Monday, December 15

Author: Paul Downham

The Black Cat – Threedumb Theatre @ the Space
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...
BKLYN: The Musical – Lambert Jackson/Stream.Theatre
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...
Channing Tatum’s Magic Mike Live comes to UK arenas in 2022
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.&...
Pretty Woman: The Musical returns to the West End with a new home
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...
Drag Royalty will Ru-Turn in 2022 for the UK’s biggest ever RuPaul tour
NEWS

Drag Royalty will Ru-Turn in 2022 for the UK’s biggest ever RuPaul tour

Manchester prepare yourself! Drag Royalty will Ru-Turn in 2022 for the UK’s biggest ever RuPaul tour. Join the queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK for an evening of endless eleganza extravaganza as this brand-new tour takes in theatres and venues across the country including a date at Opera House, Manchester, on Saturday February 12th. Witness the Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent of your favourite queens LIVE on stage as they sashay into a theatre near you. Tickets go on general sale from www.cuffeandtaylor.co.uk at 10am Friday March 26th. Acclaimed for their amazing production values, expect the unexpected in this glittering tour featuring UK Season 2 Finalists Tayce, Bimini Bon Boulash, Ellie Diamond and Laurence Chaney, along with stars from Drag Race UK. RuPaul’s Drag ...
West End Musical Drive-In – Halloween Special
REVIEWS

West End Musical Drive-In – Halloween Special

Last year, the West End parked up and staged a series of live outdoor concerts to musical theatre lovers from the comfort of their own vehicles. They are now being streamed, allowing everyone the chance to pull in for some socially distanced showtunes. Donning a pointy hat and black cape, Shanay Holmes introduces the Halloween edition with a bewitching performance of ‘I Put a Spell on You’ from Hocus Pocus. She hosts the evening with infectious flair, firing the audience up by encouraging them to sashay in their bay and welcoming her revered fellow performers to the stage. Though Jon Robyns’ rendition of Les Misérables hit ‘Bring Him Home’ is nothing short of sensational, receiving a well-deserved standing ovation in the form of car horns and flashing lights, his supposed Dracula out...
Jersey Boys to begin performances in London on 28th July 2021
NEWS

Jersey Boys to begin performances in London on 28th July 2021

The beloved Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning smash hit musical JERSEY BOYS returns to London’s West End, opening at the new multi-million pound reinstated Trafalgar Theatre, with performances from 28th July and an opening night of 10th August 2021. Performances through Christmas 2021 are on sale and JERSEY BOYS is now booking until 2nd January 2022. JERSEY BOYS is written by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio and lyrics by Bob Crewe. Casting is to be announced. Go behind the music and inside the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons in the Tony and Olivier Award-winning, true-life phenomenon, JERSEY BOYS. They were just four guys from New Jersey, until they sang their very first note. They had a sound nobody had ever heard… and the radio just ...
Birmingham Hippodrome and Turbine Theatre present New Musical Theatre Festival
NEWS

Birmingham Hippodrome and Turbine Theatre present New Musical Theatre Festival

Birmingham Hippodrome, Turbine Theatre and Paul Taylor-Mills have announced a new partnership which will present the highly celebrated annual festival of new musical theatre, MTFestUK 2021, running from Monday 31st May – Sunday 6th June. The online streamed performances of eight brand-new musicals will be part of a nation-wide ‘digital tour’ this spring, with tickets on sale now at birminghamhippodrome.com. MTFestUK. the new musical theatre festival, sets out to promote quality artistry, showcasing new musicals to UK audiences with a view to elevating them to full production, and give audiences an insight into the process of creating new work and the art of collaboration. Paul Taylor-Mills launched the inaugural MTFestUK season at The Other Palace in 2019, followed by a 2020 season in F...
Giles Terera in Black Matter – Fane Online
REVIEWS

Giles Terera in Black Matter – Fane Online

Black Matter is a new song cycle written and performed by Giles Terera, the Olivier award-winning star of Hamilton. It is centred on the streets of Soho, where Terera saw “people hurting each other, people helping each other” leading him to create “songs of protest, joy, anger and love”. This song cycle is both deeply personal and fiercely political, touching on friends, colleagues, the Black Lives Matter movement, growing up Black in London, the Grenfell scandal, the private and the public. These are songs which respond to the immediacy of a moment, and a summer like no other when the rush of central London is forced to stop. A gifted singer-songwriter, Terera has crafted this project for solo performance, and in the main, this is exactly that, a concert recorded at Crazy Coqs with ...
King’s Head Theatre announces its first ever digital season
NEWS

King’s Head Theatre announces its first ever digital season

Over a year since the King’s Head Theatre closed its doors due to Covid-19 (16th March 2021), it is delighted to announce Plays on Film: its first ever digital on-demand season, which brings together five smash-hit shows from some of the UK’s most exciting theatre makers, and combines the raw immediacy of live performance with high definition cinematography. Filmed on location at the King’s Head Theatre, Islington, by the award-winning Shoot Media, the shows will be available to watch on the venue’s new on demand platform, KHTV, from anywhere in the world, ensuring every seat is the best in the house. Over 50% of ticket sales will go directly to the artists and companies involved at this difficult time for freelancers across the entertainment industry, with the remainder helping to secu...