All stories by Ryan Gilbey on BroadwayStars

Tuesday, October 1, 2024

‘I was barricading myself with alcohol’: Matthew López on the play that was too scary to stage by Ryan Gilbey

He has done frothy romcoms and weighty epics such as Tony-winning The Inheritance. Now the US playwright is revisiting the drink-fuelled drama that terrified him as he wrote it In 2008, the…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:18PM
Wednesday, September 18, 2024

Two of Us review – Lennon and McCartney come together for humdrum reunion by Ryan Gilbey

Watford Palace theatreStage version of TV movie offers impressive impersonations of the Beatles stars but is more like fan fiction than drama What went down during the penultimate face-to-fa…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:18AM
Thursday, August 29, 2024

The History Boys review – lively revival remains relaxed about sexual harassment by Ryan Gilbey

Theatre Royal, BathSpruced up for its 20th anniversary, Alan Bennett’s beloved play now has 80s musical numbers, but its blase attitude to teachers with wandering hands remains dated Just …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:42AM
Friday, August 16, 2024

Utøya review – the view from outside a Norwegian tragedy by Ryan Gilbey

Arcola theatre, London Edoardo Erba’s two-hander takes up a position at the margins of the Anders Breivik massacre but leaves his characters disappointingly generalised Dur…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:50AM
Thursday, July 4, 2024

Alma Mater review – skeletons escape closets in campus rape drama by Ryan Gilbey

Almeida theatre, LondonKendall Feaver’s play dissects white privilege and a university’s #MeToo moment that begins when a student speaks out after being sexually assaulted “A terrible …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:54AM
Friday, June 14, 2024

The Caretaker review – Pinter’s grim drama played more for laughs by Ryan Gilbey

Minerva theatre, ChichesterJustin Audibert’s revival nails the playwright’s humour better than his despair while Ian McDiarmid brings a balletic grace to the stage How would an estate ag…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:24AM
Sunday, June 9, 2024

Moffie review – gripping one-man show evokes a gay soldier’s torment by Ryan Gilbey

Riverside Studios, LondonIn this adaptation of André Carl van der Merwe’s novel, Kai Luke Brümmer puts in a formidable performance as the South African conscript beset by homophobia Clos…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:42AM
Wednesday, June 5, 2024

Closer to Heaven review – Pet Shop Boys musical is still hellish by Ryan Gilbey

Turbine theatre, LondonAdequate songs are not enough to fill out Jonathan Harvey’s flimsy clubbers’ romance, though Frances Ruffelle provides some welcome razzle dazzle In four decades o…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:42AM
Tuesday, May 21, 2024

The Book of Grace review – Suzan-Lori Parks delves into a divided America by Ryan Gilbey

Arcola, LondonThe acting from Ellena Vincent, Peter De Jersey and Daniel Francis-Swaby is riveting but this play gets tied down in gothic horror and psychodrama A tattered US flag hangs from…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:02AM
Monday, May 20, 2024

‘All anyone will care about is the dog!’ Oscar sensation The Artist hits the stage – but can Uggie boogie? by Ryan Gilbey

It was the film about end of the silent era that scooped five Oscars, made $133m and beguiled the world. But can the movie work on stage? And how will its real star, a frisky parson russell …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:32AM
Tuesday, May 7, 2024

‘You wiped the floor with me!’ Tamsin Greig and Oliver Chris are having a riot with Rattigan by Ryan Gilbey

They are comedy sparring partners from Green Wing. Can the duo play stricken lovers in The Deep Blue Sea, the eviscerating play Rattigan poured his own heartbreak into? Warning: contains spo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:36PM
Sunday, April 21, 2024

Boys on the Verge of Tears review – a whistle-stop tour of bewildered masculinity by Ryan Gilbey

Soho theatre, LondonSet entirely within the stained walls of a men’s public toilet, Sam Grabiner’s award-winning play is an ambitious, hallucinatory series of vignettes dramatising the g…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:02AM
Friday, April 19, 2024

The Cord review – daggers of judgment as a birth rocks a family by Ryan Gilbey

Bush theatre, LondonTherapists will love this drama about neonatal strains with all its flashbacks to childhood battles. Shame the focus is all on the father, leaving the women looking like …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:42AM
Friday, March 22, 2024

‘If you’re anointed tonight, you can be dumped on tomorrow’: Steve Martin on fame, failure and TV humiliation by Ryan Gilbey

Jerry Seinfeld calls him ‘the most idolised comedian ever’. Yet after five decades at the top, success still makes him cringe. He discusses doubting himself, starring in a documentary �…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:42AM
Wednesday, February 21, 2024

‘I felt so ashamed’: Sheridan Smith on her very public meltdown – and recreating it on stage by Ryan Gilbey

Eight years after spectacularly crashing and burning out of the West End, the Olivier-winner is now playing an actress trapped in the same nightmare. Can she face down her demons? It is late…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 11:36AM
Tuesday, February 13, 2024

When You Pass Over My Tomb review – can you really have a playful comedy about necrophilia? by Ryan Gilbey

Arcola theatre, LondonThis nimble play sets up a shocking scenario yet somehow it slaloms along – thanks to some Pirandellian trickery and three cheerful ghosts On a raised disc bristling …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:12PM
Monday, February 5, 2024

‘It’s black and white. I did it’: Desperate Housewives star Felicity Huffman on her comeback after jail by Ryan Gilbey

