Robin Hood

 

Robin Hood, London Palladium, 2024.

Cast: Jane McDonald, Julian Clary, Paul Zerdin, Nigel Havers, Marisha Wallace, Charlie Stemp, Rob Madge, Tosh Wanogho-Maud, Tonto Appiah, Charlotte Bazeley, Chrissy Brooke, Katie Dunsden, Mike Fellows, Demmileigh Foster, Ruby Hood, Emma Hunter, Ediz Ibrahim, Thomas Inge, Tyler Lotzof, Louis Mackrodt, Amonik Rance, Grant Thresh, Zinzile Tshuma.

Devised by Michael Harrison, Julian Clary, Paul Zerdin, Rob Madge, Ed Curtis.

Director: Michael Harrison

Always a joy, and this fulfilled my need to see Jane McDonald onstage who was every bit as fabulous as you'd imagine. Again there are slightly too many people for them all to be used successfully but that's how these shows work. I hope they never stop.

Guys & Dolls

 

Guys & Dolls, Bridge Theatre, 2024.

Cast: Owain Arthur, George Ioannides, Jonathan Andrew Hume, Ryan Pidgen, Cameron Johnson, Dashaun Vegas, TJ Lloyd, Eamonn Cox, Dominic Lamb, Filippo Coffano, Pierce Rogan, Nathan Rigg, Dale White, Samuel Routley, Alex Given, Niall Buggy, Cornelius Clarke, Celinde Schoenmaker, Saffi Needham, Lucie Horsfall, Hollie Jane Stephens, Kamilla Fernandes, Tori Scott, Timmika Ramsey, Sian Nathaniel-James, Tanisha-Mae Brown, Katie Bradley, Sophie Pourret.

Music & lyrics: Frank Loesser

Book: Jo Swerling & Abe Burrows

Director: Nicholas Hytner

This is one of those productions that's so good and which reinvents the way something is performed - in the round, definitely immersive - that I left wanting never to see a conventional production of a musical again. But of course not everyone can afford to do this type of thing and before you know it we're back to the same productions as before. Change really is glacial.

This must have saved the Bridge. Nicholas Hytner has a liking for the kind of serious/dull dramas he did at the National which are never going to be big hits, whereas this seemed to go on forever. I wish people would learn a lesson from that.

Murder on the Orient Express

 

Murder on the Orient Express, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2024.

Cast: Michael Maloney, Bob Barrett, Mila Carter, Debbie Chazen, Rebecca Charles, Simon Cotton, Jean-Baptiste Fillon, Christie Kavanagh, Paul Keating, Iniki Mariano, Rishi Rian, Alex Stedman, Antony Gabriel, Jasmine Raymond, Beth Tuckey.

Writer: Agatha Christie

Adapted by: Ken Ludwig

Director: Lucy Bailey

The obvious first thought about this is, "how will they do the train on stage?" Well when I first saw this at Chichester they did small carriages, about the size of a golf cart, that didn't particularly work. For the tour they did a much larger representation of a train that worked a lot better.

Lucy Bailey is back, because she's obviously the Queen of Christie, and Bob Barrett is back too (Casualty) who also keeps popping up in these adaptations. Interesting to see Paul Keating, who was in the original production of the Pet Shop Boys Closer to Heaven, who didn't seem to have aged much in all that time.

Some of the characters are omitted to make it easier to stage but I think it still works well. There's no stopping the Christie plays.

Cowbois

Cowbois, Royal Court, 2024. 

Cast: Vinnie Heaven, Sophie Melville, Emma Pallant, Bridgette Amofah, Lemuel Ariel Adou, Alexander Joseph, Philip Kamau, Lucy McCormick, Lee Braithwaite, Paul Hunter, Shaun Dingwall, Michael Elcock, Colm Gormley, Julian Moore-Cook, LJ Parkinson.

Writer: Charlie Josephine

Directors: Charlie Josephine & Seaan Holmes

A rare but fun trip to the Royal Court to see a play with music about queer cowboys - if I remember rightly the men of the town go away and leave the women in charge and they like it. I can't imagine it will be revived anywhere but it's a pity it doesn't exist in some format as it was too good to be so fleeting.

Wreckage

 

Wreckage, Key Theatre, 2024.

Cast: Tom Ratcliffe, Taofique Folarin.

Writer: Tom Ratcliffe

Director: Rikki Beadle-Blair

It's quite unusual for small scale gay stuff to reach the country but the theatre in Peterborough is quite good at finding this kind of thing for their studio theatre. This was about a gay man whose partner is killed in a car crash. I remember liking it a lot.

Nye

 

Nye, Olivier Theatre, 2024.

Cast: Remy Beasley, Matthew Bulgo, Dyfan Dwyfor, Roger Evans, Ross Foley, Jon Furlong, Daniel Hawksford, Bea Holland, Stephanie Jacob, Kezrena James, Tony Jayawardena, Michael Keane, Nicholas Khan, Rebecca Killick, Oliver Llewellyn-Jenkins, Mark Matthews, Rhodri Meilir, Ashley Mejri, Lee Mengo, David Monteith, Mali O'Donnell, Sra Otung, Michael Sheen, Sharon Small.

Writer: Tim Price

Director: Rufus Norris

This is one of those rare pieces of theatre that manages to be both important and entertaining - not an easy combination to pull off. It helps that it had the full force of the National Theatre behind it: big stage, big cast, big set - you couldn't fail to be impressed by itt. And you'd be an idiot to leave and not feel full of love for the NHS.

& Juliet

 

& Juliet, Norwich Theatre Royal, 2024.

Cast: Matt Cardle, Geraldine Sacdalan, Lara Denning, Sandra Marvin, Ranj Singh, Jordan Broatch, Kyle Cox, Jack Danson, Harriet Caplan-Dean, Alexander Kranz, Jade Johnson, Andilé Mabhena, Rachel Moran, Psalms-Nissi Myers-Reid, Liam Morris, Michael Nelson, Toni Paise, Rosie Singha, Aaron Shales, Nia Stephen, Samuel Wilson-Freeman.

Music: Max Martin & friends

Book: David West Read

Director: Luke Sheppard

I saw this in London and loved it so definitely had to see it on tour. It was just as much fun the second time around. I was worried the friend I went with wouldn't love it but they did, as did the many younger people in the audience. It's a lot cleverer than you'd give it credit for considering it uses existing pop songs.