All stories by Michael Billington on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Christopher Morahan obituary | Michael Billington by Michael Billington

Director and producer whose 60-year career spanned television, theatre and film – from The Jewel in the Crown to Pinter playsIn an age when it is fashionable for directors to be regarded a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:48AM
Monday, April 10, 2017

The Hard Problem review – Tom Stoppard tackles momentous ideas by Michael Billington

Dorfman Theatre, LondonPlaywright explores consciousness, morality and human behaviour in stimulating work that occasionally suffers from information overloadTom Stoppard famously uses drama…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:54PM
Friday, April 7, 2017

King Charles III – a flawed premise but royally entertaining by Michael Billington

Almeida theatre, LondonMike Bartlett has written a speculative play about the future of the monarchy that has the courage to ask serious questionsMike Bartlett has written a speculative play…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:42PM
Thursday, April 6, 2017

Caste review – Victorian class-clash comedy with pin-sharp performances by Michael Billington

Finborough theatre, London Paul Bradley as a hopeless boozehound, Susan Penhaligon as a haughty mother and Rebecca Collingwood as a sparky sister light up TW Robertson’s 1867 playIt is 150…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:06AM
Wednesday, April 5, 2017

The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? review – Damian Lewis shines in Albee's bestial classic by Michael Billington

Theatre Royal Haymarket, LondonLewis plays an architect in love with a goat in Edward Albee’s tragedy about uncontrollable sexuality – with Sophie Okonedo equally riveting as his wifeAs …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:06PM

The Lottery of Love review – sex and sadism in a class-hopping comedy of manners by Michael Billington

Orange Tree, Richmond Servants and employers swap places with a great deal of amorous confusion in a sparkling revival of Marivaux’s classicIn the past, we’ve seen Marivaux’s classic c…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:02AM

Consent review – love and justice on trial in fierce courtroom drama by Michael Billington

Dorfman, London The audience become judge and jury in Nina Raine’s intelligent play about a rape case full of opposing narratives, starring Anna Maxwell Martin and Ben ChaplinAside from Jo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AM
Tuesday, April 4, 2017

42nd Street review – dancing and dazzle distract from jarringly sexist lyrics by Michael Billington

Theatre Royal Drury Lane, LondonSheena Easton brings poise and star quality to an energetic revival that suffers from its bloodless and out of date source materialIf you like musicals staged…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:48PM
Monday, April 3, 2017

Echo's End review – everyday lives shattered by war's contradictions by Michael Billington

Salisbury PlayhouseA rural Wiltshire community during the first world war is depicted with quiet poetry in Barney Norris’s play on childhood friendship and adult expectationBarney Norris i…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:31AM
Thursday, March 30, 2017

Top 10 ecstatic musical showstoppers by Michael Billington

From West Side Story to Sweeney Todd, here are nine of my favourite musical moments. There’s one space left – for a classic selected by youAll great musicals need a moment of ecstasy tha…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:02AM
Wednesday, March 29, 2017

The Life review – New York's sleazy underbelly gets a musical sparkle by Michael Billington

Southwark Playhouse, London This show about 42nd Street in the 1980s is imaginatively staged with the ever-magnificent Sharon D Clarke but it’s a tough sellThe low-life musical has a long …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:12PM
Tuesday, March 28, 2017

Don Juan in Soho review – David Tennant dazzles as a desolate hedonist by Michael Billington

Wyndhams theatre, LondonTennant brings a beguiling, fleet-footed charm to Molière’s libertine, reinvented as DJ in Patrick Marber’s subversive updateDavid Tennant stars as the rutting r…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:12PM

The Wipers Times review – Ian Hislop salutes satirical wartime newspaper by Michael Billington

Arts theatre, LondonHislop and Nick Newman’s play explores the extraordinary real-life story of how a Punch-style publication was set up by troops during the first world warIan Hislop and …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:48AM
Monday, March 27, 2017

David Storey: an instinctive writer who portrayed a divided soul and country by Michael Billington

Storey, who has died at the age of 83, had a natural understanding of theatre and strived to resolve the tensions of his life through his playsDavid Storey, who has died aged 83, was a drama…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 02:32PM
Friday, March 24, 2017

Julius Caesar/Antony and Cleopatra review – Rome truths from the RSC by Michael Billington

Royal Shakespeare theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonJosette Simon seems born to play Cleopatra, but the dissection of tyranny in Julius Caesar makes it the thrilling highlight of this Roman double…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:24AM
Thursday, March 23, 2017

The Kid Stays in the Picture review – Robert Evans gets the Citizen Kane treatment by Michael Billington

