25th Feb2019

9 to 5 the Musical (Theatre)

by timbaros
9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL. Caroline Sheen 'Violet Newstead', Natalie McQueen 'Doralee Rhodes', Amber Davies 'Judy Bernly'. Photo Pamela RaithDolly, no last name needed, brings to the West End the musical of her huge song and hit film ‘9 to 5,’ and it’s a hoot!

How could we forget the film, which starred Parton, Lily Tomlin, and Jane Fonda as secretaries at Consolidated Companies who turn the tables on their misogynistic boss. The song has endured more so than the 1980 film, so it’s perfect that it’s been turned into a musical.

‘9 to 5 the Musical’ had a brief Broadway run in 2009 and finally it’s here in London at The Savoy Theatre. Natalie McQueen is just about perfect and a dead ringer for Parton in the role of Doralee Rhodes, secretary to the flirting and very handsy boss Franklin Hart Jr. (a very good and game Brian Conley). Amber Davies is in the Jane Fonda role as Violet Newstead, who is newly divorced and finds herself starting a new job at Consolidated, while Caroline Sheen is Lily Tomlin in the role of Judy Bernly, who has worked at the firm for years yet keeps on missing out on promotions that go to men. One day Judy accidentally puts rat poison in Mr. Hart’s coffee (or at least she thinks she did), but when Hart finds out he threatens to call the police so the ladies kidnap him and attempt to find dirt on him, which of course they do. But from start to finish, accompanied by fun songs and a dazzling set, and great performances from the cast (which also includes Bonnie Langford as busybody Roz Keith), ‘9 to 5 the Musical’ will drive you happy if you let it!!!

Of course, there are some cringe worthy moments, especially when Mr. Hart grabs his balls and plays with his nipples during one song (‘Here for You’), while society has moved on about this sort of treatment of women in the workplace with the #metoo movement in full force. But overlook these as we all have a good time watching the show. And it’s Dolly who is our narrator in the beginning, middle and ending (a video, not her in real life unfortunately) who sets up the story and then winds it up. ‘9 to 5’ is no longer a rich man’s game, it’s all for of us to enjoy! 
 
9 TO 5 THE MUSICAL plays at the Savoy Theatre, Savoy Court, until 31 August 2019. To buy tickets, please go here:
Category : Theatre
Tags : ,
Off
25th Feb2019

Come From Away (Theatre)

by timbaros
1-Come-From-Away-lands-at-the-Phoenix-Theatre-on-30-January-2019-Credit-Matthew-Murphy-1Before September 11, 2001, no one had ever heard of the tiny town of Gander, Newfoundland. But on that horrible, horrible day, the townspeople (no more than 10,000 people) welcomed in and took in 100’s and 100’s of people who were on Westbound planes that were diverted to this place in the middle of nowhere.
 
This story is told in the musical ‘Come from Away.’ Winning many awards in its Washington D.C. and Broadway runs, this popular show has arrived into London with much anticipation. And the show surely lives up to it.
 
Gander has a small airport, where the nearest Starbucks in 4 hours away, and where there are a total of 550 hotel rooms. But on 9/11, 6,579 people were grounded in Gander. And it was the townspeople who opened up their homes, and hospitality, to these passengers who at the time at arrival had no idea as to what was happening (this was before everyone had mobile phones). 
 
The characters in this show are based on (and is most cases share names of) real Gander residents and the passengers on these planes. The actors play both the passengers and citizens, switching roles every now and then. While it does get a bit confusing in the beginning, as the show rolls on and the music starts to kick in, ‘Come from Away’ gets more uplifting, until it, and the residents of Gander, have really won us over.
 
Beautiful songs such as ‘I Am Here’, beautifully sung by Cat Simmons, whose son was a firefighter in NYC, ‘Stop the World,’ sung by Robert Hands and Helen Hobson who were passengers and ended up falling in love, and ’Something’s Missing,’ sung by the entire company after the 9/11passengers all left Gander – show us how the human spirit was alive and well the week the world changed. With incredible book, music and lyrics by Irene Sankoff and David Hein, and sharp direction by Christopher Ashley, ‘Come From Away’ may not only bring you to tears, but it will also lift up your spirits.
 
