It’s not often that you go to see a musical knowing the subject matter but having  no idea what to expect. As with other new musicals based on well-known stories (think Tony! The Blair Musical; Shrek; Matilda The Musical), the question was: how would the production make the story of Susan Boyle’s rise to success interesting, original and entertaining? With difficulty, [...]

‘Lovable’ is not a word often used in connection with the work of Stephen Sondheim. In fact the prevailing critical view seems to be that entertainment value is hardly worth mentioning. One would be hard-pressed to find a better way to cut through the steely detachment that some of the great composer’s admirers have developed [...]

Bobby Child, played by Sean Palmer, is the young man with a dream: to ditch banking and become a star dancer.  Work however, the preferred occupation of his mother (played by the wonderful Harriet Thorpe), sends him to Nevada to take possession of The Gaiety Theatre, as payments by Polly Baker (Clare Foster) have not [...]

From the moment the orchestra launched the show with a rousing medley of infamous Annie tunes, it was clear that all the magic of the much-loved story was going to be retained in the West Yorkshire Playhouse’s production of this musical classic. As Annie burst into life to lead the team of rowdy orphans into [...]