Review
Strange Tales
★★★☆☆ Cultural collision:
There are certainly moments of magic in Strange Tales, the Christmas co-production between Grid Iron and the Traverse, but they are too few and far between.
An Edinburgh Christmas Carol
★★★☆☆ Comedy overshadows pathos:
An Edinburgh Christmas Carol, the Lyceum’s Christmas re-invention of Dickens, is a full-on comic display that is undoubtedly pleasing despite apparently missing some important points.
Dr Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas!
★★★☆☆ Festive:
The touring version of Dr Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas! The Musical is a suitably frothy confection for the upcoming festivities; not particularly full of nutrition but oddly irresistible all the same.
A West End Winter Wonderland
★★★★★ Christmas Cracker:
Christmas came early in aid of a great cause at St Giles’ Cathedral on Friday night.
On Golden Pond
★★★☆☆ Crystal clear:
Leitheatre’s production of On Golden Pond at the Church Hill is a warm and emotional evocation of family struggles and satisfactions that rarely ignites but is performed with diligence and grace.
9 to 5 The Musical
★★★★☆ Packs ambition:
There’s enough ambition delivered with sustained ability to get the blood pumpin’ in the touring production of Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 the Musical, which is at the Playhouse through to Saturday.
Catch 22
★★★★☆ Catchy:
As with so many great books, Catch-22 seems to have defied dramatic representation over the years. And while EGTG’s version at the Biscuit Factory does not necessarily kill off such an idea, is still an extremely impressive production.
Priscilla Queen Of The Desert – The Musical
★★★☆☆ Shimmering:
There is enough flash and dazzling costume changes in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert to convince all but the most curmudgeonly.
Mary Queen of Scots got her Head Chopped Off
★★★★☆ Clear bright corbie:
The EUTC bring a strong understanding and sense of purpose to this production of Liz Lochhead’s great 1987 play Mary Queen of Scots Got Her Head Chopped Off, at the Bedlam to Saturday.
The Exorcist
★★☆☆☆ Unholy error:
If the Devil truly is in the details then the Devil is sadly absent from this curiously flat adaptation of The Exorcist, William Peter Blatty’s classic novel of demonic possession at the King’s to Saturday.
