Critics Nick Curtis

Nick Curtis – The Evening Standard | London Theatre Critic

Selected reviews by Nick Curtis, chief theatre critic of the Evening Standard.

Nick Curtis was appointed chief theatre critic of the Evening Standard in July 2019.

Born in London, Nick began his career as an editor and theatre critic with Plays & Players magazine and Time Out before joining the Evening Standard as a reviewer, later becoming a feature writer and columnist. He was nominated for Critic of the Year by the Critics’ Circle early in his career and named Interviewer of the Year in the 2012 British Press Awards.

Nick has also written for the Times and Sunday Times, Daily and Sunday Telegraph, Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, Guardian, Observer, Independent, Radio Times, GQ, Esquire, BA High Life, Marie Claire, Red, the BBC and others.

Nick is married and lives in south London.

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Aspects of Love at the Lyric Theatre (2023)

★★
"Michael Ball twinkles but why revive this silly, creepy musical?" "The dislikeable characters and preposterous plot, despite the stylish staging,…
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A Midsummer Night's Dream at the Shakespeare's Globe (2023)

★★★★
"Elle While’s is a fresh take on the forest romp" "I’ve seen this play a hundred times, so it’s always…
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Bleak Expectations at the Criterion Theatre (2023)

★★
"Mediocre Dickens parody chunters along" "To borrow one of the show’s parodic lines: please sir, could we have some less"…
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Brokeback Mountain at the Soho Place Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"This stripped-back show is a potent, subtle piece of dramatic alchemy" "This is a gem of a show with star…
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Once On This Island at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"A Little Mermaid musical of real force and verve" "There are many stirring performances in this revival of the show…
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How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying at the Southwark Playhouse Borough (2023)

★★
"Some lost musicals should stay lost" "This musical, with its dodgy sexual politics, has been justly neglected" "Time hasn’t been…
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Biscuits for Breakfast at the Hampstead Theatre (2023)

★★
"Grim and remorseless" "After a promising start, this play ends up becoming increasingly repetitive" "Nobody expects a play about food…
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Operation Mincemeat at the Fortune Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"This gung-ho musical could be just what the West End needs" "Mincemeat the musical has wit, charm and a Eurobeat…
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August in England at the Bush Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"Lenny Henry’s Windrush play is passionate, funny and hugely affecting" "Henry can confidently add ‘playwright’ to his already polymathic CV"…
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The Motive and the Cue at the National Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"Sam Mendes’s elegant production is a love letter to theatre" "In this look at Richard Burton and Sir John Gielgud’s…
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Retrograde at the Kiln Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"Ryan Calais Cameron’s portrait of Sidney Poitier is electrifying" "Ivanno Jeremiah delivers a performance of great strength and delicacy as…
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Ain't Too Proud - The Life And Times Of The Temptations at the Prince Edward Theatre (2023)

★★★
"Temptations musical rolls out hit after Motown hit" "Compilation musicals have had a bad press, but this is a hugely…
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The Secret Life of Bees at the Almeida Theatre (2023)

★★★
"This musical adaptation is very odd, but you won’t be bored" "The Secret Life of Bees embraces many troubling tropes,…
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Dancing at Lughnasa at the National Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"A powerfully moving family portrait at a moment of change" "Even if you missed all the subtext, this show would…
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Private Lives at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)

★★
"Despite Mangan and Stirling this largely joyless revival fails to spark" "This show was clearly planned as a crowd-pleaser, a…
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A Little Life at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"James Norton gives a towering performance" "Though relentlessly bleak, this is a superb piece of theatre" "Yes, it’s almost four…
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For Black Boys Who Considered Suicide When The Hue Gets Too Heavy at the Apollo Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"Pretty wonderful" "There’s a surprising amount of joy in Ryan Calais Cameron’s play about the experience of young British black…
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Marjorie Prime at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2023)

★★★
"Anne Reid is magnificent" "Marjorie Prime offers stimulating ideas and some great acting, but it’s not a great play" "Though…
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Guys & Dolls at the Bridge Theatre (2023)

★★★★★
"Marisha Wallace is a standout in this blissful and exhilarating revival" "This near-flawless revival boasts excellent leads, astonishing choreography and…
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After the Act at the New Diorama Theatre (2023)

