All stories by Roger Foss on BroadwayStars

Friday, July 7, 2017

Hot Ice: Dreams review at Pleasure Beach Arena, Blackpool – ‘gold medal standard’ by Roger Foss

Hot Ice is celebrating its 81st season with a spectacular new show entitled Dreams. But this year’s skaters are noticeably youthful, as

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:43AM
Thursday, July 6, 2017

The Welcoming Party review at Museum of Science and Industry, Manchester – ’emotive and inspiring’ by Roger Foss

We’re led into a heartless immigration screening room. Here, young Mohamed, who we have seen enter illegally from Syria with no identity

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:52AM
Tuesday, July 4, 2017

Tribes review at Crucible Theatre, Sheffield – ‘sensitively directed’ by Roger Foss

If you could rate smugness, the middle-class family gathering around the dinner table at the start of Nina Raine’s play, Tribes, would

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:54AM
Friday, June 30, 2017

How to be a Kid review at Theatr Clwyd, Mold – ‘warm-hearted and insightful’ by Roger Foss

Sarah McDonald-Hughes’ play makes for an impressive opener to Paines Plough’s fourth annual season for its perky, pop-up Roundabout theatre. The first

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 10:32AM
Thursday, June 22, 2017

Everything Is Possible: The York Suffragettes review at Theatre Royal, York – ‘impressive community production’ by Roger Foss

“Deeds not words” was Emmeline Pankhurst’s militant motto. So when you are caught up in a melee outside York Minster involving placard

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:09AM
Thursday, June 8, 2017

John McGrath: ‘After the Manchester attack, the festival feels more urgent than ever’ by Roger Foss

A few days before we meet to talk about putting together his first Manchester International Festival as artistic director, John McGrath has

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:00AM
Monday, June 5, 2017

Rose starring Janet Suzman – review at Home, Manchester – ‘a spellbinding performance’ by Roger Foss

Right now there’s a lot of trauma in Manchester following the recent terror attack. Both out in the city and inside Home,

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:20AM
Friday, June 2, 2017

Persuasion review at Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester – ‘a provocative, contemporary reworking’ by Roger Foss

Did the gentry frolic semi-naked at foam parties in Jane Austen’s day? They do in Jeff James’ radically rejigged version of her

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:15AM
Monday, May 22, 2017

Hard Times review at Oldham Coliseum – ‘a hard slog’ by Roger Foss

If there’s any comparison to be made between Charles Dickens’ 1854 novel and Stephen Jeffreys’ 1982 stage adaptation, it’s that one is

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:45AM
Friday, May 19, 2017

From Shore to Shore review at Oriental City Restaurant, Leeds – ‘smartly staged Chinese-British stories’ by Roger Foss

Now that China is a major UK commercial investor, this stirring piece of verbatim theatre is a timely reminder of the generations

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:22AM
Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Winter Hill review at Octagon Theatre, Bolton – ‘multifaceted and insightful’ by Roger Foss

Timberlake Wertenbaker’s last play, Jefferson’s Garden, was set in 1780s America. Her new play is set closer to home: atop Winter Hill,

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:55AM
Wednesday, May 10, 2017

The Importance of Being Earnest review at Theatr Clwyd, Mold – ‘youthfully irreverent’ by Roger Foss

Right from the start, Richard Fitch’s youthful production of The Importance of Being Earnest looks and feels like freshly de-cluttered late Victoriana.

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:23AM
Friday, May 5, 2017

Stand Up Stand Up review at Theatre Royal, Wakefield – ‘comic potential’ by Roger Foss

Ken Dodd once told an interviewer that laughter is just noise that comes out of a hole in your face. Anatomically, Doddy

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 10:37AM
Thursday, May 4, 2017

The Graduate review at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds – ‘smart and satirical’ by Roger Foss

The Graduate has graduated. It’s about time a woman director grabbed hold of Terry Johnson’s stage adaptation and shook something more satirically

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:24AM
Wednesday, May 3, 2017

Lifeboat review at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds – ‘richly inventive’ by Roger Foss

Blitzed Britain. A ship transporting 90 child evacuees to the safety of Canada is sunk by German U-boats. Most of them drown.

