All stories by Michael Billington on BroadwayStars

Thursday, January 24, 2013

Di and Viv and Rose – review by Michael Billington

Hampstead, London Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:46PM
Friday, January 18, 2013

One Monkey Don't Stop No Show – review by Michael Billington

Tricycle, LondonDawn Walton has had the bright idea of staging this Eclipse production of Don Evans's 1982 American play as if it were a live TV show. If there are occasional sitcom contriva…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:41AM
Thursday, January 17, 2013

No Quarter – review by Michael Billington

Royal Court, LondonPolly Stenham is our theatre's expert on dysfunctional families. After 2007's That Face and 2009's Tusk Tusk, she now brings us a third play about sons, mothers and the da…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:05AM
Wednesday, January 16, 2013

American Justice – review by Michael Billington

Arts theatre, LondonYou somehow don't expect a play set in a state penitentiary in the American south to come from the pen of a drama teacher from the English north. But Richard Vergette is …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:45PM
Tuesday, January 15, 2013

The Silence of the Sea – review by Michael Billington

Trafalgar Studios 2, LondonI can see why the 1942 French novella by Vercors, on which this play is based, made a great movie: Philip French called Jean-Pierre Melville's 1949 film a "claustr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:51PM
Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Somersaults – review by Michael Billington

Finborough, LondonIain Finlay Macleod's 70-minute play is a lament for the slow death of the Scottish Gaelic language. It's a rich subject, but Macleod's story is too cryptic to sustain the …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:45AM

Sauce for the Goose – review by Michael Billington

Orange Tree, RichmondIs there anything funnier in the history of farce than the central act of this 1896 Georges Feydeau play, originally entitled Le Dindon? The comic highpoint comes w…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:05AM
Sunday, December 30, 2012

2013 theatre preview: Helen Mirren gets another crack at the Queen and Peter Pan meets Alice in Wonderland by Michael Billington and Lyn Gardner

It looks set to be an intriguing year on stage that will also see Philip Pullman take on Cinderella and the RSC tackle VoltaireThe AudienceAfter starring in Peter Morgan's The Queen, Helen M…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:30PM
Thursday, December 20, 2012

The Card Shark – review by Michael Billington

Mayfair Hotel, LondonWhen it comes to the magical manipulation of cards, the American Ricky Jay is the past master. Although our own Steve Truglia is not yet in that league, this entertainin…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:10AM
Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Cinderella – review by Michael Billington

St James Theatre, LondonIn the last week I've seen a witch being incinerated, dead cats served up as filling for a giant's sandwich and now a girl's toes cut off with a meat cleaver. After t…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:46PM

Best theatre of 2012, No 3: Three Sisters, Young Vic by Michael Billington

Nirvana, four-letter words and staging straight out of Beckett – there was nothing expected about Benedict Andrews's production of Chekhov. It was all the more brilliant for itIt shouldn't…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:40PM
Tuesday, December 18, 2012

The Dance of Death by Michael Billington

Trafalgar Studios 2, LondonA play about about a half-crazed married couple locked together in splenetic isolation may not seem ideal fare for Christmas. But Titas Halder, as director of the …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:35AM
Monday, December 17, 2012

Hymn/Cocktail Sticks – review by Michael Billington

Lyttelton, LondonI sometimes feel I know Alan Bennett's family almost as well as my own. But, although these two "recollections" contain material that will be familiar to readers of Bennett'…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:49PM
Sunday, December 16, 2012

Jack and the Beanstalk – review by Michael Billington

Theatre Royal Stratford East, LondonThese days, pantomime thrives in London's east, rather than west, end; and this cherished Victorian theatre, situated close to the Olympic stadium, h…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:30PM
Thursday, December 13, 2012

In the Republic of Happiness – review by Michael Billington

Royal Court, LondonNo one could accuse the Royal Court of offering us a piece of feelgood escapism for Christmas. Instead, they have come up with a challenging new 110-minute play from Marti…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:15PM

British theatre has changed more – and less – than we might think by Michael Billington

A new V&A archive shows that while in some ways theatre changed unrecognisably between 1945 and 2010, some things remain toxically the sameGallery: 65 years of theatre – in 10 picturesWhat…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:21AM
Monday, December 10, 2012

