CINDERELLA AND THE THREE BEAR WITCHES (Thornhill Theatre Space)****

 

 By Lottie & Ricky

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GTS6H1Oh24M

Available until: Unknown

SOUTH PACIFIC (Chichester Festival Theatre)*****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.cft.org.uk/whats-on/event/south-pacific-stream

Available until: Streams on Saturday 21^st August at 2.30pm, and Thursday 26^th and 31^st August and Friday 3^rd September at 7.30pm. Stream available for 24 hours.

A lot of theatres are starting to focus on in-person performances only, but there are still quite a few shows available online and Chichester Festival Theatre’s South Pacific is a great opportunity to see a staged production of a really enjoyable musical.

YOU ARE HERE (Southwark Playhouse/Stream Theatre)****

  

By Louise

Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/164

Available on demand until 14^th 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.

PRELUDES (Southwark Playhouse)*****

 

By Sophie

Link: https://www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk/show-homepage/preludes-in-concert

Available until: Livestreams on Saturday 8^th May at 3.15pm and 7.45pm. The show remains available for a couple of hours after broadcast.

Plays about composers have a habit of being exceptional. The first I recall was a production of the play Beethoven’s Tenth at the Watford Palace, at a time when I was much too young to appreciate the nuances of the work but old enough to believe the leading actor was the real Beethoven. Later, I saw brilliant productions of Peter Shaffer’s Amadeus at the Old Vic and National Theatres, with two very different but excellent Mozarts in Michael Sheen and Adam Gillen, joined by two equally brilliant Salieris in David Suchet and Lucian Msamati. (I probably had entirely the opposite experience to most people in my delight at discovering that “Hercule Poirot is played by Salieri!” and am now very excited by Google’s suggestion that ‘the real Beethoven’ was played by another Poirot, Peter Ustinov, who also wrote Beethoven’s Tenth.)

BLONDE THE MUSICAL (Derby Live/Kristian Thomas Productions)**

 

 By Emma

Link: https://www.livetickets.org/whats-on/blonde-the-musical

Available until: 16^th May 2021 on demand

I feel really mean about the two stars. I think this musical could be really good but it feels like a work in progress. I feel like I can see what the musical is trying to achieve but it’s not quite achieving it? But I think it could achieve it. It’s only an hour and a half including the interval so there’s lots of space to develop it further and show the characters and the story in more detail and make it really good.

SPRING AWAKENING (Factory Playhouse/Emil Dale Academy/Stream Theatre)*****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/105 

Available until: This cast, the ‘Spring’ cast, will also appear in the performance on Friday 7^th May at 7pm. The ‘Summer’ cast will perform on Thursday 8^th and Saturday 10^th 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.

I WISH MY LIFE WERE LIKE A MUSICAL (KING’S HEAD THEATRE)*****

 

By Imogen

Link: https://kingsheadtheatre.com/whats-on/i-wish-my-life-were-like-a-musical 

Available until: 12^th May

Lots of people wish their life was more like a musical. It all looks so glamorous up there on the stage. This musical is actually more about wishing you had the life of a musical theatre star than literally wishing that you’re green all over and that a whole city thinks you’re evil and your family is dead and your boyfriend is never going to die and what if he doesn’t age and you do? I’m sure having a toyboy is a lot of fun (I’m too young to have toyboys, boys who are younger than me are so immature) but you don’t actually want them to look like your toyboy.

SHOWSTOPPER: THE IMPROVISED MUSICAL 24.4.21 (The Showstoppers/Islington Studios)*****

 

By Arran

Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/showstopper-the-improvised-musical-livestream-tickets-151971263139?aff=ebdsoporgprofile 

Available until: I think it’s available till 29^th April.

The latest Showstopper musical is set somewhere I can’t tell you about because it would give away which story the Showstoppers chose but it is a really interesting place to set a musical and it was really good.

IN PIECES (Future Spotlight Productions/Stream Theatre)***

 

By Imogen

Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/83 

Available until: Livestreams on Sunday 25^th at 2.30pm and 7.30pm, Monday 27th 12.20am and 7.30pm, Tuesday 28^th 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.

SHOWSTOPPER: THE IMPROVISED MUSICAL 23.4.21 (The Showstoppers)*****

 

By Alba

Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/showstopper-the-improvised-musical-livestream-tickets-148209118463?aff=SSweb 

Available until: 30^th April. There’s another livestream tomorrow at 7.30pm.

