On paper it sounds like camp on a bike, but La Cage Aux Folles is that rarest of all things – a truly human drama celebrating the transcendence of the human spirit complete with love, laughter, and that extra magical ingredient, a fairy-tale happy ending.
This tale of Fanny Bryce, a young Jewish girl plucked from obscurity by a sharp-eyed impresario, whose stock in trade wasn’t just her voice but playing for comedy, is also the ugly duckling story of all time and the more potent because of that.
This sophisticated, faux-naïf take on the high school musical is filled with exquisitely clever moments exploiting transatlantic clichés neatly without a pause. It’s funny, sentimental, with a great storyline, all-singing and all-dancing and with a very smart heart.
Haywire is a staple West End-y farce but this underrated genre turns up spectacular surprises from time to time and this cute little masterpiece turns out to be one of them.
Picture the scene – it is the early first century Christian Era and we are a small group of believers meeting illegally to hear an eye witness account of the life of perhaps the most famous man who ever lived, shortly after his terrible death.
As theatre programming becomes increasingly tame and safe it’s salutary to be reminded of just how powerful drama can be.
Some marvellous power has made this new, subtly updated version of Cinderella crucially urgent, and suddenly the iconic rags to riches story has become insistent, even shocking in its powerful call to our deepest subconscious fears and aspirations.
“This landmark production is simply a choreographic tour de force from one of the world’s top creative artists.”
It had to happen. David Croft and Jimmy Perry’s homage to the ageing (and youthful) volunteers otherwise known as Dad’s Army, is the perfect material for those of us for whom the war’s outcome and an affectionate distance has given those terrible years a cosy glow.
Christmas just isn’t Christmas without the panto, and this is the biggie, the one Midlands panto that’s a must-see treat in a tradition that defies fashion and time.
Aladdin is a non-stop seasonal celebration brought to life by a crack team of experts, an all-singing, all-dancing parade of sheer silliness and good cheer.
I look forward to the panto season all year and I’m delighted to say this year’s Garrick panto – script by Paul Hendy, directed by Tim Ford – is bigger, slicker and funnier than ever with production values to rival national shows on every level.