★★★
"Section 28 musical is engagingly scrappy and righteously angry" "It reminds us that hard-won liberties can be summarily rolled back"…
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The Great British Bake Off Musical at the Noel Coward Theatre (2023)

★★
"Half-baked" "This is low-level entertainment for the undemanding, with brainless characters and unremarkable choreography" "Jake Brunger and Pippa Cleary’s show…
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Sleepova at the Bush Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"You can’t help but fall in love with this joyous, exuberant show" "A glorious young cast brings authentic energy to…
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Shirley Valentine at the Duke of York's Theatre (2023)

★★★
"Superb Sheridan Smith breathes life into this dated play" "It’s great to see her back on stage" "Here’s a perfect…
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Oklahoma! at the Wyndham's Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"Remains a rip-snorting, foot-stamping triumph" "This reimagining of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s 1943 musical is utterly thrilling" "Believe the hype. Daniel…
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Grenfell: System Failure at the The Playground Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"Scenes from the Inquiry review: a show that fills you with rage" "This quietly devastating show feels real, and its…
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Women, Beware The Devil at the Almeida Theatre (2023)

★★★
"A wild, slippery ride" "The shape-shifting audacity of the play makes it exciting to watch, if ultimately baffling" "Well, I…
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Romeo and Julie at the National Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"An enthralling love story that asks big questions" "It’s a Sin’s Callum Scott Howells is intensely watchable in a performance…
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Trouble in Butetown at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)

★★★
"An enjoyable piece of hokum" "The title, over-neat plot and overemphatic acting recall a charming postwar British B-movie" "An illegal…
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Medea at the @sohoplace (2023)

★★★★
"A blazing Sophie Okonedo makes this spartan production a must-see" "Dominic Cooke’s staging of the Greek tragedy is gripping" "It’s…
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Sylvia at the The Old Vic Theatre (2023)

★★★
"Beverley Knight is magnificent in mixed suffragette musical" "The sheer charisma and vocal power of the leads transcend the more…
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Standing at the Sky's Edge at the National Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"A stirring musical reinforced with Sheffield steel" "Defiantly wedded to Sheffield, this uplifting musical has a universal message about community…
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Phaedra at the National Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"Janet McTeer leads a fine cast in Simon Stone’s must-see show" "A high-spec, richly-textured chamber extravaganza" "How gobsmackingly audacious, to…
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The Lehman Trilogy at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"The new cast shines in this tour de force production" "This story charting 160 years of US captialism still feels…
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Linck & Mülhahn at the Hampstead Theatre (2023)

★★
"Gimmicky and self-conscious" "The story and ideas should be compelling but the arch tone keeps the audience at arms length"…
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2:22 A Ghost Story at the Lyric Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"Cheryl delivers a dose of pure star power" "This play still compels, entertains and unnerves despite occasionally off-key performances" "But…
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Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"Aidan Turner and Jenna Coleman make this a bittersweet pleasure" "Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons is a sad love story…
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Noises Off at the Phoenix Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"Meticulously plotted and as blissfully funny as ever" "This peerless farce-within-a-farce has lost none of its freshness" "Forty-one years on,…
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The Unfriend at the Criterion Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"Mark Gatiss and Steven Moffat give us a riotous bit of fun" "An uproarious comedy of English embarrassment" "What a…
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Alex Edelman: Just for Us at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2023)

★★★★
"Brilliantly, intricately funny" "Edelman is a compelling, super-energetic performer, witheringly smart and laceratingly self-critical, expertly cranking and relaxing the throttle…
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George Takei's Allegiance at the Charing Cross Theatre (2023)

★★★
"It’s great to see the Star Trek icon in London" "The show throws light on a slice of neglected history"…
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A Streetcar Named Desire at the Almeida Theatre (2023)

★★★★
"Paul Mescal is horribly good and Patsy Ferran is astonishing" "With this revival Frecknall proves herself again to be a…
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On The Ropes at the Park Theatre (2023)

★★★
"A story worth telling, but no knockout" "the stylistic flourishes of Anastasia Osei-Kuffour’s production – staged, naturally, in a boxing…
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Watch on the Rhine at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)

★★★
"Movingly acted but the play feels like a museum piece" "A handsomly mounted production and Lillian Hellman’s play has a…
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As You Like It at the @sohoplace (2022)

★★★★
"A rich and beautiful staging full of music and charm" Rourke seems instinctively to have understood the demands and opportunities…
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Dolly Parton’s Smoky Mountain Christmas Carol at the Queen Elizabeth Hall, Southbank Centre (2022)

