All stories by Matt Trueman on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Kes, review: 'makes your heart soar' by Matt Trueman

This new dance-theatre adaptation of the film is a terrific crowd-pleaser    

SOURCE: The Telegraph at 07:44AM
Friday, March 28, 2014

Inner Voices: 'old-age Laurel and Hardy' by Matt Trueman

For all its profound metaphors, Inner Voices is a bumbling comedy motored by a magnificent double act, says Matt Trueman    

SOURCE: The Telegraph at 02:09PM
Monday, March 24, 2014

The Two Worlds of Charlie F review – An unflinching look at life after war by Matt Trueman

Richmond, LondonThis show sincerely explores military careers and never forgets that it's putting humans on stage, not heroicsThe stage fills up with men and women in uniform, falling in as …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:26AM
Sunday, March 23, 2014

Death and the Ploughman review – 'Primitive humanism' by Matt Trueman

Arnos Vale Cemetery, BristolHaunting and austere, but it never feels like the audience are trespassing on death's territoryArnos Vale is no drab, municipal cemetery, but a jumble of gravesto…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:17PM
Friday, March 21, 2014

Philip Pullman's Grimm Tales: An Immersive Fairytale for Young and Old review – 'Instagram theatre' by Matt Trueman

Shoreditch Town Hall, LondonSleeping Beauty chic meets the online generation for this plush stage version of Pullman's bestseller, but more love should have been lavished on the actingA muse…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:22AM
Thursday, March 20, 2014

Britain is brilliant at exporting plays, but what does it mean to go global? by Matt Trueman

From War Horse to The Weir, international success is surprising playwrights in a market that can be remarkably lucrativeDo you remember Tribes, Nina Raine's play about deaf seclusion? It pla…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:50PM

Betty Blue Eyes review – 'Catchy tunes but short of its best' by Matt Trueman

Mercury, Colchester By playing the material with a bit of truth, Daniel Buckroyd and the cast make something of its heart, if not its cheekWho shot JFK? Where is Lord Lucan? Why did Betty Bl…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:24PM
Wednesday, March 19, 2014

Marvellous, they wrote: raptures greet Angela Lansbury's West End return by Matt Trueman

Murder, She Wrote star receives near-universal acclaim for her first theatrical appearance in London since 1975You didn't need a mystic to see this one coming: Angela Lansbury's return to th…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:19PM
Tuesday, March 18, 2014

Charlie F and the real theatre of war: 'this isn't like Miss Saigon' by Matt Trueman

The Two Worlds of Charlie F, a play performed and inspired by injured British servicemen and women, is on a tour of dutyBefore joining the British Royal Marines, Cassidy Little trained as a …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:28AM

Threepenny Opera review – 'All the more furious from disabled actors' by Matt Trueman

Nottingham PlayhouseThis tubthumping update of The Beggar's Opera seems, at times, unfocused despite its powerful casting"What keeps a man alive?" The cri de coeur at the heart of Bertholt B…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AM
Monday, March 17, 2014

Musicals we love: Bugsy Malone by Matt Trueman

Alan Parker's show is made for kids and shot through with innocence – and that's what makes it truly charmingSome of the best musicals were written for kids. Joseph and the Amazing Technic…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00AM
Wednesday, March 12, 2014

The Memory of Water review – 'Shelagh Stephenson's play is wise and witty' by Matt Trueman

New Vic, Newcastle-under-LymeThis knockabout family drama is also a delicate treatise on human natureWhat do you leave behind after death? In Vi's case, there's a wardrobe full of dresses, a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:31PM
Monday, March 10, 2014

Of Mice and Men review – Quicker and richer just to read Steinbeck's novella by Matt Trueman

West Yorkshire Playhouse, LeedsJohn Steinbeck's affecting story of two Depression-era farmhands carries too much dramatic dead weight in this low-testosterone productionIt's time for a new a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:11AM
Friday, March 7, 2014

£19.84 tickets announced for West End transfer of Orwell play by Matt Trueman

Much-lauded Headlong adaptation of dystopian novel Nineteen Eighty-Four will offer 101 seats at special price each dayHeadlong's production of 1984 will transfer from London's Almeida theatr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:04AM

Emma Thompson steals the show in Sondheim's Sweeney Todd by Matt Trueman

The British actress starred alongside legendary baritone Bryn Terfel in a New York concert performance    

SOURCE: The Telegraph at 09:04AM

Hairspray review – fizzy pop musical strays too far from John Waters's movie by Matt Trueman

