Sending love and support today to the many brilliant performers who would have been terrific in one of musical theatre’s iconic supporting roles on a No1 national tour but now won’t be….because somebody untrained from reality TV has been cast. “Whatever happened to class?” 💩
Anybody else find themselves checking
@WestEndCovers
on a daily basis, regardless of whether they’ve got tickets? Love seeing “live” updates from the West End & around the UK. Understudies/covers/swings/alternates/standbys keep the industry wheels turning, now more than ever.🙌❤️
Jonathan Bailey as Richard II isn’t just great casting, it’s practically a license to print money and it might get some new audiences into Shakespeare. Well played, Bridge Theatre.
What have I just watched?! Basically
#JodieComer
is going to win every damn acting award going for her incandescent performance in
#primafacieplay
isn’t she. You could almost HEAR the audience listening in there tonight.
Went to The Palace Theatre in Manchester to watch The Bodyguard and a bunch of entitled pricks starting singing over the lead during the final song. A riot broke out, the show was cancelled and the police were called.
What I learned from Cinderella is that
@CarrieHFletcher
is
a) a genuinely terrific company leader
b) not to be messed with (but why would ya)
c) really brilliant at what she does (
@OlivierAwards
…not even nom-ing her…that was ridiculous…she was FABULOUS in this)
“I would just love to see her face” - Belinda Brewin, Paula Yates’s best friend
#Paula
was brilliant telly, but my God, that woman should still be here right now, being trailblazing and fabulous. Heartbreaking.
Seeing
@Vicki_Clark
entering the Shubert (
@SLIHmusical
) stage door tonight instead of the neighbouring Booth (
@AkimboMusical
) then emerging seconds later muttering “went into the wrong damn theater again” to hugs & guffaws from Casey Nicholaw was a mini Broadway show in itself 😍
Why’s
@MammaMiaMusical
laying off one of it’s strongest ever West End casts? This team presumably aren’t being paid at the moment & will need some re-rehearsing to reopen, sure-but a whole new company’ll need rehearsing from scratch + brand new costumes, wigs etc. Makes no sense?
Anybody who thinks
#Cabaret
might be diminished by the departure of 4 of the original principals should get to
@kitkatclubLDN
ASAP: this remains a staggeringly powerful piece of theatre, unique and haunting. All the new leads are terrific, and the show’s still a total must-see.
Just talking to a friend who watched Eurovision and he’s raving about Hannah Waddingham (understandable) but claims he’s never seen her before (unbelievable) and stares at me blankly while I’m reeling off her West End credits (unfathomable). He is gay. I’m ripping up his card.
@RebelsAnimal
I’m vegetarian but not fully plant based yet.However,this does NOTHING to convince people to adopt a
#PlantBasedFuture
…just look at the comments. All it incites is fury & mockery. This isn’t a protest, it’s a wank in a shop. Appalling timing when some people can’t afford to eat
It may be an odd observation to make after watching him playing one of the biggest bastards in all of English literature, but you can just tell from the way he leads the company bows at the end of the Donmar Macbeth that David Tennant is just, like, a really really top bloke.
@Sam_Womack
It’s probably coming from a place of genuine admiration, but there’s still something uncomfortable about taking somebody’s photo when they’re unaware and haven’t given permission. At least you look fabulous. But still….ew.
Still reeling at how terrific this team was at
@thedriftersgirl
last night. Magnetic and slick, they weren’t just keeping the lights on, they were blowing all the bulbs, then ripping the roof off. Such a privilege to be in. Covers are the backbone of the West End.
@WestEndCovers
Just found gold confetti in my underpants...further proof that
@julietmusical
reaches the parts that other musicals don’t. Tonight’s show was a few hours of utter joy: supremely talented cast, witty script, glittering spectacle, belting tunes...and a beautiful heart. Magical.
@cononeilluk
Fair. However, I bet there are loads of creative people who would rather starve than work on a vanity project for the shit-show of a government.
People who claim to support theatre coming on here to get all “I told you so” about the premature demise of a major West End production is really not a good look.
One final visit to
@sunsetblvd
tonight. It’ll be gone in two weeks…and the West End will be a slightly less exciting place. Absolutely thrilling. Nicole Scherzinger is an authentic theatre leading lady, but everyone on, under, behind, and connected to, that stage is world class.
Lightning strikes
@AlmeidaTheatre
- I’m not given to hyperbole (much!) but
@KatieBrayben
in
#TammyFaye
is giving the greatest leading performance by any actress in a new British musical since Elaine Paige originated Evita back in 1978. Don’t @ me, I speak the truth. Praise Be 😉
Such a joy seeing how constantly supportive, encouraging and kind
@StephenMear
is on here to other creatives and to covers. In a frequently tough industry, it’s people like Stephen that protect the heart and soul of it. He’s not pulling the ladder up,he’s endlessly extending it!
Can’t remember the last time I saw stage dancing as utterly thrilling as in
@MJtheMusical
- it’s a phenomenally exhilarating piece of musical theatre.
