192 stories from The Tyro Theatre Critic
What I thought would be the one semi-serious theatrical outing of my little London jaunt (excluding "Klinghoffer", but that's in a class of its own), the National Theatre's product…
Much like "Legally Blonde", "Matilda" is a musical I know and love and this will be more of a reiteration than a review. If you haven't seen it already, what on earth have you been doing?A f…
This is my third outing to "Legally Blonde", the first was in New York, the second soon after the show opened in London. I've loved it from the very start and I'll be sad to see it leave Lon…
As brave, ambitious theatre goes John Adam's "The Death of Klinghoffer" is really up there. Huge praise to the English National Opera just for putting it on and even more so for doing it pre…
I almost didn't bother heading back to the second cast of the Metropolitan Opera's new Michael Grandage production of "Don Giovanni". It was a dirge at its opening, a single unit set providi…
It's been an uneven season far but the Metropolitan Opera have really pulled it out of the bag with "Khovanshchina". A largely Russian cast under the baton of Kiril Petrenko make for an even…
Plonking an intimate three hander like "The Road to Mecca" in a large venue like the American Airlines Theatre looked like a bad idea. My word they've pulled a blinder. "Mecca" is a play tha…
There's a lot of denial in Edward Albee's "The Lady From Dubuque" including whether this existential rabbit hole goes anywhere. Reviving Broadway flops seems very in vogue of late (we've had…
"Look Back in Anger" is about as seminal as British drama gets but somehow I've never actually seen the play live before. Back in the 50s (so well before my time) it brought about a wave of …
For visual spectacle the Metropolitan Opera's "Aida" is second to none. Its triumphal march ranks as one of the most eye popping creations imaginable. An opera consists of rather more than v…
The debacle that has been the New York City Opera (NYCO) over the last year is scarcely worth repeating, but for any who don't know, the very fact that this performance of "La Traviata" at t…
The New York City Ballet (NYCB) do a remarkable selection of ballets in every short season but the rhyme or reason of their ordering makes little sense. The decision to schedule "The Seven D…
Yes you read it right. Someone has had the nerve to resurrect "Carrie: The Musical", a byword in musical theatre punchlines. The history of this piece is so awful it beggars belief, so massi…
A Sondheim is always worth a look and the "Encores!" series is now allowing a new audience to come to a piece that hasn't been much seen since it crashed and burned on Broadway in 1981. They…
Fielding a superb cast, the Metropolitan Opera's latest revival of "Ernani" had the musical cards stacked strongly in its favour. The actual performance however was unfortunately flat, some …
This was the sort of program that demonstrates the diversity, depth and quality of the New York City Ballet's repertory and dancers. It also unfortunately exposed their real weakness, the qu…
Having failed to catch Kevin Spacey's Richard III at the Old Vic back in London, I jumped at the chance to see it at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM). The hype was great and I have fond m…
Did no one tell Robert Lepage that Wagner's "Götterdämmerung" ends with the fall of the gods and a renewal of the world? It's certainly not clear from the utterly inept finale that he has …
Another night, another interesting triple from the New York City Ballet. I do wish they'd stop putting out a continuous, near unbroken stream of Balanchine, they have so much more variety in…
I've been looking forward to "The Enchanted Island" for ages. Fans may mock Peter Gelb for suggesting modern audiences aren't particularly responsive to four hour Baroque epics, but by and l…
"Chinglish" by David Henry Hwang is that rare thing: a simple, unaffected play that really works. There's nothing particularly original to be found here, Hwang is mining a rich but well worn…
And it started so well... "Close Up Space" opens with a simply sublime monologue that had me in stitches, in no small part because it dangerously reminded me of toiling under a similar …
I wouldn't for the life of me have headed back to the Metropolitan Opera for Des McAnuff's production of "Faust" were it not for the presence of Joseph Calleja. Much like the first time arou…
The Nutcrackers are all finished so it's time for a delectable five week season of short works (plus Romeo and Juliet) from the New York City Ballet. I'll be heading to as much as I can, "Oc…
Trundling back to New York after my London break, first on my list was the much maligned Luc Bondy production of "Tosca" at the Metropolitan Opera. It is indeed a weak production but it wasn…
