Lyric Hammersmith's Play On! Is an Uplifting Treat

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As Shakespeare's Twelfth Night shifts to a jazzy club in Harlem

Picture: Ellie Kurttz

February 10, 2025

If you are looking for an antidote to a dreary winter evening in Hammersmith, grab a ticket to see the Lyric’s current production Play On! before they all sell out.

Like the title (from the opening verse ‘If music be the food of love, play on’) this delightful, all singing, all dancing extravaganza is based - loosely - on Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night.

The play was first written and produced for Broadway in 1997, but under the directionFebruary 10, 2025unny and thoroughly uplifting.

This time the tangled tale of love’s delusions and deceptions has moved from Illyria to Harlem’s famous Cotton Club in the 1940s jazz era. That means a smoky nightclub set, a host of songs from the great Duke Ellington performed by the onstage band and energetic street dancing from the talented company, wonderfully choreographed by Kenrick Sandy.

The cast is uniformly superb. Tsemaye Bob-Egbe plays our heroine Vy, an aspiring songwriter whose determination to succeed in a man’s world sees her donning a suit and a swagger and transforming into Vyman. Tanya Edwards is feisty wardrobe lady Miss Mary and KoKo Alexandra is the splendidly temperamental prima donna, Lady Liv, who takes a mistaken fancy to the young Vyman.

Picture: Ellie Kurttz

Earl Gregory plays The Duke, who is suffering from writer’s block as he pines over Lady Liv, Cameron Bernard Jones is the endearing Rev, also devoted to the fearsome Lady, Lifford Shillingford plays Miss Mary’s on/off partner Sweets and Llewellyn Jamal is electric as Vy’s uncle, the flirtatious Jester.

Along with the music and dancing, the show has plenty of laugh out loud moments. In particular, Rev’s attempt to win over Lady Liv by becoming more “exuberant” brought the house down.

These characters are so loveable you will find yourself rooting for everything to come right for them by the start of the second half.

Of course it does, and the whole thing winds up to a sensational finale with the entire company onstage, and romantic reconciliations all round. Lady Liv has finally realised Rev is the man for her and Vy, whose real name is of course revealed to be Viola, has won the heart of The Duke and swapped her manly suit for a gorgeous gown.

I guarantee Play On! will send you home with a song in your head, a tap in your toes and a soppy smile on your face.

Sheila Prophet

The show is on at the Lyric until February 22.

Find out more and book tickets .

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