Tezza's Theatre Place

Paul Hunter (Albin), Simon Hepworth (Mercédès) and Michael Matus (Georges) in La Cage aux Folles [The Play] at Park Theatre. Photo by Mark Douet. So, you’ve gone and done it. You’ve met the love of your life, wined and dined them and finally proposed. They’ve accepted and now it’s time to think about the wedding preparations. But before the big day itself, something else needs to happen. The two sets of parents need to meet. A daunting enough experience for any young couple, but if the respective families come from very differing backgrounds, then the problems can really mount. Welcome to the first English version of  La Cage aux Folles (The Play)  at the Park Theatre. Georges (Michael Matus) and Albin (Paul Hunter) are a fairly normal couple living in Saint Tropez. Well, normal may not be the ‘mot juste’. George is the owner of a nightclub called, La Cage aux Folles, and his partner Albin, is Madame Zaza, the star of the club’s cabaret. George loves his business, even if...

Can one ever choose where the heart leads one? That is the problem for the protagonist in Tim Fraser’s  Candy  at the King’s Head theatre. Will (Michael Waller) is an ordinary northern lad. He’s young, OK looking and reasonably well educated. He lives at home with his mum and Great Aunt, has a pretty good job that he is good at and enjoys nights out with the lads. One of the lads is his old mate from school, Billy. Who has returned home from London. Billy has a band, and really wants Will to go and see them. Reluctantly, Will agrees and goes along. An action that will have a profound effect on his life. For the lead singer in Billy’s band is a lady called Candy, when Will sees her, it is love at first sight. Candy epitomises everything Will thinks of as the perfect woman and he is smitten from the moment the spotlight picks her out. There is only one problem, Candy is actually Billy in drag. Whilst Will knows this, and has no feelings – aside from friendship for Billy – h...

Mother Goose Cracks One Out I’ve been reviewing just over four news and so far I’ve attended over 700 shows. Not a bad number but, in all that time, I’ve never managed to get to one of the famous Above the Stag pantomimes. However, this year, that is no longer true, as I attended the 2018 offering  Mother Goose Cracks One Out . In the generic northern mill town of Rugburn – Yorkshire side of the Pennines – Mother Goose (Matthew Baldwin) a kind-hearted hairdresser, runs her business assisted by her reluctant but dedicated son Gay Tommy (Liam Woodlands-Mooney). The two of them are very poor because Mother Goose is not only useless with money but is also very generous, giving away haircuts to the needy – which seems to be everyone – and generally being a bit of a soft touch. Her landlord and squire of the town Amos (Christopher Lane) is demanding his rent as he needs the money since his mill is not doing well. In fact, there doesn’t seem to be anyone happy in Rugburn, except mayb...

It’s Christmas and Leicester Square has really gone to town. The Spiegeltent has been moved from the South Bank and taken up residence in the winter wonderland that the square has become. Filling the tent with their amazing brand of burlesque, drag and circus are some boys visiting from down under. Yes, once more  Briefs: Close Encounters  is back and ready to bring a spot of Christmas cheer to an appreciative audience. For the uninitiated, let me try and explain the unexplainable. Hosted by the glamorous Shivannah (Fez Fa’Anana) a time traveller from a much better future, who has come back in time with her gorgeous boys (Captain Kidd, Dale Woodbridge-Brown, Thomas Worrell, Louis Biggs, and Harry Clayton-Wright) to show current day audiences how wonderful the future is going to be. This is done with a fantastic and enjoyable mixture of the bizarre and the fascinating. Aerial gymnastics take pride of place with interpretive dance, shameless flirting and the most wonderful ...

Liberty Rides Forth! As I sit at my desk, a blank screen with a flashing cursor in front of me, I sometimes say a silent prayer asking for some form of divine intervention to give me an idea of what to write. This is the same problem facing the hero of David Kent’s new musical  Liberty Rides Forth!  Which has just started its run at the Waterloo East Theatre. In a suburban flat, things are not going well for Trevor (William Hazell). He has a simple life plan, write a hugely successful novel, make millions and get the girl – someone from his office called Susie who he has loved from afar for a long, long time. Unfortunately for Trevor, his plan has one major problem – he can’t write. Trevor is keen, he has done his research on how to write and has started lots of books in various styles but, to date, he hasn’t actually finished one and been able to add those magical words ‘the end’ to his magnum opus. Fortunately, Trevor is about to get some assistance in the shape of three...