It had been announced that there will be afeature film adaptation of ‘Come from Away,’ with Sankoff and Hein writing the script and Christopher Ashley as director. I’m really looking forward to seeing the movie version of this moving and cathartic musical. 
Come From Away plays at the Phoenix Theatre until 19th September 2019. To buy tickets, please click here:
 
Category : Theatre
Tags :
Off
25th Feb2019

Rip it Up (Theatre)

by timbaros
Rip It Up-9200T copyThe 60’s are back in the West End, and add a lot of dancing, throw in a few handsome pop stars, and what you have is an evening of very very light theatre.
‘Rip it Up,’ now playing at the Garrick Theatre, throws into the mix the best songs from the 60’s with beautiful choreography (by Gareth Walker, who is also the Director), and starring four former Strictly Come Dancing Contestants, and heartthrobs.
Louis Smith MBE (former Olympic gymnast and all around hunk), Aston Merrygold (former member of the X-Factor group JLS), Harry Judd (drummer in the worldwide famous pop group McFly), and last but not least Jan McGuiness (from The Wanted). These men, along with a bevy of young and sexy backup dancers, give it their all with fancy dance moves and upbeat music. But the best part of the show is the amazing singing by Jill Marie Cooper and Ant Brant. Cooper wins the audience over in her renditions of songs from Dionne Warwick to Jefferson Airplane, which lifts this show up a couple notches for without them this would’ve been just another jukebox musical without the jukebox.
All of the four male leads are fine, but they are not allowed to individually shine that much. Merrygold only gets to sing a couple songs, while we are treated to an all too short gymnastics routine by Smith (though luckily for he spends most of the time in the show either topless or wearing tight clothes). He is also a very graceful dancer. Judd is allowed a one minute drum solo (the audience wanted more), while McGuiness really doesn’t seem to offer much, though he tries his darndest to keep up with the dance moves.
Emcee Cavin Cornwall does a fine job guiding the audience through the different musical sounds of the 60’s, though he wobbles horribly through ‘Heard if Through the Grapevine‘. Videos of Lulu, Tony Blackburn, designer Zandra Rhodes and the indelible Dionne Warwick tell us what is was really like in the 60’s – show us don’t tell us! And Lulu actually comes on a few too many times.
But ultimately ‘Rip it Up’ will only appeal to fans of the X-Factor and Strictly Come Dancing (of which all four stars have danced in). I can see this show selling out – in Blackpool, Bournemouth, etc. But for a London West End stage, it doesn’t quite feel right. 
 
‘Rip it Up’ is on until June 2, 2019
 
Category : Theatre
Tags : , , , ,
Off
19th Feb2019

The Price (Theatre)

by timbaros

Theatre Royal Bath Aug 2018 Rehearsal The Price by Arthur Miller Directed by Jonathan Church Designer Simon Higlett Lighting Designer Paul Pyant David Suchet as Gregory Solomon Brendan Coyle as Victor Franz Sara Stewart as Esther Franz Adrian Lukis as Walter Franz ©NOBBY CLARK +44(0)7941-515770 +44(0)20-7274-2105 nobby@nobbyclark.co.uk

There is a price to pay for everything in life, and in the new play ‘The Price,’ this is true.

Now playing at Wyndham’s Theatre in the West End, one of Arthur Miller’s least known plays is a study of two brothers who have not spoken to each other in 16 years yet each have their demons, each have paid a price for decisions they had made in life. Brothers Victor (Brendan Coyle) and Walter Franz (Andrian Lukis) have not seen each other for 16 years, since their father passed away. During this time, Victor has kept dozens of his parents pieces of furniture in his attic, and he’s decided to get rid of them. So he asks 89-year old appraiser Gregory Solomon (a wonderful and definite Olivier Award in this role for David Suchet) into the home he shares with his wife Ester (Sara Stewart). Solomon is a Miller character, and Suchet injects his character with such panache, humor and vulnerability that it’s a master class of acting.

