Monday, May 6

NEWS

Best Amateur Production of 2023
NEWS

Best Amateur Production of 2023

We have been thrilled to be invited to review a huge number of amateur productions in 2023, but which was the most popular with our readers. Below are the top 5 shows, we are looking forward to visiting even more amateur shows in 2024. You can request reviews for your society by emailing info@northwestend.co.uk with at least 4 weeks notice. NUMBER 5 – Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at Altrincham Garrick Playhouse. “one of the strongest opening nights of a show I have seen in a long time” https://northwestend.com/chitty-chitty-bang-bang-altrincham-garrick-playhouse/ NUMBER 4 - Betty Blue Eyes at Gladstone Theatre. “a great family show – charming, funny, uplifting and memorable” https://northwestend.com/betty-blue-eyes-gladstone-theatre/ NUMBER 3 – The Wedding Singer – Grange T...
New lead casting announced for MAMMA MIA! in the West End after 8-week TV search
NEWS

New lead casting announced for MAMMA MIA! in the West End after 8-week TV search

After eight unmissable weeks of singing, dancing, and acting their way to a place in the final, Stevie Doc and Tobias Turley have tonight been crowned the winners of MAMMA MIA! I Have a Dream, securing them a money can’t buy prize – the lead roles of Sophie and Sky in the West End production of MAMMA MIA! Filmed in the idyllic setting of Greece where the MAMMA MIA! story is set, viewers have been treated across the series to incredible performances from the talented cast made up of 14 aspiring musical theatre performers. Each week, the theatre star hopefuls were put through their paces with a series of workshops, where they were mentored by MAMMA MIA!’s choreographer Anthony Van Laast and musical director Martin Lowe before being whittled down to the final four by judges Alan Carr, Jes...
Alan Turing – A Musical Biography to play Studio 3 at Riverside Studios
NEWS

Alan Turing – A Musical Biography to play Studio 3 at Riverside Studios

Alan Turing – A Musical Biography will play Studio 3 at Riverside Studios from 8th – 27th January. ‘A genius who ended up in despair’. Directed by Jane Miles, with music by Joel Goodman and Jan Osborne, book by Joan Greening, lighting design by Rob Dyer, and starring Joe Bishop as ‘Alan Turing’ and Zara Cooke as multiple roles including Joan Clarke. This OffFest award-nominated show was a sold-out hit at the 2022 Edinburgh Fringe, where it garnered great critical acclaim.  A journey through the extraordinary life of Alan Turing, the genius whose code breaking brain saved approximately fourteen million lives in WW2. Joel Goodman said, “I am delighted to be bringing Alan Turing A Musical Biography to London, and very much looking forward to our run at Riverside Studios....
Matinee Performance added for Lucie Jones Live at Cadogan Hall
NEWS

Matinee Performance added for Lucie Jones Live at Cadogan Hall

FOURTH WALL LIVE and WestWay Music are delighted to announce the addition of a 2.30pm matinee performance for West End star LUCIE JONES live at Cadogan Hall on Sunday 12th May 2024. Performances are now at 2.30pm and 6.30pm. Tickets for the additional matinee are on sale NOW at www.fw-live.com and www.cadoganhall.com LUCIE JONES first came to prominence when she reached the finals of ITV’s The X Factor in 2009. Quickly winning the hearts of the nation, she became a household name to the millions of viewers who supported her and watched her perform week after week. Lucie performed in the sell-out X Factor Arena Tour in 2010 before joining the West End cast of Les Miserables, playing the role of Cosette. Since then, Lucie has performed all over the world as a solo artist and in many musi...
Paddington in Concert 2024
NEWS

Paddington in Concert 2024

Marmalade sandwiches at the ready! STUDIOCANAL and Raymond Gubbay Limited are pleased to present PaddingtonTM in Concert. Next year, audiences across the UK can enjoy watching the award-winning 2014 film on a giant HD screen, accompanied by The London Concert Orchestra playing Nick Urata’s calypso-infused score live. Based on Michael Bond’s much-loved books, cherished by families since 1958, the charming story follows the misadventures of a young bear from Peru who travels to London in search of a home. Taken in by the Brown family, who finds him lost and alone in Paddington Station, things are looking up for this rarest of bears. Until that is, he catches the eye of an ambitious museum taxidermist... Boasting an all-star ensemble cast including Hugh Bonneville, Sally Hawkins,...
Cheryl Martin joins Red Ladder Theatre Company as new Artistic Director
NEWS

