All stories by Stephen Collins on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, August 11, 2015

REVIEW: The Adventures Of Pinocchio, Greenwich Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins Christian James is a wonderful Pinocchio. He completely captures the sense of the character's otherness and separation (being living wood) as well as a newcomer's desire t…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 06:17AM
Friday, August 7, 2015

REVIEW: Grand Hotel, Southwark Playhouse ✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins Proud’s choreography is redolent with an acute understanding of all this and everything he does aims to help involvement in and understanding of the work’s intent. The…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 07:41PM

REVIEW: The Heresy Of Love, Shakespeare’s Globe ✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins The Globe is not really a space for claustrophobic intense drama and this production really brings that home. This production would look and feel very different in the Sam…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 09:06AM
Thursday, August 6, 2015

REVIEW: Seven Brides For Seven Brothers, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre ✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins The utterly reliable Laura Pitt-Pulford brings strength, warmth and thoughtfulness to Milly - frankly, she outdoes Jane Powell by some distance. Her Milly is completely be…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 11:48AM
Tuesday, August 4, 2015

REVIEW: Annie, Mayflower Theatre (UK Tour) ✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins Vocally, Madeleine Haynes was more than a match for the requirements of Strouse's score. She handled the plaintive "Maybe" like a seasoned trooper, and belted out "Tomorro…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 05:13PM
Sunday, August 2, 2015

REVIEW: Bakkhai, Almeida Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins This is Whishaw's show - no question. He is a force of nature, fiercely unearthing every moment of nuance, humour and purpose from the text and giving a totally committed,…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 04:54PM
Friday, July 31, 2015

Critic’s Choice: Top 10 Long Running Shows 31 July 2015 by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins What long running show should you see first in London? We have compiled this list to save you the trouble of working it out! It’s just our view – and everyone …

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 11:40AM

REVIEW: Of Thee I Sing, Royal Festival Hall ✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins The comic performance of the night, and the source of most consistent pleasure, came from the very talented Tom Edden who made an acting masterclass out of the portrayal o…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 10:50AM

Critic’s Choice: London’s 10 Best New Plays 31 July 2015 by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins What play should you see first in London? We have compiled this list to save you the trouble of working it out! It’s just our view – and everyone has one ̵…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 07:41AM

Critic’s Choice: London’s 10 Best New Musicals 31 July 2015 by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins What Musical should you see first in London? We have compiled this list to save you the trouble of working it out! It’s just our view – and everyone has one &#…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 06:19AM
Monday, July 27, 2015

REVIEW: Oklahoma! Lyceum Theatre Sheffield ✭✭✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins Rachel Kavanaugh presents us with a wily, almost feral Aunt Eller, a metrosexual Curly, a tomboy Laurey, an arch but staunchly feminine Ado Annie, a profoundly stupid but …

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 10:07AM

REVIEW: Oh! Carol, Crazy Coqs ✭✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins Happily, Oh! Carol provides a thoroughly entertaining and exuberant cross-section of Sedaka's work. There are the hits but also lesser remembered works, and truly no numbe…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 09:27AM
Sunday, July 26, 2015

REVIEW: The Spitfire Review, Union Theatre ✭✭✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins The Spitfire Grill is a musical treat. James Valco's score is richly rewarding and creates a genuinely engaging musical atmosphere which helps shape and drive the narrativ…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 11:50PM
Friday, July 24, 2015

REVIEW: Songs For A New World, St James Theatre ✭✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins In Jenna Russell, Damian Humbley and Cynthia Erivo, Lenson has assembled three of the best, most exciting performers of musical theatre in London. Each performer turns in …

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 05:30PM
Thursday, July 23, 2015

REVIEW: Richard II, Shakespeare’s Globe ✭✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins The result here is that this is more the Comedy of Richard II than the Tragedy of Richard II. There is an unseemly pursuit of laughter – characterisations are extreme, l…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 12:19PM
Tuesday, July 21, 2015