Meanwhile, Walter suddenly shows up, having not returned any, any of Victors’ phone calls over the years. And, yes, there has been a price in not returning those phone calls, and we learn that Victor paid an even bigger price by remaining at home to care for his father when he was getting sicker and sicker. And all Ester wants is to have enough money to be comfortable, and as the going gets rough between the two brothers, Solomon offers a price for the furniture. Is the price a good one? Is there a price for being responsible son, versus one who flies the coop and becomes successful? All of this drama takes place with the backdrop of the great depression in their past.

‘The Price,’ which was written in 1968, is about estranged brothers facing up to the lasting effect of the Depression on their family three decades on. It’s also about not reaching your dreams, and family conflict. The set, where dozens of pieces of furniture are literally hanging on the side of a wall (by Simon Higlett), is genius. Also genius is the acting. Suchet is superb, and Coyle is at ease as the brother who may or may not have been manipulated by his sick father. Under the direction of Jonathan Church, ‘The Price’ is worth the price of a ticket.

Now playing until Saturday April 27th.

THE PRICE

By Arthur Miller

Directed by Jonathan Church

Designed by Simon Higlett

Lighting Design: Paul Pyant

Sound Design: Mike Walker

Composer: Matthew Scott

Associate Director: Emma Butler

Casting: Gabrielle Dawes CDG

Wyndham’s Theatre, Charing Cross Rd, London WC2H 0DA

First performance: Tuesday 5 February

Opening Night: Monday 11 February

Final performance: Saturday 27 April

Monday – Saturday at 7.30pm

Wednesday and Saturday at 2pm

 

Box Office details:

Website: www.delfontmackintosh.co.uk

Box office number: 0844 482 5151

Prices from £20

 

Twitter: @TheatreRBath

Facebook: TheatreRoyalBath

Category : Theatre
Off
16th Feb2019

Boy Erased (Film)

by timbaros
boy_erased_r1_20180606_01_R3Nicole Kidman stars as “Nancy Eamons” and Lucas Hedges as her son “Jared Eamons” in Joel Edgerton’s BOY ERASED, a Focus Features release.Credit: Focus Features

boy_erased_r1_20180606_01_R3Nicole Kidman stars as “Nancy Eamons” and Lucas Hedges as her son “Jared Eamons” in Joel Edgerton’s BOY ERASED, a Focus Features release.Credit: Focus Features

In 2004, at the age of 19, American Garrard Conley was sent by his parents to a conversion therapy program to rid him of his homosexual feelings. This true story is now a film called ‘Boy Erased.’

The amazing Lucas Hedges (‘Lady Bird,’ ‘Manchester by the Sea’) plays Garrard. He is a young man growing up in a small bible belt community in Arkansas. His father Marshall (Russell Crowe) is a respected pastor in the local church while his mother Nancy (Nicole Kidman) believes in everything her husband says. But Garrard is given a choice by his parents when he tells them he is gay: either agree to attend the church-support conversion therapy program where he will have to go to a camp with similar young adults, or risk losing his family, a family that he is quite close to. Garrard has no choice but to go through therapy. Garrard is happy being gay – even entering into relationship with a fellow student at college – but it is his religious upbringing (and a stern father) which helps him make the decision to go to therapy.
Once he is at the Love in Action gay conversion therapy assessment program, he meets fellow young men like himself (including director and actor Xavier Dolan, and Joe Alwyn – at the time of this writing Taylor Swifts boyfriend). They all struggle to not come to terms with they way they are, meanwhile all the time guided by the chief therapist Victor Sykes (writer and director of the film Joel Edgerton). But of course Garrard has urges that he can’t control, while his parents feel that for him to lead a happy life is to lead the life of a straight man.
The real Garrard Conley, of course, luckily survived his time in the therapy program to write the book which is now this film, and it’s a very good film. Hedges, as always, is fantastic. One never knows what he’s thinking because of his inquisitive facial expressions, and he steals the movie from the two heavyweight actors who are playing his parents. Crowe is excellent as the self-righteous father but Kidman is both warm and tender as the mother who loves her husband but perhaps loves her son a bit more. ‘Boy Erased’ is at times heartbreaking, but for the most part it’s triumphant.
Category : Theatre
Tags : , , ,
Off
09th Feb2019

