Our whole family loves everything about the theatre and as soon as our children were old enough to sit still for long enough, they were dragged there too! Luckily the kids love it as much as we do, so much so that our daughter is now a qualified Make-up artist for tv & film and our six year old belongs to a drama school and has been desperate to be the next Stephen Mulhern since he was two! - (Actually, slight fib, he was obsessed with Bradley Walsh at two, but since Three its all about the Mulhern!) … So we get to see many a variety of performances from Murder Mysteries to Comedies, from Julia Donaldson to Katherine Ryan, from Ballet to Musicals and it’s not just us, we go with the Grandparents and friends most school holidays too, so we are thrilled at the opportunity to carry out reviews, but please remember this is totally our own opinion, every mind thinks differently, especially when it comes to Theatre Darhling!
Whatever show you go to see, we would love to hear about it. After all, there are many shows you just wouldn’t be interested in going to see until someone else recommends it, so please feel free to let us know your thoughts. More importantly though …. Enjoy!
The Commitments UK Tour Review at The Orchard Theatre in Dartford, Kent, with Site and Search and Things for kids in Kent - After an amazing five year run in the West End, ‘The Commitments’, based on a BAFTA award-winning film and novel, has started its long-awaited UK theatre tour and we are extremely pleased to say that if you are even a little bit in love with music, then this is one show you must go and see.
Read MoreFor anyone that hasn’t heard of the phrase ‘Jumping the Shark’ it is referred to by script writers, when the fear of a popular tv show goes from amazing to bombing literally over-night, due to a stupid, unrealistic plot, leaving the viewers not happy at all. It comes from a moment, back in the 80’s, when an American, (very) popular, funny and slightly cool tv show, showed one of the main cast water ski-ing and jumped over a shark! … The viewers were not impressed at all and the ratings dramatically went down fast. … A script writer’s worst nightmare!
Read MoreWilly Russell’s Blood Brothers Review at The Orchard Theatre, Dartford, Kent - Blood Brothers is a story of a family growing up through tough times in Liverpool, with seven children and twins on the way, the father upped and left, leaving Mrs Johnstone, a young single Mother barely being able to afford decent meals or toys for the kids and struggling to make ends meet.
Read MoreFriendsical the Musical Review - We intensely watched, related, laughed and we loved. We loved the stories and the characters, so much so, if we didn’t want to be one of them, we wanted to date one of them! … Sadly, all good things must come to an end and in 2004 Friends left our screens for good …. Until an unnamed tv channel started repeatedly playing episodes on loop that is, but hey, this meant that the next-gen became as hooked as us oldies were. So the title of an Iconic show is well and truly deserved!
Read MoreTelling the tale of the Murder at Haversham Manor, brings many twists, but only because the actors can’t quite keep up … sometimes because they are juggling the props, sometimes due to losing consciousness! But the audience does not care, they are away from real life, laughing their heads off throughout. This is one very clever, incredibly amusing, piece of theatre that EVERYONE should go and see!
Read MoreWaitress Review - a musical comedy, based a charming, lovely-natured young woman, called Jenna, who has found herself trapped in an abusive marriage, looking for a way to escape and build herself a better future. With the help of her two faithful friends from work, along with the confidence boost she starts getting from a certain questionable local Doctor, she finds the self-belief she needs to start planning for a much brighter future.
Read MoreAndrew Lloyd Webber’s School of Rock The Musical Review at The Orchard Theatre, Dartford, Kent. If you don't already know, 'School of Rock' is a story about a middle-aged, failed rock star, Dewey Finn, who takes it upon himself to fake his way into being a supply teacher for a bit of cash to help pay his rent, by fooling everyone into thinking his name is that of his only friend’s, Ned Schneebly and soon realises his talents are best suited to a being a music teacher in order to survive the lie and soon goes about dragging the kids into the con. Theatre Review.
Read MoreChicago The Musical Theatre Review at The Orchard Theatre in Dartford, Kent - Chicago, The Musical, starring Russell Watson and Sheila Ferguson, is about glamourous women, committing murder, being caught and facing hanging for their crimes, but their style, beauty and seduction manages to set them free. To Maurine Watkins this became very obvious and in mid-1920’s a Chicago newspaper ran a headline which says “Pretty Girls Get Free, Ugly Ones Sent To Pen”.
Read MorePeter James is the UK’s number one bestselling author of Crime and Thriller novels and his stories are so good that four previous books have been adapted into plays, successfully thrilling audiences around UK theatre. These exciting plays are based on Peter’s award-winning books, but from various perspectives, not just of Roy Grace, a fictional, Brighton based Detective Superintendent played by Harry Long. ‘Looking Good Dead’ is a story where a regular guy, Tom Bryce, tried to do a good deed, yet managed to end up with his whole family’s life in danger.
Read MoreReview: Jersey Boys at The Orchard Theatre - For those of you that don’t know, Jersey Boys is a story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons, about how they came together and their journey into becoming a sensational pop group and gave us an insight into their off-stage personal, New Jersey style lifestyle that came with it.
Read MoreWe were thrilled to be invited down to The Orchard Theatre in Dartford, Kent last night to the press night of their amazing Pantomime, Jack and the Beanstalk and what can I say, it was every bit of awesome you could imagine a Panto to be … Oh yes it was!
Read MoreReview: We were thrilled to be invited to The Orchard Theatre’s press night, in Dartford last night, to see ‘Rock of Ages’ a fantastically, funny musical, which wasn’t something I was expecting to be as good as it turned out to be! It literally had us up on our feet and leaving the auditorium wanting to punch the air and change the world! – WE WALKED OUT OF THERE BUZZING!!!
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