theatre
A range of reviews around this play
No musical theatre discussion would be complete without the inclusion of musician Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber (ALW) and his fellow collaborators. A man whose name is synonymous with theatre, music and entertainment, ALW has succeeded – and surpassed – any expectations we have of quality productions and the emotional rollercoaster he guides us on, through his mastery of musical score. He has indeed shaped the way we experience theatre today. Born 22nd March 1948 into a very musical family, his father and mother taught music – he became something of a prodigy, playing the piano, the French horn, the violin (age three), and wrote his own music from the age of six. While reading history at Oxford, music called for him, and he dropped out to attend the Royal College of Music as a Queen’s Scholar. It was here that he first met the lyricist Tim Rice – who was studying Law. Did they have any idea of what this friendship would achieve? Their first stage success was in 1968, with a pop-cantata version of what would one day become Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. In 1971, following on from this success, they commenced work on Jesus Christ Superstar, combining pop music and a classical operatic form. 1976 found Lloyd Webber and Rice reunited, and working on a concept album for Evita, which was well received. Evita was first staged in London in 1978, followed by Broadway the next year. In the 1980’s, the collaboration parted ways, and Andrew Lloyd Webber carried on producing blockbuster shows including Cats, Starlight Express and the now infamous The Phantom of the Opera. This debuted in London in 1986 and continues today, with the Broadway performance becoming the longest-running Broadway show in history. While he is individually recognised and a ‘front man’ for theatre representation, none of this would be possible without the collaboration of others that also celebrate great success in their own fields of expertise. Musical theatre allows lyrics and an orchestra to carry the story to the audience. Most of these collaborations are well suited and tell the story well. At other times, they melt together with and describe a story, where the narrative is less, but the orchestra guides your emotions, taking you to that place in time, living the experience, not just watching it. This is where ALW and his collaborators succeed, and he has many awards to prove it including a knighthood, an Oscar and three Grammy’s. He also formed the Andrew Lloyd Webber Foundation, and theatre production company – the Really Useful Group – which is one of the largest operating in London today. Not all people are aware, that in 2010, he wrote a sequel to Phantom. Named ‘Love Never Dies’ however it was not overly popular. The other great collaboration of ALW’s career was with Theatre Producer Sir Cameron Mackintosh. Described as being ‘the most successful, influential and powerful theatrical producer in the world’, it was inevitable that separately or as a team, putting them together would be responsible for many, many hit shows including The Phantom of the Opera, Cats, and The Little Shop of Horrors. ALW was and is still the most well known musician in theatres world wide.
BY MARTHA
2024 - 2025
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Review
A face in the crowd
BY MARTHA
A Face In The Crowd is a brand new musical based on the book by Sarah Ruhl and Warner Brothers film. The music for this show was written by the well known Elvis Costello and was directed by Kwame Kwei-Armah. The show officially opened on September 20th 2024 after beginning previews on September 12th. The show is set in Arkansas in the 1950’s, it’s about a female radio producer named Marcia Jeffries (Anoushka Lucas) who is looking for stories for her struggling small town radio show, she goes to the local jailhouse looking for ‘real people’, rather than the same type of person that usually gets representation in media. Here she meets Larry ‘Lonesome’ Rhodes (Ramin Karimloo) , a man with a rough background who has been charged with being drunk and disorderly. He shows a talent for music and speaking his mind, which is what she is looking for, she has such a good feeling about him that she bails him out and invites him to come on the show. At first he refuses to be on the radio but turns up the next day expecting a slot, which he gets. His performance does very well and he immediately gets a regular slot on her show where he quickly becomes a loved radio personality across America! However things go downhill as he is invited onto a popular television show and gets consumed by the fame. On the TV show he publicly discusses controversial topics, such as politics and his thoughts on immigration and gets a lot of love for it. At the beginning, his real personality and on screen personality were one and the same but over time his real personality, opinions and attitude changed, he seemed like he was just in it for the money and began to resent his fans. This show tells the story of Lonesome Rhodes and Marcia Jeffries’ difficult journey going from small town radio to national television and how they navigate their way through the difficulties. I heard about this show because I am a fan of the leading male’s work in previous musicals, such as The 25th Anniversaries of both Phantom of The Opera and Les Miserables and wanted to see him perform live. At first I was sceptical about seeing it as the reviews were not brilliant, however, after seeing it I completely disagree and think it was a very well written show with amazing songs and characters. The majority of the performance was upbeat and fun to watch with darker themes such as suicide and alcoholism. I felt like the story was very in depth yet easy to follow which was helpful as I went in not knowing much about the storyline other than the short description on the website. The storyline was really interesting and kept me hooked. I enjoyed seeing Lonesome Rhodes’ journey going from drunk in a jail to someone who had an influence over a lot of the country in such a short period of time. The cast were all really talented, it was a relatively small ensemble but all of them played multiple characters, their talent really showed when you could tell immediately that they were playing a different character and when they went back to a character they had played earlier in the show. The main two characters were both played by incredible performers, Anoushka Lucas (Marcia) had a beautiful voice and sung many solos where it was just her on the stage. Ramin Karimloo’s voice is unbelievable, he was putting on an accent and stayed in character whilst belting songs, he was also playing the guitar and ukulele all throughout the show which I really enjoyed. The theatre is quite a small one, depending on where the stage is for the particular show it seats around 400-600 people. The atmosphere just walking in felt really nice, it had dimmed lights not really bright LED lights and a smoke machine next to the stage which helped set the scene for when it started. All the sets and costumes were really well designed, it felt like we had stepped into the 1950’s for a few hours. At the end of the show, during the bows, the cast all seemed genuinely happy to be there and doing the show, this added to the comforting atmosphere. After the performance some of the cast also came out into the bar area to say hello and sign the cast lists (there were no programs but they were giving out free cast lists) and other things that fans wanted signed! Overall it was an amazing experience, I had a brilliant time watching a group of amazing actors performing and telling a really fun and interesting story. I would happily go again however it is only on for a limited time and ends in November. I would highly recommend it to anyone wanting to go to London and see a show.
