All stories by Alex Needham on BroadwayStars

Thursday, August 21, 2014

Blockbusters on the fringe: the shows riffing on pop cultural giants by Alex Needham

If you want to see Breaking Bad, Star Wars, Fawlty Towers, Doctor Who and Downton Abbey at Edinburgh you can, thanks to condensed parodies. Are they satisfying to perform and do the perform…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Wednesday, August 20, 2014

Klanghaus: a revolutionary new way of staging live music by Alex Needham

The Edinburgh festival show applies the techniques of immersive theatre to an indie gig, resulting in something genuinely groundbreaking Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:00AM
Tuesday, August 19, 2014

Edinburgh festival 2014: 10 questions for Sara Pascoe by Alex Needham

The comic on making gags about your partner, artistic paranoia and whether comedy can ever be an agent of social changeReview: Sara Pascoe takes lively tour of her magpie mind10 questions fo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:34AM
Monday, August 18, 2014

Jeremy Paxman mixes gravitas and glitz in one-man show by Alex Needham

Paxo combines clips, opinions, anecdotes and audience Q&A to make one of Edinburgh's most sought-after tickets Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:23PM
Friday, August 15, 2014

Julie Burchill: Absolute Cult Edinburgh 2014 review on the sofa and on the skids by Alex Needham

Though its an unflattering portrait of the pop-culture columnist, Tim Fountains sequel to his Burchill play reminds you of her rhetorical force Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:41PM

Unreleased Nick Drake track inspires spoken-word show by Alex Needham

Musician Michael Burdett describes how he travelled the UK inviting strangers to listen to an unreleased recording by the cult British folk singerListen to Nick Drakes Cello Song from a John…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:38AM
Thursday, August 14, 2014

Edinburgh festival 2014 review: Will Adamsdale  subtle, self-deprecating and smart by Alex Needham

Underbelly, EdinburghCarefully concealing his masterful control of the show, the former Perrier winner explores the interzone between comedy, theatre and spoken word Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:54AM
Tuesday, August 12, 2014

Robin Williams: Edinburgh stars pay tribute to a comedy 'game-changer' by Alex Needham and Chris Wiegand

Both seasoned and new performers at the Edinburgh festival acknowledge the influence America's master of crazy comedy had on their lives and their acts Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:04PM
Saturday, April 12, 2014

Strictly Ballroom the Musical review plenty of sparkle but not much emotional depth by Alex Needham

The new staging of Baz Luhrmann's film ladles on the glitz, but drowns out the simple human core that made the movie so well-lovedWith its motto "to live with fear is a life half lived&…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:22PM
Thursday, March 6, 2014

This Filthy World Vol. 2: John Waters – review by Alex Needham

In this spoken-word show, the Pope of Trash signals his intentions to remain subversive into old age – and beyond, says Alex NeedhamAlex Needham

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:15PM
Friday, February 28, 2014

Adelaide festival highlights: 10 things to see by Alex Needham

David Sefton, the director of the South Australian arts festival, gives us his picks, from six-hour interactive Shakespeare to a career retrospective of avant garde legend John ZornAlex Need…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:59AM
Thursday, March 14, 2013

Nosferatu - review by Alex Needham

Dunstan theatre, AdelaideHaving played recently in London, where it got the garlic and crucifix treatment by the critics, Nosferatu has chased the sun to the Adelaide festival. This version,…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:44PM
Monday, March 11, 2013

Beowulf: A Thousand Years Of Baggage - review | Alex Needham by Alex Needham

The German Club, AdelaideA couple of days after The Strange Undoing of Prudencia Hart exits the Adelaide festival, another poetic adaption roosts amongst the tables, chairs and steins of Wei…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:06PM
Friday, December 21, 2012

Best theatre of 2012, No 1: In Basildon, Royal Court by Alex Needham

David Eldridge's resonant and richly populated play put England's postwar paradoxes on stage – and it was funny, tooDavid Eldridge's In Basildon did many things. It proved that it was poss…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:08AM
Wednesday, December 19, 2012

Sergei Polunin, the Royal Ballet star who made a leap into the dark by Alex Needham

In the second of a series of interviews with the newsmakers of 2012, Alex Needham speaks to the star who shocked the ballet world in January Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:00PM
Wednesday, December 12, 2012

Viva Forever! – what the reviewers thought by Alex Needham

'Charmless, messy, lacklustre,' 'scrappy, lazy, inconclusive,' 'I wanted it to stop' ... The reviews are in for Jennifer Saunders' Spice Girls musical, and they don't make pretty readingOn T…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:11AM
Sunday, October 28, 2012

