★★★★

“a tender tribute from a world still not over his loss”

After its acclaimed Off-Broadway debut, ‘The Jonathan Larson Project’ arrives in London during the 30th anniversary year of Larson’s untimely death. Offering a rare glimpse into Larson’s early creative process, it celebrates his genius with sharp staging and a knockout cast.

This piece honours Larson’s life and legacy, opening with intimate videos and photos from his personal archive that immediately pull us into his world. From there, we move through songs from his earliest – and sometimes previously unperformed – projects before raising an affectionate final toast.

Shaping this collection of standalone works and offcuts into a cohesive whole is no mean feat, and Jennifer Ashley Tepper’s conception pulls it together with clarity and affection. Larson’s music and lyrics are presented as intended – ‘not a word has been changed’, the freesheet promises. The breadth of material shows off his range – who knew Larson wrote pop songs? – letting us peer deeper into his wickedly witty, politically restless mind. Standouts include ‘Hosing the Furniture’, a musically intricate breakdown earning the Stephen Sondheim Award; ‘Valentine’s Day’, an abusive love vignette featuring in early versions of ‘Rent’; and ‘Love Heals’, a soaring tribute to a friend lost to AIDS. It’s fascinating to see Larson’s early artistic voice, with hints of ‘Superbia’ and ‘Tick, Tick… Boom!’ in places. While you can see why some pieces were ultimately cut, the evening flows with surprising ease.

John Simpkins’ vibrant direction brings the collection to life. The revue like frame – with voiceover intro and contextualising captions – may feel simple, but the pacing is sharp and every number unique. Some songs are stripped back, others burst into full staging. ‘The Vision Thing’ drops us straight into a satirical musical skewering the circus of presidential campaigning. Elsewhere, we channel late 80s/early 90s pop with a slick music video that wouldn’t be out of place on MTV. It’s surprisingly cohesive – a clear testament to Simpkins’ assured direction.

Musical supervisor and director Livi Van Warmelo, with assistant Tom Renwick, captures the songs’ intricate architecture and deep emotion. The arrangements are adapted beautifully and the band – van Warmelo, Renwick, Tom Green, Aidan Platts and Tom Daley – shine with pulse and polish.

Taylor Walker’s choreography channels the late 80s/early 90s, pulling from hip hop, voguing, and contemporary musical theatre, showing a full range of colours in this tight, fast moving evening.

The design is strong overall. Alistair Penman’s mix feels muffled early on, with full band moments swallowing the cast’s resonance and lyrics. But when things pare back, both cast and band shine. Alex Basco Koch’s video design blends personal images with atmospheric visuals of New York skylines, abstract textures, even a tanker crashing on a reef. Captions provide helpful context, even if they flick past a touch too quickly. Nate Bertone’s set channels Rent’s urban industrial grit with scaffolding, ladders, shifting furniture, a roaming piano. The on stage scaffolds are a striking choice, though block the video’s smaller screen. Sam Biondolillo’s lighting is gorgeous – sometimes stripped back, sometimes gloriously maximalist, but never missing a storytelling beat. Jean Gray’s costumes evocatively channel the 1990s with denim, leather jackets and newsboy caps, before shifting into genre specific looks for each number.

The stellar cast delivers across the board, even if the sound occasionally underserves them. Max Harwood, Imelda Warren Green, Michael Mather, Natalie Kassanga and Marcus Collins slip fluidly between 90s artists and Larson’s characters, offering a vivid spectrum of moods and archetypes. Each brings a distinct vocal colour – warm, agile, rich, or electric – that lights up the material. Though it’s hard to name a single standout in a company this strong, each has their own standout moment. Warren Green’s attack and rock belt nearly stops the show; Mather leans into the grunge and emotional grit of ‘Valentine’s Day’; Kassanga adds velvety depth; Harwood brings jaded optimism and lightning-fast runs; and Collins delivers astonishing mix belt power.

‘The Jonathan Larson Project’ feels like a tender tribute from a world still not over his loss. Fans will love this rare, intimate window into Larson’s oeuvre, filling some of the creative space left by his untimely death, while still speaking to anyone interested in artistic evolution.

