Theatre review: Hercules

After a diversion where His Exalted Britannic Excellency, Master of all he Surveys, The Right Rev. Dr Baron Dame Sir Andrew Lloyd Lord Webber BA (Hons) MEng, QC, MD, P.I, FSB got Jamie Lloyd to settle a baffling grudge with John Gielgud for him, the Theatre Royal Drury Lane goes back to being the home of Disney musical blockbusters, and following Frozen is something of a less obvious choice: 1997's Hercules doesn't seem to top too many people's favourites list, but it does contain its fair share of memorable bangers from Alan Menken (music) and David Zippel (lyrics.) I remember when the film originally came out there was some grumbling in the Greek press about how the story didn't so much play fast and loose with the original Herakles myth as ignore it completely; but to be fair it did have to appeal to family audiences, and once you've taken the sexual assault out of Greek Mythology you've got what, 5% of the original story left to play with?

Theatre review: Shucked

Shucked by the power

Shucked by the power of love

OK they don't actually do that one, but Robert Horn (book,) Brandy Clark and Shane McAnally's (music and lyrics) Shucked does provide some catchy tunes of its own once it gets going. Contrary to what I said last year, apparently this is actually the official first show in the Open Air Theatre's Drew McOnie era (given La Cage Aux Folles was much-trumpeted as Timothy Sheader's swansong I guess the whole 2024 season was an extended perineum period?) A piss-take of the stereotype of small American towns with no interest in the outside world, Cob County is literally cut off from everyone else by a dense circle of cornfields that surrounds it, but when the crop the entire town depends on starts to fail, plucky Maizy (Sophie McShera) goes against everyone's advice to find a solution outside: She finds a way out and seeks help in the big city (Tampa, FL.)