Cohen, Bernstein, Joni & Me continues at Upstairs at the Gatehouse, London until 1 February 2026.

Star rating: four stars ★ ★ ★ ★ ✩

This warmly engaging, autobiographical, one-woman story presents Deb Filler’s adventures as a wannabe singer. A complete stranger in the bar beforehand somehow clocked that I was reviewing and asked me incredulously whether she, Filler, really had met all those people in the title. I had to tell him that, at that stage, I didn’t know. The answer is that yes, she did – sort of. And those three unlikely encounters provide the piece with its structure.

She met Cohen, for example, when she was driving taxis in New York City and he was her fare to the airport. So she told him jokes and it led to a years-long email friendship. She also met Peter, Paul and Mary to whom her mother presented a cheesecake – as you do.

At the heart of it all are Filler’s Jewish parents and especially her father …

Read the rest of this review at Musical Theatre Review  musicaltheatrereview.com