Welcome to The Crazy Chris Website

Loving London life...

Hello and welcome. This is the third version of my personal site - the first two just developed technical problems which I couldn't resolve so I had to start over. Basically it's mostly about theatre as that's where I often find myself outside of work. I'm still not technologically minded so this one might well fail too at some point.

One of these days I might get around to putting up old content from the previous websites. Thanks for stopping by!

Mar 11, 20195 min read

All in a weekend - a play, a musical, a talk, a concert

As I seem incapable of having a weekend off to sort out ‘life admin’, catch up with laundry or even just relax (because, y’know, YOLO), I...

Feb 26, 20195 min read

New musicals, The Land of Lola, Mary Poppins and Gandalf

It was a weekend away from the reviewing circuit but as per usual I couldn’t resist saying something about what I enjoyed – ‘enjoyed’...

Feb 25, 20193 min read

Rough Crossing - Chichester Festival Theatre

Rough Crossing turned out to be a rough crossing for me, though this was more down to my personal circumstances than faults in the...

Feb 21, 20192 min read

The Life I Lead - Minerva Theatre Chichester

I must admit I knew not much about David Tomlinson (1917-2000) before seeing The Life I Lead, itself something I only saw as it happened...

Feb 15, 20192 min read

MT Fest UK Late Bites (Luke Bayer) - The Other Palace

For the second time in as many months, I found myself in a late-night concert and conversation with musical theatre rising star Luke...

Feb 11, 20192 min read

Chita Rivera - Cadogan Hall

Of course, I knew the name. Chita Rivera. Mostly because an apparent feud between her and Rita Moreno was included in the Forbidden...

Feb 4, 20193 min read

4 One Night Only - Academy Theatre Barnsley

The problem with calling a show 4 One Night Only is this. What happens if the audience has such a good time that a suggestion to do...

Jan 24, 20193 min read

Radio Active 40th Anniversary Tour - 24th April to 2nd June 2019

Celebrating the 40th Anniversary of the show first being performed live onstage, Britain’s favourite local radio station Radio Active is...

Jan 20, 20192 min read

Coming Clean - Trafalgar Studios

A 1980s set goes with this 1980s play, with seemingly 1980s values. Coming Clean must be one of the few plays set in that era (“the...

Jan 17, 20193 min read

Reeve Carney - The Other Palace Studio

I didn’t know much about Reeve Carney, which is the main reason why I went along to his solo show in London, the first one he’s ever done...

Jan 15, 20193 min read

Luke Bayer - Live at Zedel

Luke Bayer, for the relatively uninitiated, like yours truly, started young. There’s a photo of him as a teenager on ‘The X-Factor’, in...

Jan 13, 20192 min read

Songs for Nobodies - Ambassadors Theatre

Bernadette Robinson. Photo credit: Nick Brittain. Why exactly is Songs for Nobodies called Songs for Nobodies? After all, the likes of...

Jan 8, 20192 min read

Christina Bennington - Live at Zedel

Empty vessels make the most noise, but that isn’t a universal principle, as an emotive and passionate concert from rising star Christina...

Jan 7, 201912 min read

On the subject of Bat Out of Hell the Musical...

Luke Sampson, Paula Hall, Julia Prior, me, Sarah Forrester, Tessa Prior. Photo credit: Catherine Francoise “I don’t know anyone who has...

Dec 31, 20185 min read

The week that was...

Rob Fowler and Sharon Sexton in Bat Out of Hell the Musical I have just about managed to keep out of trouble by busying myself tackling a...

Dec 10, 20183 min read

The twelve days of Christmas according to senior management

The recent announcement that Donner and Blitzen have elected to take the early reindeer retirement package has triggered a good deal of...

Dec 10, 20184 min read

So this is Christmas...

When I was a schoolboy, I was part of (though no choice of my own) a church-like organisation that had some characteristics of a cult....

Dec 2, 20182 min read

Bohemian Rhapsody The Movie

Ah, the power of social media. When I posted a link to a highly negative review of Bohemian Rhapsody recently, the response was...

Nov 20, 20184 min read

Hadestown - National Theatre

I recently saw a YouTube video of the final night of The Poor School, in which its founder and director Paul Caister – not liked in some...

Nov 6, 20183 min read

Allelujah! - National Theatre (Not) Live

It’s the NHS, but not as I’ve known it for the past few years. A general hospital in the north of England, with ‘general’ being very much...

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