soared. Energy bills alone have jumped 120% since 2019. The result? Fewer shows, shuttered venues, and a sector teetering on the brink.

      In fact, 40% of theatres could become unsafe within five years without urgent capital investment. Heck, one 150kg metal blade on the side of the Curve in Leicester recently fell off the building and narrowly missed a man. Totally normal.

      Landlord Leicester City Council is now set to spend £2.2 million to make the Curve safe. 

      Anyway, having worked in UK theatres with pest control problems, holes in the roof, a recurring drainage failure that floods the auditorium and one that didn’t even have a lease, none of today’s data surprises me. 

      Crucially, this isn’t just about bricks and mortar. It’s about people. After the pandemic, an ongoing cost-of-living crisis, and years of stagnation, many theatre workers are burnt out. 

      Freelance careers increasingly rely on unpaid labour, narrowing access to those with financial privilege. According to ACE’s own research, only 43% of freelancers would recommend a career in the sector. Is it any wonder?

      On top of this, a new crisis is emerging: censorship. Recent controversies, like the shambolic last-minute cancellation of Royal Exchange’s Midsummer Night’s Dream — that led to CEO Stephen Freeman standing down, HOME Manchester’s bone-brained cowardice pulling an event celebrating Palestinian voices & the collapse of Oldham Coliseum — reveal an atmosphere of risk-aversion, chaotic indecision, and deadly organisational failure. 

      In conversation, I overuse the phrase “the worst people in the world”, but the majority of theatre CEOs / top brass that I have encountered really are up there. Actually, I think the calibre of arts leaders is very, very badly depleted.

      Creativity is being stifled at a time when it’s needed most.

      And then there’s the rolling crisis of arts education.

      Performing arts subjects have seen a 68% drop in student numbers, while figures for those taking GCSEs have dropped by 47% and A-levels by 29%. A generation is growing up without meaningful exposure to drama, music, dance, opera or art.

      I cannot reiterate how cross I am about it.

      Worse, creative subjects are being ditched by secondary pupils as more schools are being forced to abandon GCSE and A-level courses to stay afloat, the Sutton Trust has warned.

      In case I haven’t mentioned it enough already, we have to get arts back into schools. There’s no time to waste.

      In fact, Ravensbourne University London’s research reveals that 75% of 18- to 25-year-olds aspire to work in the creative industries. However, many feel unsure about how to break in or even where to begin. 

      It is on all of us to inspire the theatregoers of tomorrow.

      Still, all these factors interlink in a complex and dangerous way. I mean, this isn’t just a curriculum issue—it’s a long-term threat to the UK’s cultural, civic, and creative economy. Because if we want to halt this decline in theatre production, we need more than cash—we need courage, imagination, and vision.

      This matters because we are repeatedly told that the arts and creative industries are set to play a crucial role in the UK government’s strategy for economic growth. 

      I don’t see how we can make a future without taking better care of the next generation of theatregoers. 

      Last week, the cross-party culture, media and sport committee unexpectedly endorsed a levy on major streamers. Perhaps a similar levy could be applied to the West End landlords and theatre owners.

      Culture Secretary Lisa Nandy says she wants to “bulldoze” barriers in the sector.

      The responsibility for saving regional theatre should rest squarely with central government. How about: Nandy demolishes ACE and hands the funds and decision-making directly back to DCMS in the same way that Wes Streeting scrapped NHS England? Just an idea.

      By the way, I’ve not given up hope for the future. Daniel Evans and Tamara Harvey at the RSC in Stratford, Deborah Warner in Bath, Elizabeth Newman in Sheffield, Adam Penford in Nottingham and, not least, Paul Hart in Newbury still offer exciting and ambitious programming in the regions.

      But like I say, there is clear and present danger for regional theatre in Britain.

      A 31% drop in theatre production isn’t just a statistic—it’s a wake up call. 

      A friend who rebuilt her life from addiction often says to me, “I can only sweep my side of the street.” It’s a timely reminder that change starts at home. 

      We must rally behind our local theatres—not just as audiences, but as advocates for the magic that a vibrant theatre can breathe into a weary city centre, turning it into a place of destination, creativity, and community.

      As for the way out of this, it’s time to pull together and get a few steps ahead: now is as good a time as any to start shouting very loudly indeed.

