The end of the decade is a good time to look back at theatre trips over the last ten years and assess which were the best musicals I've seen. I saw a lot of musicals over the decade and many were good, very good indeed, but didn't have the certain something to get it into this list of favourites. So, in chronological order, here they are...
'Hair' @ The Gielgud Theatre 2010
I first saw 'Hair' in New York on the eve of Snowmageddon in February 2010 and, luckily, virtually the whole company transferred to London for a season at the Gielgud Theatre over the summer of 2010. I saw this joyous musical several times, getting up on the stage to dance with the hippies at the end. Gavin Creel, Caissie Levy, Will Swenson, Alison Case, Kacie Sheik and all those spaced out hippies singing and dancing their hearts out every night was fabulous. I still listen to the cast recording regularly.
'South Pacific' @ The Barbican 2011
I first saw 'South Pacific' on the evening of Snowmageddon in New York in February 2010 and remember floating down Broadway from Lincoln Centre on waves of a tropical love story between Nellie and Emile. I bought the cast recording with Kelli O'Hara singing (the original Nellie) and listen to it regularly. That production transferred to the Barbican for a short season before going on tour so I had to see it.
'The Color Purple' @ Menier Chocolate Factory 2013
This musical introduced me to the fabulous Cynthia Erivo as Celie, the central character in the play. Great acting and an astonishing voice coming out of Cynthia and a great cast generally - I thought their singing voices were so much better that the actors on the cast recording from America. I saw Cythia the following year in the all-woman 'Henry IV' at the Donmar and then in 'Songs For A New World' in 2015 and then she went off to reprise her role as Celie on Broadway and now she's been nominated for two Oscars...
'A Chorus Line' @ The London Palladium 2013
I slightly surprised myself by having 'A Chorus Line' in my top of the decade list but it was a great production. I've never liked the film (or seen it all the way through ) so I came to this production quite new since it's rarely performed - it needs a big stage and that's what the Palladium gives you. Scarlett Strallen played Cassie who utters the immortal line, 'God, I'm a dancer and dancers dance!'.
'Grand Hotel' @ Southwark Playhouse 2015
I first saw 'Grand Hotel' at the Donmar Warehouse in 2004 and fell in love with it's tale of 1930s Germany, Berlin, love and escape. Julian Ovendon played the Baron, Daniel Evans as Mr Kringelein and Mary Elizabeth Mastranatonio as the ballerina. The Southwark production made me fall in love with the musical all over again. Scott Garnham was the Baron, Victoria Serra was Flaemmchen and Valerie Cutko as the maid.
'Kinky Boots' @ The Adelphi Theatre 2015
'Kinky Boots' is the musical of the film of the same name, a tale of friendship and understanding and how red is the colour of sex and you can never have too much heel. I first saw it in preview but had to go back to see it again, a feel-good show with a happy ending, ideal to see after a hard week at work and let your imagination loose.
'Xanadu' @ Southwark Playhouse 2015
Another play I first saw on Broadway before it eventually got a London premier at Southwark Playhouse, 'Xanadu' tells the tale of the 1980s film of the same name with Olivia Newton-John in the main role. The musical is so much better than the film since it's played entirely for laughs, poking affectionate fun at the film and at the '80s, great songs by ELO, sparkles and love (obviously) plus hundreds of disco glitter balls. What more could you ask for? I saw it multiple times.
'The Threepenny Opera' @ The National Theatre 2016
I never thought I'd have a Brecht show in a list of favourites but I loved this production of 'The Threepenny Opera' at the National Theatre, with it's tale of sex and violence, crime and love. It was a new translation by Simon Stephens set in an imaginary time in London at the time of the King's jubilee. Rory Kinnear played Mack the Knife, Haydn Gwynne as Mrs Peachum, Rosalie Craig as Polly (aka Pirate Jenny) and Nick Holder as a menacing Peachum. I loved the wooden rotating set and can't help wonder how much brown paper they got through.
'Follies' @ The National Theatre 2017
There are many ways to do a show and this was a monster of a show, with a huge cast and set, glamour and glitz and the plain awfulness of the 1970s costumes, led by stellar performances by Imelda Staunton and Janie Dee. I loved the simple storytelling and having the young characters on stage whenever their older counterparts took the lead. Failed marriages, disappointing lives, happy lives, depression and almost madness, such a colourful show with some very powerful songs.