I think improvising is brilliant. It’s so much cleverer than just remembering stuff which other people made up and it means you never have to learn any lines. I’m going to be the prime minister and that’s a bit like improvising because I’ll get asked loads of questions I don’t know the answer to and loads of questions I don’t want to tell anyone the answer to so if I get bored of ruling the country maybe I’ll be a showstopper because they rule too!

DISENCHANTED! (West End Musical Productions/Stream Theatre)****

 

By Imogen

Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/96 

Available until: Final performance Sunday 11^th 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.

SOMETHING OLD, SOMETHING NEW (Musical Theatre Academy/Bridewell Theatre/Stream Theatre)****

  

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.

JESUS CHRIST SUPERSTAR (The Shows Must Go On)****

 

By Imogen 

Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1BseBCzOh6s 

Available until: Sunday 4^th April at about 7pm

Jesus Christ Superstar was one of the first musicals Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber put online for free and now he’s bringing it back to celebrate Easter. Not that Easter was exactly the best time for Jesus but there are great musicals on all sorts of weird subjects. Sir Andrew has also written musicals about cats hanging round a junk yard and trains having races with each other and that sounds so boring but they’re actually good musicals.

ORDINARY DAYS (Theatre Café/Pickle Stage Productions)****

 

By Louise

Link: https://www.thetheatrecafe.co.uk/shop/ordinary-days

Available until: April 6^th. You must watch the complete show within 24 hours.

Ordinary Days is about four young people. Jason is about to move in with his girlfriend Claire as he thinks this will help them to get closer, but Claire finds the idea difficult. Warren and Debs (she was Deb in the original musical, but this production calls her Debs) don’t know each other. He is a struggling artist working as a cat-sitter. She is a student writing a thesis. But maybe they have more in common than they think.

SHOWSTOPPER: THE IMPROVISED MUSICAL (27.3.21) (The Showstoppers)*****

 

By Sophie

Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/showstopper-the-improvised-musical-livestream-tickets-143134658617?aff=OC (There are two shows on the same page. If you only want to see this one, make sure you don’t rent the 26.2.21 edition by mistake. Both are worth seeing, but renting the wrong show can be one of the most annoying things ever. And I should know.) 

Available until: 3^rd April

The incredibly-talented Showstoppers return for their second show in two days and it’s definitely one of their best. Two ideas suggested by the audience at the start set the scene for this exciting and emotional musical, full of twists and turns with one or two tantrums as well.

SHOWSTOPPER: THE IMPROVISED MUSICAL (26.3.21) (The Showstoppers)****

  

By Dave 

Link: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/showstopper-the-improvised-musical-livestream-tickets-143134658617?aff=OC 

Available until: This show will be available until 2^nd April. There is another live, improvised Showstopper show today (27^th March) at 7.30pm and another on 24^th April. (If you book the 24^th April show now you’ll be entered into a prize draw to have a song improvised for you live on air.)

The Showstoppers are a group of musical theatre performers who improvise shows live in response to suggestions from the audience. Usually it’s in a theatre but it all works very well online too. This is the eighth online show which has been watched and reviewed by the Mobile Theatre team.

BKLYN (Lambert Jackson Productions/Ugly Duck/Stream Theatre)****

  

By Louise

Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/51 

Available until: There are live shows every night at 7.30pm until Sunday March 28^th with 2.30pm matinées on Wednesday, Saturday and Sunday. These shows must be watched live, but the production will be available on demand from 29^th March-4^th 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.

LEAVE A LIGHT ON CONCERTS (Lambert Jackson Productions/Stream Theatre/Theatre Café)*****

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.

TREASON (Cadogan Hall)****

  

By Dave 

Link: https://cadoganhall.com/whats-on/treason-the-musical-2021-stream

Available until: Performances at 2.30pm and 7.30pm on Saturday 13^th and Sunday 14^th March.

Treason is a very exciting new musical with real West End potential. The recent successes of Hamilton and Six have shown that musicals based on historical incidents do very well at the moment and Treason has a lot going for it.

DADDY LONG LEGS (Boulevard Productions/Smock Alley Theatre/Stream Theatre)*****

 

By Louise 

Link: https://www.stream.theatre/season/32 

Available until: Performances every night at 7.30pm until Sunday 14^th March. Matinées at 2.30pm on Wednesday 10^th, Saturday 13^th and Sunday 14^th.

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.