All stories by Ian Foster on BroadwayStars

Wednesday, November 11, 2020

CD Review: Mazz Murray – Midnight Mazz – Here We Go Again / Mascherato the Musical / Howard Goodall’s Songs from the Musicals Vol 1 by Ian Foster

This set of album reviews covers Mazz Murray – Midnight Mazz – Here We Go Again, Mascherato the Musical (Original Studio Cast Recording) and Howard Goodall’s Songs from the Musicals Vo…

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 10:00AM
Monday, November 9, 2020

‘Offers startlingly fresh perspective on these tales’: 15 HEROINES – Jermyn Street Theatre & Digital Theatre (Online review) by Ian Foster

Reinterpreting the women of Greek mythology for today, the theatrical enterprise of 15 Heroines is a major achievement and a highlight of the year, digital or otherwise.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:00AM
Thursday, November 5, 2020

‘The show’s coup comes with a spine-tingling performance from Linzi Hateley’: The Theatre Channel – Episode Two (Online review) by Ian Foster

Episode Two of The Theatre Channel takes its Halloween theme and has a ball with it, with brilliant performances from the likes of Linzi Hateley, Jordan Shaw, Bradley Jaden and Sophie Isaacs.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 10:00AM
Saturday, October 31, 2020

‘Touches on subjects that feel so powerfully resonant today’: SHIFT+ALT+RIGHT – ALP Musicals (Online review) by Ian Foster

This innovative production by ALP Musicals of Hilmi Jaidin’s new digital musical Shift+Alt+Right points towards the future of new musical theatre.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 12:00PM
Monday, October 26, 2020

‘I kinda thought, huh, this is a modern classic?’ – BETRAYAL – Theatre Royal Bath by Ian Foster

An hour plus of a straight white man justifying his affair or a modern classic? I go in for more Betrayal at the Theatre Royal Bath.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM
Friday, October 23, 2020

‘Moments of piercing emotion’: NOW. HERE. THIS – Golden Goose Theatre by Ian Foster

The newly opened Golden Goose Theatre brings some interesting musical theatre to Camberwell with Now. Here. This.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 06:00AM
Tuesday, October 20, 2020

Album Review: Lucie Jones Live at the Adelphi by Ian Foster

Covid-19 may have cut her time in Waitress short but Lucie Jones Live at the Adelphi is a great reminder of the leading lady she is and will surely continue to be.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 10:00AM
Sunday, October 18, 2020

‘Deftly experienced hands are shaping this new kind of experience’: MACBETH – Big Telly Theatre Company (Online review) by Ian Foster

Not quite ‘when shall we three Zoom again’, Big Telly Theatre’s imaginative online version of Macbeth has some impressive moments.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM
Wednesday, October 14, 2020

‘You have to admire a creative response to this Coronavirus bullsh*t’: SEEDS / At YOUR PERIL (Online review) by Ian Foster

A rare foray into the world of podcasts sees Ian Foster listening to the Nina Sosanya-starring Seeds and getting properly freaked out by horror anthology At Your Peril.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 06:00AM
Sunday, October 4, 2020

CD Review: Amanda Holden – Songs From My Heart by Ian Foster

Britain’s Got Talent judge Amanda Holden releases her debut album Songs From My Heart, full of musical theatre treats and Sheridan Smith.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM
Monday, August 31, 2020

‘Intermittently affecting blend of personal struggle & political outrage’: BEAT THE DEVIL – Bridge Theatre by Ian Foster

David Hare gets in first with his Coronavirus monologue Beat The Devil at the Bridge Theatre, evocatively performed by Ralph Fiennes.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM
Tuesday, August 18, 2020

‘The whole company impresses’: HENRY V / THE MERRY WIVES OF WINDSOR – St Albans by Ian Foster

A return to live theatre is well marked by these vibrant open-air productions of Henry V and The Merry Wives of Windsor at the Roman Theatre of Verulamium in St Albans.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 06:00AM
Tuesday, August 11, 2020

’An inspired, interactive & family-friendly journey’: ALICE: A VIRTUAL THEME PARK – Creation Theatre (Online review) by Ian Foster

Doing the Macarena with the Queen of Hearts? But of course. Alice – A Virtual Theme Park does an excellent job of blending technical innovation with live theatre

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 10:00AM
Sunday, July 19, 2020

’An absolute ray of sunshine’: Hello, Harry! A Celebration of 40 Years at Stage Door (Online review) by Ian Foster

Hello Harry!, an online concert celebrating the incredible 40-year career of Harry Gabriel, the Shaftesbury Theatre’s Stage Door Keeper, was an absolute ray of sunshine.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 11:00AM
Wednesday, June 10, 2020

‘There are so many talented writers out there deserving of opportunity’: Composer Darren Clark on launching new UK Musicals platform by Ian Foster

As his new digital sheet music store New UK Musicals launches, I talk with multi-award winning composer and lyricist Darren Clark about the site and his career.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 12:00PM
Monday, June 1, 2020

