Willy Russell’s epic award winning musical Blood Brothers  is probably the greatest British working class musical ever. 

This incredible story follows the Faustian pact made by a young woman with no money who agrees to give away one of her twin baby boys to a wealthy woman because she is unable to feed him - we then follow the contrasting fortunes of the two lads and the two mothers over a period of 25 years.

With fantastic performances from Niki Colwell Evans, Paula Tappenden, Jay Worley and Josh Capper plus a wonderful book and insightful social comment there is lots to engage, entertain and make the audience think.

 Blood Brothers opened in London in 1983 and in many ways it looks like the production has barely changed so the big question is does this show still have what it takes 40 years later

I was invited to see the show as a guest of the Lighthouse, Poole as part of its UK Tour.

This week we look at The Bands Visit by David Yazbek and Itamar Moses playing at the Donmar Warehouse

This musical is set in the middle of nowhere, nothing much happens but it will delicately tease out your emotions through its combination of a beautiful evocative score, a tight and insightful book and a wonderful cast including established West End stars, incredible actors making their professional debuts and an actor new to the UK who I am convinced will become a West End star on the basis of her performance in this wonderful show

The Bands Visit is based on the 2007 Israeli film of the same name. 

As a musical it played on Broadway from October 2017 to April 2019 and deservedly won 10 Tonys, a Grammy and a whole load of other awards

The London production is the European premiere of this exquisite show

This Mischief production is brilliantly written by Henry Shields, expertly directed by Henry Lewis and performed by an incredible cast 

Good Luck Studio is a very funny play that takes its cues and sense of humour from The Goes Wrong stable and then develops into something altogether darker and deeper but just as hilariously funny.

This week we head to 80s LA, back comb our hair,  take a swig of Jack, and turn up the amps to 11 for the UK Tour of Rock of Ages!

 The latest iteration of this hard rocking show landed at Lighthouse Poole this week to the delight of of a pretty much full house who were on their feet screaming by the end of the show.

This week we head to 80s LA, back comb our hair,  take a swig of Jack, and turn up the amps to 11 for the UK Tour of Rock of Ages!

 The latest iteration of this hard rocking show landed at Lighthouse Poole this week to the delight of of a pretty much full house who were on their feet screaming by the end of the show.

With Kevin Kennedy leading some strong performances from Gabriella Williams, Vicki Manser and Sam Turrell and an outstanding display from Joe Gash there is plenty to like about Rock of Ages.

But will its uneven book and overload of gags distract from its outrageously good score of classic 80s Hair Metal Hits?

Let’s take a look at what its about and why you should be booking your tickets

www.rockofagesmusical.co.uk

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This episode is about an incredible new play called The P Word which is written by the massively talented Waleed Akhtar and presented at The Bush Theatre in West London. 

I saw it on press night in September 2022 as an invited Guest - 

The Word runs until 22nd October and, spoiler alert, GO AND SEE IT!

This is a deeply emotional and powerfully written play

It is both a love story and a demonstration of how the needs of an individual are consumed by an ever growing political need to remove personal agency and choice - especially from those who have so little power to begin with

It is about a side of Britain that many of us might want to deny or ignore.

 As one character says ‘But you’ll be fine - you’re in Britain now’ to which the other man replies ‘I’m not in your Britain..I’m in another Britain’

 It left me feeling angry, embarrassed, in tears and at the same time elated to have experienced such an incredible piece of theatre

There is lots to talk about with the P Word ...

The show runs until 22nd October 2022 at the Bush Theatre in West London

https://www.bushtheatre.co.uk

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Into The Woods at the Theatre Royal Bath is a new creative take on the Sondheim / Lapine classic. It has had a well documented and troubled path to production but is now rumoured to be heading into the West End.

In this episode I talk about how the show looks in this new version (1:09) and how it still has meaning in today's world (2:40) and  how the stories and characters are expertly woven together. 

Act One might present our ideal Happy Ever After but Act Two unravels the threads (4:00) and gives us darkness and depth.

There is an outstanding cast (8:27) who bring this story about stories to life by diging deep into the characters and taking us to new places -sometimes out of our comfort zones.

Find out if it all comes together!

Please leave a review and share the episode far and wide!

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The next generation of creatives and performers take their chance to stake a claim on the future of theatre with Anthem.

 This new theatre work was created by The Bush Young Company and Katie Greenall. Young peopleexamine the world, their place in it and we learn how they cope with what it throws at them and how they seek to change it 

But does it all come together without a traditional linear plot structure and will it be a bit preachy?

 Check out the episode and find out!

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The Theatre Review Podcast is written, presented and produced by Jason Ward

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When Whistle Down The Wind first opened it featured a creative team of Andrew Lloyd Weber, Jim Steinman and Hal Prince which was a lot of BIG!

This version at The Watermill Theatre is intimate, fierce and muscular allowing us to really appreciate the show's score and book. The pared back setting works well as the show deals with personal grief in a very small town.

As well as an incredible cast of actor musicians there is a talented group of young actors and  I was lucky enough to witness the revelation of two new UK Musical Theatre stars.

I hope you enjoy the show - please leave a review and remember subscription is free but sponsorship is welcome!

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