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 11:32AM
Tuesday, May 2, 2017

The Island review at the Dukes, Lancaster – ‘sensitively performed’ by Roger Foss

As a denunciation of apartheid, there’s surely nothing in theatre as consciousness-raising as the re-enactment of the Antigone-Creon trial scene at the end of

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:12AM
Friday, April 28, 2017

How My Light Is Spent review at Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester – ‘oddball optimism’ by Roger Foss

The growth of social media might suggest we are all closely connected, but the premier of Alan Harris’ play explores social disengagement

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:57AM
Friday, April 21, 2017

Twelfth Night review at Royal Exchange Theatre, Manchester – ‘joyous and charming’ by Roger Foss

The rain it raineth very hard during the shipwreck opening of Jo Davies’ joyous Royal Exchange production. But there’s nothing wet about

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:56AM
Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Moth review at the Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester – ‘blazing acting’ by Roger Foss

The twisted realism of Melbourne playwright Declan Greene’s two-hander makes for unsettling viewing. Moth is partly a schoolboy’s fantasy about a robot saving

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 09:32AM

Spring and Port Wine review at Coliseum Theatre, Oldham – ‘a terrific revival’ by Roger Foss

“It shouldn’t be a battle, dad, bringing up a family.” This is one of many barbed home truths aimed at Rafe Compton

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:00AM
Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Simply Murder review at Theatre Royal Wakefield – ‘a cleverly constructed thriller’ by Roger Foss

Rat poison in the wine? Blood on the rug? Bodies in the cesspit? Nazi assassins on the loose? Psychopath husband bumps off pregnant

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 10:20AM
Monday, April 3, 2017

Lifted by Beauty: Adventures in Dreaming review at Rhyl town centre – ‘inspired’ by Roger Foss

This National Theatre Wales collaboration with the residents of Rhyl begins with a guided stroll through the town centre taking in short

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 06:28AM
Friday, March 31, 2017

Best Foot Forward review at Youth Hostel Association, York – ‘footloose and jolly’ by Roger Foss

Mikron Theatre embarks on its 46th annual tour with a show that takes a scenic hike through the history of the Youth

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 08:11AM
Thursday, March 16, 2017

Gaudete review at Lawrence Batley Theatre, Huddersfield – ‘weirdly disturbing’ by Roger Foss

This is hardly an English idyll. With a parish priest abducted by elemental spirits and replaced with a replica, the local WI

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:00AM
Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Casanova review at Grand Theatre, Leeds – ‘nothing short of mesmerising’ by Roger Foss

Was Giacomo Casanova just an 18th-century sex addict, or a man of many colours? He was a trainee cleric, gambler, writer, violinist,

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:10AM
Tuesday, March 14, 2017

Grease review at Palace Theatre, Manchester – ‘quaintly old-fashioned’ by Roger Foss

When it premiered off-Broadway in 1972 Grease already reeked of nostalgia for the teen culture of 1950s America, when greased-up hair and

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:32AM
Thursday, March 9, 2017

Romeo and Juliet review at West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds – ‘thrilling and intense’ by Roger Foss

Hot-headed youth doesn’t only take a bow at the start of Amy Leach’s thrilling production when rival teen tribes break out in

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:01AM
Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Meat Pie, Sausage Roll review at Coliseum Theatre, Oldham – ‘team spirit’ by Roger Foss

Lyrics don’t come much snappier than in classic football anthems. Even Tim Rice might struggle to coin as catchy a phrase as

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 07:51AM
Monday, March 6, 2017

Nell Gwynn starring Laura Pitt-Pulford – review at the Lowry, Salford – ‘good-humoured’ by Roger Foss

Aphra Behn, one of the first professional female playwrights, once described Nell Gwynn as “made on purpose to put the whole world

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:53AM
Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Ashes review at Octagon Theatre, Bolton – ‘sensitive direction’ by Roger Foss

Apart from the non-stop talk of sperm counts and ovary tests, or watching graphic genital examinations and practical demonstrations of the sexiest

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:56AM
Friday, February 24, 2017

Murder, Margaret and Me review at Theatre Royal, York – ‘well-crafted’ by Roger Foss

Agatha Christie and Margaret Rutherford would surely spin in their graves if they knew the secret sorrows of Britain’s “queen of crime”

SOURCE: The Stage Registration at 05:21AM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards