West End Theatre Reviews

With a cast of over 30 dancers and singers, Tanguera tells a story of unrequited love in early 20th century Buenos Aires. When Giselle, a young French woman, arrives in Argentina as one of the first waves of European immigrants, she meets Lorenzo, a port worker who falls in love with her at first sight. But as Giselle falls deeper into Buenos Aires' seedy under- world, Lorenzo must fight to win her love. A huge success in its native Buenos Aires, where it ran for 18 months, this spellbinding new show has dazzled audiences in New York, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Tokyo. London audiences will be swept up in the drama of the Tanguera as it makes its UK premiere this summer.

Sadler's Wells
Rosebery Avenue, London, EC1R 4TN

Set against the colourful backdrop of an American heartland tradition, State Fair travels with the Frake family as they leave behind the routine of the farm for three days of adventure at the 1946 annual Iowa State Fair. Mom and Pop have their hearts set on winning blue ribbons for best boar and best Homemade mincemeat, whilst their daughter and son find both love and heartbreak in the romance of the busy fairground. The Academy Award winning score includes such Rodgers and Hammerstein classics as 'It Might as Well Be Spring' and 'It's a Grand Night for Singing.'

Trafalgar Studios Theatre
14 Whitehall, London, SW1A 2DY

Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine's Into The Woods takes the stories of the Brothers Grimm and gives them a dark and humorous twist. The popular tales of Red Riding Hood, Jack And The Beanstalk, Cinderella and Rapunzel are interwoven with that of the Baker and his wife and their quest to have children. However, this retelling goes beyond 'happily ever after' as the familiar characters find themselves in unfamiliar circumstances and hopes and dreams are shattered. American composer Sondheim is a multi-award-winner whose many musicals include A Little Night Music, Sunday In The Park With George, Assassins, Company and Follies. This production in staged in honour of his 80th birthday this year. Into The Woods is directed by Open Air Artistic Director Timothy Sheader, who directed last season's popular production of Hello, Dolly!

Open Air Theatre
Regents Park, London, United Kingdom, NW1 4NR

A murder mystery so wickedly good, it's to die for! Ingeniously clever and hilariously twisted, Deathtrap is the most celebrated thriller by Ira Levin, author of The Stepford Wives, Rosemary's Baby, The Boys from Brazil and A Kiss Before Dying. Matthew Warchus directs a unique cast which includes Simon Russell Beale (lead in the sell-out National Theatre production of London Assurance) and Jonathan Groff (star of the hit US TV series Glee and lead in the Tony Award winning Broadway production of Spring Awakening). Time Out Best Actress Award-winner Claire Skinner will also star alongside celebrated New York stage actor Terry Beaver and Academy Award-winning actress Estelle Parsons.

Noel Coward Theatre
St Martin’s Lane, London, WC2N 4AA

Bruce Norris returns to the Royal Court following success with The Pain And The Itch with a new play exploring the fault line between race and poverty. Clybourne Park is set in 1959. Russ and Bev are selling their desirable two-bed at a knock-down price. This enables the first black family to move into the neighbourhood, creating ripples of discontent amongst the cosy white urbanites of Clybourne Park. In 2009, the same property is being bought by Lindsey and Steve whose plans to raze the house and start again is met with a similar response. Are the issues festering beneath the floorboards actually the same 50 years on?

Royal Court Theatre
Sloane Square, London SW1W 8AS

Blood brothers is a long-running musical about twin brothers separated at birth. The story is set in Liverpool in the 1960s. They grow up and live totally different lives at different ends of the social spectrum but are reunited and fall in love with the same girl, which has tragic consequences. This highly praised and award-winning musical was written by Willy Russell in the 1980s.

In Wolfboy, two boys share an intimate adventure in an institution. Bernie is a Grade A golden boy who has attempted suicide. David is a street hustler who may or may not have the powers of a wolf. Director Russell Labey has adapted the psycho-sexual musical thriller Wolfboy, along with lyricist and composer Leon Parris, from Brad Fraser's play Love And Human Remains. Labey previously directed New Boy at Trafalgar Studios in 2009, while Parris has won the Vivian Ellis Award for Best Musical, Really Useful Group Award for Most Promising Writer and the Cameron Mackintosh Bursary.

Through A Glass Darkly centres on Karin, a young wife, an older sister and an only daughter. Her kaleidoscopic interior world is a constantly changing picture, where the boundaries between the everyday and the holy defy distinction. Karin's family has taken her on a recuperative holiday. On a bleakly beautiful island where their relationships become increasingly entangled, as the three most important men in her life prove increasingly incapable of helping to cure her, Karin decides to take control of her own destiny. Written and directed by Sweden's Ingmar Bergman, Through A Glass Darkly won the 1962 Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film. It was the only one of his films that Bergman allowed to be adapted for the stage.

