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Wine time: The Frogs - Southwark Playhouse

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For a show called The Frogs, there isn’t much amphibian activity in the piece. But being a show with music by Stephen Sondheim, you could be mistaken for thinking it’s a critical theatrical piece. But like Sondheim’s final musical playing at the National Theatre, while it may not be a musical that fills you with provocative thoughts, it’s a fast-paced romp through hell and back to save the world for the sake of arts. With rousing choruses, thrilling choreography and plenty of cheap laughs, what more can you want from the theatre? It’s currently playing at the Southwark Playhouse (Borough) . There isn’t much to the plot, except that Dionysus (Dan Buckley), disillusioned by the state of a divided world, and his sidekick and slave, Xanthias (Kevin McHale), cross the river Styx to the underworld to find a great writer who they can return to the world to teach the world about life. He has his mind set on bringing back George Bernard Shaw until he hears the poetry of Shakespeare.  This v...

Comment: Remembering and recognition for awards Season in Theatre... including #alsorecognised

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Awards and accolades are a great way of remembering some of the great performances of the past year. Assuming that you can remember them... There is so much stuff that is great to see in London that whittling anything down to a shortlist of three or four seems a tad cruel. Still it is great that there is a small but growing group of awards to recognise. The Oliviers and The Whats On Stage Awards cover the big end of town, but there is also the Also Recognised Awards . It's less glamorous than those two and winners only get to pose with a selfie. Set up by My Theatre Mates Mark Shenton and Terri Paddock , they celebrate lesser-known but worthy talent in fields overlooked by other awards bodies. This year's winners included a number of winners or nominees from the Olivier Awards. But there were also some differences. Bugsy Malone, which lost out to Gypsy for Best Musical Revival at the Oliviers, won for Best Ensemble Performance. Kenneth Branagh’s production of...

Remembering last year: @Mytheatremates Also Recognised Awards

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While some of us can't remember what we saw last month (handy to have a blog for that reason), MyTheatreMates announced last week the shortlists in the second annual Also Recognised Awards . These audience-voted industry accolades celebrate talent in fields often overlooked by other award bodies. One of the awards is the UK’s first-ever prize for Best Musical Direction. In addition to Best Musical Direction the awards recognise performances for: Best Ensemble Performance Best Solo Performance Best Shakespearean Production Best Original Music London Newcomer of the Year Theatre Event of the Year

Don't forget to vote: Also Recognised Awards close Friday

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Now that the Oliviers are out of the way, Friday is the last day people have to vote in the Also Recognised Awards, set up by the exciting new London theatre resource, My Theatre Mates run by Mark Shenton and Terri Paddock. The Also Recognised Awards celebrate lesser-known but equally worthy talent in fields overlooked by other awards. They comprise ten categories including an award for musical direction, which is the the first award of its kind, and recognises how the contribution of musical direction can really set the tone of a show.