I am forever grateful to McKellen for his part in this; but I am now forever grateful, too, for the opportunity to share this remarkable journey through his life and career.
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McKellen is one of a kind and a gift to our performing industry – only a fool of a Took would miss this gem of an evening.
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[Ian McKellen] is a hugely entertaining host who has a winning way with anecdotes. He has woven a life’s worth of them into a witty package.
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But this is no retirement party – rather, a celebration of Ian McKellen making it to 80 with his health, memory, acting prowess and joy so thoroughly intact.
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It’s a fitting end to a show that sets a marker on an extraordinary career and an extraordinary talent, and which celebrates the shared human experience of watching a play.
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And through all the stories of acting and activism, what emerges most poignantly is his deep devotion to theatre, whether it’s fun-loving amateurs, the long-dead days of weekly rep or the storied stages of the West End.
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a master relishes the joy of theatre...Communicator par excellence on a journey from Gandalf to Macbeth via panto, Coronation Street and gender politics.
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...McKellen treats the audience not as passive spectators but as one half of a double-act in an evening that becomes a form of acted autobiography....At heart McKellen is a missionary with the technique of a vaudevillian.
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