Saturday, January 11

Author: Paul Downham

New and Rescheduled dates for April in Paris starring Joe Pasquale
27Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

New and Rescheduled dates for April in Paris starring Joe Pasquale

The producers of John Godber’s classic comedy, April in Paris, are delighted to announce new and rescheduled dates for the National tour, which will now open in Coventry on 17th May 2021. April in Pariswill star Joe Pasquale and Sarah Earnshaw as Al and Bet and will be directed by Richard Lewis.  Audiences will be socially distanced. In John Godber’s touching and hilarious classic, we go into the heart of one ordinary couple’s life as they go on both the journey of a lifetime and a journey into their relationship.  Al and Bet are in a rut.  Married for 26 years, their conversations are running dry and life has taken its toll. With his building work sparse and her shifts at the shoe shop getting few and far between there’s little to look forward to, apart from a ...
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Remembering the Oscars – Online Stream
27Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
REVIEWS

Remembering the Oscars – Online Stream

“Remembering the Oscars” is the follow up show to “Remembering the Movies” starring Aljaz Skorjanec and Janette Manrara (of Strictly Come Dancing fame). “Remembering the Oscars” is due to tour in 2022 in theatres with live audiences. Adapted for the Covid climate, this hour long version has been specially produced to stream online to ensure that even during the current restrictions, audiences can have a dose of Hollywood sparkle and magic from the comfort of their own living room. It is also a clever appetiser for the full show next year. The show is an hour long and is packed from start to finish with Aljaz and Janette’s interpretations and reimaginings of Oscar winning film classic dance sequences, with quite a broad spectrum ranging from golden classics such as ‘Singing In The Rai...
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Eggstraction – Presented by Morpheus
26Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
REVIEWS

Eggstraction – Presented by Morpheus

In a world where ‘zoom fatigue’ is a real thing, Morpheus have pulled off the impossible: You Want More. Eggstraction is unlike any other immersive show, for it invites you to see the invisible, and with your team, make your thoughts a reality. If that all sounds a bit weird, remember the power of imagination. With Morpheus as your creative guide, you too will see and act in ways you’d never imagine sat behind a computer.   So, what is it you’re doing? With a small group of other participants (all of whom you briefly see and speak to in the beginning before donning a blindfold), you are testing the security at the billionaire, Frederick Hampton’s, museum. The quest is to use whatever means possible to break into the building and steal his new treasure, one of the fabulou...
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Manor of Lies – Presented by Morpheus
26Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
REVIEWS

Manor of Lies – Presented by Morpheus

You sit in a room in front of your computer and put a blindfold on. A mysterious voice greets you and tells you about the rules for the night. Two hours later you emerge, exhilarated in equal measure by the magical world crafted by Morpheus and the power of your own aural imagination that makes it come alive. Manor of Lies is a new online interactive audio play by the theatre company Morpheus that invites you to solve a Regency-era murder mystery using only your intuition and some help from your fellow audience members. What separates it from other digital theatre shows is that the experience is audio-only – you join the show on Zoom and put on a blindfold that stays on throughout the night whilst a skilled group of performers lead you by the ear (literally) inside the world of the expe...
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Flat Pack Music announce winners of inaugural Opera Competition
26Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

Flat Pack Music announce winners of inaugural Opera Competition

2020 saw a great many changes for everyone at Flat Pack Music. Foremost was the change in their status from a partnership with charitable aims to a fully-fledged Charity. The goal has always been to make opera and classical music more accessible to the public. They also try to provide opportunities to young professional musicians just starting in their career. Throughout the national lockdowns and the trials and tribulations of the past 12 months, Flat Pack Music have been trying to keep music alive. Like so many others they had to adapt to working and performing almost exclusively online. They began with weekly singalong sessions on Facebook Live aimed at the over 70's, called 'Isolation Vocalisation' and also set up a weekly recital series called 'Flat Pack Fridays' where they invi...
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Curve set to bring one singular sensation to Leicester this Christmas
24Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

