By Louise
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/168
Available until: Livestreams on Friday 16th, Saturday 17th and Sunday 18th July at 7.30pm.
It’s hard to believe Lee Mead is forty (though he was still thirty-nine when he recorded this). He looks so much younger. But he does have lots of experience as a performer and that is very obvious in this incredible concert.
By Louise
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/164
Available on demand until 14th July
New musicals tend to focus on young people including Six, & Juliet, Waitress and lots of the musicals we’ve watched during lockdown. The musicals are usually about young people and they usually fall in love.
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/102
Available until: 16th May
There are some things in life which don’t really belong in the medium of comedy. These include, but are not restricted to, bombs, guns and childbirth. Bombs and guns can intentionally cause death; in childbirth, death is unintentional but no less tragic. In order to make these things funny, you would need an extraordinarily gifted writer and performer who can find the humour in these situations but deliver it with compassion and respect.
By Louise
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/105
Available until: This cast, the ‘Spring’ cast, will also appear in the performance on Friday 7th May at 7pm. The ‘Summer’ cast will perform on Thursday 8th and Saturday 10th May at 7pm.
Trigger Warnings: Sexual content, sexual violence,
domestic abuse, topics of abortion, death and suicide. There is no age
recommendation, but I am 15 and I would say I’m only just old enough, but I am
quite innocent so maybe it is a 12A. If you are wondering if your child should
watch this musical, or if you’re wondering yourself it might be too upsetting
to be enjoyable, there is a very good synopsis on Wikipedia.
Spring Awakening is a sad and devastating but beautiful story about a group of young people who are growing up. It is based on a German play, Frühlings Erwachen, which was written in 1891 by Frank Wedekind.
By Cal
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/101
Available until: 9th May on demand
The Weir is the latest in the series of plays made available on Stream Theatre by the Irish Repertory Company – and it’s another really great production. Conor McPherson isn’t as big a name as Samuel Beckett or Eugene O’Neill, but he’s still a great playwright and arguably a more accessible one.
By Cal
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/103
Available until: Monday 10th May-Saturday 30th May at 7.30pm. Matinées on Saturdays and Sundays at 3pm.
Rocky Road is named after a type of cake. There’s a character in this play who makes cakes and it’s fair to say they’re definitely on a rocky road so it really is a brilliant title. Of course, most people have been baking cakes through lockdown and watching Bake-Off so you probably know all this already, but it’s a new one for me.
By Imogen
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/83
Available until: Livestreams on Sunday 25th at 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Monday 27th 12.20am and 7.30pm, Tuesday 28th at 12.30am.
In Pieces is a new musical with music by Joey Contreras. There is no book, just lots of songs one after another and it’s performed by lots of big West End stars.
The music is very good. If I had to say what style it is I would say some of it is similar to Dear Evan Hansen but the music doesn’t all sound the same. It is tuneful and fun and there are some sad and lyrical songs too.
By Cal
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/100
Available until: On demand until Sunday 25th May at 11.59pm
There are a lot of unusual things about A Touch of the Poet, but one thing that stands out in particular is the fact that there’s a very important character who is never seen.
By Dave
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/61
Available until: Livestreams every day at 7.30pm until Sunday 25th of April, with matinées at 2.30pm on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays.
Cruise is a sad story but it’s also a story that’s full of love and hope. The play is being streamed live over the next week and then it’s transferring to the Duchess Theatre where it will be played to a live audience. I really hope that, on at least one occasion, the audience will include me.
By Cal
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/84
Available until: On demand until 18th April
On Beckett/In Screen manages to be really difficult and very reassuring all at once. Difficult because… well, it’s Samuel Beckett! Reassuring because I did get the feeling all the way through that it was okay to find it difficult.
By Imogen
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/96
Available until: Final performance Sunday 11th April at 7.30pm.
Content warning: Disenchanted! contains adult language and content. It tackles difficult subject material including misogyny, race and sexuality. It may not be suitable for people under the age of 16 who aren’t as mature as I am and parental discretion is advised.
Disenchanted! is enjoying a very short run on Stream Theatre starring some of the very best of West End female talent. It has already been seen off-Broadway but I don’t think it’s got any further than that. It’s ridiculous really. It’s a really good musical.
