All stories by Libby Purves on BroadwayStars

Saturday, October 22, 2022

MARVELLOUS @sohoplace by Libby Purves and Friends

DODD-LEVEL HAPPINESS IN SOHO       Hard, on its first night ever, not to review the theatre itself.  Nica Burns and Nimax open the first new West End theatre in fifty years: agleam with …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 02:17AM
Tuesday, October 18, 2022

SOMETHING IN THE AIR Jermyn St Theatre SW1 by Libby Purves and Friends

OLD MEN DO NOT FORGET        Peter Gill’s  new play has a melancholy beauty about  it;  it’s a sort of poem as the veteran playwright and director engages with  age, regret and m…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 04:21PM
Thursday, October 13, 2022

GOOD Harold Pinter Theatre SW1 by Libby Purves and Friends

THE PROFESSORIAL ROAD TO HELL     David Tennant is a fastidious actor.  That sounds negative, prim perhaps, but in fact expresses why his performance in C.P.Taylor’s extraordinary play …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:04PM
Wednesday, October 12, 2022

BLUES FOR AN ALABAMA SKY Lyttelton, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

A HARLEM TRAVIATA Three in the morning and Angel the showgirl is raring , glitterimg drunk “if you caint be drunk in Harlem..” she slurs furiously.  Her friend Guy brought her home, an…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 03:31AM
Monday, October 10, 2022

THE DOCTOR. Duke of York’s WC1 by Libby Purves and Friends

RETURN OF A WILD AND QUESTIONING PLAY      This is the return of Robert Icke’s modern version of Schnitzler’s 1912 play – details below, as laid out in part of my original Almeida r…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:07AM
Friday, October 7, 2022

THE CRUCIBLE Olivier, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

A WARNING FOR ALL TIMES     This is the big one.  It’s the National Theatre at its strongest:   unapologetic, classic,  unsparing, gripping, impassioned.    Here’s  the heavy art…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:17AM
Thursday, October 6, 2022

RAVENSCOURT Hampstead Theatre by Libby Purves and Friends

THERAPISTS AS HUMANS  Georgina Burns  is a trained and experienced NHS therapist,  now with Hampstead support a playwright.  So, unlike most other writers tempted by the theatricality of…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 01:34PM
Wednesday, October 5, 2022

JEWS IN THEIR OWN WORDS. Royal Court SW1 by Libby Purves and Friends

A MODEST AND REMORSEFUL SELF-REBUKE        There’s  a curious outbreak of reparations going on. The Old Vic, which binned Into the Woods in outrage at Terry Gilliam’s reportedly inc…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:48PM
Tuesday, October 4, 2022

THE RAVEN. Touring East by Libby Purves and Friends

A GOTHIC SORROW IN OLD BOSTON When you say you’re off to a Suffolk village hall to see a tiny company –  best known for its mini-pantos – doing a dramatised tribute to Edgar Allan Po…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 09:23AM
Friday, September 30, 2022

JOHN GABRIEL BORKMAN. Bridge Theatre, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

AMBITION , DISGRACE, RUIN, WOMEN Heavy footfalls pace overhead, enervating, raising anxiety. Anna Fleischle’s  galleried grey set is half Scandi-minimo-chic, half penitentiary. Downstairs…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 02:44AM
Thursday, September 29, 2022

NOISES OFF. Theatre Royal Bath, and touring by Libby Purves and Friends

GLORIOUS AS EVER         Millions know it by now, but in case like my enthralled companions last night you aren’t among them,   grant me a moment or skip the the penultimate paragraph…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:08AM
Wednesday, September 28, 2022

WOMAN IN MIND.        Chichester Festival Theatre by Libby Purves and Friends

WISHFUL DELUSIONS IN A MIDDLE AGED DOLDRUM Susan finds herself in mid-life with a dull clerical husband (Nigel Lindsay  really enjoying it) , obsessed with his dreary parish history pamphle…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:23PM
Monday, September 26, 2022

REVIEW: Eureka Day, Old Vic Theatre London ✭✭✭✭✭ by Libby Purves

By Libby Purves Our very own theatreCat Libby Purves reviews Helen Hunt in Jonathan Spector's comedy Eureka day at London's old Vic Theatre. This post REVIEW: Eureka Day, Old Vic Theatre Lon…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 11:49AM
Friday, September 23, 2022

EUREKA DAY. Old Vic, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

LORD, WHAT FOOLS WE LIBERALS BE…      In a beanbagged, bright-coloured primary school in Berkeley, California,  its executive committee of five seek consensus over reclassifying the dr…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:37PM

DISTINGUISHED VILLA.      Finborough Theatre SW10 by Libby Purves and Friends

REFINED AND FEATHER-DUSTED: CRUELTY IN THE SUBURBS We are in a suburban drawing-room in 1926,  which some characters will still call  the “parlour”.  Near the front, close enough to t…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:03AM
Thursday, September 15, 2022

ROSE Park Theatre, N4 by Libby Purves and Friends

A CENTURY SURVIVED    It is no bad week to be contemplating the Jewish custom of sitting shiva:  spending seven days on a hard wooden bench when “you laugh, you cry, you argue” in tri…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:22PM
Wednesday, September 14, 2022