Cheryl Martin joins Red Ladder Theatre Company as new Artistic Director

Director and writer Cheryl Martin joins radical theatre company Red Ladder as their new Artistic Director from January 2024 replacing Rod Dixon who stood down after 17 years leading the company. Alongside her work writing and directing award-winning theatre productions, Cheryl has also fulfilled a variety of roles including supporting writers and practitioners at Contact Theatre, Traverse Theatre Edinburgh, and Oldham Coliseum.  She has also worked with Community Arts Northwest on a series of community plays devised with, and starring, mostly women refugees and asylum seekers. In 2015 she co-founded LGBTQ+ Global-Majority performance arts company Black Gold Arts creating a week-long celebration in choreography, writing, directing and cabaret, which was part of the Eurovisio...
Northern Ballet release their first inclusive dance film
NEWS

Northern Ballet release their first inclusive dance film

In a first for Northern Ballet performers from the company and dancers from their Ability course for adults with additional learning support needs have joined forces in a pioneering dance film created by director and choreographer Ben Wright.   Every Little Thing is a Change was developed in a series of workshops at Northern Ballet’s headquarters in Leeds exploring how a touch, a look or a feeling can transport all of us into another world. The film premièred at Northern Ballet’s inclusive dance festival Expressions, which celebrated its 10th anniversary in July this year, and is now available online. An audio described version of the film will also be released.    The short film is Northern Ballet’s next step in exploring how inclusive dance can be more closely linke...
Dolly delights in Spring/Summer season at Leeds Playhouse
NEWS

Dolly delights in Spring/Summer season at Leeds Playhouse

For the first time ever all of Dolly Parton’s biggest hits can be heard together in a new musical comedy, Here You Come Again, which is then cornerstone of the Spring/Summer 2024 season at Leeds Playhouse before it heads off to the West End  After a successful US tour, the show is packed with the country legend’s iconic songs, including Jolene, 9 to 5, Islands in the Stream, I Will Always Love You and Here You Come Again. It’s the story of a diehard fan whose fantasy version of international icon Dolly Parton gets him through trying times, but the wit, humour and charm in her songs teaches him a whole lot about life, love and how to pull yourself up by your sequinned bootstraps. It was originally written by two-time Emmy award-winning comedy writer and songw...
Tron Theatre announces inspired, innovative and exciting Spring – Summer season
NEWS

Tron Theatre announces inspired, innovative and exciting Spring – Summer season

Tron Theatre continues to deliver some of the most inspirational, innovative and exciting theatre being staged in Scotland at the moment. We are delighted to launch our Spring – Summer 2024 season, once again showcasing more thought-provoking new work, including two Scottish premieres presented by Tron Theatre Company, alongside a powerful visiting company programme that brings the best touring productions to our stages. Two of Scottish theatre’s most exciting directors will work with us on in-house productions this season whilst we recruit for a new Artistic Director following the departure of Andy Arnold in November 2023. Tron Associate Director Joanna Bowman will stage the first of our Scottish premieres - Caryl Churchill’s ‘revolutionary’ Escaped Alone (Thu 22nd February – Sat 9th ...
VAULT has announced new London Venue and the Return of VAULT Festival for 2024
NEWS

VAULT has announced new London Venue and the Return of VAULT Festival for 2024

Making their highly anticipated comeback, the creators of the UK’s leading independent festival of live performance VAULT, have announced they are building a brand-new venue in the heart of London and that VAULT Festival will return in autumn 2024. Earlier this year, VAULT marked the end of its decade-long run of their flagship event VAULT Festival at its original venue launching the search to find and secure a new home. This new, multi-space venue will be a year-round, long-term home for VAULT, which will open its doors in Spring 2024 and will host the return of the much-loved VAULT Festival, as well as other new creative ventures, particularly aimed at supporting early career artists with more to be announced in the coming months. VAULT exists to platform work from underrepresented a...