Black Power Desk reminds us that protest suppression is nothing new
Urielle Klein-Mekongo’s 1970s-set musical explores the consequences of state overreach
ByMusicals
Hamilton’s British roots
Although a paean to American history, the musical is deeply influenced by the UK’s theatrical canon
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Stereophonic: all the sex, drugs, tears and boredom of true rock ’n’ roll
Can a musical about flights of creativity survive a setting of earthbound realism?
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My preferred medium for children’s education: musical theatre
When my stepdaughters want to know where the songs I’m humming come from, the history lessons begin.
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Joshua Oppenheimer’s surreal apocalyptic musical The End
This strange film, starring Tilda Swinton, satirises our collective delusion in the face of the climate crisis.
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Wicked is a super-sized, elaborate and hip hop-influenced take on the musical
The origin story of The Wizard of Oz’s Wicked Witch of the West arrives two decades after the stage show.…
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Self Esteem: “I’ve been maturing my disgust at societal norms”
Rebecca Lucy Taylor’s hit record Prioritise Pleasure was a loud rejection of the status quo. Her next album is “a…
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Live Aid musical Just For One Day: sanctimony and second-rate songs
Here are pop stars as cherubim and seraphim. Here is Ultravox belted out as if it was the Hallelulah chorus.
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Richard Hawley Q&A: “It’s sickening what this government gets away with”
The songwriter and musician on Gretsch guitars, the benefits of failure, and hailing from a long line of NHS nurses.
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A new musical proves it – Sylvia Pankhurst is the feminist icon we need
While her mother Emmeline has traditionally been the most famous Pankhurst, the Old Vic’s new show is just the latest…
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How Burt Bacharach rewrote the rules of pop
The composer’s music was often described as “easy listening” – but it appealed alike to jazz musicians, popstars, rock bands…
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Burt Bacharach: a direct line to a lost musical world
The effect of seeing Bacharach live at the Royal Festival hall was to be hit by more top-40 songs that…
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Prince Andrew: The Musical – can you really make comedy out of anything?
Kieran Hodgson’s post-Christmas royal knees-up may be good, goofy fun, but it’s ill-suited to the sinister subject matter.
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Mandy Patinkin on Stephen Sondheim: “I got to be in the room with Shakespeare. Who gets that?”
The actor reflects on the death of the great American composer and lyricist Stephen Sondheim.
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Why Eva Perón remains a classic of queer theatre seventy years after her death
Copi and an Argentinian classic of queer theatre.
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