London theatre reviews from UK newspaper the Daily Express.
A round-up of reviews from the Daily Express, covering London and West End theatre.
Caroline Jowett is Arts Editor of the Daily Express, and its theatre critics include Stefan Kyriazis and Neil Norman.
Pygmalion at the The Old Vic Theatre (2023)
★★★
"All I want is a great production of Pygmalion" "The dream team of Patsy "Streetcar" Ferran and Bertie "Matilda" Carvel…
Private Lives at the Ambassadors Theatre (2023)
"Civilised farce has creaky charm" "There are few more comforting things for theatregoers than watching two seasoned actors inhabiting roles…
Jersey Boys at the Trafalgar Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Oh What a Night! Four Seasons musical will have you Beggin' for more" (2023) "Thoroughly entertaining Frankie Valli and the…
The Crown Jewels at the Garrick Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Al Murray's King Charles is hilarious in otherwise plodding play" "The Crown Jewels review. Al Murray's King Charles II stand-up…
Ride - A New Musical at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant / Charing Cross Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Get on your bike and go!" (Charing Cross Theatre) "In 1894, Bostonian Annie Londonderry became the first woman to cycle…
Dr Semmelweis at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"A few too many bangs for your bucks" "Dr Semmelweis is set in mid-19th Century Vienna and follows a Hungarian…
Beneatha’s Place at the The Young Vic (2023)
★★★
"Imperfect but intriguing" "Though Kwame Kwei-Armah's direction of his own play is static, the satire challenges the white liberal hijacking…
The Wizard of Oz - UK & Ireland Tour at the London Palladium (2023)
★★★
"The loudest musical I have experienced in a long while" "The Wizard of Oz is rebooted by Andrew Lloyd Webber…
Crazy For You at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"Guaranteed to put a spring in your step" "Susan Stroman's direction and choreography in this dance-oriented romcom has such verve…
The Curious Case of Benjamin Button at the Southwark Playhouse Elephant (2023)
★★★★★
"This utterly beautiful, achingly emotional new musical" "Jamie Parker bewitches in the lead role" "To watch such talent is deeply…
Great Expectations at the Garrick Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Eddie, now known off-stage as Susie, brings her stagecraft and playful spirit to a one-woman adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic,…
Aspects of Love at the Lyric Theatre (2023)
★★★
"A strange and unhealthy story" "Aspects of Love theatre performance is based on David Garnett's 1955 novella." "Beautifully designed by…
Bleak Expectations at the Criterion Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Bleak Expectations has 'schoolboy surrealism and inoffensive silliness" "Based on Mark Evans’ Radio 4 parody of Charles Dickens, this is…
Brokeback Mountain at the Soho Place Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Beautiful, compelling and infinitely sad" "Sidestepping Ang Lee's movie, writer Ashley Robinson has gone back to Annie Proulx's short story…
Biscuits for Breakfast at the Hampstead Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Brilliantly directed by Tessa Walker it is effectively designed by Cecilia Carey on a traverse stage that changes from a…
The Motive and the Cue at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★
"Mark Gatiss acting saves 'this insubstantial play'" "As Burton, Johnny Flynn brings a wiry physicality and Tuppence Middleton does her…
A Little Life at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2023)
★★★★★
"A play with more than just James Norton stripping off" "A play that needs trigger warnings." "Director Ivo van Hove…
Shirley Valentine at the Duke of York's Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Sheridan Smith blossoms before our eyes" "Sheridan Smith and Shirley Valentine go together like egg and chips. Just as well,…
Medea at the @sohoplace (2023)
★★★★
"This is hardcore theatre that takes no prisoners" "Following last week's Phaedra, another Greek heroine storms the stage in the…
Standing at the Sky's Edge at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"A joyful, gritty show with fire in its heart" "A musical set on a Sheffield housing estate may not be…
