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Abigail Stevens: Writer & Editor
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Theatre
All 48 Songs In Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour Movie (Taylor's Version), Ranked Worst To Best
Ranking every song in the Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour movie is no easy feat. The concert movie captures a musical performance the likes of which has never been seen before, showcasing the music of Swift’s 10 albums. Swift's concert was edited into a shorter movie for its theatrical release, but the version now available to stream on Disney+ is three and a half hours long.
The movie’s title is now Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) due to the differences between it and the theatrical version. Using Swift's dazzling lyrics as a starting point, the Eras Tour team created performances to elevate each era. This Swiftie experience is now more widely accessible, and fans can watch every song in the Eras Tour movie multiple times before deciding on their favorite performance.
The movie’s title is now Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour (Taylor’s Version) due to the differences between it and the theatrical version. Using Swift's dazzling lyrics as a starting point, the Eras Tour team created performances to elevate each era. This Swiftie experience is now more widely accessible, and fans can watch every song in the Eras Tour movie multiple times before deciding on their favorite performance.
"History's about to get overthrown": SIX in San Fransisco
Cover image by No Swan So Fine, used under a CC BY SA 4.0 license. | Topping the charts and ruling the box office right now is Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss’s SIX, the pop-concert musical about the trials and tribulations of the six wives of Henry VIII. The show debuted in the West End in 2019 and on Broadway in 2020, and is still running at both locations. I was lucky enough to be in the right place at the right time for the North American tour and got to see these queens live in concert at the Orpheum Theatre in San Francisco!
SIX is a short musical, clocking in at around an hour and a half, during which the six wives of Henry VIII are decked out in full punk-rock regalia for a concert and a competition: each queen will tell her story and the one who has had the worst experience with Henry will become the lead singer of their band. Marlow and Moss wrote SIX while they were students at Cambridge University for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Now, they are the winners of the 2022 Tony Award for Best Original Score Written for Theatre. Costume designer Gabriella Slade also won the Tony for Best Costume Design of a Musical, and the show has received numerous other accolades.
SIX is a short musical, clocking in at around an hour and a half, during which the six wives of Henry VIII are decked out in full punk-rock regalia for a concert and a competition: each queen will tell her story and the one who has had the worst experience with Henry will become the lead singer of their band. Marlow and Moss wrote SIX while they were students at Cambridge University for the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. Now, they are the winners of the 2022 Tony Award for Best Original Score Written for Theatre. Costume designer Gabriella Slade also won the Tony for Best Costume Design of a Musical, and the show has received numerous other accolades.
London Theatre: Something Old, Something New, and Something Cheap in 2023
Cover image by @Pedro Szekely, used under a CC BY-SA 2.0 license. | In today’s London theatre scene, the biggest stars regularly appear, and new talent has the chance to learn and take to the stage. The area comprised of Piccadilly, Soho, and Covent Garden is a sight to behold – especially during the Christmas season, when twinkling lights dangle from the rooftops, and you can find a Pikachu wearing a Santa suit socialising with a Darth Vader in Leicester Square. I’d choose the West End over Broadway any day. London is the home of musical phenomena and indie hits, a seat of theatrical history and innovation – where directors, writers, designers, and actors are remaking the status quo and addressing socio-political issues, often drawing on lived experience to do so.
Just after Christmas, I went back to London to see two of my favourite musicals for the second time (buying the cheapest possible seats for each): Moulin Rouge! and Matilda.
The latter has been the pride of the UK for ten years, and the production is still selling out nightly. This show is full of youthful wonder, brought to life by a rotating cast of almost thirty child actors. Matilda remains a heart-warming spectacle, and an unmoving pillar of the London theatre scene; the Cambridge Theatre has been its home since it debuted in 2011.
Just after Christmas, I went back to London to see two of my favourite musicals for the second time (buying the cheapest possible seats for each): Moulin Rouge! and Matilda.
The latter has been the pride of the UK for ten years, and the production is still selling out nightly. This show is full of youthful wonder, brought to life by a rotating cast of almost thirty child actors. Matilda remains a heart-warming spectacle, and an unmoving pillar of the London theatre scene; the Cambridge Theatre has been its home since it debuted in 2011.
From the Screen to the Stage: Moulin Rouge!
Baz Luhrmann’s Moulin Rouge! (2001) is one of my all-time favourite films. It is therefore no small thing when I say that the theatrical adaptation is even better. The show premiered on Broadway in 2019, won ten Tony Awards (including Best Musical), and arrived in the West End earlier this year. Both Hollywood and Broadway tell the story of Christian, a starry-eyed writer who travels to Paris at the turn of the century and falls in love with a courtesan named Satine, the headliner of the notorious Moulin Rouge night club. Christian and Satine’s romance is jeopardised when Harold Zidler, the owner of the Moulin Rouge, forms a dangerous business deal with a malevolent duke who lusts after Satine. With the duke sponsoring a show at the club which Christian is writing and Satine is starring in, tensions are on the rise, leading up to a fateful premier night.
Review: Tick, Tick...Boom!