★★★
"Carried with glee and gusto" "There are great numbers here, from the revivalist Hell to the sweetly simple Three Candles."…
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Sons of the Prophet at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)

★★
"This queasy tragicomedy drags" "The characters are self-consciously quirky, the situations forced, the wit overdone" "Sons of the Prophet is,…
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Mandela at the The Young Vic (2022)

★★★★
"A storming celebration of the human spirit" "When the entire cast is in full, roaring voice it’s overwhelming" "This musical…
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Kerry Jackson at the National Theatre (2022)

★★★
"Fay Ripley’s new show is a very odd but enjoyable romp" "Imagine the sitcom Miranda, but with prejudice, politics and…
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Hex at the National Theatre (2022)

★★
"This chaotic Sleeping Beauty spin off is cursed" "The first half of Tanya Ronder’s book seems desperate to sanitise the…
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Orlando at the Garrick Theatre (2022)

★★★
"Emma Corrin is captivating in this bold, tricksy experiment" "Corrin anchors the show but it never feels like the emotional…
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Othello at the National Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"Giles Terera shines in this powerful, brutal staging" "Giles Terera is a superb and mercurial actor, one of our finest.…
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Best of Enemies at the Noel Coward Theatre (2022)

★★★★★
"James Graham’s play is as searingly insightful as ever" "This look at the corruption of modern political discourse is dynamic…
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Henry V at the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse (2022)

★★★★
"Fresh, vivid and intense" "This stripped back production speaks with new and unusual clarity" "This drastically edited, dramatically stripped back…
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Elf The Musical at the Dominion Theatre (2022)

★★
"Not good for the elf" "A disappointing start to London’s Christmas theatre season" "This is an Elf warning: Elf the…
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Vardy v Rooney: The Wagatha Christie Trial at the Wyndham's Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"Hilarious and gripping" "An excellent take on a contemporary media circus" "Well, the team played a blinder. Writer Liv Hennessy…
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The Sex Party at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2022)

★★
"This scattershot comedy is a bad joke" "Terry Johnson’s play sounds like a bad joke and it is: a scattershot…
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Blackout Songs at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)

★★
"This exploration of alcoholism is a frustrating mixed bag" "The writing is intelligent, the performances strong, but the characters’ lack…
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Super High Resolution at the Soho Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"Hard hitting and important tale about the state of the NHS" "Jasmine Blackborow stands out in this story of a…
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Mary at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)

★★
"Rona Munro’s queen’s tale utterly fails to spark" "This play about Mary Stuart draws juicy contemporary parallels but this talky…
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Elephant at the Bush Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"A teasing, provoking pleasure" "Anoushka Lucas packs a lot into her wittily probing show" "A coming-of-age drama, a critique of…
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Tammy Faye – A New Musical at the Almeida Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"Praise be, it’s a religious riot" "This musical is a carnivalesque takedown of something rotten" "Katie Brayben plays the titular…
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My Son’s A Queer, (But What Can You Do?) at the Garrick Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"A joyful love letter to self-expression" "A charming work that strikes a deep chord" "It’s a joyful love letter to…
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@sohoplace at the @sohoplace (2022)

"As for @sohoplace (still a terrible name), the auditorium is pristine and lovely, the building clearly user-friendly and porous in…
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Marvellous at the @sohoplace (2022)

★★★★
"Anarchic and celebratory show is a bold opening for new West End theatre" "Exuberant production wins the audience over with…
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My Neighbour Totoro at the Barbican Theatre (2022)

★★★
"It’s easier to admire this Studio Ghibli adaptation than love it" "This show transposes the off-key weirdness of the original,…
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Good at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"David Tennant is chillingly plausible" "This stark play is an important rather than an enjoyable watch" "David Tennant is chillingly…
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The Doctor at the Duke of York's Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"Juliet Stevenson is at the top of her game" "A very potent evening in the theatre" "No play in the…
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The Upstart Crow at the Apollo Theatre (2022)

★★★
"David Mitchell is the draw in this hectic sitcom spin-off" "A vehicle for panto acting and a machine-gun barrage of…
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The Band's Visit at the Donmar Warehouse (2022)

★★★★
"The humane spirit of this show is irresistible" "The production thrillingly blends Middle Eastern and Western musical traditions" "Israeli townsfolk…
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The Boy with Two Hearts at the National Theatre (2022)

