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The brown word: Death on the Throne @gatehouselondon

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We’re warned at the start of the show with an upbeat number that this is not the usual sort of musical. And it turns out to be just that. But with boundless enthusiasm and energy from its two leads, who deploy a range of voices and breathtaking energy to create a series of voices for puppet characters, a bedtime story becomes a silly oddball tale about four souls stuck in purgatory. With puppets. And various toilet humour references. It’s currently playing at Upstairs At The Gatehouse . The piece starts as a bedtime story. Daddy (Mark Underwood) is about to read a bedtime story for Louise (Sarah Louise Hughes). But her stomach felt funny, and soon, she went to the bathroom. Then, for reasons that seem to only make sense in the confines of the show, they start telling the story of four people who died in unfortunate circumstances in the bathroom. Depicted as puppets, they’re stuck in purgatory as St Peter doesn’t have enough space for each of them in the afterlife. And so begins a puppe...

Sleight of hand: The Fabulist @charingcrossthr


Billed as a musical comedy, The Fabulist is actually a rare chance to see Giovanni Paisiello’s rarely performed light opera, The Imaginary Astrologers, translated and updated to Mussolini’s Italy. With sublime music, fine singing and a bit of additional silliness thrown in for good measure, it’s a welcome addition to the choices available on the West End. It’s currently playing at Charing Cross Theatre.

In this update, the action moved to Italy in 1929. A magician (or, as he prefers to be called, Fabulist), Julian is on the run from both the fascists and the Catholic Church. On the run, he stumbles on a film shoot and dazzles the screenwriter Clarice with his charm while her sister tries to complete a series of mildly subversive historical films. What will win in a battle of ideas between science and magic, the church and the Fabulist? It’s an evening of light operatic comedy, so there are no prizes for guessing. 


Experts in clerical fascism and fascist mysticism may find some of the plot points a bit suspect. And this update adds a few too many layers of complexity to the delicate music. But even with these labours, they don’t get too much in the way of high-spirited and fast-moving shows.

Watching the cast sing and add a dash of high jinks to the evening is a delight. I saw the alternate cast (not pictured), which had baritone Jack Holton as Julian and Marienella Phillips as Clarice, both in fine voice and comic timing. Holton could even show he had a few magical tricks up his sleeve. James Paterson is hilarious as Count Petronius, trying to get his daughter to marry someone better. Stuart Pendred makes a delightfully evil Cardinal Bandini.

It is a rare opportunity to see an informal staging of a rare operetta that takes the source material and gives it a new perspective. Hopefully, it won’t be the last. Directed by John Walton with music direction and orchestration by Bobby Goulder. Based on Giovanni Paisiello’s Gli astrologi immaginari, with new book and translations by James P. Farwell. The Fabulist is at Charing Cross Theatre until 21 September. 

⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️




Photos by Mark Senior

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