Review: GHOSTBUSTERS IN CONCERT, Royal Albert HallOctober 27, 2024One of the seminal action comedies of the 1980s, Ghostbusters teamed up Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis in a story about three failed parapsychology professors in New York. After losing funding for their scientifically-debatable experiments, set themselves up as paranormal investigators catching and containing all manner of spectral ectoplasm across the Big Apple.
Review: A RAISIN IN THE SUN, Lyric HammersmithOctober 12, 2024Lorraine Hansberry’s A Raisin in the Sun was the first play by a Black woman to appear on Broadway. Since its first performance in 1959, it remains as hard-hitting as ever. Exploring a domestic drama in its depiction of an everyday working class Black family, with ordinary desires, conflicts and aspirations; radical at the time of writing. <span style="background-color: rgb(255, 255, 255);">See what our critic had to say.</span>
Review Roundup: Did THE LEHMAN TRILOGY Dazzle the West End Again?October 10, 2024The landmark National Theatre and Neal Street production of The Lehman Trilogy, directed by Academy Award, Tony Award, and Golden Globe winner Sam Mendes, has returned to the Gillian Lynne Theatre for a strictly limited encore season this autumn. Hailed by The New York Times as 'a genuinely epic production', The Lehman Trilogy is a sweeping story of a family spanning generations and a company that changed the world.
Review: THE LEHMAN TRILOGY, Gillian Lynne TheatreOctober 10, 2024One of my biggest bugbears in theatre is a production that remains on stage well past its welcome. Overlong and flabby shows do neither the audience nor the show itself any favours. It is therefore a huge endorsement for me to state that a production of nearly three and a half hours really is worth every second of your time.
Review: JUNO AND THE PAYCOCK, Gielgud TheatreOctober 7, 2024A cost of living crisis, people being fit to work but choosing not to, poverty, nationalism and women's control of their own bodies. Seán O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock may have first been performed at the Abbey Theatre in Dublin in 1924, but a century later, his tragicomedy resonates more strongly than ever.
Review: WHY AM I SO SINGLE?, Garrick TheatreSeptember 12, 2024Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss' new show Why Am I So Single? is billed as 'A big fancy musical'. Bright, bold and funny, it is unashamedly focused on the Gen-Z experience, but gets lost with indulgent in-jokes, repetition and an over-long running time.
Review: BBC PROMS: PROM 65: HANDEL'S MESSIAH, Royal Albert HallSeptember 9, 2024The climax to the Proms' Choral Day could only be George Frideric Handel's majestic Messiah. This 1789 arrangement by Mozart was performed by The Academy of St Martin in the Fields, joined by an incredible six (yes six) choirs, conducted by an ebullient John Butt.
Review: THE SILVER CORD, Finborough TheatreSeptember 6, 2024There is a sharply observed and darkly comedic play inside this production, but it is stymied by overlong, melodramatic monologues and meandering subjects.
Review: BBC PROMS: PROM 46: HOLST'S THE PLANETS, Royal Albert HallAugust 26, 2024If anyone were to worry about the future of classical music, Prom 46 would surely reassure them that we are in good hands. Students from the Royal College of Music Chamber Choir, Royal College of Music Symphony Orchestra and the Sibelius Academy Symphony Orchestra came together for an incredibly powerful and accomplished programme.
Review: SHIFTERS, Duke of York's TheatreAugust 22, 2024An eloquent and very funny depiction of two young black British people, navigating their way through a waxing and waning relationship. It is a bittersweet, intelligent and exciting piece of theatre.