★★★
"Lively and warm refugee tale" "A story of humanity, humour and goodwill" "This account of one family’s escape from Afghanistan…
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Blues For An Alabama Sky at the National Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"Deliciously funny and deeply affecting" "Lynette Linton’s beautiful, light-footed production is a bittersweet delight" "These characters’ dreams of freedom –…
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Iphigenia in Splott at the Lyric Hammersmith (2022)

★★★★
"Sophie Melville is extraordinary" "The play, with its urgent message about deprivation, is made by Melville’s savagely moving performance" "Sophie…
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John Gabriel Borkman at the Bridge Theatre (2022)

★★
"This unsympathetic Ibsen is hard going" "The three central performances are focused and intense, but even Simon Russell Beale can’t…
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Jews. In Their Own Words at the Royal Court (2022)

★★
"No-one who needs to see this will actually go" "This muddled act of public atonement on the part of the…
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The Crucible at the National Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"Erin Doherty lights up the stage in this fresh revival" "Lyndsey Turner’s production of a bona fide classic rolls over…
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Eureka Day at the The Old Vic (2022)

★★★★
"Helen Hunt superbly is understated in her London debut" "The Oscar-winning actress has chosen a collegiate unstarry vehicle where the…
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The Wonderful World of Dissocia at the Theatre Royal Stratford East (2022)

★★★★
"Deliciously free, bordering on random" "This play of two halves offers witty jokes and a profound second act" "A profane,…
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The Two Popes at the The Rose Kingston & UK Tour (2022)

★★
"This tale of two pontiffs is decidedly undivine" "The script leaves little room for nuance in this old-fashioned piece of…
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Handbagged at the Kiln Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"History repeats itself in this imagining of the Queen and Thatcher" "This long-planned revival finds itself carrying even more posthumous…
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The Snail House at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)

★★
"Richard Eyre’s long-awaited debut play sorely disappoints" "Eyre is truly one of the great and the good, a shaper and…
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I, Joan at the Shakespeare's Globe (2022)

★★★★
" Joyful and unifying, this could be something of a game-changer" "Charlie Josephine’s play is too subtle for a hot…
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All of Us at the National Theatre (2022)

★★★
"A compelling, rage-filled portrait of disabled life under austerity" "Illuminating and sporadically witty look at being disabled in Tory Britain"…
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South Pacific at the Sadler's Wells (2022)

★★★★
"Barely puts a foot, or a note, wrong" "This revelatory production celebrates the lush score and clarifies the script’s attitude…
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The Tempest at the Shakespeare's Glob (2022)

★★★★
"Some rough edges but a sunny delight" "Even Shakespeare is not immune to the Love Island aesthetic" "Though stylised throughout,…
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The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2022)

★★
"Ponderously slow and woefully short on magic" "The charms of this small-stage production evaporate in the West End" "Samantha Womack…
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Sister Act at the Eventim Apollo (2022)

★★★
"Beverley Knight’s star power lifts hodgepodge of a show" "This musical adaptation has warmth, joyous moments and flashes of wit,…
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101 Dalmatians at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"You’d be barking to miss it" "Douglas Hodge’s version of the classic tale based on Zinnie Harris’s earlier adaptation is…
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Jack Absolute Flies Again at the National Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"Uproarious mix of filth, derring-do and romance" "Updating Sheridan’s The Rivals to the Second World War brings the same ungoverned…
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Much Ado About Nothing at the National Theatre (2022)

★★
"Sorely disappointing. It’s not a bad show, just ponderous and hollow" "Not even the combined talents of Katherine Parkinson and…
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Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"A glorious, glittering frippery of precision-tooled escapism" "Thank goodness: this scintillating, toe-tapping, wisecracking Cole Porter musical from 1934 is back…
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Patriots at the Almeida Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"Witty, thrilling battle of political wills" "Rupert Goold’s witty production about the oligarch who arguably created Putin and was then…
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That Is Not Who I Am at the Royal Court Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"‘Dave Davidson’ play is enjoyably slippery" "Weird marketing ploys aside, this play on the ambiguity of truth is pleasingly hard…
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Jitney at the Old Vic Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"Tinuke Craig’s production of August Wilson’s classic fairly crackles" "Superb performances drive this thrilling slice of history that resonates powerfully…
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Tony! [The Tony Blair Rock Opera] at the Park Theatre (2022)