THE SNAIL HOUSE. Hampstead Theatre, NW1 by Libby Purves and Friends

EVEN A SNAIL WILL REACH ITS HOME          That’s a Nigerian saying, apparently.   But shiny though the shell is,   Richard Eyre’s play becomes a frustrating stew of ideas, attitud…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:39PM
Tuesday, September 13, 2022

LOVE ALL. Jermyn St Theatre by Libby Purves and Friends

SAYERS, SAYING IT FOR WORKING WOMEN   Here’s a treat:  first half in Venice (with a glorious Canaletto backdrop) and the second, after some elegant Jermyn set-changing, in a London playw…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:50PM
Saturday, September 3, 2022

PENELOPE: SEVEN WAYS TO WAIT Arcola, E8 by Libby Purves and Friends

GUEST REVIEWER CHARLOTTE VALORI FINDS SOME INTERESTING THREADS SLIGHTLY UNRAVELLED AT GRIMEBORN Fringe opera festivals sometimes give us a chance to see new work in progress – i.e. unfinis…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:15AM
Wednesday, August 24, 2022

INTO THE WOODS Theatre Royal, Bath by Libby Purves and Friends

A SPIKY AND SPECTACULAR DELIGHT              Humanity in every century has needed to plunge into the dark forests, questing or fleeing,  finding wonders or wolves:    it’s in Dan…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:04PM
Thursday, August 18, 2022

GIRL FROM THE NORTH COUNTRY – TOUR (Marlowe,Canterbury & onwards) by Libby Purves and Friends

IT’S BACK:  A NEW DIRECTION HOME    This humbly immense, uniquely created show threw me for a loop five summers ago. It’s back on tour,  via Oliviers and Broadway awards,   with its…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:47AM

THE MAGIC FLUTE. Grimeborn, Arcola Theatre E8 by Libby Purves and Friends

GUEST REVIEWER CHARLOTTE VALORI GETS SWEPT UP IN THE MAGIC, THE MUSIC AND THE META Opera Alegria’s vivacious foray into Mozart’s Magic Flute for Grimeborn takes its inspiration from the …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:00AM
Thursday, August 11, 2022

TWO UKRAINIAN PLAYS.   Finborough Theatre SW10 by Libby Purves and Friends

VOICES FROM THE GRAVE AND THE CELLAR, UNIGNORABLE        Timely, enterprising, emotionally shattering, politically shaming.   These two plays were both  both first born at the time of …

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:20PM
Tuesday, August 9, 2022

CULT FIGURE. Jermyn St Theatre by Libby Purves and Friends

CARRY ON. OR, TO PUT IT ANOTHER WAY, KEEP MESSIN’ ABOUT…     My first concern was, will they dare give us the sadness? Kenneth Williams was a comic marvel self-created, a versatile act…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:40PM
Wednesday, August 3, 2022

DAZZLING DIVAS. Jermyn St Theatre by Libby Purves and Friends

GLITTER AND HARD GRAFT        A basement hung with glitter strings, a small moody band with earthy bass,  a bar: few better places to revel in torch songs, deep-dug anthems and memory o…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:52PM

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING Lyttelton, SE1 by Libby Purves and Friends

MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING.       Lyttelton, SE1 SHAKESPEARE IN THE SWING AGE      A star danced, and under it was Simon Godwin’s joyful, 1930s Riviera production born.  Quite apart fro…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 12:47PM

IDENTICAL Nottingham Playhouse by Libby Purves and Friends

 STARRY SISTERHOOD IN OLD VIENNA      Identical twin girls, separated at birth in their parents divorce, meet at summer camp and resolve to swop places.   Remember  “The Parent Trap�…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 05:13AM
Saturday, July 30, 2022

MACBETH Theatre in the forest, Sutton Hoo by Libby Purves and Friends

THE SCOTTISH PLAY ON ANCIENT TURF     “This castle hath a pleasant seat..”   Indeed it does:  Red Rose Chain’s traditional outdoor show now lives alongside the mysterious mounds wh…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 07:40AM
Wednesday, July 27, 2022

101 DALMATIANS       Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park NW1 by Libby Purves and Friends

101 DALMATIANS       Open Air Theatre, Regent’s Park NW1 BARKING IN THE PARK        Wooof!    The OAT’s new show,  bounding and cavorting along  under the direction of that am…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 09:18AM
Tuesday, July 26, 2022

CRAZY FOR YOU Chichester Festival Theatre by Libby Purves and Friends

CHARLIE IS , ONCE AGAIN, OUR DANCING DARLING…        Foiled by heatwave and trains,  I made it six days later to the summer’s highlight, the glorious absurdity of this wickedly succ…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:35AM
Saturday, July 23, 2022

CHAMBER OPERAS ON TOUR caught at Thorington, Suffolk by Libby Purves and Friends

     Twice lately, under tall oaks and pines on what is becoming known as Suffolk’s mini-Minack,  I have encountered touring opera companies doing wonderfully, relaxedly, professionall…

SOURCE: theatrecat.com at 06:21AM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace 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
TBA: Titanic
TBA: Ragtime