LONDON THEATRE Jan 28 - Feb 3 IN BRIEF
Sat eve. DREAMGIRLS. (West End). Dazzling new production, more than a revival. Coming to Broadway. Sun mat. THE PLAY THAT GOES WRONG. If you loved Noises Off you'll love this. Sillier and more slapstick. Opening on B'way soon. Mon eve. AMADEUS (Olivier - National Theatre) More probing than the original, with live orchestra integrated into cast and staging. Splendid. Tues eve. DUBLIN OLD SCHOOL (Dorfman - National). Wannabe DJ Jason cracked out of his gourd runs into his estranged recycling/recovering heroin addicted brother Daniel on the streets of London in a weekend rave. Young playwright Emmet Kirwan and Ian Lloyd Anderson team up as the bros in this most extraordinary two hander, also playing a dozen or so minor characters. Don't let the brough-rap fool you, Joyce's voice is behind every word in this balls-to-the wall odyssey Wed mat. HEDDA GABLER. (Lyttleton - National) Ivo van Hove strikes again, and Judge Brack is no longer just Hedda's fathers best friend. His graphic degradation of Hedda is prelude to her inevitability. Riveting. Wed eve. ESCAPED ALONE. (Royal Court) Carol Churchil at her mature - and elliptical - best, mixing backyard chat among four ordinary woman with eyewitness to the Apocalypse. At BAM soon. Thurs mat. WISH LIST (Royal Court). Two teenage orphaned siblings - one caretaker, one with housebound OCD - struggle to survive a British shrinking social structure. I'd see more from young playwright Anna Jordon. Thurs eve AN INSPECTOR CALLS. (West End) Originally written in the aftermath of WWII and 30 years since this production brought it new attention, this often corny, old-fashioned morality tale couldn't deliver a more piercing indictment of Trumpism. Ian McNeil's breakthrough original set design is still a marvel. Fri eve TRAVESTIES (West End). Stoppards delicious mix of farcical wit and heady philosophy is a delight, with Tom Hollander as the kooky and lovable consular Carr looking back at Zurich in 1917. Who else but Stoppard could combine Joyce, Dada's founder, Lenin and Oscar Wilde's Importance of Being Ernest so joyously?