John Shand Posts

September 13, 2019 / Album Reviews - Archive

NOCTURNE (facebook.com/Oblivion-Tango-Duo) 8/10 Do dynamics shape any other musical idiom to the extent that they do tango? It’s this ability to swell a melodic line to just the right crescendo, then drop it back to precisely the right softness, that lends tango its almost exaggerated sense of drama. But if…

September 12, 2019 / Features - Archive

Maxine Peake now knows just how much of a stretch performing a play by yourself is. Not only are there vast slabs of text to learn without the handy cues of others’ lines, but one also misses out on an ensemble’s tribal camaraderie. Peake, the British star of such hit…

September 11, 2019 / Theatre Reviews - Archive

Hayes Theatre, August 28 8.5/10 Remember your first time at the theatre? How miraculous it was to find another world within the one you knew? Caroline, or Change is as different from any musical you’ve ever seen on that scale of wonderment. Just for starters, what other musical has Washing…