NEWS Archives - Page 49 of 78 - North West End UK

Ralph Fiennes and Julie Hesmondhalgh star in York Theatre Royal’s reopening season

11Apr

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Ralph Fiennes and Julie Hesmondhalgh star in York Theatre Royal’s reopening season

Bond star Ralph Fiennes and Corrie legend Julie Hesmondhalgh both star in one person shows as part of York Theatre Royal’s reopening Love Bites season. Fienne directs and stars in the world premiere of T S Eliot’s Four Quartets from 26-31 July. This solo theatre adaptation features Burnt Norton, East Coker, The Dry Salvages and Little Giddings which were published together in 1943. The quartet ranges across themes of time, nature and the elements, faith and spirituality, war and mortality. BAFTA-nominated Julie Hesmondhalgh stars in The Greatest Play in the History of the World from 1-5 June. The Broadchurch star is touring northern venues after a sell-out Edinburgh Festival run that transferred to Manchester and London’s West End. The play was written for Hesmondhalgh by her Brentw...

ABBA MANIA returns to the West End for first time in 19 years

10Apr

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ABBA MANIA returns to the West End for first time in 19 years

After a year of silence on the West End, audiences are invited to dust off their flares to become a Dancing Queen and say ‘Thank You For The Music’ with ABBA MANIA. Last seen in the West End nearly two decades ago, the world’s number one touring ABBA tribute concert is back by popular demand this May. Coming to the Shaftesbury Theatre, it’s the perfect party as we head out of lockdown! ABBA MANIA brings to life ABBA’s last ever concert in an exhilarating two-hour production celebrating the timeless joy of their songs. Featuring the Swedish supergroup’s irresistible music, fantastic costumes and electrifying staging, this concert is perfect for life-long ABBA fans and newcomers alike. Dig out your platforms and enjoy all your favourite hits including Mamma Mia, Voulez Vous, Dancing Quee...

Rescheduled dates for the UK Tour of GREASE starring Peter Andre

10Apr

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Rescheduled dates for the UK Tour of GREASE starring Peter Andre

The producers of the first new production in 25 years of Jim Jacobs & Warren Casey’s iconic musical GREASE, have been working hard to reschedule the 2021 dates of the UK tour. The musical was due to tour in 2020 but had to be postponed due to COVID-19. Directed by Nikolai Foster and choreographed by Arlene Phillips, the 2021 tour will now begin at Curve, Leicester from 30th – 31st July. The tour will continue on to Theatre Royal Plymouth from 3 – 7 August, The Marlowe, Canterbury from 9 – 14 August, Theatre Royal Nottingham from 17 – 21 August, Milton Keynes Theatre from 23 – 28 August, Stoke Regent Theatre from 30 August – 4 September, New Victoria Theatre, Woking from 7 – 11 September, The Orchard Theatre, Dartford from 13 – 18 September, Bristol Hippodrome from 21 – 25 Sep...

10Apr

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Musicals, drag, stand-up and a brand new Fringe Futures Festival: Pleasance reopens this May!

Pleasance Islington will reopen its doors on Monday 17th May with a busy programme of comedy, theatre, drag and musicals. To help set theatre up to thrive once again Pleasance will also partner with VAULT Creative Arts to present Fringe Futures Festival. Taking place across May and June, this brand-new festival will present live work-in-progress shows from leading independent performance makers. Fringe Futures Festival will provide an opportunity for early and mid-career artists to try out work at various stages of development in front of a live audience. This innovative collaboration is intended to showcase the future of the fringe. With performances on both sides of the river, the festival will take place in the newly configured, socially distanced Pleasance Downstairs at Pleasance, ...

Alexandra Burke joins Jac Yarrow and Jason Donovan for a Technicolor Summer

10Apr

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Alexandra Burke joins Jac Yarrow and Jason Donovan for a Technicolor Summer

Michael Harrison and the Really Useful Group are delighted to announce today that Alexandra Burke will return to the West End this summer in the new production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, as Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s legendary musical gets ready for a strictly limited season at the iconic London Palladium. The production will begin performances on Thursday 1st July (Gala Night: Thursday 15th July) and will be one of the highlights in the return of theatre to the UK cultural landscape. Alexandra Burke will play The Narrator in the celebrated musical. Her many West End credits include the lead roles in The Bodyguard, Sister Act, Chess and Chicago. Alexandra first rose to fame winning Th...

