Fun at The Beach Romp-Bomp-A-Lomp is billed as a cross between Grease and Squid Games and as a big fan of both I was looking forward to what I hoped would be a goofy, evening full of parody. The show, written by Martin Landry with music and lyrics by Brandon Lambert, is a set on the beach where our 6 principle cast members have assembled for the ‘Beach Romp-Bomp-A-Lomp’ and to be named King or Queen of the beach. However the competition quickly takes a sadistic turn and the rounds are dangerous and kill off competitors as they go until just one person is left alive to make the final decision ..read more

Bluets will not be everyone’s cup of tea. It is not a traditional stage play. It is a multi-modal technological marvel. It exists somewhere in a largely unexplored realm lying between live TV, art-house cinema and theatre. It is the uncategorisable sum of an unfathomable number of parts, brought together with split-second sharp choreography, on-the-fly video editing, and a uniqueness of vision that genuinely has to be experienced to be comprehended. The premise: a woman reflects on grief through a passionate, and perhaps pathological, fixation with the colour blue. Three facets of her psyche ..read more

Jerry’s Girls is a musical review which covers a large amount of Jerry Herman’s hits from shows such as Mack & Mabel, Mame, Hello Dolly, La Cage Aux Folles, A Day in Hollywood, Milk & Honey & Dear World. It is delivered by Jessica Martin, Cassidy Janson and Julie Yammanee who take the audience on a whirlwind tour of Herman’s hits. The show is fast paced and the cast are barely given a chance to stop and take breath. The songs seem to be grouped together by theme and the women give the impression of life imitating art and performing in a revue together. The themes vary from movies ..read more

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a musical based on the 1968 film of the same name. The show tells of inventor Caractacus Potts and his 2 children, Jeremy and Jemima. He discovers that his children have developed an affection for a car in a junkyard that used to be a prize winning car and they convince their father to buy the car. Whilst he sets about restoring it to its former glory the Vulgarian’s get wind of this and plot to get the car for their own fortune leading the family right to Vulgaria and into the hands of the child catcher. For a family show it is a relatively long one at 2 hours and ..read more

Jesus Christ Superstar is, in my humble opinion, Andrew Lloyd Webber’s best score and despite having seen this production in Regent’s Park Theatre twice before I jumped at the chance to review it out on tour. The show tells of Jesus’ life in his last few days leading up to the crucifixion with a focus on Judas and his growing dissatisfaction in Jesus’ superstar status. This production of the show, directed by Timothy Sheader and choreographed by Drew McOnie very much hones in on the rock superstar element of the show and the idea that Jesus had a following not dissimilar to many of the pop an ..read more

Richard III is Sedos’ latest foray into the world of Shakespeare and this production takes the history books and turns it into a modern day political drama. The warring families become Prime Ministers and their cabinet members as well as those pulling the strings behind the scenes. The show charts Richards rise to power, pulling out parallels between him and the likes of Boris Johnson and charts King Edwards demise as it draws parrallels with them and Teresa May. Wars become elections and nobility become MP’s in this well considered production. Director Dan Edge leans into these themes well a ..read more

There has been a plethora of Musical Theatre concerts in the West End recently, with varying reviews but overall it is something I am in favour of (if done well) as it means you get to rediscover shows that may not be performed very often or experience a new piece of writing so I try to get to as many as possible. With that background in mind I can say that the 50th Anniversary Concert of Pippin may have been the best musical theatre concert I have seen in recent years. Pippin itself is a show that opened on Broadway in 1972 and it tells of Pippin, the oldest son of King Charlemagne who decide ..read more

Two Strangers Carry A Cake Across New York is another new British musical making big waves at the moment. After smaller runs at festivals for new musical theatre the show received a great reception at Kiln Theatre and made its transfer to the West End. The show tells of Dougal, an enthusiastic British twentysomething who has come to New York for the wedding of his father, who he has never met before. Sent to pick him up is the sister of the Bride, dry witted New Yorker, Robin. Despite Robin’s protests Dougal soon join her on her errands, which includes picking up her sister’s wedding cake and ..read more

MJ The Musical feels like it has been a long time coming to the West End, the show was due to open on Broadway in 2020 but due to Covid it opened in 2021 and it was announced that it was coming to the to West End was made back in October 2022. Some 18 months after the announcement I have finally been able to see what everyone has been talking about. The show is a jukebox musical which is set on the eve of Michael Jackson’s 1992 Dangerous World Tour. The audience, along with journalists Rachel and Alejandro are let into the rehearsal room for the tour as Michael recounts his childhood including ..read more

The Little Mermaid is a musical that has been on my radar to see for a long time and when I found out that Centre Stage were putting it on both my younger self and my current self were thrilled. The musical stays faithful to the film and follows Ariel, a mermaid who gives up her voice to the sea witch Ursula so that she can live amongst the humans and get a chance for Prince Eric to fall in love with her. The first thing that should be mentioned is the sheer scale of this production, so huge that it is hard to know where to start. The Little Mermaid has requirements that in isolation can seem ..read more