Phaedra at the National Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"An amphetamine-fuelled sex farce that turns into tragedy" "The abrupt descent into emotional darkness is convincing largely due to the…
Linck & Mülhahn at the Hampstead Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Ruby Thomas’s play is a rapier-sharp historical romp" "Based on real events and characters, Ruby Thomas’s play is a rapier-sharp…
2:22 A Ghost Story at the Lyric Theatre (2023)
★★★★
"Cheryl shines in her spooky West End debut" "2:22 A Ghost Story review. Cheryl leads a first class cast in…
Alex Edelman: Just for Us at the Menier Chocolate Factory (2023)
★★★★★
"I had to check my ribcage for intercostal damage" "The tradition of Jewish stand-up comedians stretches back to Vaudeville and…
George Takei's Allegiance at the Charing Cross Theatre (2023)
★★★
"The suffering of Japanese Americans after WWII" "The dreadful treatment of Japanese Americans following the attack on Pearl Harbor is…
A Streetcar Named Desire at the Almeida Theatre (2023)
★★★
"A classic tale of dreams undone" "Tennessee Williams' play about the lonely and fearful Blanche (Patsy Ferran) who arrives in…
Watch on the Rhine at the Donmar Warehouse (2023)
★★★★
"A must-see comedy-drama that turns into something more sinister" "Lillian Hellman's 1941 play was intended as a wake-up call to…
Blackout Songs at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)
"An intoxicating journey into addiction" "Joe White's scorching new play deals with alcohol addiction" "It is also incredibly funny, until…
From Here To Eternity at the Charing Cross Theatre (2022)
"A damn fine bit of kit" "Tim Rice and Stuart Brayson's musical received a lukewarm reception on its London premiere…
Mary at the Hampstead Theatre (2022)
★★
"A 'lack of drama' and a 'swamp of tedium'" "Scottish playwright Rona Munro won several awards for her trilogy of…
Tammy Faye – A New Musical at the Almeida Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Rupert Goold’s production delivers on many fronts" "Music by Elton John, lyrics by Scissor Sisters' Jake Shears and book by…
A Single Man at the Park Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Simon Reade’s adaptation is more humane and less alienating" "Christopher Isherwood's autobiographical novel about a gay Englishman in Los Angeles…
My Neighbour Totoro at the Barbican Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"The East meets the West in a remarkable staging of a classic" "East meets West in this inventive staging of…
Good at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Not quite good enough to pierce the heart" "David Tennant represents the 'good' in CP Taylor's remarkable 1981 play." "...…
Blues For An Alabama Sky at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Slightly rambling and played by a winning ensemble" "Set in Harlem in 1930, Pearl Cleage's play is a sprightly if…
John Gabriel Borkman at the Bridge Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Ibsen’s bleakly comic drama has it all" "A banker is imprisoned for embezzlement after gambling with his clients' money to…
The Crucible at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Lyndsey Turner’s low-key approach lacks dramatic momentum" "Arthur Miller's play about the witch trials in Salem, Massachusetts, in 1692 has…
Rose at the Park Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Clever, entertaining, informative and enlightening" "Another week, another one-person show. Martin Sherman's play about the life of a Jewish woman…
Who Killed My Father at the The Young Vic (2022)
★★★★
"Hans Kesting excels in one-man show" "The title is not a question but a statement. Based on Edouard Louis' 2018…
I, Joan at the Shakespeare's Globe (2022)
★★★
"Non-binary actor Isobel Thom makes theatre history" "The Globe has made history by casting a trans actor in a lead…
Into The Woods at the Theatre Royal Bath (2022)
★★★★
"A perfect 'combination of innocence and malevolence'" "Following the jiggery-wokery that cancelled this production at The Old Vic, Bath's Theatre…
All of Us at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★
"Immaculate comic timing' but lacks 'under the weight of its ambition" "It wrongfoots us from the start. Cerebral palsy sufferer…
