Theatre review: Mrs Doubtfire

I have absolutely nothing against the increasing amount of musicals based on movies; since they began to appear a century ago musicals have been a genre that more often than not adapted existing stories. Cinema has now been around long enough that it provides a vast library of material to provide inspiration, and I've enjoyed many shows based on stories that first appeared on film. Still, it's all in what you do with it, and a show has to offer more than just a nostalgia trip for fans of the original. Wayne Kirkpatrick (music & lyrics,) Karey Kirkpatrick (book, music & lyrics) and John O'Farrell's (book) adaptation of Mrs Doubtfire doesn't have that extra reason to exist, and the ways it does expand on the film are almost weirder than the story itself. Daniel Hillard (Gabriel Vick) is a hyperactive unemployed actor and impressionist, who's more of a friend than a parent to his three kids.

Theatre review: On The Town

Continuing Drew McOnie's inexorable rise to challenge Matthew Bourne as Britain's most famous choreographer, and after his dances were one of the reasons for last year's Jesus Christ Superstar's success, he returns to Regent's Park to add directing to his CV as well. And it makes sense to have the same person direct and choreograph On The Town because it's the kind of show where the two seem very much like the same job: It was originally conceived as a ballet, and wordless dance sequences still form a huge part of Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden and Adolph Green's musical. Best known for the Gene Kelly / Frank Sinatra film version, and for its big number "New York, New York," it follows three sailors on 24 hours' shore leave who each have a different idea of how to spend their big day, but all end up going on the same quest once Gabey (Danny Mac, who turns out not to be a discount cosmetics brand but a person,) sees a poster of a beauty queen on the subway.

Theatre review: Xanadu

You'd imagine an '80s-themed jukebox musical based on a notorious Olivia Newton-John movie about a roller-disco to be very, very camp. But actually Douglas Carter Beane's 2007 stage version of Xanadu will surprise you. By being so much camper than you'd ever expected. "Wow, this is like children's theatre for 40-year-old gay people!" is how one of the characters describes it: It's Venice Beach, California in 1980, and street artist Sonny (Samuel Edwards) has drawn a chalk picture of (seven of) the nine muses on a wall, but isn't quite happy with it. To help him with inspiration, the real leader of the ancient Greek muses, Clio (Carly Anderson,) descends from Olympus. But instead of helping him with his art, together they hatch a plan to create the ultimate expression of all arts, from music to dance to epic poetry: A roller-disco in an abandoned theatre called the Xanadu.