All stories by Ryan Gilbey on BroadwayStars

Monday, March 27, 2023

The Very Best and Worst of Mr Swallow review – keep up with Nick Mohammed’s runaway alter ego by Ryan Gilbey

Duke of York’s theatre, LondonMaths, magic and Les Mis all feature in the entertaining musings of the Ted Lasso star’s northern know-it-all ‘Who’s here ’cos of Ted Lasso?” grins …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:32AM

‘Nightmare! I’ve got to tap-dance with four legs!’ Inside the new SpongeBob Musical by Ryan Gilbey

Is chirruping dangerous? How many legs can you tap-dance with? And what have they all been smoking? As the SpongeBob SquarePants musical hits Britain, we dive down to Bikini Bottom “Who li…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:12AM
Thursday, February 23, 2023

Charlotte and Theodore review – agonised academics knee-deep in culture wars by Ryan Gilbey

Ustinov Studio, BathRyan Craig’s play stars Eve Ponsonby and Kris Marshall as a couple tearing themselves apart over cancel culture and other hot-button topics Think male-female two-hander…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:48AM
Friday, December 2, 2022

Mother Goose review – a feather in Hackney Empire’s cap by Ryan Gilbey

Hackney Empire, LondonClive Rowe gives a masterly performance as he shapes the high jinks while wearing fabulous frocks in this infectiously funny panto It’s worth flocking to this triumph…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:42AM
Friday, November 25, 2022

The Wizard of Oz review – carnivalesque trip down the Yellow Brick Road by Ryan Gilbey

Curve, LeicesterCatwalk-ready costumes, expressive puppetry and a knockabout cast make this a fun, if rather cluttered, production Even without the ubiquitous Wicked, there is no shortage of…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:32PM
Monday, October 17, 2022

'I’ve got a feeling I won’t be on stage again’: Derek Jacobi on age, ego, Igglepiggle and unrequited love by Ryan Gilbey

Sixty-five years after his first rave reviews, the star of I, Claudius and Last Tango in Halifax is still drowning in work – and self-doubt. Can a man who won Ian McKellen’s heart really…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:43AM
Friday, September 30, 2022

‘When is it OK to start blowing things up?’ Mark Rylance on families, Hilary Mantel and climate disaster by Ryan Gilbey

The actor discusses his new drama at the London film festival, being starstruck by Meryl Streep – and the best way to take environmental action On the day that Mark Rylance video-calls fro…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:03AM
Friday, September 23, 2022

Cages review – hologram rock musical is a dreary dystopia by Ryan Gilbey

Riverside Studios, LondonAn overreliance on technology and a doomy score can’t replace old-fashioned chemistry in this emotionless offering Anhedonia is a condition that renders the suffer…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:25AM
Monday, September 5, 2022

‘We’re going for belly laughs’: Jacques Tati’s Hulot masterpiece gets an all-singing climate twist by Ryan Gilbey

With little plot and almost no dialogue, Playtime does not seem an obvious fit for theatre. Will the addition of songs by Martha Wainwright and Chilly Gonzales help? Comedy doesn’t get any…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:33AM
Friday, September 2, 2022

Sex dungeon cosplay comedy is just a bit too harmless – Horse-Play review by Ryan Gilbey

Riverside studios, LondonTwo men trying to spice up their marriage get stuck with their dom in a cosy comedy that’s neither naughty nor revealing Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it a pigeo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:55AM
Wednesday, August 3, 2022

‘The first time I did cocaine, I thought: That’s expensive’ – Keith Allen on his wild years by Ryan Gilbey

He blazed through the 90s, an explosive mix of hellraising laddishness and sheer comic talent. As the 68-year-old resurfaces in Rehab, a musical about a drug-addicted pop star, he hits the G…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:37AM
Thursday, July 28, 2022

Sister Act review – Beverley Knight and Jennifer Saunders bring the laughs as rebel nuns by Ryan Gilbey

Eventim Apollo, LondonKnight and Saunders are full-throated and bristling in the hit musical-from-a-film, with a sprawling cast and hip flasks aplenty The plot of the 1992 comedy Sister Act …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:07AM

‘Standup was a weapon to him’: Ian Cognito, the comedian who died on stage – literally by Ryan Gilbey

Three years ago, the caustic comic had a fatal aortic dissection mid-show. Now a new documentary about the self-proclaimed ‘most banned act in Britain’ reveals a saga of booze and outrag…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33AM
Monday, July 25, 2022

David Warner obituary by Ryan Gilbey

Stage and screen actor hailed for his 1965 Hamlet at the RSC who went on to have a distinguished film and TV careerIt would be misleading to suggest that the actor David Warner, who has died…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:07PM
Thursday, July 21, 2022

‘I walked into the comedy desert and a part of me died’ – the standup who became a therapist by Ryan Gilbey

Oscar Jenkyn-Jones was one of the wildest new talents in comedy. But he suddenly disappeared – and reinvented himself as a therapist instead. He explains the joys of swapping the fringe fo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18AM
Sunday, June 19, 2022

