Theatre review: Wasted

"Fuck off, I'm writing Jane Eyre."

The success of Hamilton on both sides of the Atlantic means musical theatre throwing distinctly anachronistic musical styles at historical figures are all the rage, so it's a pleasure to report that even with all that going on Wasted feels pleasingly original - and bonkers. The Brontës were a quartet of troubled artists who didn't fit into the world they were born into, faced romantic problems and drug addiction, but briefly became a popular sensation (and hugely controversial because of the bad influence they might have on their fans) before fizzling out and dying young. At least that's how Carl Miller (book and lyrics) and Christopher Ash (music) see them, framing their show as a Behind the Music documentary about a band who barely made it past one-hit-wonders, and interviewing Charlotte - the last left alive, having given up writing and married a dull curate - about what went wrong.

Theatre review: The Infidel

As he documented in Fame earlier this year, David Baddiel missed out on his chance at becoming a millionaire writer of musicals when Andrew Lloyd Webber couldn't tell the difference between him and Ben Elton. He's making up for it now with the book and lyrics to the musical adaptation of his own film The Infidel, with music by Erran Baron Cohen. Another very silly comedy about religion, this one has a definite feel that nothing is out of bounds. Mahmud (Kev Orkian) is a minicab driver and self-styled fun guy to be around, whose son Rashid (Gary Wood) feels like he's the one having to parent his father. He's well-liked and though hardly the most devout Muslim, is quietly a believer. He has a major crisis of identity though when his mother dies and he discovers adoption papers proving he was actually born to Jewish parents. Hoping to be allowed to meet his dying biological father, he tries to learn enough about Judaism to impress the rabbi, while keeping this development from his family.