Epic show, superb acting and soaring vocals. Loved every minute

I attended with family hoping for a slightly daft, but well-produced, sing-along musical. What I got was a cringe-inducing cavalcade of classic pop and rock hits, pinned together with cut-up and re-purposed Shakespearean dialogue and some truly baffling stage direction. While vocal performances were commendable throughout, the soundtrack bore no consistency either in style or era, and felt like it owed more to licensing constraints than artistic flair. Each song was woven into the vesper-thin plot with the subtlety of a tent peg, often jarringly clinging to the arrangements from their original recordings, when a thoughtful adaptation could have blended familiar melodies together with much more subtly . Could I recommend Knights of the Rose? I honestly had a laugh, but I was laughing at rather than with, and between those ill-concealed giggles, I really couldn't decide whether to get up and leave or crawl inside my shoe and hide. Bad, but maybe in good way? Your mileage may vary.

We try to see several shows a year and usually pick some of the more obscure ones as these often go on to bigger theatres and we’ve enjoyed them in more intimate surroundings. With the premise of this show we expected it to be a little unusual but honestly I felt like I was hallucinating at times. The Shakespearean dialogue was well delivered although cobbled together and the songs were great. I wanted to laugh on some occasions as it’s extremely tongue in cheek. Overall the first half was mental but memorable for all the right reasons. Second Act however was a whole different story - well that’s the problem there wasn’t a story it just fell off a cliff, no longer funny, there were no good songs and the end was so anti- climactic as to be a huge disappointment. Such a shame but would not recommend going and certainly not st the expense of seeing some of the brilliant shows on at the moment.

What we expected was a classic rock musical - what we got was an amdram version of Spamalot. This was a birthday treat for our rock-loving son in law. Halfway through he said "I'm so embarrassed I chose this!'. Choreography reminiscent of the 70s, bad script (Shakespeare would be turning in his grave aĺt the mashup of smost famous speeches, the technical production was less than perfect. (We also noticed a stagehand reach over to replace a sword during one scene.) On the plus side, good vocal delivery and the band were great. The music choice was mind-bogglingly eclectic. We laughed about the production all the way home. It will leave us with many memories, but none for the right reasons! Oh, yes, and the highlight of our evening was the amazing L'Ulivo Italian restaurant in Irving St. Off Leicester Square.