King’s
Orphans
★★★☆☆ Raucous
Full of comic bravado, the National Theatre of Scotland’s long-delayed musical adaptation of Orphans at the King’s is an attractive but unwieldy beast.
The Da Vinci Code
★★★☆☆ Visually arresting
The big budget obviously afforded to the adaptation of The Da Vinci Code is put to good use in a stunningly designed and consistently well acted production that bowls along merrily without ever quite coming together as a dramatic narrative.
Allan Stewart’s Big Big Variety Show
★★★★☆ Welcome
Allan Stewart’s Big Big Variety Show, revived for one more time at the King’s, is reliably funny and tuneful; on this occasion, it is also oddly affecting.
The Pirates of Penzance
★★★★☆ Beyond duty
The Edinburgh Gilbert and Sullivan Society bring a production of The Pirates of Penzance to the King’s which goes beyond the call of duty, being packed with high points – and no low ones to speak of.
Shrek the Musical
★★★☆☆ Swamptastic
Just 904 days after its first rehearsal, the Bohemians Lyric Opera Company’s production of Shrek the Musical arrives on the King’s stage, battered by Covid in more ways than one, but brave and unbowed none-the-less.
Sheila’s Island
★★★★☆ Captivating
A Nineties hit is back with a twist as the King’s Theatre is transformed into Sheila’s Island, the Tim Firth comedy on tour in an Yvonne Arnoud Theatre production.
Rocky Horror Show
★★★★★ Damn it!
Loud, brash and very, very slick, Richard O’Brien’s Rocky Horror Show rock’n’rolls into the Kings with pinch of glitter, a fist-full of glitz and a whole bucket of on-the-nose comedy.
The Dresser
★★★☆☆ Sterling performances
That The Dresser, a play dealing with that old cliché that ‘the show must go on’ should lose one of its two stars on opening night in Edinburgh is oddly fitting, if unfortunate.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
★★★★☆ Visually arresting
The touring production of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe at the King’s is a real spectacle, reproducing the source material faithfully and showing considerable invention.
Sleeping Beauty
★★★★☆ Comforting
Familiar routines, eye-catching gimmicks and cheeky swagger are naturally present in Sleeping Beauty, this year’s pantomime at the King’s. And if something is unsurprisingly missing, it does pretty well in making up for it.
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