@wheeldondance
deserves every award going (he already got the Tony of course). The ensemble work so hard and each one is a ⭐️
Go
#SoniaFriedman
- what a response! And in the Telegraph too, so not just screaming into the chamber.
@SFP_London
@RishiSunak
@OliverDowden
The Government has brazenly announced its willingness to discard the nation’s mental health
Right…so when
#TheWitchesOfEastwick
gets it’s (hopefully) inevitable West End revival, Claire Moore gets first refusal on Felicia amirite? The woman should be a national treasure.
I am sure
@prettywomanuk
will make a lot of people very VERY happy. I never caught it in NYC but the West End version has a uniformly terrific cast and in
@Aimieatkinson
one of the most magnetic, lovable, entrancing leading ladies I’ve ever seen. You can’t take your eyes off her.
Good luck to whoever gets to play Regina in the London Mean Girls ….. World Burn x5 across a five show weekend is quite the vocal workout. Hope she’ll have buckets of Manuka in her dressing room….
@Emma_Lyons1
@JaneyGodley
Christ on a bike Emma, do you teach your “beautiful little girl” to be as cruel and full of hate as you are?? So unbelievably nasty.
R.I.P. Haydn Gwynne
Decades later I can still remember in graphic detail her brilliant line readings and flawless, hilarious version of “You Can Always Count On Me” in the original London City Of Angels
A huge loss
Tonight I took my best friend (since school, doesn’t work in theatre, has the kindest soul but not always the easiest life) to
@ComeFromAwayUK
and it worked it’s magic. She cried like a baby, laughed like a drain and is booking to bring her husband & kids to the Rock. Beautiful.
£££ isn’t everything. This week I’ve seen 3 lavishly produced star vehicles (2 in the West End which were just style over substance, 1 at a subsidised house which was DIRE)…then this little gem which wipes the floor with all of them. Support new writing peops,get to
@theatre503
Staying over night in my childhood bedroom and honestly cannot remember what the point of my coming out was. I mean… Faye Dunaway West End debut, OLC Cats, Evita
#4
cast change, NT G&D,
@HarveyFierstein
in Torch Song… it’s right there on my walls 😂 just out of shot…..
That we currently have
@AlmeidaTheatre
#SpringAwakening
AND
@kitkatclubLDN
on the London stage at the same time feels a bit like a Christmas miracle. These are phenomenal, benchmark reinventions of a pair of beloved musicals. What a privilege to get to experience them both.
@Audlioness
@ridingtheroaduk
@mrmarksteel
Dammit. This is where I’m going wrong. I have an avocado every day. My life could have been so different 😢 Also, I’m crap at tennis, to be fair.
What I loved most (and there’s SO much to love) about
@hellodollyLDN
is that it gives us all the Broadway pizzazz we need layered with the insight & intelligence of UK theatre at it’s best. It’s an opulent joy, tinged with autumn. Imelda is a magnificent, nuanced, moving Dolly..
I like Cyrell alot but if you compare how warm, kind & loving Nic’s Mum was to her, with the rude, dismissive & arrogant way her ghastly brother is treating Nic, there is a huge inequality here. If she ends up on her own it’ll be down to Idiot Ivan.
#MarriedatfirstsightAustralia
Disappointing to see a number of snarky, snotty responses on here to the announcement of a funny, touching, deceptively clever new British musical transferring to the West End…nothing like giving these things a chance is there?! Not everything aspires to be Sunday ITPWG. Jeeeez.
Barely a dry eye or indeed armpit in the house
@LondonColiseum
tonight for the return of
@HairsprayLondon
-the whole company on fire & if anything
@LizzieBea3
’s Tracy T is even more irresistible than on press night. Plus
@lorihaleyfox
’s Velma Von Tussle is a bona fide sensation.
We lost my Dad when I was 14; just today I’ve realised that I am now a couple of months older than he was when he died. It’s a lot to take in actually. Not sure how I feel. Think I’m gonna sleep on it.
That middle aisle at Lidl is wild. I nearly bought a wetsuit earlier today. A FUCKING WETSUIT!! I’ve got no use whatsoever for a wetsuit but it was still in my basket right up until the last minute.
I find the smoking on public transport rather more shocking than the rimming in
#ItsASin
😂🤣
Already hooked, and misty eyed with nostalgia (not that I’ve ever smoked).
Blown away again by
@NicoleScherzy
in
@sunsetblvd
last ngt but today realised it’s exactly 29 yrs since I saw
@elaine_paige
slaying in same role across the road. Astonishing how theatre has changed since but a ⭐️ is a ⭐️…also astonishing that the Adelphi let me in in my pram 😉
Yep, the
@DonmarWarehouse
#HenryV
is pretty stunning, and it feels horribly timely. If you can find a way of getting in there, DO IT. I’m not saying donate a kidney, but…well, you can get by on one can’t you?
