UK / West End Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 9

Review: YOUR LIE IN APRIL, Harold Pinter Theatre
by Gary Naylor - July 07, 2024

A show that could go very wrong gets everything right...

Review: DIZNEY IN DRAG: ONCE UPON A PARODY, Underbelly Cavendish Square
by Kat Mokrynski - July 08, 2024

Written and directed by the Hairy Godmothers Collective, Dizney in Drag: Once Upon A Parody is “a gender-bending pantomime romp through beloved fairytales told with drag performers giving (and receiving) positive lessons on respect, healthy masculinity, periods, and sex positivity.”...

Review: SPARKS, Jack Studio Theatre
by Gary Naylor - July 05, 2024

Emma Riches and Lisa Minichiello give committed performances, but the play is short on the narrative drive required to carry its issues...

Review: I'M GONNA MARRY YOU TOBEY MAGUIRE, Southwark Playhouse
by Katie Kirkpatrick - July 04, 2024

Ever wanted to experience a sugar rush for nearly two hours straight? Samantha Hurley’s campy dark comedy I’m Gonna Marry You Tobey Maguire feels like exactly that. Complete with lipgloss, butterfly clips, and Cosmo mag, it’s a noughties teen fever dream....

Review: THE LION KING IN CONCERT, Royal Albert Hall
by Aliya Al-Hassan - July 06, 2024

Back in the summer of 1994, Disney's latest animation film The Lion King raked in almost $1 billion at the global box office. After several sequels and long-running shows on Broadway and in the West End, the film is now celebrating its 30th Anniversary and the Royal Albert Hall is giving it the epic...

Review: MEDEA GOSPERIA, Cockpit Theatre
by Olivia Woods - July 04, 2024

Caribbean landscapes and musical interludes are not typically associated with the monstrous Medea. However, in Medea Gosperia, Thee Black Swan reimagines Euripides’ classic Greek myth through a fusion of diverse musical styles, showcasing the exceptional vocal talent of its ensemble....

Review: SKELETON CREW, Donmar Warehouse
by Alexander Cohen - July 07, 2024

It takes its time to warm up. But when this American four hander stretches its dramatic muscles a pummelling emotional workout results...

Review: HOUSE OF LIFE, Soho Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - July 08, 2024

House of Life is a work of theatre created by Sheep Soup that is, according to its description, “one-part sermon, one-part purge, three-parts party,” or, in simpler terms, a “travelling musical cult.” You are greeted by a bright and glittery backdrop, as well as a table full of instruments and mixin...

Review: ALMA MATER, Almeida Theatre
by Cindy Marcolina - July 04, 2024

Alma Mater is the byproduct of fourth-wave feminism, with faint echoes of David Mamet’s Oleanna flipped on its head and delivered with a sleight of hand. Polly Findlay is back at the Almeida to direct Kendall Feaver’s world premiere, which finally officially opens after a troubled start. The withdra...

Review: EDGAR, Opera Holland Park
by Gary Naylor - July 03, 2024

A curious opera that is beautiful and ugly all at once...

Review: MNEMONIC, National Theatre
by Alexander Cohen - July 03, 2024

Is this one mnemonic to forget?...

Review: JOHN LLOYD YOUNG, The Crazy Coqs
by Josh Maughan - July 03, 2024

Sometimes a story of the history of the industry, and those who inhabit it, is a needed reminder of the magic behind the experiences and stories which characterise the theatre community. John Lloyd Young’s headline show at the Crazy Coqs is just that – a journey through his impressive career that il...

Review: TOSCA, Royal Opera House
by Franco Milazzo - July 02, 2024

Fronted by some fresh faces, Jonathan Kent’s cinematic take on the Puccini masterwork Tosca returns for its seventeenth run at Covent Garden. ...

Review: MANIKINS: A WORK IN PROGRESS, CRYPT
by Franco Milazzo - July 02, 2024

Deadweight Theatre’s The Manikins: A Work In Progress is many things. It is interactive. It is intimate. It is thought-provoking. And, despite the misleading title, it has a polished concept that leaves its audience pondering long after the show ends....

Review: THE VOICE OF THE TURTLE, Jermyn Street Theatre
by Cindy Marcolina - July 03, 2024

They say you find love when and where you least expect it, but swearing off relationships isn’t just a contemporary manifestation of ennui. It’s 1943 and typical New York actress Sally has decided to focus on her career rather than chase men who don’t give her the time of day. Her colleague and best...

Review: THE NEXT GENERATION FESTIVAL - RAMBERT SCHOOL, Royal Opera House
by Matthew Paluch - July 02, 2024

The Next Generation Festival continues at the Royal Opera House with Rambert School. The programme includes six new commissions for the third-year, graduate students, and the restaging of three Akram Khan works for the second-years....

Review Roundup: Did The Latest Revival of STARLIGHT EXPRESS Impress The Critics?
by Aliya Al-Hassan - July 01, 2024

Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Starlight Express has now opened in the specially designed Starlight Auditorium at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre....

Review: STARLIGHT EXPRESS, Troubadour Theatre
by Aliya Al-Hassan - July 01, 2024

Andrew Lloyd Webber's Starlight Express is possibly one of the world's most bizarre musicals-yes, even more so than Cats. A child's dream-like world where trains compete for races and for each other, all set on roller skates. And yet, this 1984 musical's latest revival will make a new generation fal...

Review: HAMILTON, Birmingham Hippodrome
by Laura Lott - July 01, 2024

It's a testament to Lin-Manuel Miranda's almost perfect show that even with some performance issues, Hamilton is still a stunning and moving experience. Its impact isn’t diminished even after several viewings, and its themes of love, grief, ambition, freedom, forgiveness and family are always resona...

Review: BUCKET LIST, New Wimbledon Studio
by Aliya Al-Hassan - July 01, 2024

Bucket List is the first play from Show Don’t Tell Productions, a company dedicated to new writing, recently founded by postgraduate creative writing students at Oxford University....

Review: DEBUT SOUNDS: SOUND IN MOTION, Queen Elizabeth Hall
by Matthew Paluch - June 28, 2024

Debut Sounds: Sound in Motion is the London Philharmonic Orchestra’s annual concert showcasing the LPO’s Young Composers. The concept sees five composers and eight choreographers collaborating to create the final works shown, with the music played by musicians from the LPO Foyle Future Firsts Devel...

Review: NEXT TO NORMAL, Wyndham's Theatre
by Abbie Grundy - June 26, 2024

Following a sold-out run at the Donmar Warehouse, Next to Normal arrives at Wyndham's Theatre....

Review: THE NEXT GENERATION FESTIVAL: BUNDESJUGENDBALLETT, Royal Opera House
by Matthew Paluch - June 26, 2024

The Next Generation Festival continues at the Royal Opera House with two performances by the BundesJugendBallett AKA German National Youth Ballet. The group was founded by Hamburg Ballet director and chief choreographer, John Neumeier in 2011, and has been directed by Kevin Haigen since its inaugur...

Review: SURRENDER, Arcola Theatre
by Niamh Jones - June 26, 2024

A woman’s story is a valuable thing, the trials of experience typically being viewed as under discussed even within modern literature. Amongst these trials are the very real challenges that come with raising a baby, especially when a single parent....

Review: THE SECRET GARDEN, Regent's Park Open Air Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - June 28, 2024

The Secret Garden, originally published as a children’s book by Frances Hodgson Burnett in the early 1900s, tells the story of Mary Lennox, a spoiled and angry 10-year-old girl who is brought from her home in British India to Yorkshire after surviving a cholera epidemic that kills not only her paren...