The Woman in Black's reign of terror by Alex Needham

It was a Scarborough theatre's budget Christmas show. Twenty five years on, The Woman in Black remains one of British theatre's biggest – and scariest – hits. Yikes, says Alex NeedhamRob…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:59PM
Monday, October 1, 2012

Stephen Fry's Twelfth Night: this all-male affair is no one-man show by Alex Needham

In my humble, non-reviewer opinion, no single actor dominates this radical yet perfectly balanced production at the GlobeThanks to the World Shakespeare festival, one of the Cultural Olympia…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:13AM

Stephen Fry's Twelfth Night: this all-male affair is no one-man show by Alex Needham

In my humble, non-reviewer opinion, no single actor dominates this radical yet perfectly balanced production at the Globe Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:13AM
Monday, May 14, 2012

The Two Gentlemen of Verona – review by Alex Needham

Shakespeare's Globe, LondonWhat is probably Shakespeare's first play is not frequently performed – it was once on an RSC list of works believed to be guaranteed to lose money – so stagin…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:44PM
Monday, April 30, 2012

Pericles – review by Alex Needham

Shakespeare's Globe, LondonAccording to Ben Johnson, Shakespeare had "small Latine and lesse Greek" – but how would a viewer with no Greek at all cope with Pericles, hardly the Bard's most…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:19AM
Friday, April 6, 2012

Many gay actors still fear coming out will damage their careers by Alex Needham

Actors' union Equity enlists famous names, including Antony Sher, to support gay actors who choose to be openWhen Antony Sher started acting with the pioneering Gay Sweatshop theatre company…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:00AM
Friday, March 30, 2012

How the League of Gentlemen stars conquered the West End by Alex Needham

Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss and Steve Pemberton are performing in three of the most celebrated shows in LondonOn Halloween 2002 The League of Gentlemen's third and final series came to an …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33PM

How the League of Gentlemen stars conquered the West End by Alex Needham

Reece Shearsmith, Mark Gatiss and Steve Pemberton are performing in three of the most celebrated shows in London Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:33PM
Tuesday, March 27, 2012

Olivier award nominees share a stage by Alex Needham

Variety of London theatre scene embodied in starry line-up, with theatrical comedy and musicals enjoying landmark yearThe Theatre Royal Haymarket has seen its share of glitzy West End talent…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:08PM
Thursday, March 22, 2012

Royal Shakespeare Company names Gregory Doran as artistic director by Alex Needham

Ten years after he first applied for the job, Doran becomes only the fifth artistic director in the RSC's five-decade historyGregory Doran has been named artistic director of the Royal Shake…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:30AM
Wednesday, March 21, 2012

David Hare live webchat – post your questions here by Alex Needham

The playwright with 40 years' experience at the cutting edge of British theatre will be online to answer your questions ahead of his Guardian Open Weekend event on Sunday 25 MarchSir David H…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:09PM
Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Taking South Sudan to the Globe: Shakespeare from the newest nation by Alex Needham

Cymbeline to be performed in Juba Arabic as part of Globe to Globe strand of World Shakespeare festivalTheir country is less than nine months old and still coping with the aftermath of decad…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:19PM
Tuesday, March 6, 2012

Sergei Polunin: I'll give up ballet by 26 by Alex Needham

Ukrainian who stunned the dance world by quitting the Royal Ballet says he is bored of rehearsals and wants a normal lifeHe had been compared to Nureyev and Baryshnikov by critics and was ma…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:23PM

Sergei Polunin: I'll give up ballet by 26 by Alex Needham

Ukrainian who stunned the dance world by quitting the Royal Ballet says he is bored of rehearsals and wants a normal life Continue reading...

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:23PM
Monday, March 5, 2012

Gay prisoners to get jail tales shown in Artangel installation by Alex Needham

Mark Storor worked with jailed gay men for three years to create new work A Tender SubjectIn a cold and dilapidated rehearsal room on the City of London outskirts, five men in blindfolds are…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:16PM

All that Chat

2023-2024 BROADWAY SEASON
May 30, 2023: Grey House - Lyceum Theatre
Jun 26, 2023: Just For Us - Hudson Theatre
Jul 24, 2023: The Cottage - Hayes Theater
Nov 16, 2023: Spamalot - St. James Theatre
Dec 18, 2023: Appropriate - Hayes Theater
Mar 07, 2024: Doubt - Todd Haimes Theatre
Apr 14, 2024: Lempicka - Longacre Theatre
Apr 17, 2024: The Wiz - Marquis Theatre
Apr 18, 2024: Suffs - Music Box Theatre
Apr 25, 2024: Mother Play - Hayes Theater
Jun 10, 2024: The Drama Desk Awards