Royal Court, LondonSimon McBurney’s adaptation of the Hollywood tycoon’s memoir is technically brilliant and often breathtaking but it adds little to his familiar storyRobert Evans’s H…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:54PM
Tuesday, March 21, 2017

An American in Paris five-star review – Minnelli musical becomes theatrical gold by Michael Billington

Dominion, LondonChristopher Wheeldon’s superb show is a riot of colour and movement, with irresistible dance routines and a wealth of Gerhswin classicsA magical transformation has taken pl…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:48PM

Love in Idleness review – Trevor Nunn reveals Rattigan's political divide by Michael Billington

Menier Chocolate Factory, London Eve Best and Helen George star in a production that merges the playwright’s Love in Idleness with its former iteration, Less Than KindBetween August and De…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AM
Monday, March 20, 2017

Best Shakespeare productions: what's your favourite Hamlet? by Michael Billington

To mark the 450th anniversary of Shakespeare's birth we're choosing our favourite versions of his plays. Here's a handful of the finest Hamlets• 45 Hamlets for Shakespeare's 450th birthday…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:06PM

The Frogs review – Nathan Lane's larky update of Sondheim musical by Michael Billington

Jermyn Street theatre, London Funny things happen on the way to Hades in this version of Aristophanes’ civic-minded comedy about the function of artIt is disconcerting to find the creator …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:18AM
Saturday, March 18, 2017

Pinter's The Dwarfs holds the key to his later plays by Michael Billington

With its male rivalry and edgy dialogue about London buses, Pinter's 1950s novel The Dwarfs holds the key to all his later plays, says Michael BillingtonApart from their public prominence an…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:36AM
Friday, March 17, 2017

Filthy Business review – a superbly modern Mother Courage by Michael Billington

Hampstead theatre, LondonSara Kestelman excels as an uncliched Jewish matriarch in Ryan Craig’s punchily acted new play about an East End family firmIf plays survive by creating meaty role…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:36AM
Thursday, March 16, 2017

La Cage aux Folles is proof of theatre's ability to shift sexual attitudes by Michael Billington

Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein’s 1983 musical has been revived once more. The show struck an important, rarely acknowledged blow for equalityWhen it opened in New York in 1983, La Cage …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:54AM
Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Seventeen review – veteran actors get teenage kicks in striking portrait of youth by Michael Billington

Lyric Hammersmith, LondonAdults play confused adolescents in Matthew Whittet’s playground drama, adding an extra layer of hope and sadness to their characters Related: Seventeen going on 7…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:32AM
Tuesday, March 14, 2017

My Brilliant Friend review – triumphant staging of Elena Ferrante's quartet by Michael Billington

Rose theatre, KingstonApril De Angelis’s inventive and fluid five-and-a-half-hour production spans 50 years in its characters’ lives, and makes clear the books’ feminist messageI am no…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:12AM
Sunday, March 12, 2017

The Miser review – Griff Rhys Jones presides over a relentless gag-fest by Michael Billington

Garrick theatre, London The audience is clobbered into submission by an anything-for-a-laugh Molière adaptation that casts Lee Mack – in his theatre debut – as the sane oneI guess, sinc…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12PM

My Country: A Work in Progress review – Carol Ann Duffy visits Brexit by Michael Billington

National Theatre, London Britannia is shown to be fractious and divided in this bold but fragmented piece – built from interviews with UK voters – that does not tell us anything newTom S…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:12AM
Saturday, March 11, 2017

From Brecht to Lorca, the playwrights who became theatre's freedom fighters by Michael Billington

It’s wrong to characterise 1930s theatre as escapist or frivolous. In Europe and America, many plays were alerting audiences to the dangers of fascism – led by the German fugitive Bertol…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:54AM
Thursday, March 9, 2017

Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? review – Staunton ignites Albee's marital battle by Michael Billington

Harold Pinter theatre, London Imelda Staunton and Conleth Hill are both superb as they trade insults and toy vindictively with their guests in a first-rate revival of an astonishing playThis…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:36PM

Limehouse review – timely account of Labour's 1981 split is beautifully acted by Michael Billington

Donmar Warehouse, LondonRoger Allam is astonishing as Roy Jenkins in this drama about how the ‘gang of four’ left Labour to form the SDPSteve Waters likes to peep behind closed doors. In…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:48AM
Wednesday, March 8, 2017

Privacy review – Taut drama short-circuits the crucial debate by Michael Billington

Donmar Warehouse, LondonJames Graham's new play under the direction of Josie Rourke is rich and adrenaline-fuelled but lacks a real intellectual tussle• Ewan MacAskill: Fear, then relief, …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:06AM

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