All stories by Ds on BroadwayStars

Thursday, June 15, 2017

TRISTAN & YSEULT Shakespeare’s Globe, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

WHAT BECOMES OF THE BROKEN-HEARTED?     This is a famously significant piece of theatre: created in 2003 in a Cornish field , it was one of the first successes of Emma Rice’s Kne…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 04:17AM
Tuesday, June 13, 2017

KISS ME Trafalgar studio 2 SW1 by Libby Purves and Friends

  ANOTHER KIND OF ETERNAL TRIANGLE     I have a taste for plays about the years between the wars. The WW1 anniversary saw some fascinating contemporaneous ones, often at the J…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:20AM
Tuesday, June 6, 2017

COMMON National Theatre, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

GUEST REVIEWER CHARLOTTE VALORI FINDS HERSELF REACHING FOR HER PITCHFORK “You are blight and darkness and sin…” Lost village girl Mary comes home to her beloved Laura after a lifetime …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:49PM
Monday, June 5, 2017

ANNIE Piccadilly theatre, W1 by Libby Purves and Friends

BET YOUR BOTTOM DOLLAR ON IT…   If Nikolai Foster’s production of Annie came in a tin, it would prove to be exactly what the label promised. Feelgood, joyful, corny, gorgeous. Ruby …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:13PM

GIFFORD’S CIRCUS Touring by Libby Purves and Friends

MOLTO SPLENDIDO   From caravans in little greens and fields, Velasquez figures emerge into the hastily erected big Top in silks and plackets, ruffs and feathers and frilled pantaloons a…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:25AM

Andy Blankenbuehler and Johanna Day on their 2017 Tony Nominations by Patrick Hinds and Mike Jensen

It's a 2017 Tony Extravaganza! In this two-part episode, we have two of this year's most loved nominees! Up first, two-time Tony winner Andy Blankenbuehler ("In the Heights" "Hamilton) talk…

SOURCE: Buzzsprout at 12:00AM
Saturday, June 3, 2017

THE ISLAND Southwark Playhouse , SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

PITY, TERROR, TRIUMPH     For the first fifteen of the hundred minutes no word is spoken by the two men in ragged prison cottons: Edward Dede as the younger Winston, Mark Springer …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:16AM
Thursday, June 1, 2017

TWITSTORM Park Theatre, N4 by Libby Purves and Friends

THE PERILS OF PC, THE TERROR OF TWITTER   This little  theatre is on a roll, catching topicalities as they fly. After David Henry Hwang’s wonderful CHINGLISH. about trade with China,…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:03PM

"Come From Away" Writers Irene Sankoff and David Hein by Patrick Hinds and Mike Jensen

YOU GUYS! The "Come From Away" obsession continues! For today’s episode, I had the great honor of sitting down for a chat with the Irene Sankoff and David Hein who conceived the show and w…

SOURCE: Buzzsprout at 12:00AM
Thursday, May 25, 2017

TWELFTH NIGHT Shakespeare’s Globe SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

GUEST REVIEWER MICHAEL ADAIR ROCKS ALONG WITH RICE AT THE GLOBE…   “In Love We Trust” – is the motto of the SS Unity, the ship that swiftly sinks moments into Emma Rice�…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 03:31AM
Tuesday, May 23, 2017

WOYZECK Old Vic, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

  GUEST REVIEWER CHARLOTTE VALORI FINDS LOVE, PITY AND HORROR IN EQUAL MEASURE AT THE OLD VIC Jack Thorne’s explosive new Woyzeck brings Büchner’s unfinished working class tragedy …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 08:33PM
Monday, May 22, 2017

THE ADDAMS FAMILY Touring by Libby Purves and Friends

LOOK INTO THE DARK AND SMILE ALL TOUR LONG     This cheerfully macabre celebration of Charles Addams’ famous 1930’s cartoon is off on tour: link below. I saw one of the last shows in i…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 01:47PM

Betty Buckley: Tony Winner and Broadway Legend by Patrick Hinds and Mike Jensen

I still can't breathe, you guys! Words cannot explain the pure exhilaration of sitting across the table from the one and only Betty Buckley and the concentration it took trying to sound smar…

SOURCE: Buzzsprout at 12:00AM
Friday, May 19, 2017

RICHARD III Arcola, London E8 by Libby Purves and Friends

TWISTEDLY IRRESISTIBLE    I would not like you to think that I stalk Greg Hicks (though obviously I do: aaah, that odd strong Caesar, that agonized Leontes, that bonkers newspaper edit…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:10AM
Wednesday, May 17, 2017

LETTICE AND LOVAGE Menier, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

ENLARGE, ENLIGHTEN , ENLIVEN…ENTERTAIN!     Expatiating on the Grand Staircase of a dreary Tudor stately home (built with ironic love by designer Robert Jones) our tour guide Let…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:00PM
Tuesday, May 16, 2017

LIFE OF GALILEO Young Vic SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

LET THERE BE LIGHT!   The year 1632 : we are halfway through the epic conflict between Galileo Galilei and the Holy Roman Church, an authority in its day quite as ruthless as Stalin and…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:47PM