Since July 2014, I've seen and reviewed 588 shows altogether.  2017 was a fairly quiet year with a total of 132 shows visited by yours truly. So, in the best traditions of end of the year ideas, here is my list of the top 10 shows that I've seen this year.  Please remember, this is my list not anybody else's and if you don't agree with the pick, well, what can I say? 1. Priscilla Queen of the Desert,  Bridewell Theatre This story of friendship and hope took two drag queens and a trans woman from Sydney to Alice Springs, in a big pink bus. Along the way, the met new friends and face rampant homophobia. SEDOS brought every element of the show together beautifully, and to a standard that you would expect to see in the West End. Sold out virtually as soon as it was announced, this was the ‘must see production of the year. 2. La Cage aux Folles, New Wimbledon Theatre This is was a touring production of a show that demonstrates the importance of family a...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/189516/priscilla-queen-of-the-desert-review-bridewell-theatre-london/ Sedos Priscilla Winter is definitely with us. It’s cold, windy and the shops are full of Christmas tat. This is the time of year that the world needs something spectacular to bring a bit of happiness and raise the spirits. And, right now, the brightest show in town is  Priscilla Queen of the Desert  which has just opened at the Bridewell Theatre. Sydney, Australia and drag queen Mitzi Mitosis (Richard Upton) needs a break. Luckily, he has received a phone call from Marion (Natalie Harding-Moore), the manager of the Alice Springs Casino. Among other things, she wants Mitzi – real name Anthony “Tick” Belrose – to come and perform at the casino. Tick leaps at the idea and ropes in fellow drag queen Felicia Jollygoodfellow (Ian Thiele-Long) and Trans woman Bernadette (Alexander McKinven) to join him on the epic 1,723 miles (2,773 kilometres) journey. Bernadette and Felic...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/180877/review-outlaws-to-in-laws-kings-head-theatre/ Outlaws to In-Laws 70 years is, according the bible, the amount of time that a person has on earth – Psalm 90, verse 10: “ The days of our years are three score and ten. ” Of course, in reality, people often live much longer. But, over the course of seven decades its amazing how much the world in which we live can change and this is the central message of  Outlaws to In-Laws  which is part of the centrepiece of the King’s Head Theatre’s Queer Festival 17. Outlaws to In-Laws  is not a single play but is an evening comprising of seven plays by individual authors, each taking place in a separate decade between the 1950s and 2010s. The first,  Happy and Glorious  by Philip Meeks take place on the day of the Queen’s coronation in 1953. In a ‘gentleman’s club’ overlooking Westminster Abbey, Edward (Alex Marlow) and Peter (Elliot Balchin) are welcoming a new member in the shap...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/169092/la-cage-aux-folles-at-new-wimbledon-theatre-review/ La Cage Aux Folles – Pamela Raith Photography Some shows really have more meaning than the writers intended for members of the audience who may have their own memories associated with them. For example,  West Side Story  was the first show I ever saw on the West End,  The Car Man  was my first introduction to dance as an entertainment form in its own right and there other examples. However for memory associations, little comes close to  La Cage Aux Folles  so you can imagine how happy I was to hear that a new production is currently doing a UK tour and I was lucky enough to catch up with the show as it touched down at the New Wimbledon Theatre. La Cage Aux Folles  tells the story of Georges (Adrian Zmed) the owner and Master of Ceremonies of a drag nightclub in St Tropez. The star of the twice-nightly show is George’s partner Albin (John Partridge) w...

https://www.londontheatre1.com/news/168738/uk-premiere-southern-baptist-sissies-del-shores-review/ Southern Baptist Sissies Above the Stag is a theatre that specialises in putting on LGBT+ shows. I’ve been there a couple of times previously and seen some very well produced and very funny plays about gay life. So, I was really looking forward to another visit last night to see their latest show, the European premiere of  Southern Baptist Sissies  by Del Shores. This is the story of four people emerging from childhood and becoming adults. These boys are all from the great state of Texas – the ‘buckle’ in the bible belt – and all are regular attendees at their small town Baptist church presided over by a real old fashioned ‘wrath of God’ style preacher (Stephen Parker). The four boys are all really good friends who each bring something different to the group. So, there is preacher’s son Mark (Jason Kirk) the thinker, TJ (Daniel Klemens) the brawn, Andrew (Hugh O’Donnell) ...