Soho Cinders – REVIEW

Soho Cinders

Charing Cross Theatre, London

 

Reviewed by Katie Middlebrook

Seen October 29th, 2019

★★★★★

You Shall Go To The Ball!

Soho Cinders is a musical, loosely based on the story of Cinderella. It has music by George Stiles and lyrics by Anthony Drewe with Elliot Davis as co-author. The action is based in the heart of London in Soho. The musical first showcased in 2008, followed by a gala concert in 2011. The soundtrack was also then released in 2011.

Soho Cinders is a modern musical which mixes politics and true love in a story about a boy called Robbie. Robbie is in the midst of running his late mother’s laundrette, paying for rent to his two ugly-step sisters and becoming romantically involved with the engaged mayoral candidate, James Prince. James and Robbie’s worlds collide, forcing them to fight for their true love and happy ending in this hilarious twist on the classic Cinderella story. The Charing Cross theatre is currently holding the most recent rendition of Soho Cinders. 

The show opens with the fun upbeat number ‘Old Compton Street’. This song is full of dance breaks, harmonies throughout and a chance to see all of the characters and get an introduction to the storyline. This is also where we first meet our Cinderella character who is played by Luke Bayer. 

Luke plays Robbie who is our leading man in the show. Luke has played a leading role before as the alternate Jamie in Everybody’s Talking About Jamie and he definitely does not disappoint in this new role. The emotion and energy Luke puts into every song he sings is breathe-taking. The score of this show is quite poppy and definitely fits Luke’s voice very well. His acting and comedy value comes across so easily, you are rooting for him to have the happy ending he deserves by the end of the show.

The second song in the show is a song called ‘Wishing For The Normal’, which is sung by Robbie and best friend Velcro who is played by Millie O’Connell. This song shows the beautiful friendship Robbie and Velcro have. Luke and Millie bounce off each other when they are on stage together, the chemistry has you constantly smiling and laughing at the banter Robbie and Velcro have with each other. 

The score of the show is very catchy, I came out singing the songs over and over again. Two songs definitely stood out as my favourites. The first being ‘They Don’t Make Glass Slippers’ which comes at a very poignant moment in the show. It is sung by Luke and really show cases his beautiful vocal rang and the emotion he shows when performing. The second song is ‘You Shall Go To The Ball’ which is the last song in Act one. It is a fun dance number where you see multiple of the different storylines moulding into one. 

Act one ends with ‘You Shall Go To The Ball’ and leaves everyone singing the catchy song in the interval. The first act ends with a big cliff hanger which leaves you wanting to find out what happens next.

A highlight of the show for me was definitely the two stepsisters. There comedy throughout the show is absolutely hilarious it left the audience in stitches. They have two duets together, but my favourite definitely has to be ‘I’m So Over Men’. The stepsisters are played by Michaela Stern and Natalie Harman. Michaela is also co-producing the show along with Will Keith and Kyle Tovey.

The show ends with a very catchy curtain call which has you foot tapping or even up on your feet dancing along with the cast as they have a ball on stage. 

Soho Cinders is on at The Charing Cross Theatre until December 21st. Do not miss out on this spectacular show! It is not one you want to miss.

Time to see Glengarry Glen Ross

We are now approaching the final week of Glengarry Glen Ross showing at the Playhouse Theatre and if you haven’t seen this one, I would highly recommend it.

This isn’t a review of the show as I think that my opinion may be slightly bias with the number of times I have seen it.

For those of you not familiar with the show here is a little bit about it: The real estate industry can be brutal. In a tiny office in Chicago four salesmen are becoming increasingly desperate to secure leads and earn their commission. So desperate in fact they would do anything to make it happen. Everyone has the same goal: close the deal.

This is a fast pace show which takes drastic turns. I love listening to the audience’s reactions.

Considering I watch it practically every night I still laugh at the witty script. It is so quick. If I am completely honest the script won’t be for everyone. There is strong language throughout and some use of the ‘C’ word. This aside the cast are fabulous and keep it fresh and engaging. I absolutely love the chemistry on stage. Especially the way in which Stanley Townsend (Shelly Levene) and Christian Slater (Ricky Roma) bounce off of each other during act 2.

This is definitely one to see before the show closes on February 3rd. Tickets and information about the show can be found here: http://www.atgtickets.com/shows/glengarry-glen-ross/playhouse-theatre/#showinfotabs=showtimes

Be sure to grab your tickets fast as this show is selling like hot cakes in it’s final week!

The Woman in White – REVIEW

The Woman in White

Charing Cross Theatre, London

 

Seen on December 14th, 2017

Reviewed by Jade Prince

★★★★

Another love story focusing on betrayal and greed and a secret that needs revealing. This eerily beautiful musical follows Walter Hartwright (Ashley Stillburn) as he endeavours to find out this mysterious secret after a strange encounter with the ‘woman in white’ on his travels. A simple work trip to become an in-house drawing master to half-sisters Laura Fairlie (Anna O’Bryne) and Marian Halcombe (Carolyn Maitland) turns into something more chilling.

Right off the bat this show was pretty slow to start with but thankfully the pace picked up halfway through act 1. I went into this show not knowing anything of the story. This is a Webber musical/Charlotte Jones book I have never delved into. At the interval I felt that it was very predictable both lyrically and with the story. Having seen the complete show now I still stand by what I said about the predictability of the lyrics but the story took a lovely turn.

It took a while for the show to captivate me however once it did it was beautiful. I have to be truly honest, the majority of the music didn’t do much for me. A small portion of the numbers were very nice especially when the three voices of Carolyn Maitland, Anna O’Bryne and Sophie Reeves (Anne Catherick) came together. Their voices alone were stunning.

The set was really nice and I loved the way the woman in white could just appear in the middle of the stage. This added even more to the uncertainty and chilling feel. For those who were not familiar with the story (me!) it raised the question, “is she really a ghost?”. Something my attention was drawn to (now this is me being very nit-picky) was the way the costumes were lacking in detail. For the time period they seemed very drab.

The whole cast were very strong regardless of age. The standout performer had to be Sophie Reeves (Anne Catherick). Her performance was stunning and she fit the character to a T. Vocally and visually she was mesmerising.

Overall, I did enjoy the show and I highly recommend it. The Woman in White has a very limited run at Charing Cross Theatre so be sure to grab tickets sooner rather than later! More information and tickets can be found at: http://thewomaninwhite.co.uk/ 

The show is booking until February 10th, 2018.