Paul Downham, Author at North West End UK

6Dec

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Strictly Does Musicals

It is our favourite week of the year, Strictly Come Dancing's Musical Week! We've put together all the performances from the Saturday night for you plus Sunday's appearance from the &Juliet West End cast. Who was your favourite? First up was a stunning opening number from the professionals with a mega-mix from Priscilla Queen of the Desert! https://www.youtube.com/embed/TdPbyupc-y0 Maisie Smith and Gorka Marquez Jive to Little Shop of Horrors from Little Shop of Horrors. https://www.youtube.com/embed/-e68uG83MCA Bill Bailey and Oti Mabuse Argentine Tango to Phantom of the Opera from Phantom of the Opera. https://www.youtube.com/embed/GxcbH3-BmFA Ranvir Singh and Giovanni Pernice Viennese Waltz to She Used To Be Mine from Waitress. https://www.youtu...

Unity announce first Open Call Programme & new Commission for Local Artists

6Dec

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Unity announce first Open Call Programme & new Commission for Local Artists

The Unity Theatre, Liverpool announce their first ever Open Call Programme. Running from February – May 2021, Unity are looking for local creatives to submit work for programming as their reopening season, celebrating the resilience, talent, and quality of Liverpool’s creative community. The call-out is open to a wide range of people and practices including theatre companies, performers, community practitioners, musicians, devisers, comedians, puppeteers, digital artists and spoken word artists. If you have a performance or creative experience you would love to share with audiences or participants, Unity are keen to hear from you. Unity knows that as a consequence of Covid-19 some D/deaf, neurodivergent and disabled artists face unique and unprecedented additional challenges in maint...

Cast announced for A Christmas Carol at Bolton Octagon

6Dec

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Cast announced for A Christmas Carol at Bolton Octagon

Casting has been announced for a festive broadcast reading of Charles Dickens’ classic novel A Christmas Carol at Bolton Octagon on Sunday 20th December. The classic redemptive tale old miser Ebenezer Scrooge who is visited on Christmas Eve by three spirits will be read aloud by a team of actors, and broadcast from various locations inside the new theatre. It will also give audiences a sneak peek at the newly refurbished and redesigned town centre venue ahead of its opening in early 2021. The cast includes Coronation Street’s Susan Hilton, John Afzal, Brianna Douglas, Brassic’s Neil Ashton, Colin Meredith, Purvi Parmar, Natalie Amber and Sam Black. “I’m delighted to be working with this fantastic cast of talented actors, all of whom are based locally to the Octagon,”, says the...

Philharmonia Sessions: Beethoven’s Prometheus – Battersea Arts Centre

6Dec

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

Philharmonia Sessions: Beethoven’s Prometheus – Battersea Arts Centre

Presented in the month of the 250th anniversary of Beethoven's birth, Esa-Pekka Salonen conducts the Philharmonia Orchestra playing Beethoven's famous ballet The Creatures of Prometheus. In this version, each symphonic movement is punctuated by Stephen Fry explaining the part of the story about to be told, aided by animation by Hillary Leben and a script by Gerard McBurney. Beethoven wrote his hugely popular ballet score in 1801, in just 11 days and, as Fry tells us, the version of the ancient Greek creation story he used is not the most widely established one about Prometheus giving man fire. In this version Prometheus creates man with fire from Mount Olympus and then calls on Apollo, god of music and dance, the Muses, and a host of other deities to teach his Creatures what it is to ex...

The Fabulist Fox Sister – Southwark Playhouse

5Dec

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

The Fabulist Fox Sister – Southwark Playhouse

The Fabulist Fox Sister is a 2020 musical that plays with the idea of lies and fake truth in a historical context. Yet the references to today are there. The Fox sisters were 3 siblings who claimed to converse with spirits, becoming star medium performers during their lifetimes and now being cited as some of the founders of the Spiritualism movement. Michael Conley is a smiley and natural performer, as is his character Kate Fox who is reminiscing to an audience about her life in 1892. Kate is intentionally un-mystical, raucously funny, and from the start an unreliable narrator. The narrative is fairly typical of an older character looking back on their life and taking the audience through the events they have experienced chronologically, in Kate’s case she details her and her sister’...

