According to The Mental Health Foundation, ‘engaging in arts, social activities and interaction within our communities can help with major challenges such as aging and loneliness. It can help boost confidence and make us feel more engaged and resilient. Besides these benefits, art engagement also alleviates anxiety, depression and stress’ ( https://lifeseeker.wales/the-impact-of-theatre-and-the-arts-on-mental-health/ ) If engagement with the arts, such as going to see a theat

Let’s go back a couple of years, and Waitress the musical was earning rapturous applause on the West End, snuggled in rather nicely in the Adelphi Theatre, the smell of apples and cinnamon wafting through the air. Now, sadly Waitress was one of the casualties of the pandemic, a show that didn’t get a proper closing night and seemingly disappeared in a flurry of enforced closed doors. Thankfully, after quite a long wait, the UK Tour hit the road and brought this sweet, heart-w

In today’s theatrical world, screen to stage adaptations are two to a penny but that doesn’t stop a stage musical adaptation from being a big box office draw. After opening in Manchester in early 2020, ‘Back to the Future the musical’ came roaring into the West End last Autumn, transforming the Adelphi Theatre into Hill Valley. Based on the 1985 film of the same name, Back to the future tells the story of Marty Mcfly (played here by Olly Dobson), who accidently finds himself

When it comes to creating magic both on screen and on stage, Disney certainly know what they are doing. From ‘The Lion King’ to ‘Frozen’, Disney theatrical productions have been thrilling audiences for many years, and their stage adaptation of ‘Mary Poppins’ might just be one of the most magical. The world’s most famous nanny fills the Prince Edward Theatre with magic with its lovable characters and some of the best dance numbers you can currently see on the West End. With th

With a West End run coming up to celebrating 23 years and a statistic that states that 1 in 10 UK citizens have seen it, ‘Mamma Mia!’ is up there with some of the longest running and most well-known musicals in the world and after everything that we have been through in the last couple of years, this tonic of a musical, a Greek holiday wrapped up in stage show, is exactly what we all need right now. Now running again in London, the show is also hitting the road once more on a

After opening on Broadway in 2019, Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge was one of the most hotly anticipated West End transfers around and after a number of delays due to the coronavirus pandemic, it finally opened late last year at London’s Piccadilly Theatre. It would appear that the delays only fuelled the excitement further as the show became the hottest ticket in town before it even opened. After being affected by a number of Omicron enforced cancellations, I was lucky enough to

For my 60th Birthday in 2021 I booked a trip to watch Les Miserables with a friend. It’s rare that I book an expensive seat as I go to...

Theatre is a forever changing, forever evolving thing and the same can be the said to the ever-rotating carousel of shows that come in and out of the West End. Shows open, shows close, things change. New shows open and old shows become nothing but distant memories that you hold dear and revisit whenever you listen to the cast recording. But in more recent years, it is slowly but surely becoming more popular for shows to be filmed, a brilliant way of capturing a moment in thea

In December 2013 Disney’s released a brand new, family friendly adaptation of the classic fairy-tale, The Snow Queen . Filled with talking snowmen and a legendary score, Frozen was set to become the franchises highest grossing animated film of all time. A record which was only beaten in 2019 by its sequel, Frozen 2 . It’s not surprising to see that the animated classic was quickly adapted for the stage, and made it’s Broadway debut in 2018. The show was then due to transfer t

Since I first heard the soundtrack on Spotify a few years ago, I have been an enormous fan of Six the Musical, and have been to see the...

If the last 18 months or so of enforced closures and social distancing has taught us anything, it is that theatre does not have to be confined to a stage. Theatre, as an artform, can be performed practically anywhere, can be constructed to be enjoyed in various ways and as it turns out, you don’t need to be in a theatre to enjoy a show. ‘Bluff,’ a new musical with a book by Matthew Cavendish (Groan Ups, Mischief Movie Night In, The Play That Goes Wrong) and music and lyrics b