Michael Hasted, Author at StageTalk Magazine

BARNUM at the Bristol Hippodrome

Posted by Michael Hasted | 19 Sep 2014

“As you would expect, and want, this is a big, bold and brassy show with all the stops pulled out. The ensemble work is really excellent with the boys and girls not only providing all the singing and dancing but displaying lots clever circus skills as well. . . the stars of the show were the ladies. Linzi Hateley as Barnum’s wife was excellent as was Landi Oshinowo whose big voice and presence dominated the stage for her two spots. . . The most successful song of the evening was Love Makes Such a Fool of Us All sung from a trapeze by Kimberley Blake.”

NEW JERSEY NIGHTS at the Everyman, Cheltenham

Posted by Michael Hasted | 10 Sep 2014

During the heady days of the sixties, when British bands dominated the charts, there was only one American band, apart from the Beach Boys, that could give the Beatles and the Stones a run for their money – the Four Seasons. Nevertheless, the Four Seasons, with their distinctive lead singer Frankie Valli, were a bit of an anachronism.

Zola’s THÉRÈSE RAQUIN at Bath Theatre Royal

Posted by Michael Hasted | 6 Aug 2014

“…as theatre, Jonathan Munby’s production is superb. Visually it is stunning with a simple, flexible, monochrome box set by Mike Britton that adapts brilliantly to what is required of it with the sides sliding in and out in a multitude of configurations. There is even a stream of water running along the front of the stage to represent the omnipresent River Seine which figures so largely in the story…for the most part, it was very good indeed, bordering on brilliant.

WILL HARVEY’S WAR at the Everyman Cheltenham

Posted by Michael Hasted | 31 Jul 2014

It is only right and proper that the Everyman Theatre, one of the main focal points of culture in Cheltenham, should take it upon itself to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the outbreak of First World War….The production Paul Milton has put together is no mean achievement, involving, as it does, over sixty performers… Will Harvey’s War has been a mammoth, and for the most part successful, undertaking for which Paul Milton, the Everyman and all those involved should take a great deal of pride.

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN at the Bristol Hippodrome

Posted by Michael Hasted | 24 Jul 2014

“…Visually the show is superb. The one-set-fits-all is basically a vast film studio but also becomes a theatre, an office and a street onto which thousands of gallons of water are poured every night. The lighting and the costumes combine to re-create the bright but soft and subtle colours of old Technicolor movies…The big production numbers like the Busby Berkeley-esque Beautiful Girls complete with shiny aeroplane followed by the famous and very wet title song, were spectacular, as was the apache ballet in the second half….”

Author: Michael Hasted

BARNUM at the Bristol Hippodrome

NEW JERSEY NIGHTS at the Everyman, Cheltenham

Zola’s THÉRÈSE RAQUIN at Bath Theatre Royal

WILL HARVEY’S WAR at the Everyman Cheltenham

SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN at the Bristol Hippodrome

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