‘But I feel what’s to happen all happened before’. It was 1964 when Dick Van Dyke sung those famous lines as Bert the chimney sweep. 54 years later, that line could have been applied the long awaited, and perhaps massively overdue 2018 sequel Mary Poppins Returns. A new story with familiar characters and elements we all loved in the original as we return to Cherry Tree Lane with the magical, wonderful nanny. Michael Banks (Ben Whishaw) is all grown up, with three young childr

Oh, the ordinary life of Buck Creek, wooden cabin village in the shadows of the Smokey mountains, all harvest moon celebrations, couples chosen and promised to each other by their parents and there’s silver in them there mountains. Quaint, simple, and oozing with superstition. There’s a rumour of strange magical beings in the mountains, and a story from long ago of a mountain man with magic and exceptional guitar skills coming into town. Barbara Allen (Lauren Jones) doesn’t w

The story of little orphan Annie is one that many of us have grown up with and if you are of a similar age to me (1995 babies raise your hand), the 1999 film adaptation by Disney may have been your first introduction to the famously optimistic little redhead. Personally, I remember watching this a lot as a kid. Annie, played by Alicia Morton, is determined to find her parents and get away from the horrible orphanage she currently calls home. When she is incited to spend Chris

Do you remember the days of being a teenager when music and the pop area you loved meant so much more than you could ever imagine now? Do you remember rushing home to watch Top of the Pops, or turning up the volume in attempt to block out everything that is happening around you? Do you remember the friendships built on that adoration of that one band you loved more than anything? That was Rachel, Claire, Debbie, Heather and Zoe, and their love of The Boys, with Greatest Days

A world where chocolate possesses the power to give you confidence, provide a much needed silver lining, make you fly and turn your day into a Broadway show sounds like a pretty good place to be and that is the world of Willy Wonka in this sweet and charming musical prequel showing the days of the chocolate inventor before his famous factory. Here we meet young Willy (Timothée Chalamet) arriving in town in the hope of setting up his very own chocolate shop. But his hat full o

They say that two wrongs don't make a right, but when it comes to one particular West End mainstay, it turns out that in this case wrong after wrong after wrong can make a right. So right in fact that The Play That Goes Wrong has been running for 11 years and has recently welcomed its 13th cast to Haversham Manor. The glistening flagship show of the Mischief Comedy empire, The Play That Goes Wrong introduces us to Cornley Drama Society as they attempt to stage The Murder at H

Come what may. You never know what could happen on any given day. You don't know exactly where life and fate are going to take you. And you never know how a simple misunderstanding could change everything. Now well into its fourth year on the West End, Moulin Rouge continues to greatly impress and delight as it swings open the doors to the iconic Parisian club and throws us headfirst into the romance, the chaos, the secrecy and the showbiz lifestyle of stars, dukes, businessm

When the world first saw War Horse Joey stride across the stage nearly 20 years ago, it felt like we had never seen anything like him before. Puppeteered by three skilled artists, Joey was brought to life with care and emotion as we see witnessed an animal character take centre stage as a lead role in his own story. And he took the world by storm. And even now, it is still as breathtaking, Joey is still awe inspiring and the story of the bond between boy and beast is just as

Reading the stories of Roald Dahl is a rite of passage in childhood, and for most, these clever, adventurous and, at times, naughty, stories have a way of staying with you. The Twits could be lurking in a dark corner of your memory, the chocolate factory could linker and worm its way in like the rhymes of the Oompa Loompa's, and Matilda could spring to mind whenever you wander around a book shop. These characters are iconic and their stories have stood the test of time, and i

Little orphan Annie famously sings her heart out with 'The sun will come out tomorrow', and here we are in a heatwave where we can currently say with some certainty that the sun indeed will come out tomorrow. But the soaring temperatures have not put the stoppers on the UK Tour of the classic musical Annie, roaring into the Theatre Royal Plymouth and plunging us into Christmas time in New York City 1933. The city continues to feel the effects of the Stock Market crash, with t