      Here’s what you can do

      1. Write to your local MP
      2. Complete the ACE consultation – this call for evidence closes midday on 24 April 2025, so hurry.
      3. Be prepared to fight for the preservation of your theatre.The research for the story counted original and co-productions that opened in 2014 and 2024, including revivals, transfers and tours. They had to be professional in-person theatre productions, at least an hour long, and to have run for at least a week. If a co-production was jointly made by more than one theatre, it was counted as a single production.The research covered the 40 venues, festivals and touring companies that produce original theatre, were operating in 2014 and 2024, and had the highest annual grants in 2024/25 from the Arts Councils of England, Wales and Northern Ireland, Creative Scotland and the Scottish government
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      Dynamic Pricing Is A Self-Serving Racket

      Where to start with the curious topic of dynamic pricing, which – without wishing to speculate on spoilers – I suggest you formally label as “developing”?

      Guess what a premium seat for Hello, Dolly! at the London Palladium costs on Friday night. Gird your loins. £225. Could they be cheaper? Almost certainly.

      There are, of course, day seats, a weekly lottery — and commendably £20 tickets for 16-30 year olds.

      But Hello, Dolly! ticket prices go up and down throughout the week — more times than Sir Cameron Mackintosh’s chopper landing at his 2,000-acre Somerset estate, that includes two dairy farms with 700 grazing cows.

      ‘Theatre’s excellence comes at a price,’ as Mackintosh said a few years ago. Well, now.

      Indeed, there has been significant public backlash on £3-400 theatre tickets in the West End a number of times now.

      But they’re still doing it because they think that it works in the very short term. Yet in the long term, it really, really doesn’t – which makes doing it anyway pretty criminal in itself.

      A quick recap: dynamic pricing is not a new phenomenon and is allowed under consumer protection laws, it is used a lot in theatre, and it is often not clear when it is happening and when it isn’t.

      In fact, dynamic pricing often acts as a rationing device. In case you are not familiar with the model, it is not dissimilar to that used by airlines, hotels and some taxi services. 

      I thought this graphic summed things up neatly: there’s virtually no profit in cheap anything. Like British Airways.

      However, it has drawn comparisons to ticket touting, where ticket prices are massively marked up by a secondary seller to capitialise on high demand.

      Essentially, it is the mechanism to allow the markets to achieve equilibrium.

      Hundreds of Oasis fans have made official complaints about how tickets for the band’s reunion tour were advertised. Cost of concert tickets jumped by hundreds of pounds during online sale because of this problematic pricing system.

      Ticketmaster says the goal of the dynamic pricing system is to “give fans fair and safe access to the tickets, while enabling artists and other people involved in staging live events to price tickets closer to their true market value”.

      What absolute rubbish. At a time when around half of people on low-income benefits ran out of food last month, dynamic pricing is a self serving racket.

      Is supply and demand the best regulator?

      Incidentally, shares in TicketMaster’s parent Live Nation Entertainment are untroubled. It has bigger worries: the US Department of Justice in May filed a civil antitrust lawsuit alleging anti-competitive practices, which Live Nation has rejected.

      In a statement on Sunday night, culture secretary Lisa Nandy said it had been “depressing to see vastly inflated prices excluding ordinary fans from having a chance of enjoying their favourite band live”. 

      Nandy said the government would include “issues around the transparency and use of dynamic pricing, including the technology around queueing systems which incentivise it, in our forthcoming consultation on consumer protections for ticket resales”.

      Elsewhere, Prime Minister Keir Starmer told BBC Radio 5 Live that the issue was “really important because this isn’t just an Oasis problem, this is a problem for all sorts of events.” 

      The UK’s Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said on Tuesday it was “urgently reviewing” the use of dynamic pricing after Oasis fans criticised the “scandalous” inflation of ticket costs.

      A spokesperson for the regulator said: “Consumer protection law requires businesses to be fair and transparent in their dealings with consumers, and businesses must give clear and accurate information about the price people have to pay. Failure to do so may breach the law.”

      Good. I am glad that this is getting front page coverage. (Incidentally, while I have been typing this, I note that a new play heading to London’s West End in 2025 will chart the animosity between Oasis and Blur.)

      Of similar concern is the recent depressing research from Norwich Theatre that highlighted general theatregoing habits: around one in four Brits have never been to the theatre.

      Theatre is very much a habit, and one that can be lost as soon as we leave school and if your child is lucky, an annual trip to the local pantomime – especially with the continuing cost of living crisis.

