Observations from the furnace of storytelling, plus reviews of Sinatra the Musical, Pride, and Hot Mess!
OHMYGOD HEY!
Welcome back to my weekly collation of the various reviews, opinion pieces and theatre news updates I’ve shared across multiple social media platforms.
I would say the heatwave is a challenging time to be a serial theatregoer, but this is only really an extension of how challenging it is to exist during one as a warm blooded, fleshy mass, increasingly aware of your own impressive capacity for perspiration. Much has been said lately (including in targeted press releases and on ticketing apps) about theatres with air conditioning, but in the last few days none of these theatrical huddling spaces have betrayed me nearly as biblically as the 25 minute train journey whose lack of temperature regulation, and indeed windows, rendered it functionally a sauna.
Unexpectedly, the biggest performance-affecting curveball I’ve experienced as a result of recent weather has been the cancellation of the brief flight I was hoping would take me to the gala opening of The Little Big Things at Theatre Carré in Amsterdam – weather permitting, you can catch it there throughout the Summer, as I also hope to! Grounded, I was home from the airport before 9am whereupon we decided to spend the day watching 5 consecutive Toy Story films and sobbing an, in hindsight, inadvisable number of tears.
Meanwhile, between dedicatedly wiping the sweat from my too-oft furrowed brow (the wrinkles are inevitable, and my own fault), I’ve been catching the aptly named Hot Mess, which returns to London in a sexy new iteration, Sinatra the Musical, which is a little cooler, as well as the somewhat tedious The Truth and the hugely affecting Pride. If you can get tickets to the latter via the National’s Friday rush, a well-timed return or personal coercion, I encourage you to goeth to see Pride before the Autumn, when its run will have concluded – or as the Americans would say, the Fall. Get it?
Prefer to read on email? Subscribe to free weekly Substack newsletter
Wow does Theatre work in a heatwave? Audience advice and new onstage measures and changes.
This past week, the United Kingdom has once again been experiencing soaring temperatures, and theatres around the country have had to adapt.
I’m reporting from my own heatwave-hit home to let you know what to expect when theatregoing during high temperatures, as well as sharing some recent stories of how shows have adapted both on and offstage.
Available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
WARRIORS is opening on Broadway! Is this new musical the next Hamilton?
It was announced last week that Warriors, co-written by Lin Manuel Miranda and Eisa Davis, would begin performances in March 2027 at the Lunt-Fontanne Theatre on Broadway.
The show, which is a stage adaptation of the filmThe Warriors, began its life as a concept album which originally featured Amber Gray, Lauryn Hill, Kim Dracula Philippa Soo, and more.
Check out my thoughts about the show, the detail released so far, and whether I think it will be a Tony Award winning success to rival Hamilton…
Available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
This Week’s Reviews
Sinatra at Aldwych Theatre, West End, London
★★★ Review available YouTube / Spotify / Apple Podcasts
Pride at Dorfman Theatre, National Theatre, London
★★★★ Review available YouTube / Spotify / Apple Podcasts
Hot Mess at The Other Palace Theatre, London
★★★★ Review available YouTube / Instagram / TikTok
We went to West End Live 2026! Theatre vlog ft Operation Mincemeat, Nell Gwynn, Shakespeare, & more
Check out another week in our life of seeing theatre in the UK!
This week began with the UK Tour of Operation Mincemeat, and a trip to Shakespeare North Playhouse near Liverpool for Nell Gwynn.
Later, we headed to both days of West End Live, with just enough time in the middle to catch a midnight matinee at Shakespeare’s Globe!
Join us vicariously in this brand new vlog to find out what a week in our lives looks like!
What’s coming up this week?
In the hopefully cooler days to come, I’m doing the unimaginable and scaling back on my theatregoing, but only so that I can put plans in motion for forthcoming international travel, the Edinburgh Festival Fringe 2026, and the small matter of my own wedding.
What I am looking forward to is meeting the recently announced cast of an upcoming musical return as well as bearing witness to the next generation of talent with a performance of Chess at the Royal Academy of Music that I’m hoping will cleanse the post-Broadway revival palate. Hugely late to the party, I’m also hoping to catch The Misanthrope.
Look out for my imminent assessment of the string of recent musical closures and cancellations in Australia, as well as a roundup of overdue play reviews.
Until next week, I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey… week! – Mickey-Jo
Prefer to read on email? Subscribe to free weekly Substack newsletter
Leave a Reply