Curve, LeicesterThis adaptation of the 1988 film can be giddy and gutsy, but tends to replicate its high-school attitudes rather than warp themAlready a big Broadway and West End hit, Marc S…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:44AM

Never Try This at Home: staging the dark and anarchic world of 70s kids' TV by Matt Trueman

For Told By An Idiot's new show, actor-director Paul Hunter decided to write about his childhood appearance on Tiswas. And then Jimmy Savile hit the news…When Told By An Idiot first worksh…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:59AM
Wednesday, March 5, 2014

Pim and Theo: the kids' theatre show about rightwing politics and religious extremism by Matt Trueman

The controversial artist Theo van Gogh and the far-right politician Pim Fortuyn are an odd couple bound together in death in a new play for young audiencesPim and Theo are not your everyday …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:35AM
Tuesday, March 4, 2014

A Tale of Two Cities review – 'A smash-and-grab raid on Dickens' by Matt Trueman

Royal and Derngate, NorthamptonJames Dacre's production keeps this tale fresh, as Parisian riots trip into English promenades with the pace of a political thrillerBest of times, worst of tim…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:02AM
Monday, March 3, 2014

Titanic sails to victory in Off West End theatre awards by Matt Trueman

Revival of 1997 musical wins four awards before US launch on Broadway, and pub theatres go home empty-handedThom Sutherland's fringe production of Titanic has picked up four Off West End awa…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:45AM

Gemma Arterton strikes out for Made in Dagenham musical in the West End by Matt Trueman

Rupert Goold will direct at the Adelphi theatre with the former Bond girl taking a role played by Sally Hawkins in the 2010 filmGemma Arterton is to star in a West End musical version of the…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:30AM
Sunday, March 2, 2014

Orlando review – Suranne Jones makes two hours and 400 years pass in a flash by Matt Trueman

Royal Exchange, ManchesterSuranne Jones is superb as Woolf's epoch-hopping hero turned heroine in this carnivalesque, tumble-turning productionRead interview with Suranne JonesOrlando is a y…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:30AM
Friday, February 28, 2014

Ruthie Henshall to join cast of Billy Elliot the Musical by Matt Trueman

Olivier award-winner will return to West End after three years away when she takes up role of Mrs Wilkinson in MayOlivier award-winner Ruthie Henshall is to join the cast of Billy Elliot the…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12AM
Thursday, February 27, 2014

Dawn French set to perform her first solo tour in June by Matt Trueman

30 Million Minutes, directed by Michael Grandage, will be 'somewhere between a monologue, a play and an autobiographical slide show …'Dawn French will embark on her first solo tour this su…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:20AM
Wednesday, February 26, 2014

Mozart Undone: A Theatre Concert, Barbican Centre, review by Matt Trueman

This mauling of Mozart's life work was wilfully sacrilegious and mostly awful, says Matt Trueman    

SOURCE: The Telegraph at 08:12AM

Lucy Kirkwood's Chimerica wins Susan Smith Blackburn playwright prize by Matt Trueman

Success for play that mixes US-Chinese culture clash with Tiananmen Square mysteryAnother day, another major award for playwright Lucy Kirkwood. Her smash hit Chimerica has picked up the pre…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:14AM
Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Andrew Lloyd Webber's Stephen Ward musical to close early in West End by Matt Trueman

Musical about the Profumo affair will end its run on 29 March, four months after it openedViva Forever lasted seven months. From Here to Eternity will have survived for five by its last perf…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:30AM

Crowdfunding: a capital idea for commercial theatre by Matt Trueman

Got a tenner to spare? Forget buying a ticket - these days, producers want you to invest in a West End showReckon you can tell a Wicked from a Which Witch? It might be time to put your money…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Monday, February 24, 2014

Michael Grandage rules out second season of West End shows by Matt Trueman

Director tells the Guardian that he has moved on from his star-led revivals despite winning four WhatsOnStage awardsMichael Grandage has ruled out a second season of West End shows, despite…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:01AM
Friday, February 21, 2014

Rift plans to stage all-night Macbeth in east London tower block by Matt Trueman

Innovative theatre company aims to put audiences to sleep – and then wake them up – in new site-specific performance"Sleep no more! Macbeth doth murder sleep." So rings the voice in Macb…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:57AM
Wednesday, February 19, 2014

Opus, Circa & Debussy String Quartet, Barbican Centre, review by Matt Trueman

Opus is a Shostakovich-meets-the-circus show so astonishing that Matt Trueman wonders why no one ever runs away to join a string quartet    

SOURCE: The Telegraph at 12:00PM