Heathers the Musical announces West End return and UK Tour

10Apr

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Heathers the Musical announces West End return and UK Tour

Heathers the Musical (WhatsOnStage 2019 award for Best New Musical) returns to the stage with a double announcement. The hit show will make its return to the West End’s Theatre Royal Haymarket from 21st June for a strictly limited 12 week run, while simultaneously launching its new touring production from 28th July, opening at Leeds Grand Theatre for three weeks, before spreading corn nuts throughout the UK. Produced by Bill Kenwright and Paul Taylor-Mills, this high-octane black-comedy rock musical, based on one of the greatest cult teen films of all time, starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater, is back with a bang! Westerberg High’s Veronica Sawyer is just another nobody dreaming of a better day. But when she joins the beautif...

Hope Mill Theatre to stage the first new UK production of The Wiz

10Apr

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Hope Mill Theatre to stage the first new UK production of The Wiz

Hope Mill Theatre has announced that this Christmas it will stage the first new UK production of The Wiz: The Super Soul Musical “Wonderful Wizard of Oz” in 10 years. With music and lyrics by Charlie Smalls, book by William F. Brown and original orchestrations by Harold Wheeler, The Wiz is a retelling of L. Frank Baum’s classic children's novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. This new production will be directed by Actor’s Touring Theatre’s Artistic Director and previous Royal Exchange Associate Artistic Director Matthew Xia, Musical Supervision and Orchestrations by Sean Greenand and Choreography by Leah Hill. Hope Mill Theatre are also thrilled to be co-producing alongside producer Ameena Hamid and bri...

10Apr

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Deva Fest Returns for 2021

Organisers of the successful Deva Fest in Chester have announced the three-day event will return for Summer 2021 after lockdown has eased– and have revealed an exciting line-up of headline music acts. Officially launched in 2019 Cheshire’s Family Friendly Music, Food and Lifestyle Extravaganza, Deva Fest proved hugely popular. Like many 2020 events the second-year festival had to be postponed due to the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic, but the organisers promised they would not be beaten, they have stayed true to their word by doubling down and adding even more star names for their 2021 event. Deva Fest will take place across the weekend of Friday 13th August, Saturday 14th August, and Sunday 15th August 2021, at Chester Lakes in Dodleston, just out...

Talking Gods IV: Aphrodite – Arrows & Traps Theatre

9Apr

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Talking Gods IV: Aphrodite – Arrows & Traps Theatre

The penultimate episode of Talking Gods from Arrows & Traps Theatre, tells the story of Aphrodite, her marriage to Hephaestus and affair with Ares. Written and directed by Ross McGregor, this is a harrowing story of love, war and everything in between. Aphrodite (Benjamin Garrison) is the Goddess of Love and has very little patience for the moral meatbags around her, but does envy their ability to choose. Gods’ destinies are fixed from day one by the Fates, and her life is controlled by them, Zeus, Athena’s whims; everyone really, but herself. At one point she got into crafting, but Athena, Goddess of Handicraft, quickly puts a stop to that so Aphrodite resumes her life of lounging and lust. Love is accepting that it is always subject to heartbreak, unrequited feelings and pain,...

Red Ladder are back with new show Homebaked – The Musical

7Apr

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Red Ladder are back with new show Homebaked – The Musical

Radical theatre company Red Ladder’s first post lockdown show is Homebaked – The Musical co-produced with Liverpool’s Royal Court. It’s a musical comedy based on Liverpool’s famous co-operative bakery inspired by the real-life group of local residents coming together to save their neighbourhood bakery - and their homes - from demolition. Back in 2012 the people of Anfield faced losing a huge slice of their local community to property developers. Things were looking bleak until a group of like-minded individuals got together to say ‘enough is enough’. They wanted a place for locals to earn a crust so they transformed a crumbling old bakery into Homebaked. What started with a half-baked idea rose and rose until it had spawned a thriving community business with plans to transform th...