Review: Jonathan McLean Touching it Makes Baby Jesus Cry: The Musical
This can sing all the way to Edinburgh: just stopping off to be publicly burned, along with Jonathan McLean, in the Vatican itself.
Genre: Live Music
Review: Siriol Hugh-Jones and Stephen Carroll-Turner Recital St Nicholas Church
First class performances, idiomatic and immensely satisfying.
Review: Stephen Sondheim, David Ives Here We Are
Altogether this mightn’t be in the top tier of Sondheim musicals, but it’s one of the most interesting, even profound, and Sondheim exits with a rapt question-mark. Unmissable.
Review: John Collins Organ Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton
Again an unique presentation of lesser-known organ music.
Review: Kenny Fu Piano Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton April 30th 2025
Superb, something of world class Chopin here.
Review: Eugenia and Quentin Russell Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton
Niche but nicely judged and worth 53 minutes of a lunchtime away from the burly world
Review: Tending
Essential theatre, essential witness and mandatory for anyone who wants to know how human we have to be, from beginning to end.
Review: Louis Viktor Bak Piano Recital St Nicholas, Brighton
As the final pages romp home we feel secure in the hands of a young master pianist with enormous surging power in his precision, and limitless depth of tome and interpretive fathom.
Review: Anna Brikciusova Solo Cello Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton
One of the most musicianly traversals of cello writing I've heard in a while.
Review: Calamity Jane
See this for the onstage musicians and above all Carrie Hope Fletcher giving Calamity soul as well as heart. Highly recommended.
Review: The Secret Garden/Bleak Expectations
Deliciously wholesome satire, this is a deliriously-paced, superbly-acted production.
Review: Dr Strangelove
Steve Coogan reigns supreme, and a cast like John Hopkins then Giles Terera are a gift to both Coogan and the show.
Review: Pam Cragg and Maggie Grimsdell Piano Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton
What a difference this recital makes. It would be very good indeed to see this duo here again.
Review: Dear England
With its nimbus of inevitability as national storytelling, it’s still groundbreaking.
Review: Flutter-Bye
Since this play and Allison Ferns have a lot of legs, it’ll be worth coming back to see it run.
Review: Cry-Baby
Easily the most joyous musical we’ll see this side midsummer, Cry-Baby in this production blazes fit to set another fire in Dalston
Review: Sussex Musicians SMC Chapel Royal March 8th 2025
Teeming variety and accomplishment. A superb evening.
Review: Macbeth
ETT’s gallimaufry stimulates, frustrates, occasionally fascinates. A more selective through-line would have revealed a mineral gleam, a new earth of tyranny.
Review: Alterations
We must be grateful for this compelling revival, and wait for more from the National’s Black archive.
Review: One Day When We Were Young
This grips anyone who can’t let first love go, anyone who stares homeward even now, wild with all regret. Unmissable.
Review: Teatro dei Gordi: Pandora
It begs questions: what couldn’t we do, if placed outside our own comfort station in life? Essential theatre. essential questions. A gem.
Review: Ronojit Bhuyan Piano Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton
A superbly probing recital. Bhuyan has immense promise. Very highly recommended.
Review: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
Brighton Theatre Group is a chocolate factory all on its own. Nothing in Wonka is as magical as the vision, reach and grasp of this company. It’s perhaps their finest production yet.
Review: Vaughan Williams, J.M. Synge Riders to the Sea
Betteridge’s prologue is certainly worth seeing even if you know the work, and won’t need persuading. And after the opera, the rest is surf, and silence.
Review: Outlying Islands
A first rate-revival of a small classic. Do seek out this rare, dream-like play.
Review: The Last Laugh
This is a must-see. Never outstaying its welcome, you can leave this show after 85 minutes, but stay for that Q&A. I envy everyone the night I won’t be there for it.
Review: Sussex Musicians Club SMC Chapel Royal
A very brief night, lasting under 40 minutes, but an invigorating snapshot of tomorrow’s musicians
Review: Birdsong
If you think on peace in these distracted times, love theatre, can absorb it at its most epic, then this will thrill and overwhelm you. A must-see.
Review: Mark Tournoff: A Word With the Bird
Mark Tournoff’s an engaging and modest MC. The talent he promotes remains and makes visits worthwhile.
Review: Cymbeline
One of the most uneven of late plays, its heights have to be seen; and though there’s pitfalls, this absorbing production surmounts most. A feat.
Review: James Pusey and Marc Clayton Sitar/Tabla Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton
The brevity of this review, which can’t translate the subtle shifts of Indian classical music in the way classical music is transmitted, certainly doesn’t reflect its quality. Highly recommended.
Review: St Nicholas Yohei Nakajima, Miho Sanou Viola/Piano Recital
A terrific, indeed unique opener to 2025 concerts here.
Review: Cat On a Hot Tin Roof
Frecknall has re-thought and refreshed one of the great, and classically-framed American dramas. And made it classic.
Review: Zinnie Harris, Douglas Hodge, Johnny McKnight 101 Dalmatians The Musical
A perennial tale in essence makes this a Christmas must and New Year resolution: for all of us under ten in the holidays.
Review: Sussex Musicians Club Chapel Royal
To cap it all members gave an impromptu carol service too: flashcarol. Fine and rather affecting.
Review: Sussex Musicians Club Chapel Royal
A revelatory concert of wind players, fine Beethoven and Bach too.
Review: Ballet Shoes
A paean to wonder and possibility, dreaming to some purpose. Like other winter growths, this should prove a hardy perennial, evergreen as the book.
Review: Stranger Than the Moon
Essential for anyone interested in Brecht or 20th century drama, it’s far more: starkly entrancing, then engrossing over 110 minutes.