As she hits the stage in an anarchic comedy about a family in freefall, the once-Oscar-nominated actor talks about her 2019 fraud conviction, why she’d never play a trans woman again – a…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 03:18PM
Tuesday, January 16, 2024

Andrew Scott is right – it’s time to retire the phrase ‘openly gay’ | Ryan Gilbey by Ryan Gilbey

The actor’s suggestion in a roundtable interview is more common sense than provocation, the phrase speaking to a homophobic media that no longer calls the shots Andrew Scott is capable of …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 10:48AM
Wednesday, December 13, 2023

Cold War review – Conor McPherson follows doomed love across eastern bloc by Ryan Gilbey

Almeida, LondonLuke Thallon and Anya Chalotra are the lovers in this adaptation of Paweł Pawlikowski’s 2018 film, with Polish folk music and Elvis Costello songs In Conor McPherson’s fi…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 09:06AM
Monday, December 4, 2023

Frances Sternhagen obituary by Ryan Gilbey

Award-winning stage, film and TV actor who had memorable roles as meddling mothers in Cheers and Sex and the CityWith her shrewd blue eyes and twitching dormouse nose, the actor Frances Ster…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:24PM
Monday, November 27, 2023

‘I gasped when I read it’: Woody Harrelson, Andy Serkis and Louisa Harland on Ulster American by Ryan Gilbey

The trio are about to fall out violently in the shocking yet hilarious play, featuring beheaded priests and the ghost of Bobby Sands. They talk woke fever, big pharma and playing chimpanzees…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:42AM
Wednesday, November 15, 2023

Anna Scher obituary by Ryan Gilbey

Drama teacher who started a theatre school for young people in north London, producing future stage and screen starsThe Anna Scher theatre in Islington, north London, was responsible for pro…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 01:06PM
Wednesday, October 25, 2023

Cowbois review – all guns blaze in wild queer western by Ryan Gilbey

Swan theatre, Stratford-upon-AvonDream cast and exuberant staging brings the genre’s dusty rules to a whole new frontier A sleepy US town in the late 19th century: the husbands are away, …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:13AM
Thursday, October 19, 2023

Choir Boy review – gospel hymns light up stirring production of Tarell Alvin McCraney’s play by Ryan Gilbey

Bristol Old VicEveryone gets their chance to shine in Nancy Medina’s expressive staging of this drama about sparring prep-school students Some of the shine has come off Moonlight, the Osca…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:13AM
Tuesday, August 22, 2023

‘The doc said you’re having a heart attack right now’: why is US standup Mike Birbiglia still alive? by Ryan Gilbey

The comic, who has survived cancer and once sleep-jumped through a closed hotel window, is bringing his Broadway smash about mortality to the UK. ‘I guarantee you’ll laugh,’ he says Fo…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 06:04PM
Thursday, August 10, 2023

Baklâ review – this teasing tomfoolery is devilishly smart by Ryan Gilbey

Summerhall, EdinburghMax Percy’s physical theatre show mixes ideas on sex, power dynamics and homophobia into an audacious reflection on generational trauma Putting a shirtless young man o…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 04:13PM
Monday, August 7, 2023

Simon Amstell: ‘I used to think I couldn’t talk about enjoying sex’ by Ryan Gilbey

After routines about orgies from the perspective of an ‘awkward English twit’, the comedian returns with an unironic and open account of carnal pleasure It is nearly midnight at a packed…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 12:13PM
Wednesday, June 28, 2023

Tarantino Live review – a megamix of songs, speeches and severed ears by Ryan Gilbey

Riverside Studios, LondonSpattered with blood and brains, this blend of cabaret and cosplay brings together Quentin Tarantino’s career highlights with flashes of divine inspiration Childre…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 07:43AM
Thursday, June 15, 2023

Frank and Percy review – McKellen and Allam’s banter meanders into romance by Ryan Gilbey

Theatre Royal, WindsorIan McKellen and Roger Allam star in a rambling but unabashed depiction of desire after middle-age Walking their dogs on Hampstead Heath, the widowed Frank (Roger Allam…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:25AM
Tuesday, May 9, 2023

The cuddling cowboys ride again! Saddle up for the Brokeback Mountain musical by Ryan Gilbey

As the two hard-loving herders from the 2005 Oscar-winner get back on their horses, the team behind a new musical version talk about fear, regret – and the tragic power of forbidden desire…

SOURCE: The Guardian at 05:12PM
Thursday, April 27, 2023

Animal review – candid comedy drama explores sex and disability by Ryan Gilbey

Park theatre, LondonDavid has cerebral palsy and is determined to lose his virginity using Grindr in Jon Bradfield’s entertaining play Any Grindr user faces a barrage of questions. Top or …

SOURCE: The Guardian at 08:12AM

All that Chat

2024-2025 BROADWAY SEASON
Jun 05, 2024: Home - Todd Haimes Theatre
Jul 11, 2024: Oh, Mary! - Lyceum Theatre
Jul 30, 2024: Job - Hayes Theater
Sep 12, 2024: The Roommate - Booth Theatre
Nov 14, 2024: Tammy Faye - Palace Theatre
Dec 12, 2024: Cult of Love - Hayes Theater
Dec 19, 2024: Gypsy - Majestic Theatre
Mar 15, 2025: Purpose - Hayes Theater
Apr 01, 2025: Glengarry Glen Ross
TBA: Titanic