Flying Lovers of Vitebsk – Bristol Old Vic

5Dec

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

South West

Flying Lovers of Vitebsk – Bristol Old Vic

As theatre continues to adapt to the restrictions of a pandemic. Wise Children and the Kneehigh Theatre follow suite as they perform live at the Bristol Old Vic for an online audience. Thank goodness as this is keeping the spirit of the theatre alive, while giving many the opportunity to watch a live show and enjoy a joyful experience, from the comfort of their own homes. Directed by Emma Rice, of Wise Children, (Wise Children, Malory Towers, Romantics Anonymous) the story is written by Daniel Jamieson. It centres around artist Marc Chagall and his partner Bella. A generally romantic story set against the backdrop of the early 1900’s. Chagall’s paintings made a beautiful use of colours and flying lovers were an ongoing theme that featured in many of his works, thus the title refle...

5Dec

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

42nd Street – Theatre Royal Drury Lane

This show has it all - glitz, glamour...and of course, showtunes. Any fan of musical theatre - young and old - should see 42nd Street, a true celebration of the theatre and a masterpiece from start to finish. The plotline for this production is somewhat familiar - an age-old tale of the underdog done good. 42nd Street follows small-town girl Peggy Sawyer, whose one ambition is to secure a place in the chorus line of Pretty Girl, the hottest new show in town. Of course, to paraphrase Shakespeare, “the course of ambition never did run smooth”, so there was lots of obstacles for our young heroine to overcome to get there - but, thanks to her raw talent, she soon finds herself competing for the spotlight against theatre veteran and diva extraordinaire, Miss Dorothy Brock. It’s almost lik...

Northern Chamber Orchestra launch ‘Seat Out’ fundraising campaign

4Dec

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Northern Chamber Orchestra launch ‘Seat Out’ fundraising campaign

For every socially distanced seat sold at the NCO’s Macclesfield concerts, an average of four seats must be taken off sale. The COVID-19 pandemic has been catastrophic for the arts, and the Northern Chamber Orchestra is no exception. While we have been able to stage some incredible, socially distanced concerts, for every seat we sell we must take four seats off sale. This is financially unviable, and we can’t continue this way for much longer. We are therefore asking our supporters to consider donating to our ‘Seat Out’ campaign, to help the NCO – the North West’s oldest professional chamber orchestra – remain afloat into 2021 and beyond. Charlie Rowley, NCO’s General Manager, said: “Your support is invaluable to us. For anyone making their living in professional music, the events...

Absolutely Fabulous casting for rescheduled Sister Act Tour in Manchester

4Dec

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Absolutely Fabulous casting for rescheduled Sister Act Tour in Manchester

Producers Jamie Wilson and Whoopi Goldberg are delighted to announce Jennifer Saunders will reprise her role as ‘Mother Superior’ in the UK tour of ‘SISTER ACT THE MUSICAL’ at Manchester Palace Theatre from 27th September – 9th October 2021. The previously announced Brenda Edwards and Clive Rowe will play ‘Deloris Van Cartier’ and ‘Eddie Souther’. The tour follows the run in London at The Eventim Apollo which stars Jennifer Saunders and Whoopi Goldberg which will open on 20th July 2021 and run until 29th August 2021. Based on the iconic movie, this sparkling tribute to the universal power of friendship, sisterhood and music tells the hilarious story of the disco diva whose life takes a surprising turn when she witnesses a murder. Under protective custody she is hidden in the one plac...

Magnetic North: Voices from the Indigenous Arctic

4Dec

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London, REVIEWS

Magnetic North: Voices from the Indigenous Arctic

The British Museum teams up with Border Crossing’s ORIGINS festival’s latest offering to their series on climate change and indigenous people. Magnetic North: voices from the Indigenous Arctic sees art, technology, spoken word and music collide in an event dedicated to the culture of the indigenous people of the Arctic Circle. Here, artistic expression finds its groove in technology and shows us love of the planet, and of each other’s culture is a vital step in the race to save the environment. Only then can we begin to understand what we are fighting for. Ishmael Angaaluuk Hope’s spoken word introduction describes indigenous people using the concept of Shukat Khu.oo, a Tlingit word meaning people at the very front and at the very back of society. Knowing our earth so intimately, ...