Can You Ever Forgive Me (Film)

by timbaros
can-you-ever-forgive-meMelissa McCarthy and Richard E. Grant give excellent performances in ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me.’
Based on the life of book author Lee Israel, and fluidly directed by Marielle Heller, ‘Can you Ever Forgive Me’ and based on the late Israel’s memoir, the film tells about the misadventures of Israel’s life. She was a Manhattanite who didn’t have much money to rub together, so she starts forging manuscripts and books by very famous authors and then sell them to collector, raking in big money. Questions start arising about her charade, and soon enough she has to pull back, and then enlists her gay best friend Jack (Richard E. Grant – in his best performance ever) to take over her sales duties to pawn more fakes to the collectors. It’s early 1990’s New York City, and one gets the feeling that anything can happen (if you can make it there you can make it anywhere), and that Israel will rise above it all, but in the end we know what is coming. But before, we director Heller (working from a screenplay by Nicole Holofcener and Jeff Whitty) perfectly sets the mood and vibe of New York, with bookshops almost at every corner (long gong now no thanks to the internet). Yes, we can definitely forgive Israel for what she’s one, because it brought this fine movie. McCarthy and Grant have been nominated for Oscars, let’s hope that if anyone of them wins, it will be Grant. He is just superb in his role, debonair, chilled, and just a fine wine, is getting better with age.
Category : Film
Tags :
Off
05th Feb2019

My Dad’s Gap Year (Theatre)

by timbaros
030_MDGY_Pamela Raith Photography (Adam Lannon Alex Britt)A father and son take an adventure of a lifetime in ‘My Dad’s Gap Year. ‘
Now playing at the Park Theatre in Finsbury Park, ‘My Dad’s Gap Year’ is a hilarious comedy about a father trying to bond with his conservative gay teenage son while going through a mid-life crises. Dave (Adam Lannon), dad of 18-year old William (Alex Britt), feels it’s time for them to sow their wild oats. But uptight William is not so wild, he frowns upon everything his unemployed dad does, which includes lying around the messy house not being productive. Meanwhile, William’s mom and Dave’s ex wife Cath (Michelle Collins), being the sensible one, holds a full-time job while maintaining an arm’s length relationship with Dave. But when Dave, at the very last minute, persuades William to go with him to Thailand for some father and son bonding and fun, them, and Cath, have no idea who sort of adventure, and trouble, Dave and William will get into.
 
But once in Thailand, William meets cute architect Matias (Max Percy), while Dave meets beautiful Mae (a lovely Victoria Gigante). While Williams falls head over heals for Matias, Dave does the same for Mae, who works at a bar where all the ‘women there were born boys.’ But Dave’s drinking problem never goes away, while William has his own personal meltdown, leaving Cath to go to Thailand to do damage control.
 
‘My Dad’s Gap Year’ is a fun show with a great cast. At only 90 minutes, it’s crisply directed (by Rikki Beadle-Blair) with funny dialogue and actors who deliver their lines perfectly. And while the show wraps up a bit too neatly at the end, all the actors are very good throughout. Lannon is very good as the father, Collins gives the show extra spark, but it’s Gigante who is extra special as Mae, a girl who just wants to have a happy life. 
 
Category : Theatre
Tags :
Off
05th Feb2019

Green Book (Film)

by timbaros
green-bookWhy is a film called ‘Green Book’? Because it deals with race and black and white relations of America in the early 1960’s.

A Green Book, was specifically, a guidebook printed for African-American motorists traveling in America’s south with recommendations on places to stay and eat where they won’t get discriminated against. Jazz pianist Don Shirley (Mahershala Ali) takes this book with him after he hires racist bigoted Italian Frank ‘Tony Lip’ Vallelonga (an excellent Viggo Mortensen) to be his driver on a two month concert tour. The nightclub where Frank worked had shut down so he was in need of a job, perhaps any job, to support his loving wife and two young sons. So Frank packs away his racist views and becames a sort of ‘Driving Mr. Daisy.’