      I’m not crazy about the fact that the Stage’s recent annual survey of West End prices, which focuses on the most expensive tickets found that the average top ticket price for plays rose a whopping 50% in the past year, from £94.45 in 2023 to £141.61. 

      These prices are keeping Theatre elite. And ATG (Ambassador’s Theatre Group) have a disproportionate amount of control over the West End. 

      Moreover, new research from the National Youth Theatre and Netflix highlights the fact that majority (89%) of working class parents don’t want their child to pursue a creative career – revealing the shocking extent of the “class chasm” in the creative sector – and its impact on attitudes towards creative careers. 

      To combat this, they have launched year two of IGNITE Your Creativity to break down barriers for young people from the West Midlands, North East and London who want to work in film and TV.

      Obviously, having limited seats for people for whom price is not an issue and time is, subsidising producer’s ability to keep prices down elsewhere. I get it. 

      And with that, transparency from producers on the costs may go some way to dispel the perception of unfairness.

      Anyway, I’ve been to Hello, Dolly! four times. If I’m honest, it has got me through one of the worst years of my life. But these joyful experiences – life-defining in my case – need the people, places and spaces to carry them.

      That is why I am determined to strongly argue for fairer ticket prices to live theatre, for access for audiences that are more representative of the diverse society that we live in, especially now.

      I’ll hope you’ll join me. 

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      Hello, Dolly! review

      WE open with Dame Imelda Staunton’s irrepressible Dolly locking up her mourning dress, searching for a sign from her late husband that she’s doing the right thing.

      That first song, one of a bouquet of compositions is called Just Leave Everything To Me and it is the musical’s way of establishing Staunton as the widowed matchmaker – used to arranging everything –”furniture and daffodils and lives”.

      A glorious, defiantly old-fashioned West End revival of the 1964 musical with lyrics and music by Jerry Herman and book by Michael Stewart reasserts the show’s status as arguably the most beloved musical comedy of all time.

      Indeed, it was adapted from Thornton Wilder’s play “The Matchmaker,” which grew out of his “The Merchant of Yonkers,” itself adapted from an 1842 Austrian reworking of an 1835 American one-acter.

      “Some people paint, some sew. I meddle!” declares Dolly, in late 1800s New York, terrorising Andy Nyman the curmudgeonly half-a-millionaire Horace Vandergelder. His Penny in My Pocket is excellent. (He believes a woman’s place is unblocking his drains.)

      In the title role, Staunton proves that she is more than qualified to inhabit iconic diva Dolly, gifted with exceptional comic timing: the cast bend around her: She’s like a welcome breeze.

      The 21-piece band here – conducted by Nicholas Skilbeck – sounds divine at the London Palladium.

      Among the supporting cast strong-voiced standouts are Harry Hepple and Tyrone Huntley as Horace’s disgruntled employees, Cornelius Hackl and Barnaby Tucker, who end up in the New York hat shop of beguiling Milliner Jenna Russell’s Irene Molloy and Emily Lane’s Minnie Fay.

      The plot is simultaneously light and philosophical, like a lot of Jerry Herman’s musicals: Big questions are raised and then dispatched with a one-liner, only to keep chipping away at our hero until a happy ending occurs.

      Dominic Cooke’s irresistible production has at its centre the transforming talent of the choreographer Bill Deamer.

      Deamer knows that the musical numbers are not always about performance or technicality or vocal range; they’re about feeling. He seizes on Herman’s brilliant patter and razzmatazz and puts them into 3D. He makes sequences grow effortlessly out of tableaux.

      Working on familiar territory, Follies Director Cooke dreams up an assortment of colourful scenes and sets them spinning at a screwball tempo.

      The artifice lies in the gorgeous colours, the suave scene changes and the art deco vibrancy. This is the kind of show at which his ensemble company excels.

      Designer Rae Smith seems to have got the message. Only the pastel tones of Jon Clarke’s chalky lighting design match her for colour.

      ‘MONEY, pardon the expression, is like manure,’ says the silver-tongued socialist.

      Dolly adds: “It’s not worth a thing unless it’s spread around, encouraging young things to grow.”

      The weaknesses of the production are some of the sparse early scenes, and fitful video projections by Finn Ross. Love Look In My Window at the start of Act 2 doesn’t quite work. By the end, those quibbles vanish under a spell of enchantment.

      “You’re still glowin’, you’re still crowin’, you’re still goin’ strong,” the dancing waiters sing to Dolly. It’s a sentiment that applies wholeheartedly to Staunton as well.