'Hamilton' @ The Victoria Palace Theatre 2018
'Hamilton' was laden with so much hype from it's Broadway run when it finally landed in Victoria that it couldn't possibly live up to it but you know what? It did. I avoided all reviews and avoided hearing the cast recording so I could experience it with fresh eyes and ears and was rightly rewarded for my efforts. The thing that really impressed me was the pace and movement in the show - it was never still. Well done people.
'Caroline. or Change' @ Hampstead Theatre 2018
A show I saw purely because Sharon D Clarke was in it, first up at Hampstead and then again when it transferred to the Playhouse. The story of a maid in the south of the USA in the '60s with civil rights going on in the background but Caroline's life revolves around the washing machine, the transistor radio, her children and the white Jewish family she works for. I've seen Sharon in various things over the years and you always get a great performance from her but her big song at the end of this play is truly a show-stopper, a masterclass in how to deliver a song. I'll remember that for a long time.
'Fiddler on the Roof' @ The Playhouse Theatre 2019
I've seen the film (an early '70's Sunday afternoon staple) and a version with Harvey Fierstein as the lead on Broadway years ago but this new production brought the show right up to date. It's a tale of minorities trying to blend in without losing their culture, of forced migration, of what happens to families forced apart. It felt so right for the times. The set spilled off into the audience which was probably much more powerful in the small surroundings of the Menier Chocolate Factory where it was first performed before transferring to the Playhouse.
'The Bridges of Madison County' @ Menier Chocolate Factory 2019
I've never seen the film this musical is based on so I was seeing it afresh when I took my seat at the Choccy Factory in the summer of 2019 - I'd booked it to see Jenna Russell in the lead role. It's the story of Francesca, a war bride who raises her family in small town America and then, out of nowhere, she meets the love of her life but it can't be. It's a tale of joy and sadness, of accepting, of memories, and Jenna was great as our heroine. I loved it.
There could have been so many other entries into this list but these are the stand-outs for me. I couldn't limit it to a top ten since they all deserve a mention. I wonder what joys the 2020s will bring?
'Hair' @ The Gielgud Theatre 2010
I first saw 'Hair' in New York on the eve of Snowmageddon in February 2010 and, luckily, virtually the whole company transferred to London for a season at the Gielgud Theatre over the summer of 2010. I saw this joyous musical several times, getting up on the stage to dance with the hippies at the end. Gavin Creel, Caissie Levy, Will Swenson, Alison Case, Kacie Sheik and all those spaced out hippies singing and dancing their hearts out every night was fabulous. I still listen to the cast recording regularly.
'South Pacific' @ The Barbican 2011
I first saw 'South Pacific' on the evening of Snowmageddon in New York in February 2010 and remember floating down Broadway from Lincoln Centre on waves of a tropical love story between Nellie and Emile. I bought the cast recording with Kelli O'Hara singing (the original Nellie) and listen to it regularly. That production transferred to the Barbican for a short season before going on tour so I had to see it.
'The Color Purple' @ Menier Chocolate Factory 2013
This musical introduced me to the fabulous Cynthia Erivo as Celie, the central character in the play. Great acting and an astonishing voice coming out of Cynthia and a great cast generally - I thought their singing voices were so much better that the actors on the cast recording from America. I saw Cythia the following year in the all-woman 'Henry IV' at the Donmar and then in 'Songs For A New World' in 2015 and then she went off to reprise her role as Celie on Broadway and now she's been nominated for two Oscars...
'A Chorus Line' @ The London Palladium 2013
I slightly surprised myself by having 'A Chorus Line' in my top of the decade list but it was a great production. I've never liked the film (or seen it all the way through ) so I came to this production quite new since it's rarely performed - it needs a big stage and that's what the Palladium gives you. Scarlett Strallen played Cassie who utters the immortal line, 'God, I'm a dancer and dancers dance!'.
