Closing the Loft Theatre 2024 season is the 3 act poignant comedy ‘Glorious’. Based on a true story of Florence Foster Jenkins, a woman who has passion and love for days but talent far from perfect. 

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Sets in 1940s New York the auditorium transforms the moment we step into the door with war time music, projections of a newspaper with back and white videos on the curtains with a transition into Madams apartment.​ Rayner Wilson brings Madam Florence to life from the get go as she meets Cosme (Luca Catena) a talented pianist who believes his next opportunity is right here but after he sits at the piano for the first time and we all hear Madam sing for the first time. We all - including Cosme - realise that this is most likely his biggest challenge yet and his face with captions gives his true fears away. The entrance of St Clair (Jeremy Heynes) and Dorothy (Rebecca Clarke) with dog Ricky really prove that with the right people surrounding you, they will lift you up no matter what and while this takes a while for Cosme to process, he is let in with open arms.​ The comedic timing and chaos of Becky Young as Maria screaming Mexican that no one on stage could understand was hilarious along with the direction of the classic language barrier comedy

Whilst being in rehearsal for another Christmas Carol, of course I had to check out what Birmingham had in store for this amazing story: Thank you as always STRAND MAGAZINE

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As the first snow of 2024 falls across the West Midlands, it is the perfect time for the opening of Birmingham Rep’s Christmas production: ‘A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story’. Adapted by Matt Gatiss (returning to the Rep since The Way Old Friends Do) and directed by Adam Penford, this production is the perfect addition to the ever growing adaptations of this classic Dickens tale, but one not so much for younger audience members. The Rep Team states that it is a high sensory experience with flashing lights and jumpscares. Relaxed performances are on Sun 1 Dec at 2.30pm and Fri 6 Dec at 7pm without these ​Christmas Eve seven years ago Ebenezer Scrooge witnessed the sudden death of his friend and business partner Jacob Marley. Now on the seventh anniversary of that night Scrooge has an unexpected visit from him, bound in chains as from lifetime of greed and the consequences he faces for it. He doesn’t want the same for his friend. Scrooge still has time to change his ways in order to escape the same fate, but first he’ll have to face three more ghostly encounters and face more of his life than he ever thought he would. As soon as you come into the auditorium you are welcomed by Paul Wills’ towers of filing cabinets, suitcases and books trailing the edge of the stage. Two big towers of suitcases and even more cabinets appear as the office where the story begins and where some of the most interesting (and partly horrifying) projections and illusions take place.

When I found out this show was making its UK return, I wasn't going to miss it (even if it meant almost 5 hours of travelling!)

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Little Women is a story that’s been told through almost every medium possible, films, TV shows, musicals, art, and now Anne-Marie Casey’s play adaptation brings the story from Massachusetts to York with a star studded cast on stage but the same amount of tears in the auditorium. The story of four sisters, a single mother and their aunt trying to survive the American civil war awaiting their fathers hopeful return and watching each girl grow up before our eyes. We open with Jo March and the adventure operatic tragedy she gets her sisters to act alongside her in - much to their slight dismay. Freya Parks portrays the second eldest March sister with a heart of steel and a drive for writing books of blood and gore which especially as a growing woman of the time gets her into trouble at times (which doesn’t impress her either). Together with her friend and new neighbour, Nikhil Singh Rai’s Laurie Laurence, a dynamic duo is born and slowly but surely the boy weaves his way in to become the honorary March brother. Amy March is always heartwarming to see but Helen Chong brings it to another level. The sister who grows up the most from the childish insecure teenager ripping notebooks in spite and rage to the self assured married lady she becomes in the curtain call, we watch her go through the twists and turns that matures her in the process which always assures hope for the littlest sisters looking up from their seats.

And here we are at my first Midlands review for The STRAND! And what a show Becoming Nancy was... 

