Editor's Blog: Top 10 Performances of 2015

Check out my top ten favourite performances of 2015 below! Please note that as I saw Gypsy in Chichester in 2014, Imelda Staunton was included in last year's list.

10

Andrew Scott

for The Dazzle at Found111

Photo by Marc Brenner

I usually start drafting my ‘top ten’ lists in November, but earlier this month - during my final week of reviewing - Andrew Scott reminded my why these lists shouldn’t be finalised until the year is actually through. A temporary theatre on the site of the old Central St Martins School of Art on Charing Cross Road, Scott embraced the intimacy of Found111 where he starred in The Dazzle, performing with such intricate detail and giving a performance to remember!

Read our 4* review of The Dazzle

Andrew Scott is in "advanced discussions" to play Hamlet

9

Amy Lennox

for Kinky Boots at the Adelphi Theatre

Photo by Matt Crockett

Amy Lennox is an absolute revelation as Lauren in Kinky Boots. As her character develops a crush on her new boss Charlie, Lennox brings the house down with her rendition of 'The History of Wrong Guys' - I have never witnessed so many mid-song applauses during a musical number. She is silly, weird and wacky and the audience couldn't get enough of her impeccably delivered one-liners. 

Read our 5* review of Kinky Boots

Check out our previous interview with Amy Lennox

8

Michael Urie

for Buyer and Cellar at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Photo by Joan Marcus

Feature: March round-up

Star of the Month

Michael Urie

Michael Urie in Buyer & Cellar / Photo Credit: Joan Marcus

Michael Urie's performance in Buyer and Cellar at the Menier Chocolate Factory is nothing short of stellar. The one-man play follows an out-of-work LA actor who gets a job in Barbra Streisand’s Malibu basement where she has created her very own private shopping mall. Urie's comic timing is impeccable. He builds a strong relationship with the audience, telling the story tremendously. Read my interview with Urie here.

Show of the Month

The Secret Diary of Adrian Mole Aged 13 and ¾

Kirsty Hoiles & Joel Fossard-Jones in Adrian Mole / Photo Credit: Pamela Raith

Big Interview: Michael Urie

Michael Urie is currently starring in Buyer and Cellar at the Menier Chocolate Factory. 

Michael originated the role of Alex More in Jonathan Tolins' one-man play when it premiered off-off-Broadway. He then transferred with the show to off-Broadway where the piece became a major, sell out hit. Michael later reprised his performance for the play’s U.S. Tour.

Buyer and Cellar follows an out-of-work LA actor who gets a job in Barbra Streisand’s Malibu basement where she has created her very own, private shopping mall. As revealed in her 2010 'My Passion for Design' book, Streisand’s basement mall does exist; however, everything else about this play is fictionalised.

Michael is best known for his portrayal of Marc St James in Ugly Betty, and is also currently appearing in hit comedy Modern Family. For Buyer and Cellar, Michael received the Drama Desk Award, Clarence Derwent Award, and nominations for the Drama League and Outer Critics’ Circle awards. 

His other New York theatre work includes: How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying (Broadway), The Cherry Orchard (Classic Stage Company), Angels in America (Signature Theatre), The Temperamentals (off-Broadway), The Revenger’s Tragedy (Red Bull Theatre) and Another Vermeer (HB Playwrights). 

For television Michael’s work includes The Good Wife, Hot in Cleveland and Partners; and for film He’s Way More Famous Than You (also director), Thank You for Judging (co-director/exec producer), Beverly Hills Chihuahua, WTC View, Jeremy Fink and the Meaning of Life, The Decoy Bride, Petunia and Such Good People.

I recently spoke to Michael about bringing Buyer and Cellar to London, what he thought when he read the script for the very first time and the incredible journey the piece has taken him on…

When I first heard about Buyer and Cellar I thought it sounded absolutely crazy, but I was also very intrigued!

[laughs] I know!

What were your first impressions when you read Jonathan Tolins' script? I believe he was actually writing it with someone else in mind?
Well first he explained it to me and I thought, ‘Well that sounds nearly impossible and brilliant’! I had no idea how they would pull it off, but thought it was an amazing idea. I knew if anyone could pull it off it would be John Tolins because I knew him and his work really well. At the time we were working on a TV show together so I knew he was one of the cleverest of the bunch. When I read it I was correct; as you know when I read it I didn’t know I would be doing it… although he told me “This is for someone else, but I would love for you to do it some day”. I was happy for Jesse Tyler Ferguson and I wasn’t reading it with that terror of ‘how the hell am I going to do this’ which was nice.

Review: Buyer and Cellar at the Menier Chocolate Factory

Buyer and Cellar 
Menier Chocolate Factory
Reviewed on Thursday 19th March 2015
★★★★

Jonathan Tolins’ play Buyer and Cellar has been on quite a journey from off-off-Broadway, to off-Broadway and beyond. Now the one-man play is making its UK debut at the Menier Chocolate Factory, with the show's original star Michael Urie reprising his performance.

Michael Urie to star in Buyer & Cellar at the Menier Chocolate Factory

As previously announced, Michael Urie will star in the UK premiere of Jonathan Tolins’ Buyer and Cellar. 

It has now been confirmed that the one man comedy, which was a major off-Broadway hit in 2013, will open at the Menier Chocolate Factory on 19th March (previews from 12th March) and run until 2nd May 2015. Stephen Brackett directs.

Buyer and Cellar is an outrageous new comedy about the oddest of odd jobs - an unemployed Los Angeles actor going to work in Barbra Streisand’s Malibu basement.