Of course nothing goes smoothly during the tour, especially when Shirley misbehaves with another man at a YMCA, with Frank left to pick up the pieces, and realizing then that this is why Shirley’s marriage to a woman never worked out. And Frank also introduces Shirley to the simple pleasures of life that he is missing, including eating fried chicken with his hand (something evidently that, hard to believe, Shirley never did). And after two hours we can see where this film is literally taking us, and what will happen between these two men during the trip. 

‘Green Book’ is a true story, and directed by a subdued Peter Farrelly (‘There’s Something About Mary,’ ‘Dumb and Dumber’) it’s as slow as molasses on a hot day – but Mortensen lightens up the screen in every scene he is in – he’s fantastic and is the take away of this film. Ali, while good, seems a bit stiff throughout, and I don’t understand why he is winning all the awards (Richard E. Grant is so much better in ‘Can You Ever Forgive Me.’) Nevertheless, ‘Green Book’ is a good study in race relations in America in that time when JFK was President and Marilyn Monroe was the star of the moment. 
Reviews by Tim Baros
Category : Film
Tags :
Off
03rd Feb2019

Kompromat (Theatre)

by timbaros

11-02-2018-145732-2283-2The unsolved 2010 murder of Gareth Williams is the focus of a new show called ‘Kompromat’ now playing at The Vaults as part of their Vault Festival 2019.

Williams was found dead in his Pimlico flat, naked and stuffed into a red bag. Foul play was the expected cause death as there was no way that he could’ve zipped himself in that bag on his own. Kompromat goes so far as to suggest that Williams, who was suspected of being gay, was targeted by another man, someone he hooked up with at a gay bar, and took him back home, and that this hook-up would be William’s last one. Max Rinehart plays Zac, goodlooking and convincing, enough so that any gay man would be lucky to take him home. Guy Warren-Thomas plays Tom (Gareth), shy, a bit introverted, yet careful who he lets into his life. Zac is very confident, and as we get to learn, he’s been around the block a few times, and as his story unravels, so does the soon to be shortened life of Tom. All of this takes place in the intimacy of The Vaults which has on tap loads of other gay-related stories to tell during the 2 month festival.
Other offerings include:
Open 
Two husbands. One hundred lovers. A modern day romance. Join Chris and Tim for an intimate exploration of their love, jealousy and desire for one another…and many, many others.
23 — 27 Jan 2019
Juniper and Jules
Until Juniper, Jules hadn’t realised she liked girls. Falling headlong into a relationship, in a world where monogamy is the norm, they soon discover they want to do things differently.
23 — 27 Jan 2019
Yours Sincerely
Will has accidentally stolen 300 2nd class stamps, but he’s making them count. A queer comedy about the lost art of letter writing. Stamp collecting has never looked so sexy.
30 Jan — 03 Feb 2019
Greyscale 
Explore the minefields of dating in a post #metoo era. Who do we have faith in when one party believes it’s sexual misconduct, and the other, simply a bad date?
02 Feb — 17 Mar 2019
Bleach (main photo)
Tyler sells his body nightly, but his world is about to be turned upside down when life takes a sinister turn. A soul-jolting story of sex, violence and city living.
06 — 10 Feb 2019
Tilda Swinton Answers an Ad on Craigslist
Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Instagram star Tom Lenk portrays iconic actress Tilda Swinton, imagined as an edgy, modern day Mary Poppins in this LGBTQ hit and Edinburgh Fringe favourite.
06 — 17 Feb 2019
 
Marmite
Dylan and Eddie have just moved in together. They’re both really happy. Except Dylan isn’t. Between sex parties and roast dinners, ‘Marmite’ explores gay monogamy.
13 — 17 Feb 2019
ADMIN
OISIN MCKENNA 
Oisín moved to London to pursue his dream of becoming socially mobile. Now, he’s having an existential crisis in a Pret A Manger toilet, trying to remember his mindfulness techniques.
18:1027 — 28 Feb 2019
Coming Clean: Life As A Naked House Cleaner
Sex! Fantasies! Voyeurism! Vacuuming! Come inside the world of a naked cleaner as he explores what we want and what stops us from asking for it.
27 Feb — 03 Mar 2019