★★
"Slapdash New Labour musical feels like a student drama group spoof" "Harry Hill’s musical spoof about Britain’s most successful –…
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Britannicus at the Lyric Hammersmith (2022)

★★
"Rarely revived for evident good reason" "Some decent performances can’t drag any contemporary relevance out of this talky French classic"…
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The Glass Menagerie at the Duke of York's Theatre (2022)

★★
"Adams’ West End debut is muted and unconvincing" "Jeremy Herrin’s non-naturalistic staging emphasises the radicalism of Williams’s play when it…
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Legally Blonde The Musical at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (2022)

★★★
"A fizzy, fun musical night out reinvented for 2022" "This fizzy, fun, candyfloss-pink musical night out carries a message of…
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The House of Shades at the Almeida Theatre (2022)

★★
"Anne-Marie Duff can’t save this baggy production" "Beth Steel’s much-anticipated, much-delayed play is a confused mix of family saga, melodrama…
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My Fair Lady  (2022)

★★★★
"Fresh and sparky, with a bona fide star in Amara Okereke" "Bartlett Sher’s production repackages this witty, well-crafted piece of…
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Grease at the Dominion Theatre (2022)

★★
"It’s not the one that I want" "Grim is the word. This version of the beloved 50s-set high school musical…
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Oklahoma! at the Young Vic Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"Stripped back version is the best revival yet" "After triumphing at the Tonys, this pared-back production comes to London" "A…
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Jerusalem at the Apollo Theatre (2022)

★★★★★
"13 years on, time has only deepened Jez Butterworth’s modern classic" "You could watch Rylance’s performance every night and still…
The Evening Standard
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Prima Facie at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"Jodie Comer is better than we’ve ever seen her in West End debut" "The Killing Eve star is what we’re…
The Evening Standard
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Punchdrunk: The Burnt City at the One Cartridge Place (2022)

★★★★
"Punchdrunk’s return is simply astonishing" "Punchdrunk’s first major venture in London for eight years, inspired by the Trojan War, will…
The Evening Standard
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Scandaltown at the Lyric Hammersmith (2022)

★★
"Mike Bartlett’s social pastiche is showy but insubstantial" "This contemporary Restoration comedy is one of Bartlett’s sketchier works" "It’s laugh-out-loud…
The Evening Standard
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Zorro The Musical at the Charing Cross Theatre (2022)

"Zorro? More like zero" "This spoofy, wrong-headed version of the story of dashing vigilante Zorro should never have got this…
The Evening Standard
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The 47th at the The Old Vic (2022)

★★★
"A hideously transformative turn from Bertie Carvel as Trump" "Mike Bartlett’s blank-verse drama about Trump running for president (again) is…
The Evening Standard
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Anyone Can Whistle at the Southwark Playhouse (2022)

"Oafish production justifies the neglect of this Sondheim musical" "Unless you’re a bereaved Sondheim completist, give this dud a full…
The Evening Standard
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To Kill A Mockingbird at the Gielgud Theatre (2022)

★★★★★
"All rise for this powerfully uplifting theatrical event" "Rafe Spall brings a vitality to the role of Atticus Finch in…
The Evening Standard
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Straight Line Crazy at the Bridge Theatre (2022)

★★★
"Ralph Fiennes taps into his inner Pacino" "David Hare’s play about New York city planner Robert Moses doesn’t represent the…
The Evening Standard
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The Human Voice at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)

★★
"Ruth Wilson shouldn’t have answered the phone to Ivo van Hove" "Not even Ruth Wilson’s limpid talent can breathe life…
The Evening Standard
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Cock at the Ambassadors Theatre (2022)

★★★★
"Taron Egerton and Jonathan Bailey star in stylish revival about sex and self-identity" "Mike Bartlett’s Cock gets the, um, sensitive…
The Evening Standard
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The Collaboration at the The Young Vic (2022)

★★★★
"Gee, wow - Basquiat and Warhol play brings fireworks to the stage" "Paul Bettany and Jeremy Pope match each other…
The Evening Standard
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Moulin Rouge! The Musical at the Piccadilly Theatre (2022)

★★★
"The big numbers are ravishing" "Alex Timbers’ production excels when it seduces the eye, not the mind or the heart:…
The Evening Standard
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Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club (Playhouse Theatre) (2021)

