Musicals
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High Society
17 Apr 2013
A clever and satisfying production of the musical best known as The Philadelphia Story
Easy on the eye and easy on the ears – despite a plot which exalts the uninhibited flaunting of wealth – this is a witty and effervescent revival of the Cole Porter favourite. High Society hits the stage running. A tightly drilled, black-and-white…
Priscilla Queen of the Desert UK tour 2013
20 Feb 2013
Stage version of 1994 film with Jason Donovan returning to role of drag queen Tick
When The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert hit cinema screens 20 years ago, the tale of three Aussie drag queens on an epic road trip, became a cult classic, its high-octane pop soundtrack and madcap wardrobe making it a star-spangled shoe-in…
Dirty Dancing
6 Dec 2012
Straightforward stage recreation of the hit 80s film, boosted by an excellent live band
There are some iconic moments that never get old. No matter how many times you see Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey finally crack ‘the lift’ at the end of Dirty Dancing, it always brings a thrill, and possibly a wee tear to the eye. Had the…
The Ladykillers
15 Nov 2012
Graham Linehan-penned take on classic movie retains its spirit
It was a wise move of Graham Linehan’s to retain the period setting for his stage version of The Ladykillers. That way he could focus on filling it with more gags than the classic Ealing black comedy contained when it was released in 1955. And after a…
Glasgow Girls
7 Nov 2012
Dynamic musical tribute to power of friendship and community that packs a fearless political punch
There’s a scene in this lively new National Theatre of Scotland-produced musical in which the youthful heroines sing of their deep affection for Glasgow, for all its rough edges. The show itself inspires a similar reaction: there’s the odd cheesy moment…
American Idiot
26 Oct 2012
Bold, flashy adaptation of Green Day's concept album
American Idiot is a bit of a hard sell, too clean cut for punk fans, too scuzzy for lovers of musicals. Which is a shame as it brings a freshness to the form that is a world away from other jukebox musicals such as Mamma Mia! and We Will Rock You. It’s…
Cora Bisset on Glasgow Girls: the Musical
18 Oct 2012
The production tells the true story of three Drumchapel teenagers taking on the immigration system
The dramatic story of the 21st century Glasgow Girls, the teenagers from Drumchapel who, in 2005, banded together to take on the immigration system when one of their friends was threatened with deportation, is an obvious one for the stage. Cora Bissett…
Good Grief
17 Aug 2012
Meandering musical hour of delightful schadenfreude
Gone Rogue’s likeable, funeral-set musical might start off in a subdued atmosphere of deep sorrow, but by the end of the show most of the mourners have ended up half naked, high on hash cookies or reeling from shocking family revelations. Using a family…
Newland
17 Aug 2012
Funny and intelligent jazz-inflected Western
Love and betrayal jostle for the starring role in this non-traditional Western from the talented cast of M&T Productions. Within the first two minutes of the fast-paced musical, murder, betrayal and cover-ups tumble forth, causing the sheriff of…
Clinton The Musical
17 Aug 2012
Ex-president inspires high-energy, catchy musical from talented ensemble
Former United States president Bill Clinton should offer any theatre production – let alone an all-singing, all-dancing musical – some great inspiration for material is a given. But, from his inauguration through to his sexual relations with ‘that…
Through the Looking Screen
13 Aug 2012
A black tale of loneliness and log-ins
The experience of turning The Office into an operatic extravaganza for Comic Relief in 2009 clearly gave Anne Chmelewsky a taste for the comedic possibilities of a musical form normally associated with grim tragedy. But the ‘high heels and high Cs…
Death Boogie
10 Aug 2012
Political hip hop poetry musical is all sound and fury
Death Boogie is a political hip hop musical, performed by a dancing poet-rapper rhyming over his own beatbox loops, a double bass player and violinist, all against a backdrop of comic-strip visuals peppered with WHOAs, BIFFs and BOOYAKASHs. Sound like a…
Top 5 tech-related shows at the Edinburgh Festivals 2012
8 Aug 2012
Featuring Steve Wozniak, Steve Jobs, Misha Glenny, Mark Restuccia and Through the Looking Screen
The Agony and Ecstasy of Steve Jobs A one-man theatre show detailing the working conditions in Chinese factories that manufacture the iPhone, highlighting the lengths we are willing to go to in pursuit of technological advancement. Steve…
Eat $hit: How Our Waste Can Save the World
7 Aug 2012
A(n extremely odd) musical with an infectious message
The Poop Project are here to talk to you about your poo – loudly, clearly, and with songs and jazz hands. And if you’re the squeamish sort, it’s even more imperative that you listen. Let’s be straight: the five performers in this show aren’t the…
Re-Animator: The Musical
6 Aug 2012
Sloppy horror with dismembered plot
A warning: Re-Animator has a splash zone. This camp comedy horror musical, based on the film which was in turn based on the HP Lovecraft story ‘Herbert West – Reanimator’, delights in covering the auditorium’s first few rows with blood, vomit, brains…
Re-Animator at Edinburgh Fringe - "We’re throwing blood all over the audience!"