      At resplendent Harmonia Gardens, tray-dancing waiters Louie, Manny, Danny, Hank, Stanley help her down the stairs: the key thing about Mrs Levi is that she knows all of their names. Splendid.

      In a show designed for its protagonist repeatedly to break the fourth wall, Staunton gets the laughs – particularly in Act 2 – with her snappy delivery, warmth and restraint.

      Elsewhere, So Long Dearie comes up fresh minted and is one of the high points of the production.

      It would take a heart of stone to resist this musical. Bravo!

      At the Palladium, London, until 14 September

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      I hate name dropping, obviously. But I spent the interval of Hello, Dolly! unexpectedly talking with award-winning Director Jamie Lloyd (Sunset Boulevard).

      This must be your idea of hell…’ I asked

      ‘Oh, no. Not at all,’ Lloyd replied. 

      ‘The world needs a Jamie Lloyd production of Hello, Dolly! With machine guns, balaclavas and blood,’ I added.

      He laughed.

      ‘Carl,’ said Lloyd. ‘If I ever do a Hello, Dolly! I’ll make sure that I put YOU on the front row!’

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      Theatre tickets: who can afford them in 2024?

      The price for the most expensive tickets for plays in the West End has reached £200, according to an annual survey by The Stage – the average top-priced West End ticket was £154.56, compared with £141.37 in 2023.

      For now, a quick refresher. A YouGov poll in March found that the most common reason for people to not visit the theatre was the cost of tickets.

      Yup, three plays in London – including Romeo and Juliet starring Tom Holland – are charging more than £200 for their most expensive seat. And with top prices for plays up 50% on average, they are fast approaching the same level as musicals.

      But how is that revenue being distributed?

      Elsewhere, the average cheapest West End ticket cost £24.58, a 3.4% decrease compared with last year. But these cheap seats are often cramped, restricted and depressing viewing.

      News that deserved neither fanfare nor any spoiler alert because we’ve all seen what has been going on with rip off premium West End prices. At a basic level I think most of us want transparency. I’d also love to see some of these profit making machines – that invest nothing in UK culture – doing more for hard-pressed communities surrounding their buildings and freelancers. And so say all of us.

      It wasn’t helped by the fact that no sooner had I read this news Society of London Theatre (SOLT) board member and producer Patrick Gracey had written a tetchy piece for The Stage stating that anyone who used their platform ‘to misattribute exclusivity do a disservice to both the sector and to the audiences they claim to champion by perpetuating myths and misconceptions’. Hmm.

      Real life is more complicated than that, as is real theatreland. I sometimes wonder if I am in the minority of people who want theatre to break out of the confines of middle class entertainment. To reflect the entire country. And reflect the complex changes that are happening; most people don’t have much disposable income these days.

      Anyhow. Gracey went on to enlighten us that staging a play often exceeds £1 million, with weekly operating  costs between £120,000 and £200,000. Musicals can require an initial investment of £3 million to £10 million, and weekly costs of £300,000 to £400,000.

      The fewer people that speak out about elitist ticket prices, the more unbearably self-important and pleased with itself the West End becomes.

      This week, producers of musical Operation Mincemeat, winner of 2024 Best New Musical at the Olivier Awards, decided to unveil new flat prices of £89.50 at multiple performances. 

      For someone on an average full-time national salary, which in 2024 is £34,963, that trip for themselves and a partner to see Operation Mincemeat would represent around one quarter of their weekly income.

      Frankly, this seems like a short-sighted kick in the teeth for young loyal fans who got the fringe show where it is today. Operation Mincemeat is now beyond the reach of all but the affluent. A total fiasco.

      The paying audience enters as an individual but becomes part of a unique communal event, a sort of tangled community. But look, the future will be bleak for drama if the young and the low-paid are excluded from that mix. 

      By way of illustration in as even-handed a way as possible, a recent survey by Norwich Theatre showed that one in four British people have never attended a theatrical performance.

      And 24% of 2,000 people surveyed had never been to see a show at the theatre, however 55% of respondents said that lower ticket prices would encourage their attendance. The research also found that those from London are almost twice as likely to attend the theatre every two to three months (12%) than those in the West Midlands (5%), Scotland (7%) or Wales (6%). 

      Theatre is where we can and should all be able to ponder the past and imagine the future.

