56 stories by "Edward Seckerson"
Taylor writes an altogether different kind of musical in which "songs" rarely arrive fully formed but rather are in the process of evolving " beginnings of songs which are content just being…
Rufus Norris may have commissioned a new adaptation of the Brecht by Simon Stephens to tick myriad boxes of contention from the politics of gender, sexuality, disability, and (naturally) the…
And amidst the bells, there's Bryn. Terfel's Boris " thoughtful and real " is a presence pervading the piece until the fifth scene where all his torments are visited upon him. He is quite ma…
The old gags are the best, they say " or just the oldest " and in this hugely enjoyable adaptation of the movie Mrs Henderson Presents they come thick and fast from the mouth of the show's v…
The World Goes Round has been, well, going round for 25 years. The John Kander and Fred Ebb catalogue lends itself to a tight-knit review format " Cabaret and Chicago embrace that genre anyw…
It’s a kind of French Mikado. In a distant and exotic kingdom a victim must be found to celebrate the King’s name-day. No little list, no W H Gilbert wit, either, but a handful o…
It's not hard to see why Grey Gardens " the musical " has become such a collector's item. This strange but true tale of American royalty gone rogue, of Jacqueline Kennedy's rebellious relati…
It's hard not to invoke the B word - Barbra, that is, not Brice - and I speak as one who bunked off school to catch her at a midweek matinee when Funny Girl first played London almost 50 yea…
It's hard not to invoke the B word " Barbra, that is, not Brice " and I speak as one who bunked off school to catch her at a mid-week matinee. It was standing room only at the Prince of Wale…
Whenever the name Calixto Bieito is mentioned, it's invariably to mention 'the toilets' " not the reasons for them, just the fact that they were there at all. That production of Verdi's A Ma…
There's nothing wrong with Elf that a decent song or two wouldn't help put right. Oh, wait, there is one " "Nobody Cares About Santa" " which bucks up act two no end and turns rather delicio…
Aria Entertainment's From Page to Stage platform for new writing in musical theatre is another of those life-lines which refreshes the parts that the West End so rarely reaches " and to see …
Yesterday, Edward Seckerson interviewed Jon Robyns, currently starring in Memphis, as part of his Singular Sensations series of one-off events at the Charing Cross Theatre. Next up, it's Jon…
As we approach the centenary of his birth, Leonard Bernstein enthusiasts Edward Seckerson and composer, arranger and musical director Jason Carr are joined by Olivier Award nominee Sophie-Lo…
There's an old conductor's adage which suggests that the only way safe to start Strauss' Don Juan is to start before the applause has died " that way no one hears any imperfections in the up…
If the shoe fits, they say, wear it. But in truth there's always been a bit of a size differential between Kinky Boots, the modest urban Brit-flick, and the Cyndi Lauper/Harvey Fierstein mus…
Never in a million years would you guess that Grand Hotel " the 1989 New York hit now brilliantly revived at Southwark Playhouse " is one of Broadway's great rescue jobs. That something seem…
It took approximately thirty years for High Society to first make its laborious transition from screen to stage and there are good reasons for that. The indelible impression left by the movi…
Everything about this little-known and largely forgotten show suggests epic, starting with the title: multiple locations, ambitious concept, big ideas. But like so much of Jerry Herman's wor…
Santa Claus does make it to the Menier Chocolate Factory this Christmas but his name is Sam Byck and he plans to fly a 747 into the White House and "incinerate Dick Nixon". So not the Christ…
It's throwback week on the West End, with two very different shows recalling the darkest days of America's racial disharmony. But whereas The Scottsboro Boys shocks and satirises and has us …
You come away from The Scottsboro Boys sure of two things: that the next cakewalk you hear will induce queasiness and that the show's director/choreographer Susan Stroman is some kind of gen…
There's a moment of stunned silence in Imelda Staunton's storming Mama Rose at the Chichester Festival Theatre, a long, long, moment where neither speaking nor singing she conclusively demon…
The heat is on in Saigon, and 25 years after its world premiere, Cameron Mackintosh has just turned up the thermostat. Boublil and Schönberg's celebrated take on Puccini's Madam Butterfly h…
On the Richter scale of catchiness Richard Adler and Jerry Ross's songs for The Pajama Game are right up there. Quite who did what in their brief but shining songwriting partnership was neve…
