I wasn't sure what to expect when taking in a performance of The Spy Who Came in From the Cold, as the UK tour passed by. I definitely wanted to see Ralf Little in the title role, but I've had a hit and miss relationship with John le Carré's work. This book has been my favourite so far though, so the odds were in its favour. And I absolutely loved …

I've got a bit of a backlog of blog posts to write but I didn't want to forget to make a note of the UK tour of The Shawshank Redemption. The play is an adaptation of the Stephen King short story and/or the movie and is just as tense and oppressive as both of those other mediums. Joe McFadden stars as Andy, and I'll be honest, I'd seen him in …

This month, I saw the touring production of Single White Female, an updated version of the film adapted for the stage, starring Lisa Faulkner and Kym Marsh. In preparation, I made sure to have watched the movie, which gave me a good grounding for what to expect, even though they were two very different things. The play updates the story to the modern day, rather than the firmly 90s movie, …

When I saw A Christmas Carol Goes Wrong towards the end of last year it must have been a sort of test run because the Mischief crew are going big with promoting their new London production and short UK tour run. They're popping up everywhere and releasing lots of promotional content, including this excellent behind-the-scenes video of how the show has come together, and generally what a great bunch of …

It's been a whole year since I wrote anything about Mischief Theatre, but I recently got to see their festive stage show Christmas Carol Goes Wrong and it was spectacular. I'd previously only seen the BBC version, an hour long special which features the main story of Scrooge and the ghosts, and of course, plenty of things going wrong. The stage show is extended, with more fun and games around …

Oliver! the musical has had many outings since its inception in the 1960s, and the most recent is a West End Revival that burst onto the scene last year. I saw a performance on one of the variety shows and immediately bought tickets to see it. Taking up residence at the Gielgud theatre, the show is currently booking through to March 2026 and is so far having a very successful …

I’m completely fascinated by the furore surrounding the new production of Evita in the West End. The choice by producers to take the iconic Don’t Cry For Me Argentina song out to the balcony is causing all sorts of angst. Star Rachel Zegler heads out to the balcony and belts out the song to passers-by, with the ticket-buying audience inside settling for a live stream of the big moment. Hardly …

I really didn’t know very much about Dear Evan Hansen when the show rolled into town on its current UK tour. The song You Will Be Found is obviously the biggest hit and pops up on various musical reviews and occasional variety shows, but outside of that I could only have told you that the main character has a cast on his arm, and Ben Platt was in the film. …

I’ve been intrigued by the play The Shark is Broken since I first heard about it, and was very keen to see it when it embarked on a UK tour. The show is set aboard the boat during the filming of the mega blockbuster Jaws, featuring as the only characters in the play, the three actors who star in the movie. They have plenty of time to spare as the …

A recent interview with Tim Rice has brought up the idea of captioning musicals for audiences to gain a better understanding, using surtitles (not a word I had come across before) as newer generations are so used to subtitling their content anyway. It’s very frustrating at times, especially if you’re the words man... Time and time again, the lyrics couldn’t be heard when it was choral. If you’ve got great …

If you tuned in to the Royal Variety Performance on ITV last week, you'll have enjoyed a scene from the new Mischief Theatre project: A Comedy About Spies. You bet your ass I bought tickets to that show immediately that I heard about it. It's been a while since there's been something new like this from the group, and it should be the original Mischief members up on stage which …

Just in time for Musicals week on Strictly, I managed to squeeze in an actual musical viewing. Here & Now - The Steps Musical made its debut in Birmingham, and I rocked up to take in one of the shows. It was brilliant! I love Steps, their kind of wonderful guilty pleasure of music that you know isn't exactly great art but is one heck of a crowdpleaser. That sums …

I’ve not been to the Watermill Theatre at Newbury before, tucked away as it is in the depths of the countryside. It’s an incongruous setting for a theatre - beautiful flowing river, overhanging greenery, a sense of countryside history, and then, oh yes, a regional theatre of some renown! My reason for going this time was to see Fanny, the show about the sister of Felix Mendelssohn who, of course, …

I was lucky enough to see Tim Rice on stage recently, as the musical legend toured the country to talk about his life, career and achievements. It was worth every penny of the entry price, with the famous lyricist sharing great stories and surprising facts, and a quartet of singers showcasing some of the songs that have littered his illustrious career so far. I don’t usually attend events like this, …

