Thursday, March 28

Tag: Hull New Theatre

Life of Pi – Hull New Theatre
Yorkshire & Humber

Life of Pi – Hull New Theatre

I was almost lost for words - written and vocal - after watching Life of Pi at the Hull New Theatre on Tuesday night. Not a good state for a reviewer to be in. Faced with the question “How do I describe perfection?”, back home, I made myself a coffee, opened a bag of chocolate buttons and got my brain into gear. Life of Pi tells the story of 17-year-old Indian boy, Pi Patel, who, after political disruptions in his homeland, seeks out a new life in Canada, with his family. However, the Tsimtsum, the cargo ship they embark upon, sinks in a terrible Pacific Ocean storm, leaving Pi stranded on a small lifeboat with a hyena, zebra, orangutan and a Bengal tiger - animals being transported from his family’s zoo. Pi (the amazing Divesh Subaskaran) loses his family - mother (Goldy Nota...
Crazy For You – Hull New Theatre
Yorkshire & Humber

Crazy For You – Hull New Theatre

I love the sound of hordes of dancers tap dancing en masse on a theatre’s wooden stage. So, I was in my element witnessing just that when Hessle Theatre Company brought its production of Crazy For You to the Hull New Theatre on Tuesday night. Riverdance eat your heart out. I’d already had the privilege of watching this talented crew in their final run rehearsal, so had more than an inkling of what to expect. What I didn’t expect were the most glorious costumes reminiscent of Vegas showgirls - sequins, feathers and huge head-dresses, all in various shades of pinks, creams and turquoise. Crazy For You is a musical, set in the 1930s, so glitter and glamour should have come as no surprise; but it was the sheer beauty of the outfits that amazed me. The feel-good story centres ar...
The Drifters Girl – Hull New Theatre
Yorkshire & Humber

The Drifters Girl – Hull New Theatre

There aren’t many 1950s singing groups whose story can still pack theatres 70 years later. But The Drifters are no ordinary group as we discovered while watching The Drifters Girl, a new musical, at the Hull New Theatre on Tuesday. This entertaining production was as much about the group’s manager, Faye Treadwell, as about the group itself. Treadwell (the amazing Carly Mercedes Dyer) managed the group from the 1970s for 30 years, when women weren’t expected to be in business, never mind actually running the whole shebang. And being the first female African American manager brought its own difficulties. Faye’s husband, George, was the original manager of The Drifters, but when he died in 1967, his wife took over the management. Facing litigation in the US and needing to m...
Shrek The Musical – Hull New Theatre
Yorkshire & Humber

Shrek The Musical – Hull New Theatre

Imagine being thrown out of your house and told by your parents to make your own way in life - at the age of 7! That’s exactly what happened to a young Shrek, the green ogre whose story is told in Shrek The Musical which started its run at the Hull New Theatre on Tuesday night. But that was the only sad-ish part of the whole rip-roaring production. On the stage, a huge arc of lights surrounded by a backdrop of falling snowflakes and a massive Shrek story book, plus a soundtrack of croaking frogs, greeted us as we took our seats. Within minutes of curtain up, Shrek, now a giant, broke wind, then used a skunk as a deodorant under his armpits. That’s what ogres do. Shrek (Antony Lawrence) had us in the palm of his hands from that first window-rattling trump. But his world i...
Crazy For You – Hessle Theatre
NEWS

Crazy For You – Hessle Theatre

We theatre reviewers are a spoilt bunch. Any productions we are invited to watch have been honed and polished to perfection - bugs given the boot and glitches dealt with, ensuring our view of proceedings isn’t hampered by such pesky events. With that in mind, I was intrigued to receive an invitation from Hessle Theatre Company to watch a “full run of the show in an open rehearsal”, with backing tracks but without scenery and costumes, for a production of Crazy For You, a show they will grace the Hull New Theatre stage with later this month. So, Sunday afternoon saw me and my regular theatre buddy, my sister Chrissy, head for Tranby School, in Anlaby, near Hull, to experience my first ever rehearsal. If it was any other company but the Hessle Theatre, I would have thought they had...
I Should Be So Lucky – Hull New Theatre
Yorkshire & Humber

