The London Theatre Review

Profane rockstars, metaphorical elephants and childish innuendoes - don't say we don't bring the variety on LTR. This week, with Mr Clark away, producer Tim steps in to review Just For One Day the Live Aid musical at the Shaftesbury Theatre alongside Nick and Nancy, as well as Miss Myrtle's Garden at the Bush Theatre. Nick also chats to the very multi-talented Anoushka Lucas - blowaway star of 'sexy' Oklahoma! and Jesus Christ Superstar - whose debut play Elephant is back on the London stage at the Menier Chocolate Factory after two sellout runs at the Bush Theatre.

This week the gang review Fiddler on the Roof at the Barbican, The Comedy About Spies at the Noel Coward, and Nick Curtis chats to Heartstopper's Corinna Brown about starring the new production of Malorie Blackman's Noughts and Crosses at the Open Air Theatre.

Imelda Staunton and Bessie Carter (from Bridgerton) take to the stage together in George Bernard Shaw's play Mrs Warren's Profession? How do mother and daughter fare playing mother and daughter? Nick Curtis, Nancy Durrant and Tim Bano review the production at the Garrick Theatre. Plus they head to the Royal Court to see After the Act, a musical about Section 28 which banned the 'promotion of homosexuality' in schools and local authorities. And the lovely John O'Farrell has a chat with Nick about his huge musical successes including Mrs Doubtfire which has just closed, the Live Aid musical Just For One Day which is about to open, and Something Rotten which will finally have its UK premiere next year.

A cornucopia of corn puns awaits as the gang review hit Broadway musical Shucked! at Regent's Park Open Air Theatre, and Slow Horses star Jack Lowden reprises his role in David Ireland's Alcoholics Anonymous play The Fifth Step alongside Martin Freeman. Plus, Kevin McHale, best known for his role as Artie in hit musical TV series Glee, talks to Nick Curtis about playing the assistant to a Greek god in Stephen Sondheim's weird and wonderful musical The Frogs at Southwark Playhouse.

For the last time ever, it's a brand new musical from Stephen Sondheim. Here We Are has just opened at the National Theatre, the show Sondheim was working on for almost a decade, and which he finished with writer David Ives and director Joe Mantello just before he died in 2021. Nick, Nick and Nancy give their verdict on the absurdist plight of rich Americans trying to get brunch. Plus, Nick Clark has a chat with Sondheim's biographer David Benedict about who Sondheim was, and why he matters. The brilliant Beverley Knight natters to Nick Curtis about playing the godmother of rock and roll Sister Rosetta Tharpe in new play Marie and Rosetta.And the gang review Ava Pickett's debut play 1536 at the Almeida Theatre in which three ordinary Tudor women find out about the death of Anne Boleyn. Plus we have five questions for Stella Powell-Jones, artistic director of Jermyn Street Theatre.

After a lovely break, thanks for asking, the gang have taken their seats in the stalls once again to bring you the best (and sometimes the less than best) that London theatre has to offer. To kick off the new season, it's a Roald Dahl special as Nick, Nick and Nancy review Giant in the West End, an award-winning play starring John Lithgow as Dahl which looks at the fallout of an antisemitic book review written by the children's author. The play's writer Mark Rosenblatt also talks to Nick Curtis about why he chose this highly charged subject, and what it's been like to win so many awards for his first ever play. And Ewan McGregor returns to the stage for the first time in 17 years in a new play called My Master Builder, based on Ibsen's The Master Builder, by Lila Raicek. He's made his name playing louche Parisian artists, drug addicts and Jedi Knights. How does he fare in his toughest role yet: arrogant architect? Tell us what you've been seeing by emailing thelondontheatrereview@gmail.com or following us on Insta @thelondontheatrereview.

We've reached the end of the second season, and to celebrate we're dropping a day early with a bumper Olivers special edition so that you can listen to this episode before the Olivier Awards ceremony on Sunday 6th April. As well as insight, analysis and predictions from Nancy and the Nicks, we've also got a chat with special guest THE Billy Porter talking about what we can expect as he co-hosts the awards on Sunday night (there will be singing and there will be outrageous costumes), as well as his role in Cabaret At The Kit Kat Club in which he's playing the Emcee alongside Marisha Wallace as Sally Bowles. Marisha drops in too to talk to Nick Curtis. As if that weren't enough the gang have also been out reviewing, and this week they give their views on Eugene Ionesco's absurd play Rhinoceros, being revived at the Almeida, in which everyone turns into rhinoceroses, and John Donnelly's vampire drama Apex Predator at Hampstead Theatre. We'll be back in a few weeks for season three, but in the meantime thanks to our sponsor Art of London - visit artoflondon.co.uk to find information and tips about the latest plays, exhibitions, and other cultural events in London, as well as places to eat, drink and shop. Get in touch with us by emailing thelondontheatrereview@gmail.com or by following us on Instagram @thelondontheatrereview......and see you in season three!

The warm, wise and completely wonderful Julie Hesmondhalgh talks to Nancy about playing Joan Scourfield, the woman whose son was killed with a single punch in 2011, in James Graham's incredibly moving play Punch.And the smell of whiskey and cigar smoke hang in the air as the gang give their views on the West End transfer of Ryan Calais Cameron's play Retrograde, a snappy period thriller in which the actor Sidney Poitier meets a TV lawyer in an office in 1950s New York and is asked to denounce his friends. (If you want to hear about what it takes to step into Poitier's shoes, you can listen to LTR's interview with the man playing him, Ivanno Jeremiah, in Episode 9). They also take in Azuka Oforka's unflinching debut play The Women of Llanrumney at Theatre Royal Stratford East.Thanks to Art of London for sponsoring the podcast. Visit artoflondon.co.uk for inspiration about brilliant things to do in London. And if you want to get in touch with the LTR team, email us thelondontheatrereview@gmail.com or follow us on Insta @thelondontheatrereview.

Another iconic 90s movie gets the musical treatment as KT Tunstall and Amy Heckerling turn Clueless into a stage show. Nancy and the Nicks review. And there have been more than 200 adaptations of Bram Stoker's Dracula - but there's always room for one more. The gang visit high-camp comedy Dracula: A Comedy Of Terrors at the Menier Chocolate Factory. Plus, Nancy talks to Tom Burke, currently playing Trigorin in The Seagull at the Barbican.Thanks to Art of London for sponsoring the podcast. Find out about brilliant things to do in London at artoflondon.co.uk.And drop us a line at thelondontheatrereview@gmail.com or follow us on Insta @thelondontheatrereview.