If you didn’t see
@inheritanceplay
you missed out on one of the most extraordinary theatrical experiences of a generation. This kind of magic doesn’t come along very often. I miss it already.
@ShentonStage
@estreetprods
@Bierman71
@lilyallen
@SP1nightonly
Honestly Mark, this is so unnecessary. We get it, you think that bloggers aren’t valid barometers of theatrical taste, but far more people would disagree with you. What on earth do you think you’re achieving by keeping this up? And sending to the show’s producers?! Tacky.
I’m one of many people who assumed
@NicoleScherzy
would be a phenomenal Norma D as soon as her casting was announced, but holy sh*tballs NOTHING prepared me for what I got
@sunsetblvd
tonight. Iconic. I am thrilled, unsettled, exhilarated, shocked, and slightly in love.
No surprise but
@ITWBroadway
really is as good as everyone says. Complete bliss. I laughed, cried, was utterly transported. Real magic happening in that theatre. Every performance is a sensation..and the music has never sounded more enthralling. An authentic must-see.
As apologies go, this sucks.
@JeremyClarkson
…apologise to Meghan, not us, but DO explain to US why your hatred of her is more “cellular” than that for Scotland’s leader and a mass murderer. Is it because they’re white?
Oh dear. I’ve rather put my foot in it. In a column I wrote about Meghan, I made a clumsy reference to a scene in Game of Thrones and this has gone down badly with a great many people. I’m horrified to have caused so much hurt and I shall be more careful in future.
With one exception they’ve always cast great Sallys in
@kitkatclubLDN
-finally saw Cara Delevingne today, and she’s one of the best: a dangerous,intense SB, lost & volatile, a beautiful wraith with zero filter or accountability who turns on a dime from kittenish to monstrous. YES
No review from me until they officially come out next week but
@kitkatclubLDN
is DEVASTATING. I was obsessed with the Cabaret movie as a precocious child and have caught every possible stage production I could but THIS this is the one I didn’t know I was waiting for.Unforgettable
I remember the original production of Starlight Express always had a huge cast list but the risk of injury was so high you only saw a portion of them onstage in any one performance. The new one has 30 listed and still says there’s more to be announced…. 👀
What
@EmiliaThePlay
crucially understands is that if you want people to hear yr important message then you have to give them a stonking good time first:
#Emilia
IS a stonking good time which then suckerpunches you with a thrilling, incandescent closing speech. THIS IS A MUST-SEE!
Second visit to
@ComeFromAwayUK
tonight and, ya know what, I don’t think I could love anybody who didn’t think this show was wonderful. It’s flawless. Go and see it, it will enhance your life. But take tissues. Thrilling, soul-feeding theatre.
Started a standing ovation in my section of the theatre tonight cos I knew it’d block the view for the disrespectful (to the cast), inconsiderate (to the rest of the audience), talky, snack-munching fidgeters sitting behind me. They’re lucky I didn’t fart as well, quite frankly.
Just heard the orchestral rehearsals for
@E_N_O
’s
#ItsAWonderfulLife
and, blimey, it sounds gorgeous. There are still £25 seats, cheap tix for young people, it’s performed in English in a beautiful venue, there are signed & relaxed perfs, this is truly opera for all
#LoveENO
Heartbreaking but sort-of lovely to see this outside
@TinaTheMusical
tonight.
She mattered so much to so many people. Been listening to her most of the day. The life force in that voice, at the axis of joy and survival, astounding. And my God, she was beautiful.
#Tina_Turner
If you missed
#TURNUPLONDON
you can still catch it tomorrow (Sunday) and you really must: it is a powerful, rousing, uplifting, important event. The talent and material are jaw-dropping. Great entertainment but also so much more than that.
#BlackLivesMatter
Wishing everybody at
@LondonPalladium
@OfficialALW
@Beverleyknight
@becca_kboo
so much success for today’s event to demonstrate how theatres may operate in our strange new world. This is possibly the most important Matinee in theatrical history! I hope it goes BRILLIANTLY. 🍀
In the light of everything that’s happened since, it’s genuinely difficult to watch footage of the 2012 Olympics opening ceremony. How can a country deteriorate so spectacularly in 7 years. Equal parts furious and grief stricken.
Wonderful to see the whole audience masked up at
@moulinmusicaluk
last night. You can can can still roar your approval through a face covering and, wow, this crowd surely did. 😘
There’s more passion & power in
@Hair50UK
than in most other rock musicals put together.
@JonathanOBoyle
’s electrifying staging Lets The Sun Shine In with gusto, excitement & thrilling vocals.
@JakeQuickenden
makes a roaring, charismatic musical theatre debut.
And it’s the day of the
#WOSAwards
- very excited. I may have no voice whatsoever but I *do* have a ferociously positive attitude, a fairly nice outfit and a rock solid belief that the public have made all (ok, most) of the right choices. 🍾🤞👍🏾
Going to the theatre five times this week. Feels a bit like old times, except that I am now scrambling to find five masks that coordinate with what I’m planning to wear....