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The UK Debut of Becoming Nancy is a melting pot of many iconic bits of entertainment favourites: a glorious mix of Heartstopper and High School Musical The Musical: The Series, these two seemingly different shows (and part of a true story) is blended together into an hilariously British nostalgia trip for anyone who did a production of Oliver! as a child and whether or not we are willing to admit it, that’s all of us at some point in our theatre kid past life. (For me, the bright age of 11 as ensemble in the Belgrade Theatre Coventry version in 2015) It's inspired by the true story of Terry Ronald – one of the show's writers – who in the late 1970s, was asked to play the part of Nancy in a production of Oliver!. With an incredibly big cast of 26(!), this original British musical brings choreography for the heavens, laughs for days, and a realistic heartfelt story of coming-of-age and queer awakening. This is where real life and theatrical fiction diverge. In the true story, Terry Ronald turns down the offer. "I didn't do it. I wasn't brave enough," he revealed in the programme. "I didn't want to stand out." But for Becoming Nancy's protagonist, however, in comes Maxie Boswell (Joseph Vella). The new student on the football team, who also does drama, convinces David that this may be a good idea, since he has also been cast in the show to play Bill Sykes. If the two work together hard enough, Maxie reasons, the audience won’t even realise that David is a boy in a dress costume. All this unfolds in the titular number "Becoming Nancy" – my absolute favourite in the show.

Now stretching into the Autumn season and my second STRAND review of 'Wonderboy'. A show that would go on to have more of a meaning to myself than anything else I've seen in so long:

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“That was the moment I knew he would be okay. Fly to the moon Wonder Boy.” And indeed, he flew to Bristol Old Vic, where a cast of five dazzled audiences in a short but spell-bounding production of under 100 minutes of hope and self discovery. Content Warning This play goes through many themes of mental health, parental death and panic attacks ​Wonder Boy tells the story of Sonny (Hilson Agbangbe), as he enters a fresh school due to a new foster placement. Not only is he dealing with this unnervingly new environment in Year 8, but he also struggles with a stammer – something that he is ashamed to admit. As a result, he tries to stay silent when he has to speak, but this situation is made worse when he is ordered to participate in the school’s production of Hamlet. It’s up to Deputy Head Wainwright (Eva Scott) and best friend Roshi (Naia Elliott-Spence) to keep him under control and build his confidence while Captain Chatter (Ciaran O'Breen) cautiously tires to hinder any progress and keep everything the same. It's an entertaining tug of war throughout

Next up on the throwback train is Operation Mincemeat, still playing on London's West End and heading for a 6 week stint on Broadway in the new year. The show continues to go from strength to strength:

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Four words: God that's REALLY brilliant When I saw the musical back in July, I was a relatively new fan of the multi award winning musical. The Spitlip company beat my favourite musical at the time ‘The Little Big Things’ for 'Best New Musical' in May 2024. I first listened to the musical out of spite thinking “how the hell did this win, not TLBT?” Now I understand why with 'Making a Man', 'Dear Bill' and 'Useful' living rent free in my mind daily. ​This jam packed musical tells the true story of Operation Mincemeat, described by the Spitlip team, “Singin’ in the Rain meets Strangers on a Train, Noel Coward meets Noel Fielding, Mincemeat is the fast-paced, hilarious and unbelievable true story of the twisted secret mission that won us World War II. The question is, how did a well-dressed corpse wrong-foot Hitler?”

Ahead of the WhatsonStage awards 2024, I am taking a look back at the shows I have had the pleasure of reviewing across the year for myself and for 'The STRAND Magazine', starting with the one that started it all, Fangirls!

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The UK Debut of Fangirls is the fever dream of every young Wattpad, AO3, or Tumblr fanfiction writer of any genre. From Internet friends, real life friends not understanding, to the stereotypical boyband that occupies an entire generation's wildest imaginations and a fanfic which turns psychotic. ​This celebration of the "unbridled passion of teenage girls" (the Lyric Hammersmith's own words) lives up to the chaos but for the promise? But in my point of view, I'm not so sure... Our show races off with a bang – figuratively and literally – with the reveal of the set's amazing centre piece: three curved LED screens which display the solar system, arenas and stadiums, a choir of people (young actors from the BRIT School who piled into the auditorium for their professional London debuts) who represent the sea of fans' roaring their lungs out at a pop concert, and more. It then cleverly transitions to the bedroom of our protagonist Edna (Jasmine Elcock), with clothes falling from the rafters and straight onto the stage – I'm taking predictions now on how many times these clothes are going to hit Elcock in the face during this musical's run! ​Edna, we learn as we are introduced to her, is the writer of a classic Y/N story (a genre of fanfiction where readers insert themselves into the narrative, usually as a love interest to the main character whom fans have a celebrity crush on) involving Harry (Thomas Grant), the megastar lead singer of a boyband. It's the type of story that almost every fanfic writer has done and would probably be sent to prison for if they tried to enact these fictional fantasies in real life.