Barry Lenny

1 month ago | broadwayworld.com | Barry Lenny

Reviewed by Ewart Shaw, Thursday 3rd April 2025. Labour of Love is a play with its political heart on its sleeve. It is also a labour of love for St Jude’s Players. It’s long, it’s wordy, and confusing in structure, but director, Kym Clayton, is blessed with a strong and confident cast. The scenes follow the main characters’ political and personal fortunes in a series of scenes across the twenty years of their interactions.

1 month ago | broadwayworld.com | Barry Lenny

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Thursday 3rd April, 2025. Phil Olson’s 2013 comedy, Mum’s Gift (originally Mom’s Gift), is directed by Lucy Johnson for The Therry Dramatic Society. As a first-time director, she could have benefited from working with a more experienced director. The pace was not always there, and much of the time we saw actors acting, rather than the characters.

1 month ago | broadwayworld.com | Barry Lenny

Reviewed by Ewart Shaw, Saturday 29th March 2025. Before I get into a detailed analysis of Billy Elliot, and tick off the adjectives on the critics’ cheat sheet, just book tickets to this latest Northern Light Theatre Company success. It has heart, it has soul, and it has soles, and many of them. Billy Elliot, first a film and then a stage musical.

1 month ago | broadwayworld.com | Barry Lenny

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Friday 28th March 2025. Megan Dansie has directed Daniel Keene's existential 2010 play, Life Without Me, for the Stirling Players. It all takes place in the foyer of a decaying hotel, without a kitchen, run by Nigel and owned by his mother, Mrs Spence. Three individual guests and one couple arrive during the course of a couple of days. They are lost souls who philosophically wonder who they are, and why they are here, They seek to know their place in the world.

1 month ago | broadwayworld.com | Barry Lenny

Reviewed by Barry Lenny, Wednesday 26th March 2025. That irreverent musical, which should appeal to those with Catholic tastes, Sister Act, has hit town. It is based on the 1992 film of the same title, the 2006 stage version being written by Joseph Howard, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Glenn Slater, a book by Cheri and Bill Steinkellner, and additional book material by Douglas Carter Beane. The stage musical has original music, inspired, we are told, by the film, Motown, soul, and disco.