Review: Sunset Boulevard, London Coliseum

Published in What's on Stage on April 5, 2016

This semi-staged production is the second musical-in-an-opera-house collaboration between ENO and the GradeLinnit Company, following Sweeney Todd last year; this time, it’s star-powered by Glenn Close. She’s making her West End debut as Norma Desmond, the faded, reclusive star of the silent screen who enlists a screenwriter named Joe (Michael Xavier) to work on her come-back project, a movie of Salome. Continue reading “Review: Sunset Boulevard, London Coliseum”

Jessie Buckley on War and Peace, Judi Dench and competitive karaoke

Published in Evening Standard on December 16, 2015

“It’s always good dinner chat: ‘Have you read War and Peace?’” says Jessie Buckley, star of the new BBC six-part adaptation of Tolstoy’s novel, pealing into laughter at the thought of showing off such a highbrow reading appetite. While many viewers will no doubt tune in thinking the telly version will save them at the occasion of such dinner-party chat, it should also inspire people to pick up Tolstoy’s doorstopper. Continue reading “Jessie Buckley on War and Peace, Judi Dench and competitive karaoke”