Review – Sweet Charity, Donmar Warehouse

Hurrah. At last. A proper musical.

Some of us are old enough to remember that 1966 was not only the year of a particular World Cup but also when Sweet Charity emerged. Those were the days, when people really knew what a hummable tune was.

Can you imagine Come From Away or especially Fun Home winning Olivier Awards and Tony Awards five decades ago? No, we can’t either. And Dear Evan Hansen may be fabulously tune-filled but at the prices it’s charging we will probably never know. Don’t be fooled that the “Dear” of the title is just a form of address. We’d welcome a little less ambiguity and suggest they call it Expensive Evan Hansen.

But we digress. This is a show which positively aches with catchy numbers in Cy Coleman‘s music (enhanced by and Dorothy Fields‘ lyrics) – “Big Spender”, “If My Friends Could See Me Now”, “There’s Gotta Be Something Better Than This”, “I’m A Brass Band” and “I Love To Cry At Weddings”.

Review – Treasure Island, National Theatre

There’s a wonderful moment – a maritime take on Hitchcock’s Rear Window – in Treasure Island where a cross section of the Hispaniola rises up through the stage revealing various rooms and cabins of the ship. It’s a wonder the audience didn’t applaud.

Money has been splurged on this year’s Christmas show at the National. Lizzie Clachan’s deliciously complicated designs require full use of the Olivier’s drum revolve and there’s an clever take on Long John Silver’s leg, plus an impressive animatronic parrot. But that’s pretty much all the good news from Phil.

Review – Our Boys, Duchess Theatre

“Ok, so let me get this straight” fretted Phil as he wrestled to grasp clarity from Andrew over the casting of the military hospital-based play Our Boys.

“The one who lost his toes was in Doctor Who and the one who’d been circumcised was in Harry Potter,” came the barely disguised impatient response.

Phil was up to speed on Laurence Fox. He’s the one in that John Thaw spin-off thingy, married Billie Piper and is the son of James Fox (or perhaps Edward Fox if you saw Lorraine Kelly’s interview on Day-Glo Daybreak which became even more watch-through-your-fingers excruciating as LK exacerbated for her paternity gaff with profuse over-apologising).

Casting settled then and an explanation for the bevy of post-show lurkers at the Duchess Theatre’s stage door: apparently at least half the cast can boast something of a following.