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

★★★★★

“an electrifying mix of tradition and tragedy, with the flashes of humour searing through it like bolts of lightning”

Towards the end of the first act of “Fiddler on the Roof”, the sun is gently sinking behind the trees of Regent’s Park and candlelight casts its quivering, magical glow across the stage. A lone fiddler plays the opening bars of the achingly beautiful wedding song, ‘Sunrise, Sunset’. When we reach the bittersweet and hypnotic strains of the chorus, it is as though the number was written for this very moment: for this one particular sunset shared by a thousand people beneath a clear, unifying sky. It is one of many instants that make Jordan Fein’s current staging of “Fiddler on the Roof” one to remember for a long time.

When Sholem Aleichem’s “Tevye’s Daughters: Collected Stories” was first published in Yiddish at the dawn of the twentieth century, he was praised for the naturalness of his characters’ speech and the accuracy of his portrayal of life in the Shtetels of Eastern Europe. His writings combined cheerfulness in the face of adversity with the tragedy of the fate of the societies and their traditions. He probably had no idea that it would one day spawn one of the most successful and highly acclaimed musicals. Revived many times over the half century since its premiere, never before has it reflected the true nature of Aleichem’s writing with such accuracy and sensitivity. The creative elements of Jordan Fein’s interpretation come together in an electrifying mix of tradition and tragedy, with the flashes of humour searing through it like bolts of lightning.

The story centres on Tevye (Adam Dannheisser), the milkman in the village of Anatevka who is trying to cling onto his Jewish traditions as the outside world encroaches upon his family’s and the villagers’ lives. Not only that, but he is also up against his rebellious and progressive daughters who question the conventions, shunning the idea of arranged marriages; choosing instead to marry for love. The highly charged yet affectionate subversiveness of his daughters, however, is nothing compared to the dark shadow of the Imperial Russian pogroms rapidly approaching.

Tom Scutt’s imaginative set looms large over the action. A wheatfield uprooted from the ground, wrenched upwards in an arc exposing the name of the village embossed deep into the earth like an indelible stamp. Times are changing but the heritage runs deep. Beneath the canopy the orchestra is visible, the ensemble cast rarely leave the stage and the leading players watch from the sidelines when not in their own scenes. The community spirit is captured before a word is spoken (or sung). Nick Lidster’s clear-cut sound lends fragility to the solo numbers alongside the power of the rousing choruses of the ensemble. Julia Cheng’s choreography conjures a series of grand tableaux, like fine art in real life animation – meticulous yet shapeshifting: the comedy of ‘The Dream’ drifting into a macabre nightmare, or the rousing joy of ‘The Wedding’ that sinks into sinister violence as the Tsar’s officers intrude.

Adam Dannheisser, as Tevye, shifts superbly between the darkness and the light. A dominant figure yet dominated by the women in his life, he brings out the inherent comedy in the script with a true glint in his eye. A standout performance, but one of many; including Lara Pulver, as his wife Golde who really pulls the strings, along with Liv Andrusier’s feisty Tzeitel and Georgia Bruce’s pocket-rocket portrayal of Hodel. These strings snap when it comes to Chava, whose desire for marriage outside the Jewish faith is a line Tevye will not cross. Hannah Bristow adds poignancy with some evocative clarinet playing, endowing her character with a significance almost as symbolic as the eponymous ‘fiddler’ (the virtuosic Raphael Papo).

The pulse of the piece is the score. Jerry Bock’s music and Sheldon Harnick’s lyrics have gained fame and familiarity over time, but the company inject fresh individuality into the songs. Full of imagery they range from intimate to anthemic, from the major to the minor, backed by the twelve-piece orchestra. The emotional impact of the music never fails to stab, and then soothe the heart, culminating in an aching finale that feels global yet is inseparable from its ethnic origins. This is musical theatre at its heartfelt best.

Tag Archives: Livi van Warmelo

THE JONATHAN LARSON PROJECT

★★★★

Southwark Playhouse Borough

THE JONATHAN LARSON PROJECT

Southwark Playhouse Borough

★★★★

“a tender tribute from a world still not over his loss”

THE JONATHAN LARSON PROJECT

Southwark Playhouse Borough

Reviewed on 13th July 2026

by Hannah Bothelton

Photography by Danny Kaan

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🎭 A TOP SHOW IN AUGUST 2024 🎭

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF

★★★★★

Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

★★★★★

“an electrifying mix of tradition and tragedy, with the flashes of humour searing through it like bolts of lightning”