OUR LADIES OF PERPETUAL SUCCOUR Duke of York’s, WC2 by Libby Purves and Friends

IN WHICH MICHAEL ADAIR LOSES HIS THEATRE-CRITIC VIRGINITY TO A PACK OF SCOTTISH MINXES     A few years ago, when High School Musical and Glee were in their pomp, we were forever se…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 04:11AM
Monday, May 15, 2017

Come From Away's Caesar Samayoa by Patrick Hinds and Mike Jensen

Full Disclosure, you guys, I’m OBSESSED with "Come From Away" And I’m equally obsessed with today’s guest, Caesar Samayoa. Caesar plays multiple roles in the show including Kevin, who …

SOURCE: Buzzsprout at 12:00AM
Friday, May 12, 2017

CAROLINE, OR CHANGE Minerva, Chichester by Libby Purves and Friends

BLEACH, BLUES, AND BLACK AMERICA RISING   Here’s a pocket musical with huge themes, a blues opera of historic seriousness but with a singing washing-machine in a bubbled minidress. A …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:39PM
Wednesday, May 10, 2017

THE CARDINAL Southwark Playhouse, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

FRESH AS A (VIOLENT) DAISY AFTER 376 YEARS     What wonders, sir, are these? How beauteous fringe theatre is! We Tuesday matinee-goers, paying peanuts for the smaller space in an �…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:05AM
Tuesday, May 9, 2017

ALL OUR CHILDREN Jermyn St Theatre by Libby Purves and Friends

A CRIME, A CARDINAL, A CONFLICT   It is Twelfth Night, the feast of the Epiphany, 1941. In the Jermyn’s tight intimacy we are sitting in the clinical director’s office of a home…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:18PM
Monday, May 8, 2017

OCCUPATIONAL HAZARDS Hampstead, NW1 by Libby Purves and Friends

AFTER SADDAM: WHAT’S LEFT WHEN YOU TAKE AWAY A TYRANT?   An electrifying moment in this sharp, riveting play sees two bitter rivals, in a moment of stillness between blood-feud …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:20PM

Gabriel Ebert talks winning a Tony for "Matilda" and the new play "Gently Down the Stream" by Patrick Hinds and Mike Jensen

This was, without a doubt, one of the most fun and interesting interviews I've ever done, you guys. Gabriel Ebert talks being cast as Mr. Wormwood in "Matilda" at the age of 24--winning a To…

SOURCE: Buzzsprout at 12:00AM
Thursday, May 4, 2017

ANGELS IN AMERICA : MILLENNIUM APPROACHES Lyttelton, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

REAGAN, RELIGION, AND REMEMBERING…   Direct comparisons are dangerous, even when – as this week – two consecutive days see major works opening in London, both set in the 1…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:10PM
Wednesday, May 3, 2017

THE FERRYMAN Royal Court, SW1 by Libby Purves and Friends

IRELAND OF THE SORROWS: THE KIDS, THE  CRAIC AND THE KILLING   It is 1982 in  County Armagh. Not a good time to be Irish, not there. Not with internees still in the H blocks and ten r…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:48PM

CYRANO Theatre Royal, Bury St Edmunds by Libby Purves and Friends

NOBILITY AND THE NOSE  on tour     You’ve hardly sat down before there’s a jolly mass drinking-song in pantaloons, leather breastplates and hat-feathers being romped through in fr…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 10:32AM

THE RESISTIBLE RISE OF ARTURO UI Donmar Warehouse WC2 by Libby Purves and Friends

GUEST REVIEWER CHARLOTTE VALORI FINDS THE DONMAR’S NEW VERSION OF BRECHT CRIMINALLY IRRESISTIBLE How do you get, keep and wield power? What do you use it for, and why? And, if you will sto…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:56AM
Monday, May 1, 2017

Eva Noblezada: Miss Saigon's Leading Lady by Patrick Hinds and Mike Jensen

You Guys, I said it the day it happened and I'll say it again: The chat I had with Miss Saigon's Eva Noblezada is one of the most memorable I've ever had. I can't put my finger on exactly wh…

SOURCE: Buzzsprout at 12:00AM
Saturday, April 29, 2017

THE TREATMENT Almeida N1 by Libby Purves and Friends

BILIOUS BUT BRACING: THE METROPOLIS AND THE MOVIES Simon may be from the wrong side of New York, a roughneck who ties his wife Anne to a chair and tapes her mouth for being “critical&…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:53AM
Thursday, April 27, 2017

ROMEO & JULIET Globe, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

GUEST REVIEWER CHARLOTTE VALORI SEES ANCIENT GRUDGE BREAK TO NEW MUTINY AT THE GLOBE The recent spats at the Globe, between the now outgoing Artistic Director Emma Rice and The Powers That B…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 08:40PM

FORTY YEARS ON Chichester Festival Theatre by Libby Purves and Friends

1918..1968..AND NOW.. ALAN BENNETT’S ENGLAND   In his 1994 diaries Alan Bennett described the funeral of a Dunkirk veteran in a village church. “crammed with the men who won the war…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 02:43AM

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