581 stories by "Gary Naylor"
★ TASTING NOTES New musical set in a wine bar should have stayed in the cellarÂ
Not much goes right for a show whose characters are similarly ill-fated
LJ's dream has come tr…
★★★★ SISTER ACT THE MUSICAL Event theatre and a sensational lead performance make the trip worthwhile
Crowdpleasing musical retains its glitz and charm (and cheese…
★★★ THE DARKEST PART OF THE NIGHT, KILN Issues-led drama has its heart in the right place
The didactic vies with the dramatic in Zodwa Nyoni's incident-packed new play
Mu…
★★★★CLOSER, LYRIC HAMMERSMITH Still sordid and sexy 25 years on
Lovers come together, split apart and come together again
Drama is writing in thin air, its content i…
Fine acting and bleak humour barely ameliorates a grim slog through a broken relationship
Rebecca Lenkiewicz's adaptation of August Strindberg's 1900 paean to the power of loathing over lovi…
Claudia Rankine's 2018 play insists on raising difficult questionsÂ
Art and race intersect to provocative effect
We're in New York City, in an upscale loft apartment, with that absence of…
A classic play can still collapse time and space with its heartrending relevance
The stage is cluttered with objects; a pianola sits stage left; a large cabinet, soon to be revealed as a di…
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Marina Carr's angry, poetic take on Clytemnestra's story is delivered in all its gory glory
Playwrights return to classical myths for two main reasons " to shine a light on how we live …
★★★★ GREASE, Dominion Theatre Nostalgia for the late 1950s and late 1970s underpins an entertaining show
Crowdpleaser pleases crowd: this High School musical deliv…
★ JULIUS CAESAR, SHAKESPEARE'S GLOBE Misjudged masterpiece Â
Intrusive 21st century agenda and dismal staging waste an opportunity
With tyrants licking their lips around the worl…
Iconic couple shoot for West End success
One of the more irritating memes (it's a competitive field, I know) is the "Name a more iconic couple" appearing over a photo of Posh and Becks, or H…
Swordplay and songs never quite hit their stride
Zorro (what a name!) is back, swashing and buckling his way into the West End, 13 years after he left and now not the only one wearing a mask…
Political lesson on the dangers of populism fails to hit home
Loud madcap comedy morphs into mime and flops when it should fly
When Rhum + Clay conceived this show, the idea of a comic becom…
Abigail Graham's pacy production focuses on the moneylender's fate
A supposed 'comedy' gives the moneylender Shylock pride of place
The Merchant of Venice is a comedy, you say? Shakespeare,…
Dennis Kelly's 2005 play presses many 2022 buttons
Lockdown, #MeToo and Ukraine give new urgency to a dystopian fable
Mark was teased about the fallout shelter at the bottom of his garden …
Another musical based on a movie hits London, with a moral guaranteed to please audiences
Wave your pom poms for a show with its heart in the right place
We open on "Seventeen is Swell", the…
Few concessions to 21st century sensibilities, but a great night out
Iconic film on stage heats up the West End
Wind the clock back 45 years and the Big Apple was bankrupt, the lights had go…
Plodding book detailing a poet's sentimental education falls flat on stage
Somewhere in the world right now, one can hear Mister Mister's AOR hit, "Broken Wings" on an MOR radio station, cap…
★★★ THRILL ME:THE LEOPOLD & LOEB STORY Child killers seduce us with charisma and song
Child killers seduce us with charisma and song
There's a lot of True Crime stuff a…
Sir David Suchet reflects on his extraordinary careerÂ
Sir David Suchet takes us from school days to sleuth days
In the 80s, An Audience With... gave a television studio to an actor who …
★★★★ THE TIGER LILLIES' CHRISTMAS CAROL: A VICTORIAN GUTTER, SOUTHBANK CENTRE Melancholy musical retelling laced with wit and political venom Â
The Tiger…
★★★ THE GOOD LIFE Nostalgic comedy with a surprising resonance 45 years onÂ
Tom, Barbara, Jerry and Margo are back in the '70s, but with a message for today
"Off-grid…
★★★ A Christmas Carol - Immersive Dickens production not quite a Christmas cracker
Stephen Mangan's Scrooge learns his lesson in imbalanced Dickens adaptation
Four year…
★★★★ VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE Comedy mines Chekhov for laughs and finds some rich seamsÂ
Super London debut for Russian-inspired Broadway comedy
Van…
★★★★★ FOOTFALLS AND ROCKABY, Beckett's ferocious contemplations on the ebbing of life
Double bill finds the Irish master at his most raw
Like all great art, …
