John Shand | Music & Other Spheres Posts

September 12, 2019 / Features - Archive

Maxine Peake now knows just how much of a stretch performing a play by yourself is. Not only are there vast slabs of text to learn without the handy cues of others’ lines, but one also misses out on an ensemble’s tribal camaraderie. Peake, the British star of such hit…

September 11, 2019 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

Hayes Theatre, August 28 8.5/10 Remember your first time at the theatre? How miraculous it was to find another world within the one you knew? Caroline, or Change is as different from any musical you’ve ever seen on that scale of wonderment. Just for starters, what other musical has Washing…

September 8, 2019 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

Capitol Theatre, August 27 8.5/10 The best writers are clairvoyants. They pen a play, novel or even a musical that might have a contemporaneous or historical setting, yet it predicts the future by speaking to subsequent generations so precisely of their own time. Fred Ebb’s brilliant book and lyrics to…