Curve set to bring one singular sensation to Leicester this Christmas

Curve is set to bring one singular sensation to Leicester this Christmas with a new Made at Curve production of the legendary Broadway musical A Chorus Line, running Friday 3rd to Friday 31st December. The iconic show will be directed by Curve’s Artistic Director Nikolai Foster, whose recent productions include Sunset Boulevard – at Home (“A game changer”, The Telegraph), West Side Story (“A superb production”, The Sunday Times) and White Christmas (“Dazzling, joyous”, The Stage). Full casting and production team will be revealed in due course. The news comes as Curve also announces its production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Wizard of Oz has now been postponed until Christmas 2022, due to plans for a national tour of the musical in 2023 following its run at Curve. All ticket-holders...
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The Black Cat – Threedumb Theatre @ the Space
24Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
REVIEWS

The Black Cat – Threedumb Theatre @ the Space

Edgar Allen Poe’s macabre short story written in 1843 is one of the finest examples of gothic horror ever written. The story explores the psychology of guilt and the consequences of a grim and unspeakable crime. It is also a story about revenge and retribution but to go any further in its description would spoil all the fun. Suffice to say, after The Tell Tale Heart this is probably one of Poe’s most accessible and memorable stories and Threedumb Theatre using their now familiar live-stream one take promenade approach gives us a richly dark and quite chilling rendition of this strange story. Stephen Smith (who also directs this piece) plays the haunted yet totally unsympathetic narrator whist Michaela Bennison plays the narrators wife. Both actors exude great energy throughout but it...
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BKLYN: The Musical – Lambert Jackson/Stream.Theatre
24Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
REVIEWS

BKLYN: The Musical – Lambert Jackson/Stream.Theatre

Towards the end of Schoenfeld and McPherson’s sidewalk fairytale a character warns that sometimes memories are better than reality.  Throughout lockdown the option to stream shows has provided a theatrical lifeline, entertaining audiences whilst providing the theatres and production companies some much needed money.  However, sometimes these productions felt like pale imitations of the live versions we crave.  BKLYN takes a cinematic swipe at the streamed musical, some of the theatrical trappings are visible (Leo Munby’s tight trio of a band, chunky stage lights at the edge of the action) but the show is carried by Dean Johnson’s attempts to create something more innovative than a love song to an empty theatre.  The dilapidated warehouse setting works well with An...
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Channing Tatum’s Magic Mike Live comes to UK arenas in 2022
23Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

Channing Tatum’s Magic Mike Live comes to UK arenas in 2022

Magic Mike The Arena Tour will open in May 2022.  With more dancers, bigger numbers and more spectacle than ever before, this will be the first time a live performance of Magic Mike has ever been staged outside of an intimate, cabaret-style space.  The Arena Tour will open in Belfast on 6th May, followed by Glasgow, Aberdeen, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Nottingham, Birmingham, Manchester and finishing in Liverpool. Following two hugely successful films starring Channing Tatum and the hit Live show at the Theatre at the Hippodrome Casino in London, the show’s producers and creative team felt it was time to develop a new Magic Mike production to bring to people in other parts of the UK to celebrate the rebirth of live entertainment.&...
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Pretty Woman: The Musical returns to the West End with a new home
23Mar By Paul DownhamNo Comments
NEWS

Pretty Woman: The Musical returns to the West End with a new home

After breaking advance box office records at the Piccadilly Theatre when it opened in February 2020, the smash hit feel-good PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL returns to the West End this Summer in its new home the Savoy Theatre, with performances from 8th July 2021.  On behalf of all the producers, Paula Wagner said today “Our London production of Pretty Woman: The Musical had just opened when the world changed and our cherished theatres were forced to close due to the pandemic. When we opened in the West End a year ago, we had broken advance box-office records at the Piccadilly and were playing to sold out houses. With so many ticket holders eager to see this show about love and resilience, we knew we would bring back Pretty Woman when the time was safe...
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