UK / West End Theater Reviews: Best Shows & Critic Recommendations Page 3

Review: BETTE AND JOAN, Park Theatre
by Gary Naylor - December 09, 2024

Greta Scacchi and Felicity Dean are gruesomely grotesque but also wonderfully warm as the fading titans of the Golden Age of Hollywood...

Review: WHITE CHRISTMAS, The Mill At Sonning
by Mica Blackwell - December 09, 2024

A gem of a show wrapped in a big red bow, White Christmas at the Mill at Sonning brings a dollop of Golden Age glitz and festive joy to the holiday season. With immaculate production value and a talented cast, I dare you to not leave the theatre counting your blessings instead of sheep....

Review: MADDIE MOATE'S A VERY CURIOUS CHRISTMAS, Apollo Theatre
by Christiana Rose - December 09, 2024

Maddie Moate’s festive live science show incorporates the perfect blend of live science experiments, a mission to assist Mrs Claus and a taste of musical theatre with a pantomime flair....

Review: RUINATION, Royal Ballet and Opera
by Franco Milazzo - December 08, 2024

In a season where theatres are filled with the usual hoary horde - here a Christmas Carol, there a Nutcracker or Messiah - the Royal Opera House deserves praise and maybe even a standing ovation for bringing back its Yuletide hit from 2022. Ben Duke’s Ruination (a co-production between the Royal Bal...

Review: HOME ALONE IN CONCERT, Royal Albert Hall
by Kat Mokrynski - December 09, 2024

With a score by the iconic John Williams, Home Alone is the ideal film to be set to live music at the Royal Albert Hall as a part of their Christmas season. The 1990 film, written by John Hughes directed by Chris Columbus, follows the adventures of Kevin McCallister (Macaulay Culkin), an eight-year-...

Review Roundup: THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA Opens in London
by Aliya Al-Hassan - December 06, 2024

The Devil Wears Prada, a new musical, based on the blockbuster film and bestselling novel, has strutted into London’s Dominion Theatre. What did the critics think?...

Review: DICK WHITTINGTON AND HIS CAT, Hackney Empire
by Kat Mokrynski - December 09, 2024

For its 25th pantomime, the Hackney Empire is putting on Dick Whittington and His Cat, directed by and starring Clive Row, who has been the resident Dame of the Hackney Empire for years. This particular production of Dick Whittington has been written by Will Brenton with original music and songs by ...

Review: THE REST IS ENTERTAINMENT, Royal Albert Hall
by Alice Cope - December 06, 2024

This live show wasn’t without its chaotic moments, they only added to the charm of the evening....

Review: BALLET SHOES, National Theatre
by Aliya Al-Hassan - December 06, 2024

Beloved by parents and children alike, the National Theatre has taken on the first major stage adaptation of Noel Streatfeild’s best-selling book Ballet Shoes as their big ticket show this festive season. It is a brave move, as the book is so well known and hasn't been out of print since 1936. Howev...

Review: HOMO ALONE, The Other Palace
by Abbie Grundy - December 05, 2024

This is Home Alone like you've never seen it before....

Review: HANSEL AND GRETEL, Shakespeare’s Globe
by Cindy Marcolina - December 06, 2024

Though we admit that venturing as far as saying that the witch looks like a mix of Margaret Thatcher and the old Queen might be just us being fastidious with our interpretative vein, the links are there to see and analyse. Yes, it’s a bit cheesy and adults playing children is always slightly jarring...

Review: THE DEVIL WEARS PRADA, Dominion Theatre
by Aliya Al-Hassan - December 06, 2024

The Devil Wears Prada may be the most hyped musical of the year. With a stellar cast, incredible clothes and none other than Sir Elton John at the helm of the music. The publicity tells us to 'gird our loins.', but after seeing this thin and rather flat show, the question is: for what?...

Review: STRANGER THAN THE MOON, Coronet Theatre
by Alexander Cohen - December 05, 2024

One for the Brecht completionists...