The French Revolution has began, a reign of terror after the creation of the first republic and Madame La Guillotine is being kept busy beheading aristos much to the delight of those fighters manning the barricades. But lurking in the shadows, hidden by genius guises and armed with a witty, quick thinking brain, is a secretive man, a vigilante of sorts, sneaking in and helping aristocrats escape France before their necks lie on the block, leaving nothing behind him to trace b

Lima, Peru. Jesús is gearing up for his first communion, seen as a miracle through the eyes of his mother and an object of pride by his father, raised in a religious household where he is regularly told that 'God loves you'. But has Jesús comes of age, it is a sexual awakening that takes hold rather than a religious one with the realisation that he loves Jesus, perhaps too much. Penned by, and starring, Sergio Maggiolo as Jesús (pronounced hayzuss) alongside partner Guido Gar

‘For the first time in forever’ The snow stopped falling, Sven stopped running, the ice melted and Olaf stopped giving out warm hugs, all on 8 th September 2024 when Disney’s ‘Frozen the Musical’ closed up shop, the winter of Arendale making way for the summer of ancient Greece as Disney’s ‘Hercules’ swept in to take over. It was a surprise, for many, when it was announced that ‘Frozen’ with its ever-growing fan base, world famous musical numbers and globally adored charac

‘It’s time to begin, now count me in’ If the last line of the show’s introduction isn’t enough to indicate what is about to happen, the neon shades of blue and pink and the energy that bounces in the show’s opening moments should throw you head first into the silliness and jukebox fun that is ‘Here and Now’, a musical putting the song stylings of Steps into the spotlight and milking it for all it is worth. Set in Better Best Bargains, a seaside supermarket, ‘Here and Now’

My ideal has always been to love some one of the name of Ernest. High society, eligible bachelors, different identities for the town and the country, all wrapped up in flowers, flamboyancy and fun. Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest came powering on all cylinders to the National Theatre in 2024, with more flair, more fashion and more love is love than ever before, and after a second run at the Noel Coward Theatre more recently, this production now lands right in our

Old age is something that comes to all of us, no matter how you choose to look at it. You may want to grow old gracefully, or disgracefully, age like fine wine, think of it as 'don't grow up, its a trap', or 'growing old is mandatory, growing up is optional', or you may in fact cling to the idea of hope of being forever young. However you choose to look at aging, it is all explored with comedy, music and heart in 'Forever Young' written by Erik Gedeon, directed by Martin Berr

And take extra care with strangers Even flowers have their dangers And though scary is exciting Nice is different than good. What springs to mind when you think of fairy tales? Be honest here, but I can't imagine that it's dark and at times twisted worlds of the Brothers Grimm, but instead brightly coloured dreamscapes of princesses, talking animals and happily ever afters. The disney-fied versions, if you will. And that's okay, but that isn't what I am going to be talking ab

When you think of the famous playwright Noel Coward, it may be 'Private Lives', 'Hayfever' or 'Blithe Spirit' that spring to mind, or you may take a different approach and think instead of the quirky and quaint theatre that is named after him, but either way, it is probably not 'The Rat Trap'. His very first play, written in 1918 and first staged in 1926, is an exploration of marriage, careers, relationships and ego, that has only been seen twice before in London since its pr

What goes up must come down, and when it comes to Cornley Drama Society when can go right must go wrong. Mischief Comedy have made a name for themselves as the masters of funny, and their flagship show 'The Play That Goes Wrong' has called the Duchess Theatre it's home for the past eleven years, filling the space with laughter, chaos and calamitous silliness eight times a week, with this double role-ing play within a play proving to be a masterclass of all things slapstick hi

Sunday 23rd March 1997, a brand new crime drama premiered on television starring John Nettles and Daniel Casey as two police detectives in the quaint English countryside. Those detectives; Barnaby and Troy. The show; Midsomer Murders. The pilot episode, The Killings at Badger's Drift became the highest rated single drama of 1997, and say they say, the rest is history. Nearly 29 years on, Midsomer Murders remains incredibly popular and is perhaps the epitome of cosy crime thes