Stuart King
06 Jul
Reviews 
Review: YOUR LIE IN APRIL: THE MUSICAL at Harold Pinter
By Stuart King Saturday, July 6 2024, 12:43
The Japanese manga series Your Lie In April was originally developed and published over the course of 11 monthly magazine editions. It has since been used as the basis for an animé television series, a novel, a live action film (2016) and now a stage musical with music by Frank Wildhorn and lyrics by Carly Robyn Green and Tracy Miller. Friday evening’s sodden West End opening at the Harold Pinter Theatre, drew an eclectic mix of reviewers and showbiz faces, from the flamboyant Boy George to the unassuming Don Black. So did the rain dampen spirits, or was the overnight election result sufficient to keep everyone buoyed-up?
You Lie in April at Harold Pinter Theatre. Photo Craig Sugden.
03 Jul
Reviews
Review: MNEMONIC at National Theatre, Olivier
By Stuart King Wednesday, July 3 2024, 09:55
Complicité’s MNEMONIC staged at the National in 2001, underwent a reimagining and dusting-off in readiness for this summer’s repeat run at the Olivier, retaining Simon McBurney’s all-important creative micro-vision as he serves once more as Director on the production.
Kostas Philippoglou and Eileen Walsh in Mnemonic at the National Theatre © Johan Persson
01 Jul
Reviews
Review: STARLIGHT EXPRESS at Troubadour Wembley Park
By Stuart King Monday, July 1 2024, 09:44
This reviewer last had the pleasure of experiencing Starlight Express at the Apollo Victoria in 1988 after key tweaks and revisions were incorporated into the London show from the Broadway production. Having stayed on track for 18 years, wowing millions of fare paying passengers during that time, it finally ran out of steam in 2002. Now, 22 years after reaching the end of the line, an entirely revamped production hopes to electrify a fresh generation of musical trainspotters at the 2000-seater Troubadour venue at Wembley Park.
Jade Marvin (Momma) and the cast in Starlight Express (Photo Credit Pamela Raith)
28 Jun
Reviews
Review: THE MARILYN CONSPIRACY at Park Theatre
By Stuart King Friday, June 28 2024, 08:11
An empty bottle of 50 Nembutal barbiturates, prescribed just a few days before Marilyn Monroe’s death in August 1962 aged just 36, was largely accepted at the time, as the means of her suicide or cause of an accidental overdose. Medical examiners pointed to a lack of a manicure and pedicure to suggest the actress no longer cared about her usual glamorousness — a sure sign of her unstable and potentially volatile mental state!
Susie Amy as Pat Newcombe and Genevieve Gaunt as Marilyn Monroe in the Marilyn Conspiracy. (c) NUX Photography
28 Jun
Reviews
Review: THE SECRET GARDEN at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre
By Stuart King Friday, June 28 2024, 00:01
Frances Hodgson Burnett’s endearingly quaint piece of Edwardiana has been newly adaptated through the joint talents of Holly Robinson and Anna Himali Howard, with the latter also serving as director on the production.
First off, it should be emphasised that the version being performed within the idyllic setting of Regent’s Park Open Air theatre, is NOT the musical which has been around since the early 1990s, but a play version unapologetically aimed at the younger end of the age spectrum.
The Secret Garden at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre. Credit Alex Brenner.
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