For the first time in 14 years, Shakespeare's rollicking farce, The Comedy of Errors, makes a welcome return to the Open Air Theatre. In this merry-go-round of mistaken identity, two sets of estranged twins find themselves unwittingly wandering through the streets of the same town, where the men are jealous, the women are furious and there's a priceless gold chain that everyone wants. As broken relationships are slowly pieced back together, order is restored and the final reunion is a heart-warming celebration of love and family. This new production takes place in 1940's Casablanca, where there's danger on the streets for the strangers in town, and every hep cat's drawn to the sound of swing.

As the world races towards castastrophe, a crowd of Mayfair socialites party their way to oblivion. At its centre is David, who idles away his sober moments researching a futile book until the beautiful Helen decides to save him, shattering his marriage and learning too late the depth of both David's indolence and his wife's undeclared love. But with finances about to crash and humanity on brink of global conflict, the drink keeps flowing and the revelers dance on.

Based on real life and using music, movement and video, Enron explores one of the most infamous scandals in financial history, reviewing the tumultuous 1990s and casting a new light on the financial turmoil in which the world finds itself in 2009.

Set in the present day but inspired by ancient myth, Moira Buffini's Welcome To Thebes offers a passionate exploration of an encounter between the world's richest and poorest countries, set in the aftermath of a brutal war. Faced with an impoverished population, a shattered infrastructure and a volatile army, the first democratic president of Thebes, Eurydice, promises peace to her nation. Without the aid of Theseus, the leader of the vastly wealthy state of Athens, she doesn't stand a chance. But Theseus is arrogant, mercurial and motivated by profit.

Power struggle with Henry VIII, his queen Katherine, his mistress Anne, and the most ruthlessly ambitious Cardinal Wolsey.

Sam Mendes returns to direct year two of The Bridge Project, with another stellar transatlantic lineup including Michelle Beck, Christian Camargo, Ron Cephas Jones, Stephen Dillane, Juliet Rylance and Thomas Sadoski in an intriguing pairing of Shakepeare's pastoral comedy As You Like It and his late masterpiece The Tempest

Sam Mendes returns to direct year two of The Bridge Project, with another stellar transatlantic lineup including Michelle Beck, Christian Camargo, Ron Cephas Jones, Stephen Dillane, Juliet Rylance and Thomas Sadoski in an intriguing pairing of Shakepeare's pastoral comedy As You Like It and his late masterpiece The Tempest

1794: the French Revolution reaches its climax. After a series of bloody purges the life-loving, volatile Danton is tormented by his part in the killing. His political rival, the driven, ascetic Robespierre, decides Danton's fate. A titanic struggle begins. Once friends who wanted to change the world, now one stands for compromise the other for ideological purity as the guillotine awaits. A revolutionary himself, George Büchner was 21 when he wrote the play in 1835, while hiding from the police. With its hair-raising on-rush of scenes and vivid dramatisation of complex, visionary characters, Danton's Death has a claim to be the greatest political tragedy ever written. Howard Brenton captures Büchner's exhilarating energy as Danton struggles to avoid his inexorable fall.

With a cast of over 30 dancers and singers, Tanguera tells a story of unrequited love in early 20th century Buenos Aires. When Giselle, a young French woman, arrives in Argentina as one of the first waves of European immigrants, she meets Lorenzo, a port worker who falls in love with her at first sight. But as Giselle falls deeper into Buenos Aires' seedy under- world, Lorenzo must fight to win her love. A huge success in its native Buenos Aires, where it ran for 18 months, this spellbinding new show has dazzled audiences in New York, Paris, Berlin, Madrid and Tokyo. London audiences will be swept up in the drama of the Tanguera as it makes its UK premiere this summer.

Set against the colourful backdrop of an American heartland tradition, State Fair travels with the Frake family as they leave behind the routine of the farm for three days of adventure at the 1946 annual Iowa State Fair. Mom and Pop have their hearts set on winning blue ribbons for best boar and best Homemade mincemeat, whilst their daughter and son find both love and heartbreak in the romance of the busy fairground. The Academy Award winning score includes such Rodgers and Hammerstein classics as 'It Might as Well Be Spring' and 'It's a Grand Night for Singing.'

This show is based on Walt Disney’s animated film The Lion King that came out in 1994. After it was successfully made into a musical in America, the stage version opened in London in 1999. It has been a success in London as well, and won awards such as Best Theatre Award of the Visit London award 2007. The songs are by Elton John and Tim Rice. It’s the story of a young lion, Simba, whose uncle Scar no longer has the chance of taking over the throne when Simba is born, and decides to try and kill Simba and his father, the king.

Room On The Broom is a musical adaptation of the best-selling book by Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler. Tall Stories, the company behind the stage shows of The Gruffalo and The Gruffalo's Child, brings this story to life on stage for a generation of young audiences. Room On The Broom tells of a witch and her cat who are flying happily along on their broomstick, until a mighty wind blasts the witch's hat. bow and wand away into the night. With the help of a daft dog, a beautiful bird and a friendly frog, her belongings are retrieved. But this broomstick's not meant for five and - CRACK! - it snaps in two! When a hungry dragon appears, who will save the poor witch? And will there ever be room on the broom for everyone? With music, song and puppetry, Room On The Broom is the perfect introduction to theatre for children aged three to eight and their families