General Erection (a political cabaret)
COMPILING THE SHARPEST AND MOST OUTRAGEOUS ACTS ON THE CIRCUIT, HERE IS A VARIETY NIGHT THAT CATERS TO BOTH THE 52% AND THE RACISTS WHO VOTED TO LEAVE!
22:50

07 Mar 2019






Gaylords
“GAYLORD NOUN, PEJORATIVE. Used to describe someone so gay it defies the laws of physics.” A gay hour of comedy from two Gaylords. Work in progress. Breeders welcome.
19:0009 — 10 Mar 2019

For tickets to Kompromat, which ends on Feb. 3, please go here:

Eight weeks of theatre and comedy, immersive experiences, cabaret, live performance and late night parties.

To see the mega program with all the shows on offer, please go here:
Category : Theatre
Off
02nd Feb2019

Leave to Remain (Theatre)

by timbaros

Leave to Remain‘Leave to Remain,’ now playing at the Lyric Hammersmith, is a modern love story set to a rock score and brilliantly tells the trials and tribulations of a multi-racial same sex couple dealing with their upcoming marriage.

Alex (Billy Cullum) and Obi (Tyrone Huntley) met just ten months ago but they’re already in love with each other. But American Alex, you see, is 5 years clean from drugs, and the company that sponsors his work permit is moving to Abu Dhabi. Obi, meanwhile, is a successful advertising executive with a nice loft in a trendy part of town. But Alex is not a British citizen, so if his job relocates to another country Alex has to go back to America. So what could be more simple then for Alex and Obi to gett married in order for Alex to remain in the country? Well, it’s a lot more complicated then it sounds.
The complications aren’t with Alex’ past drug history, nor is it with Obi’s secret meetings with a man named James, but the complications lie with their respective families. Alex’s mom Diane (a wonderful Johanne Murdock) is a non-stop talking busy body hands on mom with a relatively patient husband Brian (Martin Fisher). Meanwhile, Obi’s father Kenneth (Cornell St. John) never quite accepted his sons homosexuality, throwing him out of the house when he was just 16, much to the dismay of Obi’s mother Grace (a fantastic Rakie Ayola) and understanding sister Chichi (a great Aretha Ayeh). But with days, and even hours, before the wedding, complications arise, and it’s touch and go if the wedding will happen at all, even in the light of an startling announcement from Alex’s parents and the continuing disapproval from Obi’s father. It’s all set to a rock score that’s just as modern and good as anything you’ll see in the West End. All the songs that are catchy and memorable and are a very good match to the story. Credit for this goes to writer Matt Jones and writer/composer Kele Okereke (Bloc Party) who somehow seemlessly and superbly set this story in present day London to fantastic music. There’s a brilliant, and well-choreographed scene, where both families get together for the first time, and sit around a dining room table set to a song called ‘To Family’ that is both hilarious and memorable. And while not one single cast member really really stands out, it’s the mothers of both young men (Ayola and Murdock) that will most stay with you. A mother’s love for her son will always remain, no matter what. ‘Leave to Remain,’ directed by Robby Graham, is a truly wonderful piece of theatre. 

A Lyric Hammersmith production.

Tickets 020 8741 6850 | www.lyric.co.uk

Lyric Square, King Street, London, W6 0QL

Leave to Remain

Friday 18 January – Saturday 16 February 2019

Mon-Sat 7:30pm

Also Sat at 2.30pm (excluding Sat 19 January) & Wed at 1:30pm (excluding 23 January)

Free First Night: Friday 18 January at 7.30pm.

Previews: Friday 18 – Wednesday 23 January 2019

Press Night: Thursday 24 January at 7pm

Open Captioned Performance: Saturday 9 February 2019 at 2:30pm

Audio Described Performance: Saturday 9 February 2019 at 7:30pm

Tickets: From £10

The soundtrack from Leave to Remainwill be released by Kele Okereke in late January.

Category : Theatre
Tags :
Off