South Pacific at the Sadler's Wells (2022)
★★★★★
"An inventive and exhilarating thing of wonder" "CHICHESTER Theatre's production of Rodgers & Hammerstein's classic musical is a thing of…
The Great British Bake Off Musical at the Everyman Theatre Cheltenham (2022)
★★★★
"A sweet treat" "Great British Bake Off: The Musical is exactly what it says on the packet — a tried-and-tested…
The Lion The Witch And The Wardrobe at the Gillian Lynne Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"All aboard for a bewitching return to Narnia" "There is a distinct echo of Harry Potter at the start of…
Chasing Hares at the Young Vic (2022)
★★★
"A family-inspired play with 'terrific performances'" "Sonali Bhattacharyya's family-inspired play illuminates the terrible plight of factory workers in West Bengal…
Sister Act at the Eventim Apollo (2022)
★★★
"Beverley Knight is pure heaven with Jennifer Saunders in joyous musical" "Beverley Knight, Jennifer Saunders and The Greatest Showman star…
101 Dalmatians at the Regent's Park Open Air Theatre (2022)
★★★
"A long way from Disney's version" "This musical version of Dodie Smith's book finds its paws in the appropriate setting…
Jack Absolute Flies Again at the National Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"Humorous with unerring accuracy" "Aiming for a target whose coordinates lie somewhere between farce, panto and social satire, Richard Bean's…
Peaky Blinders: The Rise at the Camden Garrison (2022)
★★★★★
"'A truly unmissable experience... this is a blinder of a show'" It's a heady and head-spinning experience to be so…
Britannicus at the Lyric Hammersmith (2022)
★★★★
"Fantastic backstabbing fun with a towering central performance" "A fantastically entertaining modern dress look at the early days of Emperor…
My Fair Lady (2022)
★★★
"London's first revival in 21 years is lavish and absolutely loverly" "The smash Broadway revival brings Lerner and Loewe's classic…
Oklahoma! at the Young Vic Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"We’re only sayin’ You’re doin’ fine, Oklahoma!" "Trailing a Tony Award from Broadway, Daniel Fish's version of Rodgers & Hammerstein's…
Jerusalem at the Apollo Theatre (2022)
★★★★★
"Sensational Mark Rylance creates true magic on stage – Do not miss" " It's been 13 years since Mark Rylance…
Prima Facie at the Harold Pinter Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"Killing Eve's Jodie Comer makes an astonishing West End debut" "After impressing on the big and small screen in the…
Straight Line Crazy at the Bridge Theatre (2022)
★★★★
"A story about the man who created modern New York" "Ralph Fiennes seems to alter his entire physique to play…
Cock at the Ambassadors Theatre (2022)
★★
"Bridgerton's Jonathan Bailey and Taron Egerton star in limp sexual melodrama" "Bridgerton hunk Jonathan Bailey and Taron Egerton bring their…
Wicked at the Apollo Victoria Theatre (2021)
★★★★
"Defying Gravity after TWELVE years, this show continues to soar" "The enormous Apollo Victoria Theatre is still packing them in…
Mary Poppins at the Prince Edward Theatre (2021)
★★★★★
"Joyous show is practically perfect in every way" "In a world forced to swallow a very bitter pill over the…
The Phantom of the Opera at the Her Majesty's Theatre (2021)
★★★★
"Let the spectacle astound you" "Andrew Lloyd-Webber's classic musical is back in a sensationally polished production that rings out with…
The Snowman at the Peacock Theatre (2020)
★★★★★
"Sentimental without being slushy, The Snowman is one of the most enduring festive shows in town." "Set in a fantasy…
& Juliet at the Shaftesbury Theatre (2019)
★★★
"Ludicrously fun jukebox musical mashes up Britney, Pink and N'Sync" "Max Martin musical mashes up his greatest pop hits with…
Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat at the London Palladium (2019)
"What a joyous treat this splendid new revival is." "Somehow the show seems bigger, richer, deeper and even more ridiculous…
Come From Away - UK Tour at the Phoenix Theatre (2019)
★★★★★
"This show is a foot-stomping, heart-warming TRIUMPH" "COME FROM AWAY is a musical based on the incredible true story of…
Thriller Live at the Lyric Theatre (2009)
"A hugely enjoyable, gloriously upbeart, high energy show."
📷 Main photo: Daily Express
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