Review: CINDERELLA, Royal Ballet and Opera
by Vikki Jane Vile - December 04, 2024

This year’s festive crowd pleaser from the Royal Ballet does not feature a growing Christmas tree nor a Kingdom of Sweets. Instead, an alternative is offered in the form of Frederick Ashton’s 1948 Cinderella, revived eighteen months ago after a lengthy absence and seen again now for the festive seas...

Review: A VERY NAUGHTY CHRISTMAS, Southwark Playhouse Elephant
by Franco Milazzo - December 04, 2024

With an abundance of witty filth (and filthy wit), A Very Naughty Christmas is an adults-only musical burlesque which has come straight up from down under....

Review: BRIGHT PLACES, Soho Theatre
by Katie Kirkpatrick - December 03, 2024

Bedazzled with sequins and bouncing with 90s pop, Bright Places is a technicolour journey through a Multiple Sclerosis diagnosis. Heaps of educational fun, it imbues what is at its core a tough, life-altering experience with energy and creativity....

Review: THE GRAPES OF WRATH, National Theatre at Home
by Amber-Rae Stobbs - December 04, 2024

The National Theatre's Summer 2024 hit is now available on its streaming platform, National Theatre at Home...

Review: THE CRUMPLE ZONE, Waterloo East Theatre
by Amber-Rae Stobbs - December 03, 2024

Something for everyone in a hit-and-miss comedy...

Review: THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE, London Coliseum
by Michael Higgs - December 03, 2024

Sarah Tipple brings the comedic opera to life with gloriously ridiculous period costumes, an outstanding cast and an abstract set that mirrors the plot’s absurdism with precision....

Review: BLUE NOW, Southbank Centre
by Katie Kirkpatrick - December 02, 2024

A film that’s all one shot of one colour may not sound like much, but Derek Jarman’s Blue is a rich, intricate tapestry, and a landmark piece of queer filmmaking. For World Aids Day 2024, the film has been reimagined as a live performance, with the voices of queer actors and poets, and a new live sc...

Review: CUTTING THE TIGHTROPE: THE DIVORCE OF POLITICS FROM ART, Arcola Theatre
by Cindy Marcolina - December 03, 2024

Now at its second run and presented in an updated version, Cutting the Tightrope puts together a list of brilliant playwrights (Hassan Abdulrazzak, Mojisola Adebayo, Phil Arditti, Sonali Bhattacharyya, Nina Bowers, Roxy Cook, Ed Edwards, Afsaneh Gray, Dawn King, Ahmed Masoud, Joel Samuels, Sami Abu ...

Review: COMEDY CLUB 4 KIDS- CHRISTMAS CRACKER SHOW, The Arts Depot
by Christiana Rose - December 02, 2024

Comedy Club 4 Kids Christmas Cracker Show at The Arts Depot is a family comedy show aimed at inclusive comedy, without the rude bits and swearing, for children aged 6+. The Christmas Cracker Show featured comic compere Abigoliah Schamaun, improviser Bobbles The Elf, Magician Nutty Noah and comedian ...

Review: EXPENDABLE, Royal Court Theatre
by Katie Kirkpatrick - December 01, 2024

Expendable, written by Emteaz Hussain, all takes place in a family kitchen. As the play begins, we meet Zara (Avita Jay) – a Pakistani mother living in northern England – as she chops onions. This environment of domestic familiarity is quickly disturbed by a knock on the door, and a buzz of tension ...

Review: TWELFTH NIGHT, Orange Tree Theatre
by Gary Naylor - December 01, 2024

Superb performances from a cast entirely at ease with themselves and their director make this show a must-see...

Review: JOE KENT-WALTERS IS FRANKIE MONROE: LIVE!!!, Soho Theatre
by Kat Mokrynski - December 02, 2024

Joe Kent-Walters is Frankie Monroe: LIVE!!! begins in quite the spooky manner, with Kent-Walters slowly making his way around the stage, shrouded in darkness, creepily whispering, “Here comes Frankie . . .” The show, directed by Jonathan Oldfield, brings audience members into The Misty Moon, a worki...