Sunday, February 12, 2012
The debacle that has been the New York City Opera (NYCO) over the last year is scarcely worth repeating, but for any who don't know, the very fact that this performance of "La Traviata" at t…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 08:17PMThe New York City Ballet (NYCB) do a remarkable selection of ballets in every short season but the rhyme or reason of their ordering makes little sense. The decision to schedule "The Seven D…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 06:59PMYes you read it right. Someone has had the nerve to resurrect "Carrie: The Musical", a byword in musical theatre punchlines. The history of this piece is so awful it beggars belief, so massi…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 01:36AMFriday, February 10, 2012
A Sondheim is always worth a look and the "Encores!" series is now allowing a new audience to come to a piece that hasn't been much seen since it crashed and burned on Broadway in 1981. They…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 06:43PMWednesday, February 8, 2012
Fielding a superb cast, the Metropolitan Opera's latest revival of "Ernani" had the musical cards stacked strongly in its favour. The actual performance however was unfortunately flat, some …
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 05:52PMTuesday, February 7, 2012
This was the sort of program that demonstrates the diversity, depth and quality of the New York City Ballet's repertory and dancers. It also unfortunately exposed their real weakness, the qu…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 12:03PMFriday, February 3, 2012
Having failed to catch Kevin Spacey's Richard III at the Old Vic back in London, I jumped at the chance to see it at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). The hype was great and I have fond m…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 12:26PMSaturday, January 28, 2012
Did no one tell Robert Lepage that Wagner's "Götterdämmerung" ends with the fall of the gods and a renewal of the world? It's certainly not clear from the utterly inept finale that he has …
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 03:07AMFriday, January 27, 2012
Another night, another interesting triple from the New York City Ballet. I do wish they'd stop putting out a continuous, near unbroken stream of Balanchine, they have so much more variety in…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 04:39PMI've been looking forward to "The Enchanted Island" for ages. Fans may mock Peter Gelb for suggesting modern audiences aren't particularly responsive to four hour Baroque epics, but by and l…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 03:57PMWednesday, January 25, 2012
"Chinglish" by David Henry Hwang is that rare thing: a simple, unaffected play that really works. There's nothing particularly original to be found here, Hwang is mining a rich but well worn…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 05:04PMMonday, January 23, 2012
And it started so well... "Close Up Space" opens with a simply sublime monologue that had me in stitches, in no small part because it dangerously reminded me of toiling under a similar …
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 03:36PMSaturday, January 21, 2012
I wouldn't for the life of me have headed back to the Metropolitan Opera for Des McAnuff's production of "Faust" were it not for the presence of Joseph Calleja. Much like the first time arou…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 06:26PMFriday, January 20, 2012
The Nutcrackers are all finished so it's time for a delectable five week season of short works (plus Romeo and Juliet) from the New York City Ballet. I'll be heading to as much as I can, "Oc…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 03:32PMWednesday, January 18, 2012
Trundling back to New York after my London break, first on my list was the much maligned Luc Bondy production of "Tosca" at the Metropolitan Opera. It is indeed a weak production but it wasn…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 03:50PMTuesday, January 17, 2012
I've said it before and I'll say it again. "Matilda the Musical" is unbelievably brilliant. The kind of show that makes me want to force everyone I've ever met to go along and see it for the…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 11:22AMFriday, January 13, 2012
"Crazy For You" is an old-fashioned, dance heavy musical that thrills when it works but flatlines when it doesn't. It would be hard to argue that Ken Ludwig's book is as good as it should be…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 06:03PMThursday, January 12, 2012
The Royal Ballet's "Nutcracker" marks the final Nutcracker in my self designed, transatlantic Nutcracker Festival that has taken in six different productions of Tchaikovsky's magnificent wor…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 05:18AMWednesday, January 11, 2012
The Menier Chocolate Factory's tech heavy "Pippin" brought out the nerd in me. Arriving in the auditorium is a complete delight, wandering through a detailed teenage boy's bedroom before ent…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 07:06AMMonday, January 9, 2012
The last time I made a pilgrimage to Stratford-upon-Avon I found the glorious "Matilda". Trekking to "The Heart of Robin Hood", this year's Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 12:36PMSunday, January 8, 2012
Having ventured to the Southwark Theatre it seemed only sensible to check out everything on offer. After spending the afternoon at the disappointing, technology heavy "Howl's Moving Castle",…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 04:52PMSaturday, January 7, 2012
The Southwark Playhouse's projection driven "Howl's Moving Castle" quite successfully falls in just about every pitfall of cinematic theatre you could conceive of. A show as thin as the 2-D …
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 06:07PMThursday, January 5, 2012
From the poster (see above) I hadn't the foggiest what this was about. With no knowledge at all of the original Ealing Comedy film, I was largely drawn to "The Ladykillers" by its cast and c…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 04:39PMIt's got to be said, Irish playwrights have their own personal brand of misery. "Juno and the Paycock" by Sean O'Casey is a long, slow burning play that simply revels in poverty and gloom. A…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 07:00AMTuesday, January 3, 2012
I must confess, I did not have the highest of expectations for this revival of "La Traviata". The Royal Opera have been wheeling out various casts over an epic run of performances and the co…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 09:55PMMy head is now spinning with Nutcrackers but Matthew Bourne's take, "Nutcracker!" is a sufficiently delightful spin that I came out more than grinning. Filled with larger than life character…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 06:13PMMonday, January 2, 2012
"Death and the Maiden" is in every respect a play worth reviving but it's a pity that they had to front it with Thandi Newton. I've no problem with celebrity casting, it gets bums on seats, …
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 07:24PMSunday, January 1, 2012
In amongst the sea of Nutcrackers in London is nestled this little gem of show. "Magical Night" might have raised artistic interest for its use of Kurt Weill's long lost score, but it's the …
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 02:06PMSaturday, December 31, 2011
I missed out on the Royal Ballet's O2 Arena excursion (it was slap bang in the middle of my exams) but the prospect of the Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) bringing their much lauded "Nutcracke…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 06:43PMTo make a genuinely original "Hamlet" you've got to try pretty hard but that doesn't mean doing what Ian Rickson has done with his Young Vic production. He's moulded Michael Sheen into a qui…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 04:15PMFriday, December 30, 2011
Mike Bartlett is certainly ambitious. He's turning out plays at an incredible speed and they aren't exactly chamber pieces either. "13" is possibly his most epic yet, though it's also one of…
SOURCE: The Tyro Theatre Critic at 11:18AM 