It is unlikely that anyone would have ever heard of Tick, Tick…Boom! if it weren’t for the later success of another Broadway production. A forgotten triumph of theatre, Jonathan Larson’s semi-autobiographical musical was produced for off-Broadway after Larson posthumously achieved widespread recognition for Rent. Interest in the show was renewed last year following the release of a movie adaptation on Netflix. With a name like *whispers intensely* Lin-Manuel Miranda attached to the movie, any production nowadays would have to contend with immense audience expectations.
Amongst the Oxford theatre scene’s onslaught of springtime garden plays, Half Rhyme Productions dared to dramatize Larson’s original musical, helmed by director Felix Westcott and musical director Adam Najmudin Hall.
Amongst the Oxford theatre scene’s onslaught of springtime garden plays, Half Rhyme Productions dared to dramatize Larson’s original musical, helmed by director Felix Westcott and musical director Adam Najmudin Hall.
Total Annihilation and Teenage Angst: Carrie Review
Being seventeen is the worst, but at least your prom wasn’t smashed to pieces by a girl in a telekinetic rage. Founding Fellas Productions recently brought Carrie to the Oxford Playhouse, this being a musical adaptation of Stephen King’s novel of the same name. Directed by Ellie Cooper, Carrie was a sensational mix of upbeat musical numbers and moments of horror, all showing the turmoil of being young and figuring out where to go in life.
King’s classic horror novel tells the story of Carrie White, a socially awkward teenage girl raised by a fanatically religious mother. One fateful prom night, the school bullies play a traumatizing prank on Carrie, and she unleashes supernatural destruction. Harriet Nokes starred as Carrie, bringing to life a shy teenager who tries to keep her head down, but is all the while brimming with anger and frustration towards her classmates, her mother, and her life. Nokes excelled in portraying Carrie’s complex persona; the audience saw the other side of the character the moment her first solo began with the song “Carrie”. Nokes’s powerful belting voice was perfect to depict the potential that Carrie is holding back.
King’s classic horror novel tells the story of Carrie White, a socially awkward teenage girl raised by a fanatically religious mother. One fateful prom night, the school bullies play a traumatizing prank on Carrie, and she unleashes supernatural destruction. Harriet Nokes starred as Carrie, bringing to life a shy teenager who tries to keep her head down, but is all the while brimming with anger and frustration towards her classmates, her mother, and her life. Nokes excelled in portraying Carrie’s complex persona; the audience saw the other side of the character the moment her first solo began with the song “Carrie”. Nokes’s powerful belting voice was perfect to depict the potential that Carrie is holding back.
Review: Dracula by Serendipity Productions
Working on my dissertation nonstop certainly makes me feel undead, so it was a relief to take a night off in the middle of the week to see my first show at the Michael Pilch Studio: a modern version of Dracula, which follows a group of novice vampire hunters and their encounter with the infamous Transylvanian. The small studio theatre was the perfect space for this show: an intimate setting where the audience could consider the psychology of the characters. Writer and director Leah O’Grady presented a new, feminist take on Bram Stoker’s classic novel of mystery and murder, replacing the notorious count with a countess.
This production featured a talented cast, simple yet effective production design, and profound themes focusing on the struggles of women. However, it was sometimes difficult to keep up with the plot and it took a long time for the audience to understand what point the show is trying to make. Why retell Dracula? Why place it in a modern setting? Why have a countess instead of a count? O’Grady used the basic story of Dracula as a setting to discuss the oppression and invisibility of women.
This production featured a talented cast, simple yet effective production design, and profound themes focusing on the struggles of women. However, it was sometimes difficult to keep up with the plot and it took a long time for the audience to understand what point the show is trying to make. Why retell Dracula? Why place it in a modern setting? Why have a countess instead of a count? O’Grady used the basic story of Dracula as a setting to discuss the oppression and invisibility of women.
"They All Deserve to Die": Sweeney Todd Review
Cover image: promotional image by 00 Productions. | Does anyone escape the corruption that festers in every corner of the world? Stephen Sondheim’s musical Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street, with book by Hugh Wheeler, features a depraved cast of characters and a chilling plot. The show is a psychological thriller which takes the audience on a spiralling journey to the darkest parts of Victorian London.
As an avid musical theatre and Sondheim fan, I was eager to see 00 Productions’ rendition of Sweeney Todd. Directed by Imogen Albert, the show was a faithful and striking production with phenomenal cast, sets, and costumes. Albert has taken Sweeney Todd for exactly what it is: an opportunity to portray wickedness and obsession to the point of absurdity with a delightfully grotesque mixture of horror and humour. I greatly enjoyed this production and noted only a few instances where minor changes could have improved the show.
As an avid musical theatre and Sondheim fan, I was eager to see 00 Productions’ rendition of Sweeney Todd. Directed by Imogen Albert, the show was a faithful and striking production with phenomenal cast, sets, and costumes. Albert has taken Sweeney Todd for exactly what it is: an opportunity to portray wickedness and obsession to the point of absurdity with a delightfully grotesque mixture of horror and humour. I greatly enjoyed this production and noted only a few instances where minor changes could have improved the show.
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