‘Suffused with joy’: HAIRSPRAY LIVE! – The Shows Must Go On (Online review) by Ian Foster

Hairspray Live! is such a joyous show it should perk up many a flagging spirit. It proves far superior to the previous week's NBC Live offering of The Sound of Music.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:00AM
Monday, May 25, 2020

‘There’s a fresh sprightliness to so much of the music that’s hard to resist’: RAGS – The Musical (Album review) by Ian Foster

Sometimes a musical just doesn’t grab you, and so it was for me with Rags The Musical. The universe clearly wants me to hear it one way or another though, as Ghostlight Records are now rel…

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AM
Friday, May 15, 2020

‘A bittersweetly beautiful chamber musical’: PIECES OF STRING – Mercury Theatre (Online review) by Ian Foster

Finally, a show I haven’t seen before being streamed! And what a beauty Pieces of String turned out to be.  “Sometimes it’s good to remember‘Sometimes it’s good to forget'” Fo…

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:00AM
Saturday, May 9, 2020

‘They all spent time in Bat Out of Hell’s Obsidian’: The Songsmiths – Tenors of the West End (Album review) by Ian Foster

Vocal group The Songsmiths’ Tenors of the West End offers up some fascinating harmonies on some classic pop tunes.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM
Tuesday, April 28, 2020

‘The top-notch cast sing as if it’s the first time they’re hearing the music’: Les Misérables – The Staged Concert (Online review) by Ian Foster

Les Misérables – The Staged Concert is released on digital download, along with a bonus featurette which is highly amusing.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 10:00AM
Saturday, April 11, 2020

‘When You Believe has a choral majesty that is undeniable’: THE PRINCE OF EGYPT (Album review) by Ian Foster

There was a moment in the last couple of days as I listened to ‘Make It Right’ for the umpteenth time that I wondered whether I’d been a bit harsh to The Prince of Egypt when it opened…

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 10:00AM
Sunday, April 5, 2020

‘Trying to capture just a spark of that charge that comes with live theatre’: ONE MAN, TWO GUVNORS – National Theatre (Online review) by Ian Foster

National Theatre at Home is a huge success. The type of scheme that only large institutions can hope to really pull off but even so, managing the kind of appointment-to-view occasion that wa…

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 01:00PM
Friday, April 3, 2020

ALBUM REVIEW: #ZoologicalSociety by Ian Foster

New musical #ZoologicalSociety, written by Vikki Stone and Kate Mulgrew, gets a well-timed concept album release.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AM
Wednesday, March 4, 2020

‘Big misjudgement. Huge’: PRETTY WOMAN THE MUSICAL – West End by Ian Foster

Aimie Atkinson is good but deserves far better than Pretty Woman: the Musical, the blatant cash grab at the Piccadilly Theatre.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AM
Tuesday, March 3, 2020

‘A refreshing change to the norm’: MACBETH – Greenwich Theatre by Ian Foster

Lazarus Theatre’s ensemble-based take on Macbeth at Greenwich Theatre proves thrilling in its stylish directorial vision.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM
Thursday, February 27, 2020

‘Might be in need of a miracle’: THE PRINCE OF EGYPT – West End by Ian Foster

In The Prince Of Egypt highly committed cast does their best to ride out inconsistent production choices to deliver work that fills the Dominion well.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AM
Tuesday, February 25, 2020

‘Properly entertaining & endlessly watchable’: The Extraordinary Time-Travelling Adventures of Baron Munchausen – Vault Festival by Ian Foster

I go and see The Extraordinary Time-Travelling Adventures of Baron Munchausen at the VAULT Festival and end up playing a tree with killer leaves.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:00AM
Wednesday, February 19, 2020

‘Its vibrant energy is thrilling to behold’: POET IN DA CORNER – Royal Court Theatre & Touring by Ian Foster

As rap and spoken word emerge as the primary storytelling modes in Poet in da Corner, along with some evocative dancing, there’s a compelling sense of the potential of what theatre can be.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 09:00AM
Monday, February 10, 2020

‘An intriguing start to Bloomer’s tenure’: I WOKE UP FEELING ELECTRIC – Hope Theatre by Ian Foster

Jack Robson’s I Woke Up Feeling Electric asks some morally and technologically challenging questions at the Hope Theatre.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 05:00AM
Friday, February 7, 2020

‘A truly astonishing piece of acting’: DEATH OF ENGLAND – National Theatre by Ian Foster

In Death of England, Rafe Spall delivers the performance of a lifetime in this punchy monologue by Clint Dyer and Roy Williams at the National Theatre.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM
Thursday, February 6, 2020

‘It’s hilarious but also moving’: AFTER(S) – White Bear Theatre by Ian Foster

The perils of midweek drinking writ large – After(s) examines what it means to be in your mid-twenties today at the White Bear Theatre in Kennington.

SOURCE: mytheatremates.com at 07:00AM

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