Monthly Archives: April 2015

Stephen Sondheim’s Sweeney Todd a musical or an opera? Some may think, because it is being performed at the London Coliseum, it’s an opera; but it is billed as a musical. Sondheim calls it a musical thriller. It has a … Continue reading →

“I have it in my power to kill every last man on the planet,” declared J Robert Oppenheimer (1904-1967), the father of the atom bomb. He had wanted to end all wars. Instead he found he had “left a loaded … Continue reading →

Marco Ramirez’s fictional 90-minute introduction to “The Fight of the Century” in Nevada in 1910 is directed by Madani Younis. The boxers are Jack Jackson, the African American heavy weight champion of the world and James J Jeffries, the White … Continue reading →

President Abraham Lincoln was assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at the Ford Theatre in Washington D C on 14 April 1865. The play he was watching was Our American Cousin by the prolific British playwright, Tom Taylor. The comedy was … Continue reading →

If you want to know why Arthur Sullivan, recently knighted, should want to end one of the most successful musical partnerships ever, you have only to see Phil Willmott’s revival of Gilbert and Sullivan’s opera to know why. The score … Continue reading →

William Gaminara’s comedy is set in Zurich in November 2010 when David Beckham, Prince William and David Cameron were hoping to bring the 2018 FIFA World Cup to Britain. There’s really not much sense in competing unless you are willing … Continue reading →

Producer Cameron Mackintosh was so impressed by Bill Buckhurst’s atmospheric production of Stephen Sondheim’s musical masterpiece when he saw it in Tooting, that he has transferred it to the West End and recreated Harrington’s Pie and Mash Shop on Shaftesbury … Continue reading →

Mary Chase’s whimsical farce, which premiered on Broadway in 1944, was wartime escapism and extremely popular with American audiences. Harvey is a giant six-foot, three-and-a-half inch rabbit, the constant companion of an eccentric alcoholic and only visible to him. The … Continue reading →