I Should Be So Lucky – Hull New Theatre

If you entered Hull New Theatre on Monday evening, in a grumpy mood, I would bet my meagre life savings your grumps would soon evaporate. Stock Aitken Waterman’s feel-good musical I Should Be So Lucky was a riot of fun, joy, colour, not forgetting hit song after hit song - even though the storyline started off on a sad note. The stage setting throughout was all heart, literally. Wonderful heart shapes that changed colour and texture, fronting a video screen when more movement was needed in the storyline - such as balmy Turkish waters, hot air balloon-filled skies and thunder and lightning. Plus, a “hot air balloon” or rather its basket, was an amazing sight to behold as it floated, with its passengers, around the stage. The story centres around soon-to-be-married Ella (Lucie-Mae ...
Pretty Woman The Musical – Hull New Theatre
Yorkshire & Humber

Pretty Woman The Musical – Hull New Theatre

Picture the scene - good-looking, generous, American billionaire, driving a to-die-for motor, gets lost in the red light district of Hollywood - Hollywood Boulevard. So far, so sort of believable. He attracts the attention of a hooker (and I’m not talking rugby), who offers to drive him in said motor (which belongs to his lawyer) to the posh Beverly Wilshire hotel, where he has booked the penthouse. Not so believable. And what happens next is totally unbelievable, but do you know, the sell-out crowd at the Hull New Theatre on Monday night, soaked up every entertaining minute when Pretty Woman The Musical came to town. Based on the 1989 film of the same name, starring Julia Roberts as the hooker, Vivian Ward, and Richard Gere as the billionaire, Edward Lewis, the musical is a riot...
Varna International Ballet: Swan Lake – Hull New Theatre
Yorkshire & Humber

Varna International Ballet: Swan Lake – Hull New Theatre

Whenever the ballet is in town, vacant seats are usually few and far between at Hull New Theatre, and so it was on Monday night when Varna International Ballet brought its production of Swan Lake to delight theatregoers. This Bulgarian company will also perform The Nutcracker and Sleeping Beauty during their stay in the city. As the curtain rose, we were treated to a video backdrop depicting the turning pages of a huge photo album, showing the life of Odette, offspring of a good fairy - a swan - and a noble knight. Odette’s parents die by an evil sorcerer’s spell, so she flees to a mountain lake to join other fairy swans. Alone on the stage sits Prince Siegfried (Vittorio Scolè), engrossed in a book of Odette’s story. The Prince is about to come of age and his mother, the S...
The Wizard of Oz – Hull New Theatre
Yorkshire & Humber

The Wizard of Oz – Hull New Theatre

Hull New Theatre was packed to the rafters on Thursday night for what turned out to be a magical extravaganza of colour, energy and theatrical perfection. As soon as the curtain rose on The Wizard of Oz musical, it was clear we were in for something special. The imaginative stage setting revealed a huge video backdrop which cleverly reeled us into the story - the opening sequence of a tornado just blew us away (pun intended). And this videography played a huge part in the rest of the proceedings, meaning distracting scene-shifting was kept to a minimum throughout. There can’t be a person on the planet who doesn’t know the age-old story of young Dorothy and her dog, Toto. In last night’s production, Dorothy was played by the very talented Aviva Tulles, while Toto was brought to...
Cinderella – Hull New Theatre
Yorkshire & Humber

Cinderella – Hull New Theatre

I don’t know what panto favourite, Neil Hurst, had eaten before taking to the Hull New Theatre stage on Sunday evening, but whatever it was had really oiled his make-‘em-laugh muscles - he was in top comedic form. As Buttons, in the age-old favourite, Cinderella, Hurst was on stage for most of the evening, delighting what looked like a sell-out theatre, from curtain up. And what a curtain! Featuring just one word - the panto’s title - dripping in glitter, bedazzling and making us impatient for what was to come, as did the images swirling around the walls and ceiling. The plot of this fairytale needs no explanation, so I’ll keep it short - poor girl, Cinderella or “Cinders” (Rebekah Lowings), mistreated by her two Ugly Sisters, Hernia (Peter Peverley) and Verruca (Jack Land Noble)...