★★★★★
"Eddie Redmayne and Jessie Buckley dazzle in a transformative show" "Wow. Rebecca Frecknall’s new revival of Kander and Ebb’s musical…
The Evening Standard
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Best of Enemies at the The Young Vic (2021)

★★★★
"Dynamic new play from James Graham deals in arresting ideas" "James Graham traces the culture wars back to a series…
The Evening Standard
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The Book of Dust at the Bridge Theatre (2021)

★★★
"A galloping adventure of wonder and confusion" "Philip Pullman’s prequel to His Dark Materials makes for a breathlessly hectic jumble…
The Evening Standard
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The Ocean at the End of the Lane at the Duke of York's Theatre (2021)

★★★★
"Magic in the West End" "It’s a lovely, heartfelt show with a surging narrative thrust, a macabre undertow and some…
The Evening Standard
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Back to the Future at the Adelphi Theatre (2021)

"A near-seamless slice of escapist entertainment... Even the time machine’s a triumph in this larky musical version of the 1985…
The Evening Standard
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Frozen The Musical at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane (2021)

★★★
"This long-awaited West End stage version feels lukewarm" "The themes of empowerment and acceptance remain strong but the story was…
The Evening Standard
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Cinderella at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2021)

★★★★
"Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new take is a hilarious triumph" "Laurence Connor’s production mixes panto-style archness with professional West End glitz…
The Evening Standard
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Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward Theatre (2021)

★★★★
"A spoonful of sugar is just what we need right now" "The blockbuster revival of the 2004 Mary Poppins musical…
The Evening Standard
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Anything Goes at the Barbican Theatre (2021)

★★★★★
"You’ll get a kick out of this dazzling Cole Porter revival" "Tony Award winner Sutton Foster shines in this terrific…
The Evening Standard
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Les Miserables at the Sondheim Theatre (2020)

★★★★
"Revamped musical opens at London's Sondheim Theatre with added grit" "All in all, Les Mis and the refurbished Sondheim feel…
The Evening Standard
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Cirque Du Soleil - Luzia at the Royal Albert Hall (2020)

★★★★
"Cirque du Soleil’s ability to frame boggling physical feats against images of great beauty proves undimmed in their 30th year…
The Evening Standard
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Magic Goes Wrong at the Vaudeville Theatre (2020)

★★★
"Forget subtlety — it’s all about the bants" "Many of the illusions remain deeply impressive even when exposed. Otherwise it’s…
The Evening Standard
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Cyrano de Bergerac at the Playhouse Theatre (2019)

★★★★★
"James McAvoy gives a stunningly powerful performance in this piece of pure theatre, the most breathtakingly exciting show in London…
The Evening Standard
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& Juliet at the Shaftesbury Theatre (2019)

★★★★
"Camp and unsubtle but this glittery fever dream of a musical shines" "The plot and message of female empowerment are…
The Evening Standard
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DEAR EVAN HANSEN at the Noel Coward Theatre (2019)

★★★
"Sam Tutty shines in bold Broadway musical export that mines new terrain" "There’s a reason why Broadway critics and audiences…
The Evening Standard
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Groan Ups at the Vaudeville Theatre (2019)

★★
"Overwhelmed by frantic histrionics and bawling, it felt like being in detention" “What’s worse than a stage full of screaming…
The Evening Standard
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Lungs at the The Old Vic (2019)

★★★★
"Matt Smith and a luminous, mercurial Claire Foy give tour de force performances" “Duncan Macmillan’s play couldn’t be further from…
The Evening Standard
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A Day In The Death Of Joe Egg at the Trafalgar Theatre (2019)

★★★★
"Pin-sharp revival is as heartbreaking and funny as ever" "Peter Nichols’s play...remains heartbreaking and savagely funny today." "Simon Evans’s pin-sharp…
The Evening Standard
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Solaris at the Lyric Hammersmith (2019)

★★★★
"Existential angst and visits from the dead in riveting sci-fi play" “Deeply thoughtful story of space exploration” “Greig and director…
The Evening Standard
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Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium (2019)

★★★★
"Laurence Connor breathes zesty new life into those potent, familiar songs" "Director Laurence Connor breathes zesty new life into those…
The Evening Standard
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📷 Main photo: Critics - Nick Curtis

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