Cormac Richards

20 June 2022 4**** With the curse of Covid-19 less of a threat than it has been over the last two years, theatre is still building itself up again and it is wonderful to report that the Summer Play Festival is back at Sidmouth for its first full 12-week season since 2019.  This theatrical phenomenon kicks […]

14 JUNE 2022 4**** The combination of composer John Kander, lyricist Fred Ebb and choreographer Bob Fosse plus a story based on real life was a potent mixture when they came together to create the musical ‘Chicago’. The show may be nearly 60 years old, but the originality of its presentation and storytelling remains fresh

23 May 2022 5***** In 2018 I reviewed Carl Grose’s new play, ‘The Kneebone Cadillac’  – it blew my mind. ‘Superstition Mountain’, written in 2009 has a number of similarities in setting, characters and tone – but it too, is something that bit special – fair enough, it’s bonkers – but brilliant. If theatre is about

28 April 2022 4**** One of the many productions which came to a premature end because of the pandemic is now back on the road; Balletboyz has created an enormously popular following and the triumph of the founders, Michael Nunn and William Trevitt, in bringing contemporary dance to a wider audience, cannot be underestimated. How

27 April 2022 3*** The very first show one sees can have a lasting impression on the viewer. So, it is that I saw the original London West End production of JOSEPH in 1973. I was 11. It was the best thing ever. Having sung the original 30-minute cantata at school I knew the songs

21 April 2022 4**** The success of David Walliams’ books for children cannot be denied and their transition to television and stage have also created new audiences for his works. First published in 2011, Gangsta Granny was adapted for TV in 2013 and then for the stage in 2017. This is a hugely enjoyable, warm

4 April 2022 3*** Jim Cartwright’s hit play first hit the stage in 1992; written for actor Jane Horrocks, it found popularity on stage and on the big screen as a result, but it is a curates egg in so many ways. At times painful to watch and at others the story enters farcical territory.

21 March 2022 2** Based on a film of the same name, the stage musical version of ‘WAITRESS’ has something of a higher profile than its source material . When it appeared in London’s West End the run was curtailed by the Covid pandemic. With music and lyrics by Sara Bareilles and a book by

16 March 2022 4**** Miguel de Cervantes’ novel ‘Don Quixote’ is quite a tome; the travels and adventures of the self-appointed saviour of chivalry has had many adaptations. As a ballet it premiered in 1869 and takes a few episodes of the story to create the atmosphere and feel of the original story. This 2022

9 March 2022 2** The English writer Mary Norton is best known for ‘The Borrowers’, but it  is from some of her other books, that Disney chose to create their 1971 film ‘Bedknobs and Broomsticks’. Sibling children are evacuated to the country and through some magic they are transported on adventures in a strange land