'Grand Hotel' @ Southwark Playhouse 2015
I first saw 'Grand Hotel' at the Donmar Warehouse in 2004 and fell in love with it's tale of 1930s Germany, Berlin, love and escape. Julian Ovendon played the Baron, Daniel Evans as Mr Kringelein and Mary Elizabeth Mastranatonio as the ballerina. The Southwark production made me fall in love with the musical all over again. Scott Garnham was the Baron, Victoria Serra was Flaemmchen and Valerie Cutko as the maid.
'Kinky Boots' @ The Adelphi Theatre 2015
'Kinky Boots' is the musical of the film of the same name, a tale of friendship and understanding and how red is the colour of sex and you can never have too much heel. I first saw it in preview but had to go back to see it again, a feel-good show with a happy ending, ideal to see after a hard week at work and let your imagination loose.
'Xanadu' @ Southwark Playhouse 2015
Another play I first saw on Broadway before it eventually got a London premier at Southwark Playhouse, 'Xanadu' tells the tale of the 1980s film of the same name with Olivia Newton-John in the main role. The musical is so much better than the film since it's played entirely for laughs, poking affectionate fun at the film and at the '80s, great songs by ELO, sparkles and love (obviously) plus hundreds of disco glitter balls. What more could you ask for? I saw it multiple times.
'The Threepenny Opera' @ The National Theatre 2016
I never thought I'd have a Brecht show in a list of favourites but I loved this production of 'The Threepenny Opera' at the National Theatre, with it's tale of sex and violence, crime and love. It was a new translation by Simon Stephens set in an imaginary time in London at the time of the King's jubilee. Rory Kinnear played Mack the Knife, Haydn Gwynne as Mrs Peachum, Rosalie Craig as Polly (aka Pirate Jenny) and Nick Holder as a menacing Peachum. I loved the wooden rotating set and can't help wonder how much brown paper they got through.
'Follies' @ The National Theatre 2017
There are many ways to do a show and this was a monster of a show, with a huge cast and set, glamour and glitz and the plain awfulness of the 1970s costumes, led by stellar performances by Imelda Staunton and Janie Dee. I loved the simple storytelling and having the young characters on stage whenever their older counterparts took the lead. Failed marriages, disappointing lives, happy lives, depression and almost madness, such a colourful show with some very powerful songs.
'Hamilton' @ The Victoria Palace Theatre 2018
'Hamilton' was laden with so much hype from it's Broadway run when it finally landed in Victoria that it couldn't possibly live up to it but you know what? It did. I avoided all reviews and avoided hearing the cast recording so I could experience it with fresh eyes and ears and was rightly rewarded for my efforts. The thing that really impressed me was the pace and movement in the show - it was never still. Well done people.
'Caroline. or Change' @ Hampstead Theatre 2018
A show I saw purely because Sharon D Clarke was in it, first up at Hampstead and then again when it transferred to the Playhouse. The story of a maid in the south of the USA in the '60s with civil rights going on in the background but Caroline's life revolves around the washing machine, the transistor radio, her children and the white Jewish family she works for. I've seen Sharon in various things over the years and you always get a great performance from her but her big song at the end of this play is truly a show-stopper, a masterclass in how to deliver a song. I'll remember that for a long time.
'Fiddler on the Roof' @ The Playhouse Theatre 2019
I've seen the film (an early '70's Sunday afternoon staple) and a version with Harvey Fierstein as the lead on Broadway years ago but this new production brought the show right up to date. It's a tale of minorities trying to blend in without losing their culture, of forced migration, of what happens to families forced apart. It felt so right for the times. The set spilled off into the audience which was probably much more powerful in the small surroundings of the Menier Chocolate Factory where it was first performed before transferring to the Playhouse.
'The Bridges of Madison County' @ Menier Chocolate Factory 2019
I've never seen the film this musical is based on so I was seeing it afresh when I took my seat at the Choccy Factory in the summer of 2019 - I'd booked it to see Jenna Russell in the lead role. It's the story of Francesca, a war bride who raises her family in small town America and then, out of nowhere, she meets the love of her life but it can't be. It's a tale of joy and sadness, of accepting, of memories, and Jenna was great as our heroine. I loved it.
There could have been so many other entries into this list but these are the stand-outs for me. I couldn't limit it to a top ten since they all deserve a mention. I wonder what joys the 2020s will bring?
