theatre

LAST NIGHT: THEATRE REVIEW: The Fifth Step starring Jack Lowden & Martin Freeman @SohoPlace

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

WHEN? Saturday 26 July 2025 RUNTIME: 90 minutes (no interval)

Like all of the greatest actors, Jack Lowden (Measure For Measure, Donmar) is absolutely unrecognisable as Scottish incel Luka here compared with the role of flawed hero River Cartwright he is perhaps best known for in Apple TV’s fine Slow Horses.

  • Read on for reasons including how we laughed a lot at The Fifth Step and the dexterity of the wordplay is quite beautiful
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SONG OF THE WEEK: Don’t Cry For Me Argentina by Rachel Zegler (week beginning Friday 11 July 2025)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****

It’s by no means la Casa Rosada in Buenos Aires but the London Palladium balcony performance given by Rachel Zegler at 9pm on show nights and 4pm on matinees to the hundreds of passers-by in the capital has, quite rightly, earned itself a single release.

  • Read on for reasons including why this is London’s must-see musical of the moment
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THEATRE REVIEW: Jamie Lloyd’s Evita starring Rachel Zegler at the London Palladium

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN? Saturday 14 June, opens 27 June and runs through 6 September 2025 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (with a 20-minute interval)

Zegler may be best known currently as a film star (West Side Story and more recently Snow White) but that is all about to change as she is absolutely sensational in this debut London stage role.

  • Read on for reasons including why this is London’s must-see musical of the moment
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THEATRE REVIEW: Operation Mincemeat new UK cast at the Fortune Theatre, London

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Saturday 31 May 2025, booking through 28 February 2026 RUNTIME: 130 minutes (including a 20-minute interval)

The Broadway production of this musical starring its original British cast is up for 4 Tonys on Sunday (9 June 2025) and to celebrate we made our 3rd visit to this show.

  • Read on for reasons including how we couldn’t recommend this new musical more highly
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THEATRE REVIEW: After The Act at the Royal Court Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN?: Saturday 24 May, runs through 14 June 2025 RUNTIME: 120 minutes (includes a 20 minute interval)

At 6pm on Monday 23 May 1988 4 lesbians protesting against Section 28 invaded a BBC studio as Sue Lawley and Nicholas Witchell started presenting the Six O’Clock News.

  • Read on for reasons including how we wouldn’t recommend this as a musical but politically it’s a diverting watch
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THEATRE REVIEW: Mrs Warren’s Profession starring Imelda Staunton & Bessie Carter at Garrick Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN?: Monday 12 May, opens 22 May and runs through 16 August 2025 RUNTIME: 100 minutes (no interval)

5-time Olivier Award winner Imelda Staunton (Hello, Dolly!, London Palladium) may be the reason for your interest in this revival but it’s her real-life daughter Bessie Carter (Dear Octopus, National Theatre) who gives a star-making turn here.

  • Read on for reasons including why this story is shocking for how old yet still relevant it is today
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THEATRE REVIEW: Here We Are at the National Theatre starring Jesse Tyler Ferguson & Jane Krakowski

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ***

WHEN? Friday 25 April, opens 8 May and runs through 28 June 2025 RUNTIME: 150 minutes (with a 20-minute interval)

Sondheim, musical theatre’s Shakespeare, died in 2021 and when news emerged of this final new musical hopes were high that he might have saved his best for last.

  • Read on for reasons including how this is a reminder of Sondheim’s clever wordplay that this electric cast give a 5* performance of
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THEATRE REVIEW: Self Esteem at Duke Of York’s Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: *****

WHEN? Saturday 19 April (matinee), runs through 20 April 2025 Tickets for autumn gigs

Setlist: I Do And I Don’t Care; Mother; Lies; 69; You Forever; Logic Bitch; Prioritise Pleasure; Fucking Wizardry; The Curse; In Plain Sight; What Now; Cheers To Me; If Not Now, It’s Soon; Focus Is Power; I Do This All The Time; The Deep Blue Okay

Self Esteem urges us to keep our cameraphones on, ignore the ‘dusty old pervert vibes’ of this esteemed West End theatre and to get up out of our seats and dance if we want to.

  • Read on for reasons including why this is our favourite gig of the year so far and A Complicated Woman deserves to be number 1
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THEATRE REVIEW: Cry-Baby the musical starring Adam Davidson at the Arcola Theatre

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

By Neil Durham

WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

WHEN? Saturday 12 April 2025 (matinee, last night)

Based on the 1990 John Waters film (BFI Q&A), this new musical with book by the writer of Hairspray which ran on Broadway in 2008 is brought spectacularly to life in the best production we’ve yet seen at this east London studio venue.

  • Read on for reasons including why this production should transfer into the West End
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ALBUM OF THE WEEK: Why Am I So Single? (Original London cast recording) (Friday 14 March 2025)

Posted on by mrmonstagigz

WORTH A LOOK?: ****1/2

New musical Why Am I So Single? ran at the Garrick Theatre in London’s West End from 27 August 2024 through 19 January 2025 and this cast recording is a welcome way to remind its audience of its merits until its inevitable triumphant return to the stage.

  • Read on for reasons including this is a show with a big heart unafraid to wear it on its sleeve and it’s certainly not goodbye forever
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