The reviews are in for Don Black’s From the Heart, the lyricist’s cabaret-style revue, which opened at the Garrick Theatre on 8 October for a run of 15 performances. Most of the evening is given to new songs Don Black has written with collaborators including Gary Barlow, Natasha Bedingfield and David Arnold, linked by his own recorded voiceover, with the Bond themes and the Lloyd Webber numbers saved for a closing medley. The independent critics have taken it warmly, five of them with full marks, and most single out Caroline O’Connor in a cast completed by Frances Mayli McCann, Shona McGarty, Clive Rowe and Michael D. Xavier, with Michael Ball the guest on press night. The dissent comes from WhatsOnStage, which finds the material running together and the show better suited to a cabaret room than to a West End stage, and from First Night Magazine, which is alone in faulting Rowe.
The verdict: sixteen reviews in so far — five five-star notices, ten four-star (The Stage’s among them) and one three-star, from WhatsOnStage. Across all sixteen, the average is 4.3 out of 5. The critics agree on the cast, and on Caroline O’Connor above all; where they part company is over whether a revue of mostly new songs, with the hits held back for the finale, belongs on a West End stage or in a cabaret room.
What are critics saying about Don Black’s From the Heart?
The Reviews Hub
“A masterclass of songwriting”
Reviewer: Scott Matthewman
“Each song stands alone, a microcosm of storytelling written for the cabaret form.”
Matthewman traces the evening back to Black’s years as a stand-up, crediting him with an eye for the comedy and sadness in everyday life, and finds that the recorded links carry the show easily from one unrelated number to the next. His only reservation is that Clive Rowe and Michael D. Xavier have less to do than the three women until the closing medley, where Xavier’s Sunset Boulevard alone, in his view, is worth the price of a ticket.
Jonathan Baz Reviews
Reviewer: Jonathan Baz
“…five stars of musical theatre deliver a five-star selection of Black’s cabaret-inspired compositions…”
Baz’s point is that very few shows manage to bring the closeness of a cabaret room on to a West End stage, and that this one does. He picks out Rowe’s satirical Doctors and his bittersweet I’d Go To Bed Earlier, the women’s trio Straight Men, and Caroline O’Connor’s brief, roof-raising burst of As If We Never Said Goodbye in the finale.
All That Dazzles
Reviewer: Sam Woodward
“This version of From The Heart at the Garrick Theatre is perfectly judged…”
Woodward admits he did not know Black’s name before the show, though he knew the songs at once, and comes away won over by how simply it is done. He praises the five voices for never competing with one another, gives O’Connor’s Norma Desmond special mention, and calls Nick Barstow’s arrangement of the closing medley the moment that brought the house down.
Pink Prince Theatre
“Eighty minutes of absolute perfection”
Reviewer: Neill Kovacic-Clarke
“…I walked out floating on a cloud of pure, unadulterated musical theatre joy.”
The most exuberant notice of the batch. Kovacic-Clarke likes that most of the evening is given to new songs rather than a trip through the back catalogue, rates Ben Cracknell’s lighting among the best he has seen this year, and names Shona McGarty as his standout, her Diamonds Are Forever reminding him of a young Shirley Bassey. His one regret is that it plays only 15 performances.
Read Neill Kovacic-Clarke’s full review at Pink Prince Theatre
LouReviews
Reviewer: Louise Penn
“…a lovely little show filled with powerhouse vocals and technical excellence.”
Penn notes that most of the material will be new to the audience and that the show is unmistakably Black’s own, with his late wife Shirley behind its most reflective songs, both sung by Rowe. A revue like this could look lost in a West End house, she notes, but it sits comfortably in the Garrick, even without the immersive feel of a true cabaret room.
LondonTheatre1
Reviewer: Chris Omaweng
“…this was a poignant and heartwarming production which held my attention from beginning to end.”
Omaweng points out that this is not a retrospective but a set of new songs through which Black tells his own story, with the hits held back for the finale. He enjoys the small comic subjects, from the sober drinkers of Fizzy or Still to the bucket-list song, and says the evening feels shorter than its running time, which he counts as a strength.