The Southbury Child review – a vicar picks an odd hill to die on by Ryan Gilbey

Festival theatre, ChichesterEven-handed to a fault, Stephen Beresford’s new comedy coasts by on sub-Alan Bennett humour and the odd eye-roll at wokeness. But its hero’s stance on balloon…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AM
Thursday, June 9, 2022

Tony! (The Tony Blair Rock Opera) review – Harry Hill puts the party into politics by Ryan Gilbey

Park theatre, LondonCo-written by Hill and Steve Brown, this is a messy jamboree-bag of songs and silliness that pokes enjoyable fun at the messianic ex-PM Harry Hill and Steve Brown’s X F…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:24AM
Friday, May 27, 2022

The Unfriend review – manners can be the death of you in Steven Moffat’s comedy by Ryan Gilbey

Minerva theatre, ChichesterMark Gatiss directs Reece Shearsmith in Moffat’s cringe-tastic play that more than stands up next to the trio’s celebrated TV work Inside number nine on a west…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:33AM
Sunday, May 15, 2022

For You I’d Wait review – Bataclan attack is dangerous territory for a musical by Ryan Gilbey

Turbine theatre, LondonSophie Golby and Tom West stray too far from home in their soft-rock musical about the 2015 Paris terror attacks, let down by repetitive numbers with tourist-board lyr…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AM
Wednesday, April 20, 2022

Bonnie & Clyde review – outlaws robbed by a generic rootin’-tootin’ musical by Ryan Gilbey

Arts theatre, LondonThis tale about the partners in crime is unsure of the point it’s trying to make but the cast hurl themselves in with winning enthusiasm A note for anyone unfamiliar wi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:42AM
Wednesday, April 6, 2022

The Homecoming review – Pinter’s wickedly funny drama with a warped fairytale twist by Ryan Gilbey

Theatre Royal, BathOn a spectacular set creating Nosferatu-like shadows, Keith Allen expertly negotiates patriarch Max’s rapid turns in a bleakly humorous production exploring relationship…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:33AM
Thursday, March 31, 2022

Diary of a Somebody review – stunning drama from Joe Orton’s journal by Ryan Gilbey

Seven Dials Playhouse, LondonThe playwright’s relationship with Kenneth Halliwell is given new clarity in a play that is both hilarious and chilling ‘I’ve high hopes of dying young,”…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:37AM
Sunday, February 27, 2022

Sally Kellerman obituary by Ryan Gilbey

American actor and singer who played Major Margaret Houlihan – ‘Hot Lips’ – in the 1970 film M*A*S*HWomen in M*A*S*H (1970), Robert Altman’s boisterous comedy about a mobile army h…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:23AM
Thursday, February 24, 2022

An Hour and a Half Late review – bickering comedy from Griff Rhys Jones and Janie Dee by Ryan Gilbey

Theatre Royal, BathThere are nice slapstick set-pieces but this two-hander loses any sense of marital crisis and has perfunctory sitcom gags If Terry and June had wrestled with ennui, the re…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:37AM
Wednesday, February 16, 2022

Steve review – an ode to the lives and loves of Broadway fanatics by Ryan Gilbey

Seven Dials Playhouse, LondonThe staging and writing zing nicely as an ensemble cast convincingly struggle to hold on to their youth by sleeping around, sexting and experimenting with throup…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:42AM
Friday, January 21, 2022

Fatal Attraction review – stage thriller is an affair to forget by Ryan Gilbey

Theatre Royal, BrightonThe 1987 revenge movie returns as a play, with Kym Marsh starring as a blandly monstrous ‘bunny boiler’ spurned by her married lover Lock up your rabbits! The 1987…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:33PM
Monday, December 13, 2021

‘I was on the cross for three days!’ – actors on playing the Messiah by Ryan Gilbey

As we head into Christmas, actors who have tackled the son of god – from the trans woman who caused outrage in Glasgow to the weed-smoking Black Jesus – relive the role When the comic ac…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:24AM
Tuesday, November 30, 2021

‘It’s time to bring out The Wiz!’ The wild return of the super soul musical by Ryan Gilbey

This spin on The Wizard of Oz was a Broadway hit in the 70s and became a film with Diana Ross. Now, the tale of Black joy takes Dorothy from a Manchester tower block and BLM protests to the …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:18AM
Thursday, November 11, 2021

Dick Whittington: A New Dick in Town review – innuendo a go-go by Ryan Gilbey

Above the Stag, LondonThe gags come thick and fast in this bawdy adult panto, which is set in a funeral parlour and channels Joe Orton Who loves Dick? It’s hard not to in the bawdy adult p…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:18PM
Wednesday, November 10, 2021

The Choir of Man review – testosterone on tap by Ryan Gilbey

Arts theatre, LondonThis lads-together jukebox show is well sung and should go down well with office outings, but the synthetic bonhomie has a strangely cultish feel Welcome to The Jungle, t…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AM
Sunday, October 31, 2021

Prime_Time review – memorably unsettling Amazon takedown by Ryan Gilbey

Barbican, LondonThis anarchic discourse on the power of the e-commerce giant takes place behind a plastic curtain, as fresh produce gets annihilated “Your package will arrive in 60 minutes…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:42AM

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