By Imogen
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/91
Available until: Livestreams at 7.30pm Monday-Friday with a matinee on Wednesday at 3pm. On Saturday there are shows at 3pm and 8pm and on Sunday it’s 2.30pm and 8pm. The final shows are on Sunday 18 April.
The Musical Theatre Academy is a drama school in London which has been named Stage School of the Year twice. Something Old, Something New is a showcase for the graduating class of 2021 but all the students feature.
By Cal
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/80
Available until: 8th April at 11.59pm GMT. Available on demand.
Can We Talk About It? is a set of eight monologues (including three which feature the same character) about subjects we ought to talk about but very often don’t. They’re produced by Ethan J. Smith and Rhian Tilley and I would guess that part of their aim is to encourage people to talk about it, whether that means sharing our own problems or talking about some of the issues raised in these monologues.
By Aashiq
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/16
Available until: Shows at 7.30 every night from 1st March-3rd April. Matinées at 2.30pm on 31st March and 3rd April and two further performances on Sunday 4th and Monday 5th April at 5pm.
This is an old review, but this gorgeous, funny, touching, romantic and out of this world production is streaming again so if you missed it last time, watch it now. If you did see it last time, watch it again. It gets better every time you watch it. (You see. I can be concise. When I want to.)
I absolutely adore this production
with all my heart! I think I can honestly say with my hand on my aforementioned
heart that I have officially fallen in love with a woman. So, listen, Mabel
darling, as Frederic is technically still underage… it’s okay, don’t panic. I’m
already married to a mostly wonderful man and after all, The Pirates of
Penzance is only a story.
By Cal
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/54
Available until: Livestreams ay 7.30pm every night until Sunday 4th April, with matinées at 2.30pm on Wednesdays, Saturdays and Sundays. From 5th April-11th April it is available on demand and can be watched at anytime.
Scaramouche Jones is nearly one hundred years old. He has just given his last performance and he knows that today will be his last. So, for his very last performance, he tells us the story of his colourful life and how he got to be where he is today.
By Louise
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/51
Available until: There are live shows every night at 7.30pm until Sunday March 28th with 2.30pm matinées on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. These shows must be watched live, but the production will be available on demand from 29th March-4th April and it can be watched anytime.
Rating: PG (drugs)
BKLYN is short for Brooklyn and it is the place where the story takes place and the name of the heroine. It was originally premiered in the USA in 2003, but it didn’t come to Europe until it was performed as Brooklyn at the Greenwich Theatre in 2019, which actually seems like quite a long time ago now.
By Louise
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/62
Available until: Livestreams at various times every day except Monday until Sunday 28th March, including livestreams for USA and Australasia.
Adventurous is a romantic comedy set in lockdown. I do think it’s quite naughty, but probably not too naughty for someone my age. I don’t think many things are too naughty for most people my age.
By Aashiq
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/geners/59/12
Available until: Concerts available most days over six weeks at 5pm, 8pm or both. Only available to watch ‘live’ (though not really live as they’re pre-recorded).
Early in our very first lockdown, which feels like absolute centuries ago, one of the first organisations to start producing work online was Lambert Jackson Productions. They joined up with the West End’s celebrated Theatre Café, who agreed to host Lambert Jackson’s concerts. Lambert Jackson got probably nearly 100 West End stars together (they must have been too shy to ask me) and they each performed a concert in their own home. The concerts were somewhere between 45 minutes and an hour and each performer did up to ten songs, chatting to their fans in between songs, talking about their songs, their lives in lockdown and their careers.
By Dave
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/41
Available until: Livestreams at 7.30pm every night until 14th March with matinées at 2.30pm on 13th and 14th March.
Content warning: Contains adult themes.
Geometry of Fear is a piece of physical theatre created in response to two of the really big issues of 2020, which remain big issues today – the COVID-19 pandemic and the Black Lives Matter movement.
By Louise
Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/32
Available until: Performances every night at 7.30pm until Sunday 14th March. Matinées at 2.30pm on Wednesday 10th, Saturday 13th and Sunday 14th.
I hadn’t even heard of this musical before, but it is so lovely. The pandemic is so sad, but Stream Theatre has been so wonderful to introducing me to musicals and plays I might never have seen otherwise.