11 Jul 2012
54 gallons of blood and gore in play based on cult 80s film
Stuart Gordon holds a grisly place in movie trivia. ‘It’s true, I had the all-time record for most amount of fake blood used in a film,’ the director confirms, referring to the 24 gallons of corn syrup-based thick red gunge poured into his cult 1985…
Attention Fringe 2012 performers: we want your bribes
9 Jul 2012
Buy yourself valuable exposure by sending us your promotional tat
The List is once again declaring itself susceptible to bribery for the duration of the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2012. Effective immediately, we will be accepting whatever t-shirts toy tractors, confections, underpants, self-portraits, office…
Oliver!
6 Jun 2012
Impressively staged if sometimes trivial production of Lionel Bart's musical
Lionel Bart’s phenomenally successful musical was always a kind of Dickens-lite, the composer jettisoning much of the source novel’s gritty social commentary and satire in favour of glossy set pieces and a slightly cloying ‘lor’ love us’ attitude.
Oliver! set for run at Edinburgh Playhouse
23 May 2012
Cameron Mackintosh-produced epic featuring original Lionel Bart score
‘Cameron Mackintosh doesn’t do small,’ announces Brian Conley, his warm grin a lifetime away from the Fagin character he depicts in the Scots impressario’s successful revival of Oliver! TV star Conley’s acclaimed turns in Jolson and Hairspray suggest a…
Brian Conley to play Fagin in Oliver!
15 May 2012
The new Cameron Mackintosh production is stopping at Edinburgh's Playhouse
‘Cameron Mackintosh doesn’t do small,’ announces Brian Conley, his warm grin a lifetime away from the Fagin character he depicts in the Scots impressario’s successful revival of Oliver!. TV star Conley’s acclaimed turns in Jolson and Hairspray suggest a…
Five things you might not know about Spamalot
27 Feb 2012
Eric Idle and John Du Prez's Monty Python-inspired musical tours UK
1 The multi award-winning musical production from Eric Idle and John Du Prez, Spamalot was ‘lovingly ripped off from the motion picture Monty Python and the Holy Grail.’ I guess Idle can do whatever he wants but an eyebrow was raised by the inclusion of…
Andrew Lloyd-Webber quits BBC
6 Jan 2012
TV Gossip
Lord Andrew Lloyd-Webber has quit the BBC to film a new show for ITV. The musicals supremo will head up the judging panel in a search to find an actor to play Judas in a touring production of rock opera 'Jesus Christ Superstar' and has joined the…
The Divine Comedy's Neil Hannon discusses theatre production Swallows and Amazons
6 Jan 2012
The musical is to be directed by War Horse's Tom Morris
‘I don’t think of myself as much of a collaborator...’ muses Neil Hannon. A chuckle follows, the irony of his statement kicking in. When he’s not being frontman to The Divine Comedy, the Northern Irish pop star has written music for Father Ted and…
The King and I
6 Jan 2012
This stylish production of the musical classic can't disguise the script's patronising tone
Like most of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s quintet of hit musicals, the deceptively light surface action in The King and I struggles to keep the lid on the problematic themes rumbling away underneath. Where the culture clash between prim, feisty governess…
Top Hat
24 Nov 2011
Loving tribute to the Fred'n'Ginger classic, starring Tom Chambers and Summer Strallen
According to legend, screen hoofer Fred Astaire was such a perfectionist that, during the 40th take of a scene from Swing Time (1936), his partner Ginger Rogers’ feet started to bleed through her satin slippers. In this stage adaptation of one of…