Theatre Weekly
“a joyous evening created with evident passion”
Reviewer: Greg Stewart
“The cast prove exceptional ambassadors for Black’s work.”
Stewart calls the newly written numbers the evening’s biggest surprise and admires how briskly Nick Winston moves things along on an almost bare stage. He has a kind word for each of the five, singling out Frances Mayli McCann for some of the most affecting moments and O’Connor for her comic timing.
West End Best Friend
Reviewer: Brian Penn
“That minor quibble aside, it is a superlative evening of entertainment.”
Penn finds the songs bright, perceptive and witty, and describes the whole house rising to its feet. The quibble is structural: an hour of cabaret followed by a 20-minute medley feels uneven to him, and he would rather have had two halves, with the Bond songs given room instead of being hurried.
First Night Magazine
“Don Black musical revue has many aspects to love”
Reviewer: Guillermo Nazara
“It’s not perfect, but it’s enjoyable enough to be worth a visit — or even two.”
Nazara is the critic most willing to name faults. He finds the voiceover links uneven in pace, and he is the one dissenting voice on Rowe, whose pitch he thought unsteady until the finale. He is warm about Xavier, O’Connor, McCann and McGarty, and about the lighting and the piano-and-bass arrangements.
Jackstage
“a musical revue celebrating one of the greatest lyricists of our time”
Reviewer: Georgina Coram
“…a masterclass in the art of cabaret, especially from the truly sensational Caroline O'Connor”
Coram names O’Connor’s Life Goes On as the high point of the night, and likes Sophia Pardon’s stripped-back design, which leaves the bare walls and lighting rig on show. Her reservations are small: a few of the choreographed scenes with props feel forced, and McGarty seems less at ease on stage than the others.
North West End
Reviewer: Alan Stuart Malin
“…this remains a thoroughly enjoyable show, well worth the ticket.”
Malin welcomes the chance to hear Black’s lesser-known songs given such careful treatment, and calls Xavier a particular highlight. His single reservation is the running order: the audience livened up noticeably when the familiar songs arrived at the end, and he would have spread a few of them through the evening.
Theatre and Tonic
Reviewer: Phil
“Caroline O’Connor is dazzling, bringing theatricality and expressive precision to the material”
Phil praises Winston’s understated direction for letting the songs speak for themselves, and finds real warmth in the intimacy of the staging. Every member of the cast gets a compliment, and the finale is singled out for the Bond suite and the Sunset Boulevard section shared by O’Connor and Xavier.
London Unattached
“A joyful West End celebration of the man behind some of popular music’s most unforgettable songs”
Reviewer: Lucy Foxell
“From the Heart is a lyrical, theatrical treat that deserves to be seen and heard.”
Foxell declares a personal connection to the Black family at the outset. She enjoys the simple staging and the comedy in songs such as Doctors and Straight Men, finds the cast uniformly strong, and urges readers to go before the short run ends.
The Spy in the Stalls
“It is a privilege to be in the audience, sharing the celebration”
Reviewer: Jonathan Evans
“It is a well-balanced repertoire that occasionally errs on the polite.”
Evans enjoys the range of moods, from O’Connor’s poignant Life Goes On to the music-hall touches in Fizzy or Still, and admires Oliver Copeland’s bass playing. Like WhatsOnStage, though, he never quite forgets the plush seats of a West End theatre, and feels the evening never fully becomes the Manhattan basement club it is evoking.
WhatsOnStage
Reviewer: Alun Hood
“…after about half an hour it starts to sound a bit like aural wallpaper.”
The coolest notice so far. Hood finds the songs chosen to show off Black’s witty lyrics at the music’s expense, thinks the show would be more at home in a cabaret room than behind a proscenium arch, and wonders whether it was made more for friends and family than for West End audiences. He still calls it a very pleasant 80 minutes, with O’Connor and Xavier the performers who find the lightest touch.
Also reviewed by: The Stage (Neil Norman, four stars, “Champagne for the ears”), whose review sits behind a registration wall.
For the first production photographs from the Garrick, see our news story from 8 October; for the other musical that opened the same night, our roundup of the Rent reviews.
Don Black’s From the Heart is booking at the Garrick Theatre until 18 October 2026.
