Thoughts on Broadway’s biggest night, plus the texting drama at Inter Alia, and reviews of War Horse, High Society, Titanique, and more.
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.
The last week of my life has seen me physically travelling between London’s theatres and emotionally readying for the Tony Awards in New York. While I headed to press night performances of War Horse and High Society (each in their own way riding high), I turned over possibilities of Best New Musical winners in my mind and prepared for disappointments. Even after sharing my predictions, I remained more clueless than I’ve been in years as to how the ceremony’s prizes would be allocated.
Eventually, the Tonys arrived and I sat down at home with a sideboard full of carefully curated themed snacks (I’m particularly proud of my 70s, Liberation inspired cheese ball, and Aeron’s homemade Corn Puddin’), ready to cheer and lament until 4am. Time difference notwithstanding, getting to sit comfortably, and with plenty of food feels like a top tier way of enjoying the ceremony, and it also meant I could spent the earlier afternoon attending an altogether different type of ceremony – the final of the Stephen Sondheim Society Student Performer of the Year 2026. Attending for the very first time, I was stunned by the immense talent of this incoming crop of musical theatre performers as they tackled both Sondheim’s own material and new British MT fare. While the Tonys saluted mostly veteran actors, finally recognised after extensive careers, these talents are just getting started, and ready to thrillingly emerge.
In a week when awards threaten to obscure the true artistic value of the theatre, I was glad to have the chance to visit venues like The Watermill Theatre in Newbury for the press night of their whimsical take on Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, and a formerly local venue to me, the Mayflower Studios in Southampton for the final day of Kiss of the Spider Woman. Each in their own way a very special performance.
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Did the TONY Awards get it wrong? My reaction to the 2026 winners, performances and ceremony
Last night, Broadway celebrated the end of another season of new openings with the 2026 TONY Awards, hosted by recording artist P!nk.
In a ceremony that saw Schmigadoon!, Death of a Salesman, Ragtime, Liberation, Cats the Jellicle Ball and The Lost Boys winning some of the night’s biggest prizes, actors Joshua Henry, John Lithgow, Caissie Levy, Lesley Manville, Shoshana Bean, Ali Louis Bourzghui, Alden Ehrenreich, and Laurie Metcalf were recognised for their performances.
A day later, I’m ready to discuss my thoughts on the ceremony itself, the evening’s biggest winners, the impact the awards will have on these shows, and the conspicuous omission of a particular producer…
Available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
The truth behind the texting drama at Inter Alia: Why Rosamund Pike spoke out after her performance
Conversation has once more turned to audience behaviour and theatre etiquette after Rosamund Pike spoke out about texting during a performance of Inter Alia.
Pike, after completing her Olivier Award winning performance in the West End play, returned to the stage in order to beseech the audience not to pierce the trust between actor and audience.
The question, then, is whether audience behaviour can be wholly dictated by those onstage, what constitutes disrespect and how do we combat a decreasing capacity for interpersonal empathy in the stalls?
Available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts
This Week’s Reviews
Titaníque at St James Theatre, Broadway, New York City
★★★★★ Review available YouTube / Spotify / Apple Podcasts
High Society at Barbican Theatre, London
★★★★ Review available YouTube / Spotify / Apple Podcasts
War Horse at Olivier Theatre, National Theatre, London
★★★★★ Review available YouTube / Spotify / Apple Podcasts
The Resistable Rise of Arturo Ui at Swan Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-Upon-Avon
★★★★★ Review available YouTube / Spotify / Apple Podcasts
The Tempest at Royal Shakespeare Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Stratford-Upon-Avon
★★★ Review available YouTube / Spotify / Apple Podcasts
The Harder They Come at Stratford East, London
★★★★ Review available YouTube / Instagram / TikTok
We went on a theatre road trip to Manchester! Theatre vlog ft Bank of Dave, The Karate Kid, & more
Check out another week in our life of seeing theatre almost every day!
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?
The London theatregoing looming for me this week promises plenty of excitement, with a gala performance welcoming Jamie Muscato and Joy Woods as the new leads of Cabaret, the European premiere of Joshua Harmon’s We Had a World at the Hampstead Theatre, and a complete unknown quantity for me in Under the Shadow at the Almeida. I’ll also finally be catching up with Thespians, the much anticipated new musical from Mischief Theatre, in Guildford.
One of the week’s most exciting events is taking place this Tuesday afternoon, when I will join writer and star Jordan Luke Gage plus designer Andrew Exeter for a post show Q&A after the matinee performance of Redcliffe at Southwark Playhouse Borough. I can’t wait to discuss the conception and evolution of this gorgeous show with these two talents, and I invite anyone who finds themselves free to join us for the performance and subsequent exclusive conversation!
Until next week, I hope that everyone is staying safe and that you have a stagey… week! – Mickey-Jo
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