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Wednesday 24 May 2017

Angels in America, National Theatre | Review


Angels in America
National Theatre, Lyttleton Theatre
Reviewed on Saturday May 13th 2017 by Olivia Mitchell
★★


Angels in America has got to be one of the National Theatre's most eagerly anticipated productions and one of the hottest tickets in London right now. The production boasts a line-up of incredible stars with the entire run sold out apart from lottery and day seats. Due to the sheer size and epicness of this play, it is rarely staged so seeing this revival from director Marianna Elliott is a once in a generation opportunity.


The show is big. The glossy A4 programme is big, the set is big, the cast names are big and the length is big. So much is packed in and the scope of the production and the ideas within it are vast and although slightly overwhelming at times, it's an extremely well put together and a mesmerising production.

The cast includes Broadway's Nathan Lane, Olivier-winner Denise Gough, NT stars Russell Tovey and James McArdle and Hollywood film star Andrew Garfield, who had performed in shows at the NT before heading to Hollywood. The acting is utterly sublime, with ridiculous talent and confidence that is breathtaking throughout.

Tony Kushner's two-part play tells the story of the emerging AIDS crisis of the 1980s as it hit the gay community in New York, by as cast of both real life and fictional characters who are living through it. Both parts are dense but liberating in the way they play with form, moving from domestic realism to hallucinatory fantasy, especially in part two Perestroika.

Part one, Millennium Approaches is full of angst and drama but is extremely humorous at points. A homeless woman chaotically exclaims "In the new century I think we will all be insane", when get to part two, Perestroika, twenty-five years later we see that that premonition may have come to be.

Nathan Lane manages to have both our hate and sympathy as the vicious, closeted lawyer Roy. Denise Gough lives right up to her superstar name and she embodies the role of the drugged out, angry and upset, Harper, giving a mesmerising performance. James McArdle is wonderful as the infuriatingly sensitive Louis. Russell Tovey brings pain and innocence to the confused Mormon Republican Joe and Nathan Stewart-Jarrett is fantastic as Belize who is perhaps the only sane one of the group. But it's Andrew Garfield who steals the show. He is breathtaking as the shows lead, Prior Walter. Garfield is intense and committed to the role with just the right amount of wit and grit to make this somewhat wacky character come to life in perfect colour on stage.

Although the context of Angels in America is different in 2017, especially with regards to AIDS, the play feels extremely relevant and the revival couldn't have come at a better time. The action looks back at the time Reagan was in office and studies his right-wing policies which are scarily analogous with Donald Trump's. This makes everything even more resonant and emphasises the fractured America where opinions on gender, wealth and race have unfortunately not changed.

This play is unlike anything else, with a mix of angsty, sardonic, gloomy surrealism which is a roller coaster from moment one. There are so many moments of shock that jump out like an endless stream of consciousness and it's really like being inside Kushner's brain as his thoughts vomit out. Although that doesn't sound particularly pleasant, it really is. There's something magical and truthful about the craziness. This play is not likely to be seen again in the near future and this production of the modern masterpiece is sure to stay with everyone who sees it until the next one comes about. Angels in America is epic but the most important thing is that it promotes discussion and remains relevant.

Angels in America will be broadcast to cinemas by NT Live from 20 July.

Friday 5 August 2022

Sierra Boggess to Appear Live in Concert in Christmas at Cadogan Hall


Fourth Wall Live is delighted to announce that Olivier Award nominated Broadway and West End star Sierra Boggess will appear live in concert in ‘Christmas At The Cadogan Hall’ on Sunday 11 December 2022 at 2.30pm and 6.30pm. Tickets are on sale now www.fw-live.com/sierra

Sierra said today, “I’m thrilled to be returning to London to make music together at Cadogan Hall! The concert will feature songs that I love to perform, as well as some holiday music to celebrate the season!” 

Sierra Boggess has been seen on Broadway in the Tony nominated musical School Of Rock, It Shoulda Been You directed by David Hyde Pierce, the Broadway production of The Phantom of the Opera, the revival of Master Class and The Little Mermaid, for which she received Drama Desk and Drama League nominations and a Broadway.com Audience Choice Award. 

In the West End, Sierra’s theatre credits include Les Misérables, the 25th Anniversary concerts of The Phantom of the Opera at the Royal Albert Hall and her Olivier Award nominated performance as Christine Daae in Love Never Dies. 

Other New York theatre credits include the recent off-Broadway production of Barry Manilow’s Harmony, Manhattan Concert Productions’ The Secret Garden at Lincoln Center; the one-night-only concert of Guys & Dolls at Carnegie Hall opposite Nathan Lane, Patrick Wilson and Megan Mullally; the final Off-Broadway cast of Love, Loss, and What I Wore; and Music in the Air for City Center’s Encores! series. She also starred as Christine Daae in the Las Vegas production of The Phantom of the Opera. Across the United States she has been seen in Into The Woods, A Little Night Music, Ever After, Age of Innocence, Princesses, and the national tour of Les Misérables. Her Film and Television credits include Vulture Club with Susan Sarandon and the web series What’s Your Emergency, directed by Michael Urie.

Sierra’s recordings include School Of Rock, It Shoulda Been You, the 25th-anniversary concert of The Phantom of the Opera, the symphonic recording of Love Never Dies, The Little Mermaid, and Andrew Lippa’s A Little Princess. Concert appearances include the BBC Proms at Royal Albert Hall, Lincoln Center’s American Songbook series The Lyrics of David Zippel, The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, and Broadway by the Year at Town Hall. Sierra has toured all over the world across Australia, Japan, Paris, and London with her concert show, which has been preserved live and released on CD, Awakening: Live at 54 Below. She recently released an album of duets with Julian Ovenden made during the pandemic entitled Together At A Distance. www.sierraboggess.com

Fourth Wall Live is an entertainment company that produces events, concerts and on-stage shows. In January 2022 FWL presented Bonnie and Clyde The Musical In Concert for two nights to a sold-out audience at Theatre Royal Drury Lane, starring Broadway favourite Jeremy Jordan. The concert broke Drury Lane box office records selling out a two-night run in less than six minutes. The concert was live captured for cinematic/streaming distribution, with its release to be announced in due course.

In 2022 Fourth Wall Live is delighted to be presenting Audra McDonald at the London Palladium, and Jeremy Jordan at Theatre Royal Drury Lane. FWL regularly presents concerts featuring stars of the West End and Broadway including Keala Settle, Jeremy Jordan, Matthew Morrison and Hannah Waddingham among others.

Fourth Wall Live was also a producer of Bonnie & Clyde the Musical which ran at The Arts Theatre in the West End for 13 weeks during 2022.