Musical Geek - Musical Theatre Reviews

Jason Robert Brown is a much under recognised writer of musical theatre (particularly in the UK), sadly you won't have seen many of his pieces achieve an extended run in the West End (although a production of 'The Last 5 Years' did run at the Garrick Theatre last year) but, his teen coming of age musical '13' is increasingly popular with youth theatre groups and it isn't difficult to understand why. Storyline revolves around Evan Goldman, twelve year old with his whole life in front of him, living in New York and a Bar Mitzvah to look forward to but, then his parents split-up and he is forced to move to Appleton, Indiana, start a new school and build a friendship group again. It feels like his world has imploded but, he probably should take comfort in two things: - backwater Indiana has a history, it might feel like 'The Lamest Place in the World' but, remember the Jackson 5 came out of Gary, Indiana. - more importantly there is another musical with dist...

Found myself at The Garrick Theatre in Lichfield for my latest review as I'd been invited to the Final Dress Rehearsal before the run of The Addams Family by Sutton Coldfield Musical Theatre Company, obviously this was a rehearsal so I would ask readers to bear that in mind, although it ran with very few delays (and most of those were last minute tech adjustments). If you were ever to find yourself in Central Park, New York, I wouldn't go looking for the residence of The Addams Family, for starters it's a work of fiction but, equally it's a pretty scary place inhabited by a family that can only be described as misfits who have a distinct liking for the darker side of life or to quote from the dialogue, 'the intoxicating smell of the graveyard'. At the helm we have husband and wife, Gomez and Morticia (played respectively by Mark Skett and Kate Pilling) both creating a confident and melodious portrayal of their characters, one caught in that eternal paradox of tr...

It's probably worth a bit of context on this one as it may not be a musical that is well known to readers although it is a popular school production across the English speaking world and is originally from the stable of Neil Gooding a leading theatre producer/director in Australia. Back to the 80s is fundamentally a story encompassing the Final High School Year for a group of students at the fictitious William Ocean High School and all the joy and angst they experience. It's packed to the brim with Hits from the 1980s and there is testament to the enduring quality of the music from that decade when one takes a step back and realises that there isn't a single member of the KODS Youth Section who were alive to experience that period directly. Narrated throughout by one of the adult performers, Reece Jones as the adult Corey Palmer, we commence the story with the vote for Senior School President, there are three candidates ..... - the teen Corey Palmer (played  confidently by ...