Review: Now That’s What I Call a Musical
The cast grab this by the scruff of its shoulder pads and make us love them. A must-see.
Review: Twelfth Night
Tom Littler again brings an intimate, wintry music to middle Shakespeare: it’s his unique gift. Never sour, never sweet without salt, and with very few reservations, a definitive close-up Twelfth Night.
Review: Ruari Conaghan Lies Where It Falls
Ruari Conaghan has nowhere to hide in every sense. He exudes the charismatic of 100 watts cosplaying a glowing 40, then hits you between the eyes
Review: John Collins Organ Recital St Nicholas Church, Brighton
Another Collins gem. And so much more music, and composers of whom we've never heard. We are luckier than we can realise.
Review: Napoleon: Un Petit Pantomime
A sure-fire miniature epic, spanning history and damn lies. Sublimely written and with a superb cast both seasoned and fresh, the finest concentration of panto this season.
Review: {Title of Show}
Delicious, certainly, truly witty and fast-moving, never indulgent about self-indulgence, this is a sure-fired soufflé
Review: Berniya Hamie Piano Recital St Nicholas Church
We will be hearing much more of Berniya Hamie in future
Review: Dear Evan Hansen
In Ryan Kopel and Lauren Conroy two future stars are born within a first-rate cast led by the exquisitely moving Alice Fearns; and Kopel with such a range is someone whose next role will probably surprise even him. Two and half hours blaze by like a first date. Outstanding.
Review: Sussex Musicians Club
This is special, commemorating the life of pianist, choral conductor educator and above all musician Muriel Hart (1924-2023).
Review: Salomé
Dramatically this is the most creative response I’ve seen live. Here, a director’s reach should exceed their grasp, or what’s a production for.
Review: Evelyn Harrison and Zhanna Kemp-Dashkovskya St Nicholas Church Recital
Evelyn Harrison is a remarkable and underusing artist with a very time that never falters; and Zhanna Kemp-Dashkovskya a loyal and gifted accompanist often seen on the Brighton circuit.
Review: St Nicholas Ellie Blackshaw Solo Violin Recital
Ellie Blackshaw’s a vital, rapt performer and composer on the Brighton and south east scene.
Review: St Nicholas Emmanuel Sowicz Guitar Recital September 11th 2024
A consummate guitarist already marked - by many - for greatness.
Review: BBC Prom 68 Britten A Midsummer Night’s Dream Garsington Opera
A triumphant revival, it’s still the most elusive of Britten’s major operas, easy to enjoy, still hard to fathom the melodic root of.
Review: Greenhouse Festival LAMDA Festival New Directors in association with Orange Tree
Every one of these productions could enjoy a run at the Orange Tree: they’re exciting and accomplished.
Review: The Comedy of Errors
The most intelligent Comedy of Errors I’ve seen since the NT production of 2012 and truer to the play’s temper.
Review: St Nicholas Soprano Mandy Ching Man Liu and Pianist Mia Miaoyan Li Recital
Liu has both power and joy, precision and range. Li as pianist has aplomb and discretion in equal measure
Review: BBC Prom 49 Czech Phil/Hrusa Dvorak Cello Concerto, Suk Symphony No. 2 in c Op 27 Asrael
Hrusa elicits playing of astonishing fire from the Czech Philharmonic. Here, they’re out to convince us Suk’s Azrael is one of the great universal symphonies. And they do. Outstanding.
Review: St Nicholas In Memory of Benjamin Cruft
It would be good to hear far more from this singular ensemble.
Review: In The Mood – A Tribute to Glenn Miller and the Music of the 40s
Delightful evening of big band favourites
Review: Or What’s Left of Us
Sh*t Theatre are lost and found through folk in a show that lingers like a loved refrain
Review: Breathe
A beautifully designed and performed story that is delightful, meaningful and entertaining.
Review: Another Unwasted Evening – The Genius of Tom Lehrer
Antony (Dr H) Hubmayer brings to life the witty and topical tunes of genius composer Tom Lehrer in an hilarious and entertaining hour.
Review: Super Second Rate
This show is an hour of first-rate – not second rate – stunning cello performance, beautiful singing, compelling storytelling, and humour.
Review: The Secret Poetess of Terezin
Lilting soundscapes and passionate singing paint a vivid picture of the moving poems and stories from a gifted World War II concentration camp survivor.
Review: St Nicholas The John Lake Quartet Recital
A summer-rich ensemble that could play in any season.
Review: Pitchblenders: Só Danço Samba
Grab a Caipirinha drink and let this talented band transport you to Carnival in Rio or a café in Paris. You will be moved by the music and inspired by the stories.
Review: Oxford Alternotives: A Cappella Off the Rails!
A fun afternoon of a cappella with Oxford University’s long-running student ensemble. The enthusiasm and joy transmitted by these talented young singers will send you on your way humming with a smile on your face.
Review: Down Under: The Songs That Shaped Australia
Reminisce, then get up and dance to the high energy sounds of Australian pop. This band and the stories told will knock your socks off.
Review: Ventriloquist Queen: A True African Queen
Great for families with children from age 8 and up. But even “kids at heart” (adults) will enjoy her charming presentation and lively music.
A musically riveting, dramatically rather episodic production where the dancers and singers make the best of it
Review: St Nicholas Sylvia Akagi and Peter Golden Recital
A wonderful afternoon, and in its way fortuitous, necessary, and healing.
Review: BBC Prom 23 Rachmaninov: Symphonic Dances, Busoni: Piano Concerto
The London Philharmonic Orchestra with Edward Gardner bring an electrifying, percussive justice to both. One to replay on BBC Sounds.
