Musical Geek - Musical Theatre Reviews

The Big Green Guy is back at the Mill Theatre, Sedgley, this time courtesy of Willenhall Musical Theatre Company and he (and his chums, well the ones he likes, tough luck Farquaad!) are as effervescent as ever. However let's talk Dragon's first, not known for their singing and this one gets, one song, one opportunity to nail it or skulk back off into her dungeon and Abbie Wild hammers a whole sack of nails into it with a stellar performance of 'Forever'. Daniel Haddon embraces all the facets of our friendly neighbourhood ogre with a powerful and clear vocal, backed-up by some other rather loud bodily sounds that shall remain unmentioned, you will learn to believe that Young Shrek played at this performance by Oliver Rudge will morph into a hero of the underdog. Will Phipps is an energetic and facially expressive (more different expressions from one face I have never seen) Donkey, full of energy, thoroughly likeable and if you've never witnessed a singing quadruped n...

Who would have thought that a musical of such engaging quality could be based on a shoe factory in Northampton, only in the minds of Harvey Fierstein and Cyndi Lauper could such a story and the associated music/lyrics become reality. We should all be thankful for this as otherwise nobody would get to see the supreme quality on stage with Studley Operatic Society, led in quite exceptional style by two incomparable exponents of musical theatre, Paul Mitchell as Charlie Price and Mike Bentley as Lola/Simon. I fear it may be the one and only time we get to see these two perform together on stage with Mike set to leave the Midlands and it’s a crying shame, the few minutes of watching them interact whilst performing the number ‘Not My Father’s Son’ are beyond perfection and it will be a fond memory that I was there to witness it. I should also mention individual renditions of 'Land of Lola' (Mike) and 'The Soul of a Man' (Paul) are particular highlights. Since I have mentione...

Pippin is a seriously under-performed musical from the stable of Stephen Schwartz who is probably known more readily for Godspell (and recently Wicked), there is definitely something Godspell-esque about this story only it just has a more fictional base around the main character Pippin and his father Charlemagne. If there was any society that was going to pick-up the gauntlet to deliver a meaningful production of this one it was going to be Obsidian Theatrical Productions and meaningful is probably an understatement, I ought to use some of the words direct from Mr Schwartz, perhaps mystic, exotic or even anecdotic might be closer to the truth. The Players as they are known, have no direct character names, although they assume various roles throughout the performance and are directed (sometimes forcefully or anarchically) by the Leading Player, a deeply controlling performance from Richard Bateman. Robert Bateman consumes the character of Pippin, his constant search for fulfilment is at...