Privates on Parade – review by Michael Billington

Noël Coward theatre, LondonMichael Grandage could hardly have made a better start to his five-show West End season than with this joyous revival of Peter Nichols's 1977 play with music. Wit…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:00PM
Sunday, December 9, 2012

The Arabian Nights – review by Michael Billington

Tricycle theatre, LondonScan the schedules and you find'll versions of The Arabian Nights cropping up all over the UK. This particular one, by Mary Zimmerman, was first seen in Chicago in&nb…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:01PM
Thursday, December 6, 2012

Old Money – review by Michael Billington

Hampstead theatre, LondonDoes anyone remember Noël Coward's Mrs Wentworth Brewster? She was the widow, celebrated in the song A Bar on the Piccola Marina, whose heart, at her husband's fune…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:37PM
Wednesday, December 5, 2012

The Bodyguard – review by Michael Billington

Adelphi theatre, LondonLawrence Kasdan has recorded his surprise at the idea of his screenplay for the 1992 movie, starring Whitney Houston and Kevin Costner, being used as the basis for a m…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:40PM

The best theatre event of 2012 by Michael Billington

A lecture about overpopulation and climate change turned out to be the unlikely highlight of a year that also featured an intriguing Russian invasionThe most momentous theatrical performance…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:00PM
Tuesday, December 4, 2012

Julius Caesar – review by Michael Billington

Donmar Warehouse, LondonI don't think we should get carried away and start arguing that single-sex Shakespeare is the only way forward. But, like Mark Antony, Phyllida Lloyd is a "shrewd con…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:10PM
Sunday, December 2, 2012

Pack – review by Michael Billington

Finborough, LondonThe Papatango New Writing festival last year came up with Dawn King's mesmerising Foxfinder. Even if this year's winner is more conventional, Louise Monaghan's play st…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:48PM
Friday, November 30, 2012

Hero – review by Michael Billington

Royal Court, LondonTwo years ago, EV Crowe made a disturbing debut with a play called Kin, about 10-year-old bullies at a posh girls' school. Now she comes up with a longer but less startlin…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:56PM
Thursday, November 29, 2012

Boris Godunov – review by Michael Billington

Swan, Stratford-on-AvonAny production of Pushkin's 1825 play is haunted by gigantic shadows. First there are the Shakespearean tragedies and histories, especially Macbeth and Richard III, wh…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:07AM
Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Merrily We Roll Along – review by Michael Billington

Menier Chocolate Factory, LondonAlthough it famously flopped on Broadway in 1981, this Stephen Sondheim-George Furth musical has been re-evaluated in fine British revivals at Leicester Hayma…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:59PM

Goodnight Mister Tom – review by Michael Billington

Phoenix, LondonI've never read Michelle Magorian's 1981 novel for young readers on which David Wood's adaptation is based, but I was struck by the story's debt to Oliver Twist: in both, a se…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:10AM
Tuesday, November 27, 2012

The Changeling – review by Michael Billington

Young Vic, LondonTransfers can be as tricky in theatre as they are in football; and while Joe Hill-Gibbins's largely recast production of Middleton and Rowley's 1622 tragedy, which originall…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:55AM
Monday, November 26, 2012

The Evening Standard awards prove regional theatre is vital by Michael Billington

Britain's brightest talents were rewarded at a glitzy ceremony on Sunday. Great – but savage cuts are about to damage our theatre beyond recognition"Who Cares Who Killed Roger Ackroyd?" wa…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:22PM

Playwright John Arden: a great talent who should never be forgotten by Michael Billington

While the glitterati assembled at the Savoy for the Evening Standard theatre awards, I was at London's Royal Court watching a fine cast give a brilliantly clear account of Arden's neglected …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:22AM
Friday, November 23, 2012

Arab Nights – review by Michael Billington

Soho theatre, London"Can a story save a life?" That is the question posed at the start of this multi-authored show in which six writers adapt narratives from The 1001 Nights, in response to …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:57PM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Nov 17, 2024: Elf - Marquis Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 17, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 10, 2025: Smash - Imperial Theatre