Yorkshire & Humber Archives - North West End UK

19Apr

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Wicked – Bradford Alhambra

If you’ve ever wondered how those red shoes came to be sticking out from under Dorothy’s house in The Wizard of Oz this prequel to that classic movie will give you the answer. It goes back to before Dorothy crash landed in the land of Oz ruled by a mysterious wizard to reveal the backstory of Elphaba – better known to us The Wicked Witch of the West - and her nemesis Glinda the Good. Based on Gregory Maguire’s revisionist novel ‘Wicked – The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of West’ rather than L. Frank Baum’s original text we firstly meet Elphaba and Glinda as they start life at Shiz University as sworn enemies. The brilliant twist in this version is that Elphaba's skin is green thanks to an accident of birth so is the outsider and blonde rich brat Glinda is her exact opposite. B...

Chisholm For President! – The Warehouse in Holbeck

18Apr

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Chisholm For President! – The Warehouse in Holbeck

It’s always risky when you see any work in progress which can often just be a series of vignettes that don’t really knit together, even if you can see the potential of the material being tested in front of a live audience. That was most definitely not the case at this taster session for Chisholm For President!, based on the life of the first black woman elected to the US Congress in 1968 and then the first woman of colour to run for President in 1972. Sitting in Slung Low’s cavernous newish home I was wondering why a brand-new musical, that is basically performers acting with script in hand and singing a bunch of original songs, seemed so fully formed. But then the penny dropped that this fledgling production has a very strong creative team behind it. Playwright Zodwa Nyoni has c...

The First Chapter – The Wesley Centre, Maltby

14Apr

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The First Chapter – The Wesley Centre, Maltby

Firstly, may I thank you for your invite to join you on this evening of; what can truly be called; an evening of celebration. Celebration of all things musical, celebration of diversity, celebration of community and celebration of the power of the Arts to entertain and enlighten. Sherlock Productions was originally founded by the late Paddy Sherlock as Humdrum Amdram, but after his tragic passing the company was renamed Sherlock Productions in his honour. The now co-founders Shelley Edwards and Jade Wilkinson state ‘the company aims to be a safe space for all people, irrespective of their needs, abilities, age and gender. The company has become a place for people who want to perform but for whatever reason don’t feel they fit in with other companies’. The First Chapter was an ...

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Sheffield Lyceum

11Apr

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Sheffield Lyceum

Seven years after its Premiere at the Crucible Theatre in February 2017, Everybody’s Talking About Jamie returns to its hometown of Sheffield this week. With endless Sheffield references the story can’t fail to be a hit here… and it hits the bullseye! Based on the 2011 Firecracker documentary Jamie: Drag Queen at 16, the true story of Jamie Campbell follows the struggles of his teen years in light of societal bigotry, as he becomes who he was born to be. A boy in a dress and more shockingly at his Prom! Jamie’s journey to acceptance through his tumultuous school years is heightened by the knowledge he is different and doesn’t fit the social norms of the day. His birth father sees him as ‘disgusting’ but amongst all this, Jamie has his supporters none more so than his single Mother, Mau...

Drop The Dead Donkey: The Reawakening – Leeds Grand Theatre

10Apr

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Drop The Dead Donkey: The Reawakening – Leeds Grand Theatre

It is scarcely believable, but once upon a time British TV viewers had the choice of only four terrestrial channels, and Drop The Dead Donkey was an early hit for Channel 4. It was set in the dysfunctional newsroom of satellite channel Globelink, and its unique selling point was it was recorded just before broadcast so writers Andy Hamilton and Andy Jenkin could slip in some topical gags amongst the mayhem. For anyone like me who has worked in a TV newsroom it was an unsettlingly accurate portrayal of the damaged flotsam and jetsam who wash up there, with egos running rampant as monstrous presenters smile away onscreen before turning their ire onto the troops. That meant I was a massive fan at the time when you had to be sat in front of your gogglebox to catch your favourite program...

10Apr

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Cluedo2 – Hull New Theatre

When a publicity blurb for a theatre production informs us we will “laugh ’til they die`”, it’s bound to pique the interest of theatregoers. Those four words certainly got my attention, and I looked forward to watching Cluedo2 at the Hull New Theatre on Tuesday night. But would I laugh ’til they die? As we waited for curtain up we could admire the stage setting of a huge Cluedo board, at an angle, with the shape of the multi-windowed Graveny Manor in front. A few minutes after 7.30pm the action started with the home’s owner, rock star Rick Black, inviting selected guests to listen to his latest album. The married Rick (Liam Horrigan), he of the afro hair and dazzling white teeth (well, it is the swinging sixties), is a bundle of energy. You simply can’t ignore him. His w...

9Apr

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Jennie Lee – Marsden Mechanics Hall

Over two million people have graduated from Open University courses, and most of them are probably blissfully unaware their futures have been changed forever because Labour MP Jennie Lee was totally committed to the idea of education for all. The rich life story of a politician who moved from gesture politics to understanding how being in power can change lives for the better is a natural fit for Mikron Theatre as they begin their 52nd year touring the country on their specially adapted barge. Lindsay Rodden offers a fast-paced account of an intelligent working-class woman who rose from the poverty of the Scottish coalfields to become Westminster’s youngest MP aged 24, and there is a terrible irony that she couldn’t even vote for herself as only women aged 30 plus could cast a ballo...

6Apr

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Unfortunate – Bradford Alhambra

If you’re ever wondered why Ursula The Sea Witch was the bad guy in Disney smash hit The Little Mermaid then this raucous and gloriously camp revisionist musical reveals her true backstory. It’s the latest prequel musical where the ‘villain’ gets their say, and what you think you know about them may be a little more complicated than it first appears Unfortunate takes us right back to her days as a poor octopus who falls in love with a weak fishy prince before a classic musical theatre betrayal sees her banished from the underwater kingdom. So this big haired, baddest bitch in the ocean hatches a plot to take revenge through the now King Triton’s daffy daughter Ariel who longs to be human. Yes, it keeps all the elements of the movie but ingeniously turns them on their head. ...

Opera North: Così Fan Tutte – Hull New Theatre

5Apr

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Opera North: Così Fan Tutte – Hull New Theatre

Theatre lovers enjoyed more than three hours of a most delightful opera on Thursday night, as Opera North brought its production of Così Fan Tutte to the Hull New Theatre. I say delightful because, unlike others I have seen, I found this very easy to understand from the get go, though it helped that it was sung in English. The title translates as “they’re all the same”, describing professor Don Alfonso’s take on all women. Dutch baritone Quirijn de Lang played the professor with the right amount of menace, cunning and gravitas, as well as more than a hint of mischief. The professor is the cause of all the shenanigans on the night, betting two lovestruck young men that their faithful amours would cheat on them, because in his mind women are “all the same”. He challenges the ...

Legally Blonde The Musical – Leeds Grand Theatre

1Apr

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Legally Blonde The Musical – Leeds Grand Theatre

It does seem odd in what can seem like an endless conveyor belt of stage adaptations of hit Hollywood movies that Leeds Amateur Operatic Society are the first to stage Legally Blonde in this historic theatre where they have been putting on shows since 1890. The don’t judge a book by its cover trope is one of the classic musical theatre narratives, with the traditional happy ending always coming from the most unlikely of sources. In this version staying pretty faithful to the smash hit Reece Witherspoon movie, our unexpected heroine is sorority queen and fashionista Elle Woods, who wins a place at the prestigious Harvard Law School proving to have a sharp legal intellect beneath all her fluffy pink exterior as she wins the day. It's a high energy show with plenty of humour and some g...