      So I end this blog with a challenge: if any readers are able to get to the bottom of why West End Landlords such as Sir Cameron Mackintosh and Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber — whose wealth vastly increased since 2023, according to the recent Sunday Times Rich List — sanction these ticket prices without impunity, then I urge them to write in.

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      Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York)

      Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York) is agreeable enough – it’s rather sweet actually.

      Set in New York, this festive caper is far from a work of art, but it’s a superior musical comedy, well written by Jim Barne and Kit Buchan and directed tactfully, by Tim Jackson.

      First produced in 2018 in Northampton as The Season, reimagined last year at London’s Kiln Theatre, this upbeat show is now running at the Criterion Theatre, London until 31 August.

      What holds this musical together is the warmth supplied by the two performers. Brit Dougal (Sam Tutty) has flown to the Big Apple for a 36-hour trip to attend dad’s wedding (whom he has never met). New York barista Robin (Dujonna Gift) is sister of the bride, his new step aunt. She has a great voice and an excellent counter to Tutty’s excitement. 

      It is all good fun. Played with even more conviction it could be great fun.

      Imagine a Richard Curtis movie combined with A Christmas Carol, and you get the general picture. Yet there is a sense here the creators are doing something more interesting than just adapting a popular movie for nostalgia. 

      Jackson’s production and suitcase set and costumes by Soutra Gilmour ushers us into the syrupy world and skilfully allows the songs to seem part of an extended conversation. Honestly, I didn’t like the set at all. But that’s that. 

      It seems churlish to grumble when so much of this show, with its entertaining book, hits the mark.

      Tutty’s motor runs a little fast. As an actor, he has a singular smartness that takes the form of speed; he’s always a little ahead of everybody, and this quicker responsiveness makes him more exciting to watch. His grin could melt stone, and he and Gift are a magical pair. 

      There are charming numbers about online dating, and a drunken night of ice-skating when the couple go rogue with the groom’s platinum credit card, “hitchin’ a ride on the American Express”. Most memorable is Tutty’s tender, tear-jerking song-warning to eager Dougal that, like the father’s in classic Christmas films, fathers “always seem bigger and better from farther away”. Poignant. 

      Anyway, our emotions rise to meet the force coming down from the stage, and they go on rising throughout. The end is subdued. It would have been better with the last quarter lopped off. 

      As I sat in the Criterion Theatre watching middle-aged men and women alike wiping away a tear, it was evident that, for all its flaws, the musical had indeed delivered.
      The tears are the tokens of gratitude for the spell the production has put on the audience.

      In short, a feel-good show that captures magic of New York City without exploding the concept, I suspect Barne and Buchan’s likeable musical will have a long life.

      Two Strangers (Carry A Cake Across New York) runs until 31 August 2024

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      Cabaret: The Kit Kat Club *in Selfridges, London*

      Money makes the world go around
      The world go around
      The world go around
      Money makes the world go around
      It makes the world go ’round.

      A mark, a yen, a buck or a pound
      A buck or a yen
      A buck or a pound.
      Is all that makes the world go around
      That clinking, clanking sound
      Can make the world go ’round

      Money money money money
      Money money money money
      Money money money

      If you happen to rich
      And you feel like a night’s entertainment
      You can pay for a gay escapade
      If you happen to be rich and alone
      And you need a companion
      You can ring (ting-a-ling) for the maid
      If you happen to be rich
      And you find you are left by your lover
      And you moan and you groan quite a lot
      You can take it on the chin
      Call a cab and begin to recover
      On your 14-karat yacht! What!?

      Money makes the world go around
      The world go around
      The world go around
      Money makes the world go aroung
      Of that we both are sure
      On being poor!

      Money money money, money money money
      Money money money, money money money
      Money money money, money money money
      Money money money, money money money

      When you haven’t any coal in the stove
      And you freeze in the winter
      And you curse to the wind at your fate
      When you haven’t any shoes on your feet
      Your coat’s thin as paper
      And you look 30 pounds underweight
      When you go to get a word of advice
      From the fat little pastor
      He will tell you to love evermore
      But when hunger comes to rap
      Rat-a-tat rat-a-tat at the window
      (At the window!)
      Who’s there? (hunger) oh, hunger!
      See how love flies out the door

      For, money makes the world go around
      The world go around
      The world
      Money makes the world go ’round
      The clinking, clanking sound of
      Money money money money
      Money money money money.

