88 stories by "The Tyro Theatre Critic"
"Madama Butterfly" at the Met you would expect to be a safe, repertory performance. In the hands of Placido Domingo however, it was a decidedly mixed bag. Moments of strength mixed with mome…
Wandering into "Lysistrata Jones" I must confess I was hoping for the next "Legally Blonde". A college comedy shot through with dirty humour, slick dance routines and hum along tunes. Unfort…
"Satyagraha", as delivered through the minds of Improbable, is a fascinating, beautiful, even mesmerising evening's theatre. The trade off is that it's so opaque that it becomes so much easi…
Last year the buzz around "Spider-man - Turn Off The Dark" was so great I took a detour to New York to catch an early preview. I came away bitterly disappointed, a turgid evening that failed…
Franco Zeffirelli's production of "La Bohème" is probably the closest thing to Disney Opera you're going to find. Chocolate box sets that scarcely look like reality. There's no stopping Puc…
When the "Blue Man Group" had a show in London a few years back, I developed a mild addiction to their drumming insanity. That show died a death but they're still going strong in N…
After the happy go lucky concerts of my previous two nights, "The Infernal Comedy" made for a big change. A combination of John Malkovich and Baroque Opera retelling the life of Jack Unterwe…
So I received a text at the interval of Juilliard's "Kommilitonen" that read, "urgent! spare ticket to Katy Perry now!!!". Being the total sucker I am: I dashed to Madison Square Garden to w…
I've never been the biggest fan of solo theatre, there's something invariably self-indulgent about it, but Hugh Jackman is a man born to dominate the stage. A classy singer and dancer but mo…
The Met isn't exactly a typical Baroque house so they deliver Handel's "Rodelinda" in the sort of manner you might predict. Big and bumptious but delivered with loving commitment. Stephen Wa…
It's in the title really: "Christmas Spectacular". The Rockettes do spectacle very, very well. A mindblowingly impressive ninety minutes of high kicking backed by huge sets, sparkling costum…
"Dark Sisters" is Nico Muhly's second opera inside of a year. The first, "Two Boys" premiered at the English National Opera and showed much promise, delivering something relevant and accessi…
"Nevermore in Concert" is the launching pad for "Musically Human", a new Off-Off-Broadway musical theatre company. A one night event at the tiny Duplex Cabaret Theatre in Greenwich Village. …
Few shows have managed to make me feel quite so young. The current revival of "Follies" made me feel positively embryonic. A musical about a showgirl reunion and the ghosts of the past …
I became a fan of Tim Minchin not long after I started blogging and have followed him ever since. His star has fast risen and then went right through the roof when he composed and wrote the …
"Crumble", written by Mark O'Neill, is site-specific theatre at its most intimate: 15 odd people greeted on arrival at 95 Wall Street (the location changes) by a gregarious Northern English …
The Fall For Dance festival is one of those events that just has to be celebrated. Five different programs spread over two weeks with 3 or 4 dance pieces in each, all by different companies.…
I made a last minute decision to go see "Milk Like Sugar" and entered the theatre without the slightest clue what I was in for. The enigmatic title reveals itself to be an affecting metaphor…
With all the technology in the world, Robert Lepage's "Ring Cycle" couldn't be more traditional if he tried. For all the wizzy visual tricks, the only difference between these backdrops and …
I'll keep this brief as I reviewed the opening night of the Metropolitan Opera's new "Anna Bolena" a couple of weeks ago. I was drawn back principally by the presence of Angela Meade in the …
The first ten minutes of Roundabout's "Sons of a Prophet" did not fill my heart with glee. A flurry of major 'isms thrown about so fast it was hard to know what on earth Stephen Karam was ai…
I don't think Michael Grandage has quite grasped the size of the Metropolitan Opera. His new "Don Giovanni" is so minutely detailed that it comes across looking under directed. A fabulous ca…
As kooky, symbolic sets go this is a pretty one. Sliding doors and autumnal colours bringing the stage to life. It's a pity then, that the stagecraft that comes with it, is so numbingly stra…
I clearly can't get enough of the New York City Ballet. Heading along to yet another diverse mixed bill of ballets. There doesn't seem to be much rhyme or reason to the way these bills are p…
There are some shows that just beg to be seen. The Berliner Ensemble performing "The Threepenny Opera" under the direction of Robert Wilson is one of those shows. Not an easy night out by an…
