Amour, Charing Cross Theatre - ★★★★★ - Until July 20, 2019


This is a charming musical fable set in post-war France. It is a story of barriers overcome through the super power of love which can transform a shy, nondescript office worker into a superhero. It is also a political allegory about the emergence of France from the darkness of its Nazi occupation. The wonderful choreography of Matt Cole which has suggestions of the black and white films of the silent era marries beautifully to Michel Legrand's score, and the brilliant English lyrics of Jeremy Sams artfully catch the gentle humour and whimsy of the piece. Gary Tushaw stands out in the role of Dusoleil. He brings life to a two-dimensional character in a way that recalls the comic genius of Jacques Tati, and his voice is rich and compelling. Anna O'Byrne is a delightful Isabelle beguiled by a lover who runs through a brick wall. Indeed, all of the cast manage to enter the spirit of this bittersweet confection which has to be played with the lightness of an éclair if the audience is to be seduced into entering this ultimately wistful world. But in the end, the star of the evening is the late Michel Legrand's score. Inspired by all his favourite composers, and there is more than a hint of Offenbach and his opéra bouffe, Michel Legrand has created a musical experience that entrances and delights.

Reviewed by J.C.

  Our Score:  ☆☆☆☆☆ 

Want to save on tickets? See our Tips page.

WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE:
Until July 20, 2019
Mon - Sat: 7:30 pm, Wed: 2:30 pm, Sat: 3:00 pm
Charing Cross Theatre
Nearest tube: Charing Cross
www.charingcrosstheatre.co.uk
Map & Location: The Arches, Villiers St, Charing Cross, London WC2N 6NL, UK

Most Popular

The Playboy of the Western World ★★★★ National Theatre | Until February 28, 2026

Image
John Millington Synge’s The Playboy of the Western World is a work rich in significance and open to varied interpretation. In his programme notes, Christopher Collins views the play through the contemporary lens of the global migrant crisis and society’s fascination with celebrity. Yet Christy Mahon’s (Christ as Man) symbolic killing of his father, who returns with amusing regularity, also invites a reading of the play as a religious satire in which Synge advances a vision of bold and irreverent humanism. In many respects, this is a radically innovative piece of writing that challenges both social expectations and the established conventions of comedy. This current National Theatre production preserves much of the original’s force and the stark and lyrical set vividly conjures the atmosphere of the west of Ireland. As the eponymous hero, Éanna Hardwicke convincingly portrays the timid youth who, through the fantasies of the townspeople, discovers his identity and is reborn as a figure...
Full Details »

Top Hat ★★★★ Southbank Centre | Dec 12, 2025 - Jan 17, 2026

Image
“They’re Dancing Cheek to Cheek Again!” The posters and advertising for the original 1935 film starring Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers promised romance, dancing, and songs you would never forget. This current production is every bit as delightful as the original and largely lives up to the film’s hype. The farcical confusions of the love story continue to charm and amuse, and it is refreshing that director Kathleen Marshall has chosen not to update the references. The show is unapologetically presented as a period piece, relying on the quality of its singing and dancing to bridge the gap between eras. With its unforgettable Irving Berlin score and top notch tapping from Phillip Attmore as Jerry Travers, it succeeds admirably. Attmore clearly relishes his role, and his exuberance is infectious. As Jerry’s love interest, Dale Tremont, Amara Okereke displays a fine voice, and the couple’s “Let’s Face the Music and Dance” is a definite highlight. As the comic foils the young lovers, Horace...
Full Details »

Daniel’s Husband ★★★ Marylebone Theatre | Dec 4, 2025 - Jan 10, 2026

Image
Michael McKeever’s play opens with a long-established gay couple hosting a friend and the latest young man he is dating. The alcohol and the banter are flowing, and we seem to be in familiar comedic territory until an argument breaks out over gay marriage. Mitchell, a writer and Daniel’s partner, considers marriage an unnecessary, heteronormative expression of commitment. The remainder of the play is about Mitchell, and the audience, learning the importance of the institution of marriage for gay couples. Despite some clever dialogue and some good character development, this work is mainly didactic, and when Daniel falls ill, there is an uneasy sense of emotional manipulation which accompanies the lesson that we are being taught. The play also glosses over the truly formidable realities faced by caregivers when a partner develops a chronic condition. In this world both Mitchell and Daniel’s mother are affluent enough to argue over who will assume responsibility for his care without havi...
Full Details »

Indian Ink ★★★★★ Hampstead Theatre | Dec 3, 2025 - Jan 31, 2026

Image
This first-rate production of Tom Stoppard’s palimpsestic masterpiece is simply a must-see. When the English poet Flora Crewe travels to India, she sits for a portrait by the Indian painter Nirad Das. Both that portrait and this play reflect the complex melding of cultures that emerged from the British presence in India. Exploring different approaches to art and the presentation of the artist, the drama also exposes the intricate and often fraught political relationship between the two countries whose histories became so deeply intertwined. Flora’s meeting with the Indian painter hints at the complicated dynamic between a dying imperial vision and its colonial subject, while also questioning the epistemological frameworks through which we seek to understand the past. Many years later, Crewe's American biographer meets with her sister Mrs Swan as he attempts to reconstruct that Indian encounter. Both that actual experience and the artistic impression of Crewe created by Das stand in...
Full Details »