      CABARET: The Kit Kat Club at Selfridges  until 31 December 2023

      /by
      , , ,

      Aspects of Love

      There is something off in the tone of Aspects of Love right from the start.

      The decision to revive Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical – based on David Garnett’s 1955 novella – about a love triangle in 2023 was Michael Ball’s idea.

      Ball – who played Alex in the 1989 production – returns to sing Love Changes Everything, (lyrics by Charles Hart and Don Black) this time as uncle George. He does it nobly.

      There are 39 random scenes. At some point through Alex (Jamie Bogoyo) shoots former lover Rose (Laura Pitt-Pulford) in the arm. His uncle (Ball) is more concerned about his Matisse wall art. 

      The majority of the book and lyrics are stupefying. At the interval I thought my drink had been spiked.

      “I only have one life,”‘ drones one character. Only judderingly to add: “Not two.”

      In one bit, the chaotic singing collides with the unspeakable: “George used to say you can have more than one emotion at the same time.”

      The actual dialogue seems almost an afterthought, and the actors speak their lines without much confidence that they’re worth saying. And so we’re aware of the performers as performers. They’re not all sure what they’re meant to be conveying. And we’re not either.

      The other overriding issue with this toe-curling production is that it borders on misogyny. Grooming is overlooked. It’s grim viewing, obviously.

      Theatre is an addictively evil thing, though, so once I’d watched act 1 I knew I’d sit through the lot, just to see if something deeply significant actually happened. It didn’t, obviously.

      The second half of Jonathan Kent’s production is scattered – as if it had been added to or subtracted from at random. Everything is spelled out. 

      Nothing you think could possibly be worth salvaging from this abomination.

      The ones who really stand out in this mess, though, are Pitt Pullford and Bogoyo. But their work doesn’t really hold together here, how could it?

      They deserve better.

      One of the only other things I thought, though, that really elevated the occasion beyond the sum of its parts was the 13-piece band and Tom Kelly’s lush new orchestrations. Other redeeming moments come thanks partly to John Macfarlane’s design and Jon Clark’s lighting. 

      But the set, expensive costumes and people seem to be sitting there on stage, waiting for the unifying magic that never happens.

      Leaving the Lyric theatre where I saw Aspects of Love, I felt the same way the women must have when uncle George dropped dead: exhausted and relieved.

      /by
      , ,

      Operation Mincemeat

      How good is Operation Mincemeat?

      When I saw it 12 months ago at Riverside Studios, I thought it a marvellously tart, wry, original musical that got away from the blundering cliches of the formula-bound movie musicals plaguing the West End. 

      Second time round I admire it more; partly because its surface joy seems to conceal a great wit, partly because it has the whiplash precision of the best shows plus a good deal of intellectual prescience.

      “I don’t know what’s going on!” “Welcome to the British government” goes one exchange.

      It’s a bold and imaginative work—a fizzing work and it’s important to mention Operation Mincemeat was nurtured at that powerhouse of a London fringe venue, the New Diorama.

      Rob Hastie has been brought in as director to finesse the piece and it has paid off. He is an intelligent, tentative director — see: Standing At The Sky’s Edge — which is another way of saying that his virtues are largely negative.

      Stones’ sensational design places the audience in the MI5 headquarters, while Jak Malone merits a medal of honour as the staunch secretary Hester Leggett, who performs a standout love-letter song.

      This clever spoof musical tackles a secret service ruse in which the body of an unknown homeless man was used as a decoy, leading German troops away from Sicily in 1943.

      It has a powerful and gripping plot, hardly a single extractable tune, a fierce sense of self awareness. The triumph of Hastie’s production and Stones’ design lies in their visualisation of SplitLip’s ideas.

      In this regard, the show was concocted by a genius young cast of five: Natasha Hodgson, David Cumming and Zoë Roberts, who were later joined by Jak Malone and Claire-Marie Hall.

      It’s very neatly done, the fine quintet of actors rising to the technical challenges of a piece that worms its way into the brain and send you scurrying out into the city blinking – and more attuned to the majesty of serendipity.

      The score — it was put together by Cumming, Hagan, Hodgson & Roberts — has a life of its own that gives the show a buzzing vitality. 

      Indeed, Operation Mincemeat may turn out to be the most liberating musical ever made. The whole production is a joy; a five year overnight success story. 

      I loved it.

      Operation Mincemeat runs at the Fortune theatre, London, until 19 August

      /by