The Puerto Rican-born star of the first West Side Story movie reflects on her life, career and traumas in this warm documentary saluteThis televisual but still touching documentary tribute to actor Rita Moreno, who turns 90 this month, is released in t…
The Drifters Girl review – sensational songs but flat storytelling
Garrick theatre, LondonBeverley Knight excels as trailblazing manager Faye Treadwell in a musical that skips hastily through history and lacks emotional drama The idea behind this musical is to show the powerhouse female force that managed the all-male…
What’s New Pussycat? review – high-voltage collision of two Tom Joneses
Birmingham Repertory theatreThe 18th-century novel and Welsh crooner meet on 1960s Carnaby Street in a spirited jukebox musicalThis is a madcap mashup of a musical. Its basic premise is, bizarrely, a meeting of two Tom Joneses: the foundling and rakish…
‘There is a reason why famous people are often screwed up’: Tim Minchin on quitting comedy
The Australian composer has returned to performing after a 10-year break. He writes about fame, failure and his surprise comebackIn 2003, I booked a tiny venue for Melbourne fringe festival, to perform a show I had tortuously titled Navel: Cerebral Mel…
Having a ball: the fairytale couple at heart of West End’s revival
Carrie Hope Fletcher is the star of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cinderella; Oliver Ormson is in Disney’s Frozen. The pair discuss romance, musicals and returning to the stage amid theatre’s crisisYou could say they’re a fairytale couple: Prince Charming and …
Actor Renu Arora: ‘I saw my leg go under the bus and thought I was dead and gone’
Four years ago, she was involved in a horrific accident. Little did she know it would leave her uniquely prepared to play a noblewoman hit by a falling elephant in the RSC’s new Christmas musicalOne Wednesday evening in March 2017, everything changed f…
Putting It Together review – how Sondheim’s Sunday in the Park With George was born
James Lapine’s account of how he and Stephen Sondheim braved bad previews and cast members jumping ship to create a hit musical is fascinatingThis book is a retrospective peep behind the curtain, an account of how a musical was conceived, written, prod…
Netflix’s Diana: The Musical is the year’s most hysterically awful hate-watch | Stuart Heritage
The filmed Broadway show has crash-landed early on the streamer with hilariously awful songs, a musical mess to rival CatsLogically, it makes perfect sense that Diana: The Musical should exist. After all, Diana, Princess of Wales lends herself extraord…
‘They changed my ending, I felt aghast’ – how we made Wicked
‘I once performed Defying Gravity at the White House within spitting distance of the Obamas,’ says Idina Menzel. ‘In fact, I might actually have spat on them’I’d played with the story of The Wizard of Oz since my childhood in the US when I would arrang…
NHS the Musical review – the doctor will sing for you now
Theatre Royal PlymouthBouncy songs explore three patients’ experiences in this ambitious and spirited show about the health service’s history and current crisisAs audiences return to theatres, will they want razzle-dazzle escapism or plays that grapple…