Finally, I have managed to cross 'Watch Back to the Future: The Musical' off my to do list. There have been a couple of failed attempts and I've been worried that the universe didn't want me to see it, but I've thwarted the universe and seen the brilliance of this show. I went in with trepidation, of course I did. When they announced there was going to be a BTTF …

At the end of the June, the fabulous West End live celebration returned to the heart of London - two days of various musicals and productions putting on their best efforts to show the crowds what they can see in the West End at the moment. I missed keeping track of what was on during the weekend, mostly because of Wimbledon, but was surprised and thrilled to find lots of …

As we're still unable to go to theatres at the moment, the Mischief crew have decided to bring the theatre into our homes - hooray! Their improvised show Mischief Movie Night has gone online, starting yesterday and streaming every day until New Year's Eve. I was lucky enough to see this show in person a few year's ago and although I've never been entirely comfortable with improv, you know you're …

Theatre is one of the biggest things I'm missing in this lockdown, and although the country is (rightly or wrongly) easing out of lockdown status, theatres aren't looking set to open anytime soon. And if they did, would we be comfortable enough to go to them? In the meantime, and because there is zero support from the government, theatres and artists are having to find their own ways to keep …

I've talked before about loving the Fleabag TV show, I came to it late and binge-watched both series in as small amount as time as possible. I hadn't seen the original stage play, obviously, and missed out on the brief return to the stage that the lovely Phoebe Waller-Bridge completed earlier in the year. (Was it this year? I've lost all sense of time.) Anyway, that meant I was first …

This week, I got to see The Bodyguard musical on the final stop of its UK tour. Based on the film of the same name, Alexandra Burke heads the cast with her phenomenal vocal powers bringing to life those infamous Whitney Houston classics. She was joined by Ben Lewis in the role of Frank Farmer (portrayed by Kevin Costner in the movie). And therein lies the problem. I was forever …

When Mischief Theatre announced a year-long residency at the Vaudeville in London, I was intrigued and determined to see as much of the output as possible. I've previously seen their plays and pantos and bank robberies that go wrong, and consider myself officially obsessed with this comedy troupe. The first of three shows wraps up this weekend, and I just managed to catch Groan Ups "before term ended". Unlike The …

I was lucky enough to get a chance to see Pressure, a play by David Haig that is currently in the West End. The play tells the incredible true story of James Stagg, a meteorologist who was tasked with predicting the weather conditions for the D-Day landings. With Stagg predicting severe storms and Irving P. Krick - Hollywood's meteorological movie consultant - predicting beautiful weather, the future of Britain, Europe …

When it was first announced that Miranda Hart would be taking the role of Miss Hannigan in the West End production of Annie, I knew I’d have to go and see it. Annie isn’t one of my favourite musicals – children and animals and all that jazz – but the chance to see Miranda in her first stage musical role was too good to pass up. Thus, I rocked up …

I’m trying to up my theatre game this year, so was glad to get a chance to see The Play That Goes Wrong. I’d seen a snippet on some variety show on TV and became quickly entranced with the idea of seeing the full thing on stage. It’s such a brilliant show, starting simply but gradually building in terms of farce, disaster and hysteria. What’s clever about it though is …

I recently got a chance to see Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the two part HP play that is currently featured in London's West End. Around the same time, the play broke records for Olivier Award nominations and actual award success, so I was going in with some pretty high expectations. Naturally, I have to #keepthesecrets but it's fair to say that I can fully endorse the awards for …

My Life List has featured “watch a professional ballet performance” for a long time, and I’ve never quite got round to it. I’ve just recently realised why that is, considering how much I love the theatre and would grab any excuse to go. I have a weird obsession with ballet that manifests itself by me loving the behind the scenes activities – training and classes, rehearsal, choreography and dance schools …

It was an impromptu trip to the theatre, a last minute decision to snap up tickets to The Phantom of the Opera on a spare Friday night nestled in the midst of a very hectic couple of months. I like musicals, as they have been ingrained in my life since childhood, but I haven't had as much chance to indulge recently as I'd like. Since watching We Will Rock You …

Theatre On my new 2006 calendar, I have marked down everything I want to see, and I am totally prepared to go and see everything I have noted. In one particular week, there are three different things on that I want to see!