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Prayers and thoughts: The Inseparables @Finboroughtheatre

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The Inseparables brings Simone de Beauvoir’s posthumously published novel to life. It traces a lifelong friendship between Sylve and Andrée, two unconventional girls who grew up in a stifling world where being a woman meant getting married or entering a convent. With a quick pace and engaging performances from the two leads, it is a journey back into the 20th century that captures two unconventional women trapped in a conventional world that will have you reflecting on how much or little things have moved on in the last century. It’s currently playing at the Finborough Theatre .  We’re introduced to Sylve praying for her country, France, to be saved from the war and indoctrinated into the world of faith and obedience. But too smart for all that, her life was full of detached guilt and boredom. But when she meets Andrée, a new arrival at her school, she is struck by how different she is from everyone else. She was burned in a fire and had a passion for life that nobody else she knew...

The best of all possible worlds: Candide in Concert with @LMTOrch @CadoganHall


It is possible to see the best of all possible worlds after experiencing the passion and sublime music making from London Musical Theatre Orchestra's concert version of Candide.

Playing for one night only at Cadogan Hall, you left the theatre sharing the joy and passion the musicians felt for Bernstein's work.

Based on a story by Voltaire, it's about a young man determined to cling to optimism despite the frequent tragedies he encounters. Along the way he's expelled from home, dragged into the Bulgarian army, brought before the Spanish Inquisition... But the plot is not so important...

As a concert version, Bernstein's operetta lets you overlook the sillier parts of the story and focus on the music and performances.


In the title role, Rob Houchen defines the optimism of the character with an a delicate tenor voice.

Anna O'Byrne as Cunegonde was a delight to watch. Particularly as she made singing high e-flats look  easy in the showstopping number "Glitter and Be Gay".

James Dreyfus held the proceedings together as the narrator and comic relief.

The orchestra is the first in London dedicated to Musical Theatre. Founded in 2015 by Music Director Freddie Tapner it was intended to give London musicians experience in playing big orchestral musical theatre scores.  Bernstein would have approved for sure.

Earlier in the year they performed Honeymoon In Vegas with Jason Robert Brown conducting which was also sensational.

During the interval, two strangers asked me "Is this just for one night?" Alas it was. But it's exciting to see something extraordinary even if it is for one night.

They'll be back at Hackney Empire on September 23 for a concert version of Jerry Herman's Mack and Mabel. In December they'll be in the West End for A Christmas Carol. Sign up on their website for updates.

⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎⭐︎



Photos by Nick Rutter

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