The Musicals Thread

[midlandsgrimpeur]

I hadn't seen this thread. I went to see dozens as a kid as it was a bit of a family thing.

Realised the last one I saw was Matilda back in 2012. To tie it to a cycling theme it was the same afternoon as the men's road TT. Luckily I had a box so I could follow the results on my phone without disturbing anyone! 😂

 

[Mad Doug Biker]

That would be removed from the show at the last minute due to being too contentious...

Ditto, a song or thread about Politics would be removed but referred to at some point, with it even ending up in 'The other place', which would of course, then have it's own song too...

 

[midlandsgrimpeur]

Ditto, a song or thread about Politics would be removed but referred to at some point, with it even ending up in 'The other place', which would of course, then have it's own song too...

We have actually written our own musical over there but I can't list any of the song titles as I would be immediately banned from here! 😉

 

[Profpointy]

Maybe a reworking of a G&S ditty to 'A Moderator's Life Is Not A Happy One', keeping an eye on all the miscreants of the parish.

Or maybe "I've got a little list, there's none of them be missed", again applying to the miscreants rather than the mods

 

[Pross]

Should have mentioned this a while back, we went to London for my daughter's graduation (from a Musical Theatre degree) at the end of July and as a treat went to watch The Devil Wears Prada. None of us knew any of the songs from it in advance, not even my daughter as the soundtrack hadn't been released, although we obviously knew the story from the film. I wasn't sure what to expect but really enjoyed it although admittedly Vanessa Williams may have played a large part in this! I would say it was similar to Kinky Boots but that's possibly due to the subject matter.

We also went to see the balcony scene outside the Palladium which was pretty decent and an interesting idea.

 

[icowden]

Well 2026 is here, so a few more reviews from me...

Back to the Future
First up - I went to see "Back to the Future" with the older daughter. It's a fun night out and there is some clever staging including a flying Delorean which fully flips. The staging is probably the best thing about it. The cast were good and really captured the film, but the story comes across as very clean and sanitised. Biff is just a comedy character - there's no sense of him trying to molest Lorraine and the fight is just slapstick. Jennifer has no character at all other than to be a pretty girl on Marty's arm.

The main crime though is the music. As with a few other films turned into musicals, the finale song you want to hear is the Power of Love. Nothing that the writers provide can hold a candle to Power of Love and Jonny B Goode.

Worth a see, but not world altering. Closes in April 2026.

The Producers
It's back and at the Criterion theatre. This time less money has been thrown at it, but it is still hilarious and tasteless at the same time. The cast are fantastic. Andy Nyman is a lot more sleazy and disgusting than Nathan Lane's interpretation. Marc Antolin is great as Leo although he can't hope to hit Lee Evans heights. I wasn't that keen on Trevor Ashley as Roger, his fitness seemed questionable. Raj Ghatak and Harry Morrison were great as Carmen Ghia and Franz Liebkin. The jokes have been turned up to 11. Roger de Bris is now so gay he has a living statue with a very large member. We have a recurring performance of a dancing Rabbi waving a Torah. If you've never seen the stage show it's well worth a visit.

Kiss of the Spiderwoman
This time - not in the theatre but on the screen. Apparently this was released in Cinemas last October (2025). It seems to have had little publicity, and having watched it, I can see why. This could have been a fantastic film, but the Director / Screenwriter seems to have come up with a genius idea.

At some point during planning, someone went "Let's do the musical - but take out the music. We'll just put half the numbers in. No one will miss the rest."
"Even better - lets add some songs from the Kander and Ebb song book that aren't from the show. Oh - and lets change the story so it's completely different from the musical".

"I think, if we play this right, we can create a film musical which fans of the actual musical will hate, whilst fans of the original film and book will *also* hate because they won't understand why there are musical numbers in it!". "

Oh - and we need to modernise it. Instead of Molina just being a gay man who loves movies, lets make him actually want to be a woman and refer to him as female at the end of the show."

" I know! Instead of Valentin being a rugged revolutionary using Molina as Molina is trying to use him, lets just give him a gay epiphany instead!"

"OMG! icing on the cake! - lets underscore with tunes from the original stage show, which only fans of the original stage show will understand. What a brilliant easter egg!!".

In short - I've watched this so you don't have to. Just wait for the theatre production rumoured to be on its way this year.

 

[icowden]

i don't know if anyone reads this thread, but another review...

Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (Playhouse theatre)
This is an interesting night out. Now, first a disclaimer - I was fortunate enough to be an avid theatre goer in the 1990s and saw Cabaret at the Donmar Warehouse with Alan Cummings and Jane Horrocks at least 3 times. This was an incredible production and one of the best shows I have ever seen. So from the get go, this new production had a lot to live up to...

Due to the immersive nature of the show, instead of just rolling up to the theatre, buying your drinks and finding your seats, you are given an entrance time. You enter through the stage door and traverse the corridors as if you are entering a seedy club in Germany. A complimentary glass of something is offered on entrance - I've seen previous mentions of Schnapps. The evening I went it was a shot of whiskey - or paint stripper - not sure which. Almost no-one could actually drink it.

You pass through the basement bar with a dancer (male) and a pianist improvising to a piped background tune, and then up to the ground floor bar where there are more dancers, maybe a violinist or accordion player. The immersive part is very good. The theatre seems decadent. An interesting but controversial decision for some, is that the toilets are labelled "Cubicles" and "Cubicles + Urinals". So men and women can use the same toilets as they see fit. Plenty of women were happy to jump the huge queue for the "Cubicles" and walk past the Urinals instead...

Anyway. There are strong warnings that you should make sure that you have used the facilities prior to Act 1 as it lasts for 1 hour and 40 minutes. Yes, you read that right. Essentially lots of stuff is more drawn out (2 minutes added to Wilkommen for example to introduce the cabaret boys) and additional scenes have been added to reinforce that Cliff has had a gay affair, or possible a trans affair.

I did enjoy the show, but it is quite dark, and some of the humour and wit of the 1993 production was missing. Above all what was missing was the sexiness. The outfits are stylised but not at all sexy. The men often have bare chests, but the rest of the costume is often baggy shorts, sacking tops etc. It doesn't feel decadent. I enjoyed the casting. Our emcee was excellent. Casting is colour-blind - I felt it worked to do that for Sally (it actually gives another reason why Max might be chucking her out as the Nazi's didn't approve of black people), but less so for Cliff given the overt suggestion that Max fancies him and Max is the uber-nazi.

The rest of my family became increasingly confused through the show. The most confusing element is that in act 2 everyone starts wearing grey suits rather than swastikas, which somewhat reduces the impact.

The use of the theatre is fantastic and the staging is worth seeing, but for me, the 1993 version is still the version to see. There is a pro shot of it available on youtube for those that are interested.

So 4 stars from me.