Posts tagged as:

musical theatre

Speaking of Scott Alan…

February 1, 2010 · 0 comments

in Music

…as I was in my review of Sunday’s concert, I ought to point out his two CDs are available to buy.

If you haven’t heard his works before, the glories of Amazon.co.uk’s MP3 service means that you can hear preview tracks below (edit: doesn’t seem to work on Google Chrome for Mac - see below for some links):

If you want to buy full albums, you find the above widget a little confusing to navigate (I don’t blame you) or it doesn’t show up at all, try these links:

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The Distance We Have Come… The Music of Scott Alan

February 1, 2010
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There are few modern composers of the musical theatre style better at crafting a heartfelt torch song than New York’s Scott Alan. He is returning to London on March 13 for a single night of performance at the Delfont Room in the Prince of Wales Theatre, but before then a group of young performers brought some of his songs to life in a patchy concert, The Distance We Have Come… The Music of Scott Alan at the New Players theatre yesterday.

Jest End

November 20, 2009
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Jest End’s sideswipes at London’s most loved (or at least best known) musicals may be affectionate, but no punches are pulled.

Taking well known melodies and fashioning humorous lyrics around them is a joke that works throughout, thanks to the acuity and skill of the satire. It also helps that all four cast members are exceptionally […]

The lights aren’t quite out on Avenue Q

November 19, 2009

As the final part of our Show and Stay theatre quiz prize, Ade and I last night ventured to the Gielgud Theatre to see Avenue Q. We had great seats — pretty near the centre of the Row F stalls — but there were elements of the show we couldn’t see. Nor could anyone else, […]

Quick theatre round-up

October 28, 2009

I know I haven’t been blogging here much lately: these things tend to come in fits and spurts, so I may do some more posts for a bit. That said, it’s coming up to my annual attempt to participate in NaNoWriMo so I may go quiet on the blogging front again.

Anyway, over the last few […]

Ella sings Rodgers and Hart

August 7, 2009

At the end of my last post about Cadogan Hall’s Rodgers and Hart tribute concert, I said:

searching Amazon or iTunes for some Rodgers and Hart numbers would make for a fruitful weekend.

Let me help you in that task. The best album of Rodgers and Hart songs is by the peerless Ella Fitzgerald:

[…]

Sing For Your Supper, Cadogan Hall

August 7, 2009

On Wednesday night, Paul and I went to Cadogan Hall to see Sing For Your Supper, a concert celebrating the music of Rodgers and Hart.

It was my first visit to Cadogan Hall, and to be honest I’m surprised at its use as a venue for this sort of event. The former church’s acoustics just don’t […]

Blink! – the double-take

July 29, 2009

Last night, Paul and I went back to the Above the Stag theatre in Victoria to see Blink!, a revue about songs from musicals that closed early. For both of us it was our second time to see the show, although we’d previously seen it on different nights. My first was on press night, when […]

Ernie, get your gun

July 27, 2009

It appears that I will only have a limited time to catch the new West End musical sensation, Too Close to the Sun, which is to close on August 8. Press night was only on Friday, and word started to trickle through of the closure over the weekend. That’s quick, even for a musical from […]

Sister Act – the London cast recording

July 27, 2009

I’ve yet to manage to get to see Sister Act, despite having been at the press launch back in February. However, I knew enough about the show, the cats and the creatives to know I wanted the cast recording as soon as it came out.

I pre-ordered my copy from iTunes, mainly because the Amazon MP3 […]

New review: Blink!

July 16, 2009

Last night was the press night of Blink! at the Above the Stag theatre in Victoria, a cabaret evening of songs from musicals that flopped — literally, blink and you could have missed them.

My review is now online at The Stage website and has been added to my master index of my theatre reviews.

New page: theatre reviews

July 5, 2009

If you visit this blog, rather than just read the RSS feed, you’ll see a new link at the very top of the page to a list of all the theatre reviews I’ve so far written for The Stage.

Menken serenade

February 4, 2009

Tonight, I was lucky enough to be invited to the press launch of Sister Act: the Musical, which starts previews in May at the London Palladium after The Sound of Music leaves the West End to tour the UK.

A lot of the usual PR guff — how wonderful an opportunity it is, how great all […]

I Love You Because

September 27, 2007

Reviewed for The Stage

Landor Theatre, London September 19-October 20 Author: Ryan Cunningham Composer: Joshua Salzman Producer: Landor Cast: Daniel Boys, Debbie Kurup, Richard Frame, Jodie Jacobs, Mark Goldthorp, Lucy Williamson Director: Robert McWhir Running time: 2hrs

Witty tales of New York romance are a staple of both musical theatre and TV sitcom, and I Love You Because stands up favourably in comparison with […]

Love, Laugh and Live

December 1, 2006

Reviewed for The Stage

Theatre Museum, London November 26, 28 Cast: Jonathan Eiø, Lucy Thatcher Running time: 2hrs

This evening of songs on three themes started weakly with a thesaurus reading which, as with all the scripted attempts at humour throughout, never quite worked. Thankfully, the warmth and vivacity of the two stars and their songs compensated handsomely.

When selecting music […]

Porgy and Bess

November 10, 2006

Reviewed for The Stage

Savoy Theatre, London Author: DuBose Heyward Composers: George Gershwin, lyrics by DuBose Heyward and Ira Gershwin Director: Trevor Nunn Producers: Richard Frankel, Tom Viertel, Steven Baruch, Marc Routh, Howard Panter for Ambassador Theatre Group, Tulbart Productions Cast includes: Clarke Peters, Nicola Hughes, Cornell John, Dawn Hope, OT Fagbenle, Melanie Marshall, Lorraine Velez, Edward Baruwa, Des Coleman, Sam […]