When We Are Married ★★★★ Donmar Warehouse | Dec 6, 2025 - Feb 7, 2026

Image
Set in 1908 and written in 1938, When We Are Married was produced shortly after the passage of the Matrimonial Causes Act of 1937, which expanded the grounds for divorce beyond adultery to include cruelty and desertion. At the turn of the century, particularly for the chapel-going middle classes, marriage was firmly understood as a till-death-do-us-part commitment. For Priestley’s original audience, the play’s premise that three couples might discover, after twenty-five years together, that they were not legally married and could therefore make different choices was not only comic but almost subversive. Times have changed, but Priestley’s comedy remains strikingly relevant, especially in its clear-eyed identification of the pressures that can undermine marriage: infidelity, financial anxiety, and bullying abuse. Although these themes are treated lightly, the point behind the laughter remains sharp. The play offers shrewd insight into relationships, class and the hypocrisy that often i...
Full Details »

Oh, Mary! ★★★ Trafalgar Theatre | Dec 3, 2025 - Apr 25, 2026

Image
Riffing on the long-standing rumours that Mary Todd Lincoln was an alcoholic and that her husband harboured homosexual tendencies, Oh, Mary! is a drag extravaganza with a sharp ahistorical and satirical edge. Its humour relies heavily on standard drag tropes. There is abundant mugging, snide asides, sexual puns, and what was once considered blue language. Much of this feels familiar, and the shocked laughter that taboo sexual references once provoked has been dulled by overuse. Indeed, anyone acquainted with the drag genre will see most of the jokes coming well in advance. That said, the production values are notably higher here than those of the average drag show. The set is handsomely appointed, and the use of music to underscore scenes is effective. Cole Escola’s script presents Mary as a bored housewife yearning to become a cabaret star. In an effort to keep Mary away from the bottle, her husband hires a teacher to give her acting lessons. The funniest moments actually emerge from...
Full Details »

St. Martin in-the-fields: Lunchtime Concerts ★★★★ FREE

Image
Maybe the best musical value in London. The lunchtime concerts at St. Martin's are always a wonderful way to escape the hustle and bustle that is London and the sensory overload that is Trafalgar Square. This is a beautiful setting with great acoustics, and a church pew hard enough to make sure you don't nod off. Reviewed by J.C.  Our score:    ☆☆☆☆  WHEN, WHERE, GETTING THERE: Mon & Fri: 1 pm - 1:45 pm ( occasionally Tues & Thurs)  St. Martin in-the-fields, Trafalgar Square Nearest tube: Charing Cross https://www.stmartin-in-the-fields.org/whats-on
Full Details »

The Red Shoes ★★★★ Sadler's Wells Theatre | Dec 2, 2025 - Jan 18, 2026

Image
Taking inspiration from the 1948 Powell and Pressburger film, Matthew Bourne has created a sumptuous interpretation of The Red Shoes that bears his unmistakable signature while honouring Hans Christian Andersen’s tale of artistic obsession. The production possesses a strikingly cinematic quality and moves with remarkable fluidity from scene to scene. Lez Brotherston’s set design masterfully shifts between the world onstage and the more intimate realm behind the curtain, allowing the audience to experience both the external praise afforded to the young dancer Victoria Page and the private turmoil that drives her. Paule Constable’s expressive lighting enriches these transitions with subtle and atmospheric precision. Indeed, the staging of this production is extraordinarily rich, creating layers of visual interest that can border on overwhelming. As Page, Cordelia Braithwaite conveys her character’s emotional struggle with exceptional clarity, capturing the tension between her devotion t...
Full Details »

Snow White ★★★★ Emerald Theatre | Dec 17, 2025 - Jan 4, 2026

Image
This adult-themed, all-drag panto delivers all the seasonal fun and silliness one could hope for, and then some. There are plenty of clever jokes mixed with a fair number of groaners, alongside some strong physical comedy and parodies of familiar tunes that genuinely raise a laugh. The contemporary cultural references are right up to date and so numerous it is hard to catch them all. Everything from the new Paddington Bear musical to The Traitors gets a mention. Nods to RuPaul’s Drag Race and The Great British Bake Off come thick and fast, with the latter earning extra resonance thanks to drag king Oliver Clothezoff, who plays the Prince, having previously appeared on the show. Not all of the material lands. Some well worn sexual puns feel overdue for retirement, as does the "Twelve Days of Christmas" routine. Even so, there are far more hits than misses, although the second act does seem to lose a little momentum. We were also left uncertain about why Keir Starmer had bee...
Full Details »

Christmas Day ★★★★ Almeida Theatre | Dec 9, 2025 - Jan 8, 2026

Image
In an odd warehouse conversion where his son and daughter live with a strange assortment of inhabitants, a Jewish father joins his children for a Christmas Day meal. Elliot, a secular Jew, represents a generation for whom identity and allegiances are largely unquestioned. His children, however, inhabit a far less certain world. His daughter Tamara is urgently searching for spiritual answers and openly challenges Israel’s actions, even as her former boyfriend has found a new sense of himself through Israeli nationalism. On the other hand, Elliot’s son Noah, who has a non-Jewish girlfriend, is adrift, struggling to locate himself within the tradition that shaped him but no longer anchors him. Sam Grabiner’s Christmas Day explores what it means to be Jewish in contemporary Britain, asking whether it is possible, or even desirable, to maintain or reconcile ethnic, religious, and cultural identity in an assimilative society. While rooted in a specifically Jewish experience, the play’s ques...
Full Details »

The City Life Magazine | Reviews & Ratings