REVIEW: Forbidden Broadway at the Vaudeville Theatre

Forbidden Broadway basically takes the piss of Broadway and West End shows. I couldn’t think of another way to describe it! But fear not, its not really rude or offensive (well.. it is, but in a funny way!). An edition of the show made its West End premiere in 1999, and on Broadway in 1982. It had a run at the Menier Chocolate Factory back in 2009 and this year returned to the theatre. Its now transferred to the West End and is playing at the Vaudeville Theatre. 

This show is filled with bold, laugh out loud numbers, from ‘The Show with No Imagination’ to ‘One Note Liza’. Forbidden Broadway is the show that says it how it is, for example I’ve never seen or heard someone sum up Once in a better way! Being, whats seems, one of the very few people that didn’t enjoy the Once in the West End, I absolutely howled at this section. Also, I loved the Matilda/Child Actor section! “My Daddy says I’m a triple threat” has to be one of my favourite lines from the production!

West End Men: Theatre Review

West End Men is a concert filled with Musical Theatre classics as well as some surprises, Currently playing at the Vaudeville Theatre until the 22nd June having previously toured last year. The show features West End talent such as David Thaxton, Glenn Carter (until 8th June), Lee Mead, Matt Willis and Stephen Rahman-Hughes (from 10th June) with special guests Kerry Ellis (until 15th June) and Carley Stenson (from 17th June). I’m glad that they’ve featured some of the more modern musical theatre talent rather than the ‘Michael Ball’ type people, they’re really updating what people think about West End leading men. Admittedly, these aren't the names I’d come up with if I was putting together this concert but they are all incredibly talented and really show why they are leading men within this show. 

The set list is interesting, for example I really liked the opening number. They mashed together Pure Imagination, Being Alive, Love Changes Everything and Music of the Night; a very odd choice of songs to put together but it was a really nice, relaxed introduction to the show. Another highlight was the West Side Story medley which opened the second act, I really liked that they paid homage to this but they went for the obvious choices of musical theatre songs like things from South Pacific, Chess and Les Miserables. Don’t get me wrong, these are great but you’d think with this more modern feel to the show they’d go for contemporary musicals as well. I would have loved to have seen some surprise musical theatre numbers in there like something from Newsies or Next to Normal or something along those lines! They were far to safe with the set list. 

Liza (on an E): Theatre Review

Liza Menelli is playing the Vaudeville Theatre! Well... Kinda! Australian star Trevor Ashley brings his hit cabaret show, Liza on an E, to the West End for the first time. Having previously been a hit in other countries it was just a matter of time before it came over to London. In this show Liza (Ashley) covers subjects from her mother to film appearances to her marriages. 

This controversial show is so well put together and is the perfect length, before hand I thought it was going to be a drag queen singing songs for two hours but it wasn’t like that at all! The two act show is about 2 hour and 10 minutes in total but doesn’t feel like that at all, at no point did I get bored.  This show will have you trying to catch your breath through laughter at some points but also completely drawn into the emotion Trevor Ashley portrays on stage in songs like ‘Losing My Mind’. His impersonation of Liza is astonishing, if you closed your eyes you would barley know any difference. But this isn’t just a tribute or impression show, its also some what of a piss take! The way he would use Liza’s signature giggle and hand gestures were just hilarious.