REVIEW: Mack And Mable, Chichester Festival Theatre ✭✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins Ball is an exceptional, utterly convincing Mack. He completely gets under the skin of the character, finding precisely the right level to pitch every moment of anger, driv…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 06:42PM
Sunday, July 19, 2015

Review: The Invisible, Bush Theatre ✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins The Invisible is a soap opera featuring some beautifully written female characters. It might skirt around the issue of legal aid cuts and the invisibility of some members …

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 07:41AM
Friday, July 17, 2015

REVIEW: What’s It All About?, Menier Chocolate Factory ✭✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins There are shreds and patches of key songs, which, like Wagnerian leitmotifs, bind the whole experience, make it less a concert and more a pop/rock/r&b opera. "What's i…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 09:18AM
Thursday, July 16, 2015

REVIEW: Othello, Royal Shakespeare Theatre ✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins This is a curious production of Othello. You get the bones of the story, clearly, but the flesh, the marrow, the heart - all of which depends upon the rich characters of t…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 12:52PM

REVIEW: Volpone, Swan Theatre ✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins Henry Goodman is assured and magnetic as the titular Volpone. He gives a larger than life performance which suits - entirely - Johnson's larger than life character. In the…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 11:36AM
Monday, July 6, 2015

REVIEW: As Is, Trafalgar Studios ✭✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins Viewed one way, Hoffman's play is not a play about AIDS and its repercussions; it is a play about ignorance, discrimination and fear. Viewed that way, it is still a play o…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 05:33AM

REVIEW: I Love You You’re Perfect Now Change, Above The Arts ✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins Watching Julie Atherton, Simon Lipkin, Gina Best and Samuel Holmes work their magic, individually, in couples, and as a quartet, it was difficult not to wonder if there wa…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 05:11AM
Thursday, July 2, 2015

REVIEW: The Importance Of Being Earnest, Vaudeville Theatre ✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins Director AdrianNoble strikes gold in the quartet of lovers: Gwendolyn, Jack, Cicely and Algernon. Without any question, Emily Barber and Imogen Doel are utterly exquisite,…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 07:02PM

REVIEW: Measure For Measure, Shakespeares Globe ✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins This is a feel-good production of a difficult play. The very best thing about it is Dominic Rowan’s exceptionally charismatic Duke. In the second half, particularly, the…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 01:32PM
Wednesday, July 1, 2015

CRITIC’S CHOICE: Top 10 New West End Plays 30 June 2015 by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins What play should you see first in London? We have compiled this list to save you the trouble of working it out! It’s just our view – and everyone has one ̵…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 09:36AM

REVIEW: Rent Boy The Musical, Above The Stag ✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins The star of the show, in truth, is Carole Todd's spirited, cheeky, and knowing choreography, which brings out the very best in the cast and masterfully establishes high re…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 08:29AM

CRITIC’S CHOICE: Top 10 New West End Musicals 30 June 2015 by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins What Musical should you see first in London? We have compiled this list to save you the trouble of working it out! It’s just our view – and everyone has one &#…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 05:38AM
Tuesday, June 30, 2015

REVIEW: An Oak Tree, National Theatre ✭✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins Crouch delights in theatre which unsettles and pushes boundaries and An Oak Tree is no exception. In parts, it is brilliant and it is never less than compelling – at lea…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 08:38AM
Monday, June 29, 2015

REVIEW: The Motherf**ker With The Hat, Lyttleton Theatre ✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins It's not that this is a bad play; it's more that it is not really a play at all. It's a series of separate scenes, mostly two-handers, which chiefly concern the central ch…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 06:27AM
Friday, June 26, 2015

REVIEW: The Seagull, Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre ✭✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins Betts' adaptation (re-imagining is perhaps more accurate) certainly tries to evoke the same effect Chekhov must have had on his original audiences. There is a robust moder…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 05:21AM

REVIEW: Bend It Like Beckham, Phoenix Theatre ✭✭✭✭ by Stephen Collins

By Stephen Collins Act Two is practically perfect. It starts with a fabulous number for the girls, Glorious, and it never looks back. It's full of great music from Goodall and the range of s…

SOURCE: britishtheatre.com at 04:55AM