Tracey Bell, Author at North West End UK

15Sep

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Heathers the Musical – Sheffield Lyceum

Based on the 1989 Cult film of the same name written by Daniel Walters, Heathers the Musical with its shocking moments makes you question if the story in today’s society, isn’t as unfortunately, subversive or extreme as it once was. The musical being a camp, comedic tribute to the film it has also gained the same cult following, with numerous chequered school skirts in the audience as proof. Book, music and lyrics by Kevin Murphy and Laurence o’Keefe and directed by Andy Fickman, the plot races you through a ride of nonstop twists and turns and doesn’t give you time to catch your breath. The toxic Westerberg High School hierarchy where the Heathers (the ‘It’ girls) rule, dictate and manipulate, keep their own kind of order and the rest of the school live in awe and fear of them. The Heathe...

17Aug

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Hairspray – Sheffield Lyceum

Sheffield Lyceum’s opening night after 17 months of darkness - Hairspray is resoundingly resplendent, raucous and right on point. The show highlights many modern day issues that are particularly relevant today, that of Racism, Body Image and Sexism but never in a heavyweight way. It can be difficult to achieve this but, Hairspray packages these issues with a buoyant bouffant and plenty of toe tapping tunes. Set in Baltimore in the 1960’s we follow the trailblazer Tracy Turnblad as she stands up for equality and proves there is no place for the word ‘minorities' in the dawn of a new era. The staging on the UK tour remains traditional and is mainly made up of backdrops and two trucks which represent the Turnblad household on stage right and the Pingleton/ Motormouth Record Store on the l...

Spend, Spend, Spend – Guilford School of Acting

2Jul

By Tracey BellNo Comments

REVIEWS

Spend, Spend, Spend – Guilford School of Acting

Upon winning a fortune of £152,000 (today’s equivalent of 3.3m) on the football pools in 1961, Viv Nicholson told the press she was going to "spend, spend, spend." Her true life rags to riches story and its decline back to rags is chronicled in this musical with book and lyrics by Steve Brown and Justin Greene based on the original book by Viv Nicholson herself and Stephen Smith. The story both starts and ends in present day, with Viv working in a Hairdressers in Castleford, West Yorkshire. We are transported back to the young, 16-year-old Viv as the story unfurls of her abusive father, poverty to a pools win, five unconventional marriages, fast cars, Fur coats, lots of alcohol and parties and a desperate need to be loved. Spend, Spend Spend does not make Viv as happy as she first think...

The Secret Garden – Guilford School of Acting

19May

By Tracey BellNo Comments

REVIEWS

The Secret Garden – Guilford School of Acting

The Secret Garden is a musical based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This enchanting classic of children's literature is reimagined in brilliant musical style by composer Lucy Simon and Marsha Norman, the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright. The story follows 11 year old Mary Lennox in the early years of the 20th Century, who, orphaned in India is returned to Yorkshire to live with her embittered, reclusive Uncle Archibald and his invalid son Colin. The estate, Misselthwaite Manor House’s many wonders include a magic garden which beckons the children with haunting melodies and the "Dreamers," spirits from Mary's past who guide her through her new life, dramatizing The Secret Garden's compelling tale of healing, rebirth and reawakening, forgiveness and renewal. ...