REVIEWS Archives - North West End UK

10Apr

By David S ClarkeNo Comments

North West

Calendar Girls – The Forum Theatre

This is the story of an enterprising group of ladies who are members of their local Women’s Institute ( a very staid and traditional organisation), who decide to go against these traditions in an effort to raise funds to purchase a couch for the waiting room at their local hospital, where the husband of one of them is a regular visitor undergoing tests for cancer, which unfortunately turn out to be not only positive but with a terminal diagnosis. Having noticed a nude calendar in the premises of a local car mechanic, the ladies decide to attempt their own version featuring other members of the group in discretely nude poses featuring the more traditional activities of the WI, such as baking, jam making, knitting and musical activities and set about trying to convince the other members of t...

Here & Now The Steps Musical – Blackpool Opera House

9Apr

By Coral MourantNo Comments

North West

Here & Now The Steps Musical – Blackpool Opera House

A new British jukebox musical has arrived, and it’s ready to take its place amongst the best of them. Queen, Abba, and Take That have all had their own hit musicals, and now it’s time for Steps to stomp onto the scene. Directed by award-winning Rachel Kavanaugh, this heart-warming tale of friendship and love is bound to get your feet kickin’ and hands clappin'! At “Better Best Bargains” the prices are low, but the vibes are high as four friends make a pact to make their romantic dreams come true. They all need to take a chance on a happy ending, but when Caz’s love life turns into a tragedy, and the store that brought them together threatens to close, will the friends ever achieve their summer of love? The back catalogue of Steps’ songs and the backdrop of a British supermarket are a...

9Apr

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Mamma Mia! – Hull New Theatre

Even before the curtain rose on the smash-hit musical Mamma Mia! at the Hull New Theatre on Wednesday night, we in the packed venue were already singing along to a medley of Abba songs played by talented musicians in the orchestra pit. Mamma Mia! takes its name from the Swedish superstars’ song which appeared on the group’s third album in 1975. Written by British playwright Catherine Johnson, the musical is based around the music and lyrics of Abba’s Benny Andersson and Björn Ulvaeus, and it’s their recognisable, singalong-to tunes that showered us in feel-good vibes from the off. Set on a Greek island paradise, the opening scene has bride-to-be, 20-yeer-old Sophie Sheridan (Lydia Hunt), posting wedding invitations to three men, strangers, whose names she has discovered in her mum...

9Apr

By Damian RiverolNo Comments

Wales

We Will Rock You – The Hammond

Zodiac Theatre Group return to the Hammond School this week and are transporting us to the iPlanet where Globalsoft have taken over, banning real music and instruments and turning everything computer generated, from music to the people who live there, dressing the same, listening to the same computer generated music. The Killer Queen is ruling the iPlanet, with the help of her evil assistant, commander Khashoggi. But the bohemians know that Rock n roll is still alive somewhere on the iPlanet, so when they come across the dreamer, Galileo, they do all they can to help him to find the hidden musical instruments hidden in the place of hidden rock. The stage is quite bare, with computer monitors, keyboards and other old electronics at the front either side of the stage, a rostra that runs a...

9Apr

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Operation Mincemeat – Alhambra Bradford

Hamilton proved that a rap show about an obscure figure in the American revolutionary war could be an unlikely smash hit, and Operation Mincemeat proves a musical about a long-forgotten part of our nation’s military history can also win Oliviers and Tonys. This quirky and very funny musical is based on real life events in World War Two brought to life by five incredibly talented and hard working singers and hoofers playing an array of different roles. They tell the unlikely true story of how our secret service disguised the corpse of a dead tramp as a made-up naval officer who was supplied with fake documents. The fake officer's body was dumped off the coast of Spain and based on the fake contents of his briefcase Hitler’s spies convinced him that the Allies were going to invade Sardini...

The Railway Children – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

9Apr

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

The Railway Children – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

At the Altrincham Garrick Playhouse, opening night of The Railway Children, brought to the stage through Mike Kenny’s adaptation was met with eager anticipation from an audience ready to be transported into a timeless family classic. This much-loved story, originally written by Edith Nesbit, follows the lives of the Waterbury children, Roberta (Bobby), Peter, and Phyllis whose comfortable Edwardian life is turned upside down when their father is suddenly taken away. Forced to leave their London home, they relocate with their mother to a modest cottage called Three Chimneys in the heart of the Yorkshire countryside. Here, against a backdrop of rolling hills, wide skies, and quiet railway cuttings, the children begin a new chapter of resilience, discovery, and growth. Under the directi...

8Apr

By Nazaret RaneaNo Comments

Scotland

The High Life – Festival Theatre

After spending the Easter weekend revisiting this quirky TV show, I was ready to immerse myself in the musical adaptation of The High Life, and I’ll admit I went in with a mixture of excitement and scepticism. It is one thing to love something in a nostalgic, half remembered way, and quite another to see it expanded into a full stage show. This feels less like a revival and more like a reunion that has been allowed to get slightly out of hand. From the outset, the production leans into its own chaos. The opening number arrives with a knowing wink, that familiar theme tune doing a lot of the work in terms of goodwill, but it quickly becomes clear that the show is not content to rely on recognition alone. It understands what made the original work and pushes it further rather than trying ...

Death on the Nile – Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham

8Apr

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

West Midlands

Death on the Nile – Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham

It’s mysterious that when Agatha Christie decided to adapt her novel “Death on the Nile” for stage she was so tired of Hercule Poirot, who, of course, so ably solved the murder in the book, she cut him out. “Death on the Nile” without Hercules Parrot as Maggie Smith misnames him in the movie? Yes, she re-wrote the novel as “Murder on the Nile” and instead of a Belgian she substituted an Archdeacon. Clear? I won’t muddy the waters of the Egyptian river by also mentioning the book started as a play titled “Moon on the Nile” before Agatha adapted it into a book with Poirot which then became a play without him which then became a film with him and is now, in the safe hands of Ken Ludwig, a play with him once again. A tortuous trail of disappearances and re-appearances to test the greatest of l...

8Apr

By Dan GrimesNo Comments

North West

2:22 A Ghost Story – Liverpool Empire

“Do you believe in ghosts?” A question guaranteed to liven up any flagging dinner party. Social convention, in polite society, dictates that one should never discuss politics or religion—but this seemingly innocuous conversation starter can prove just as revealing and polarising. Views on the occult can offer insights into social status, educational attainment, upbringing, belief systems, and even morality. 2:22 A Ghost Story is the tale of a dinner party with a difference. New parents Jenny (Shvorne Marks) and Sam (James Bye) invite their longtime friend Lauren (Natalie Casey) and her latest squeeze, Ben (Grant Kilburn), to spend an evening in their new home. However, it soon becomes clear that Jenny’s motives run deeper than simply showcasing her asparagus risotto in their new open-pl...

7Apr

By Wendy McEwanNo Comments

Scotland

Game of Crones – Traverse Theatre

The Protagonist stumbles through a haze of swirling fog and beseeches Mighty Kronos, the Lord of Time. Her vision is blurry, and her phone is inexplicably in the fridge. Plus, she has wrinkles. The Protagonist begs the Keeper of the Sands to spare her from the indignities of aging. But merciless Kronos is having none of it. The Protagonist receives the Tongue Sharpener, the Spectacles of Insight, and the Cloak of Invisibility (it's a beige cardigan), and embarks on an epic mystical quest full of pitfalls and wacky characters. Clown duo Abigail Dooley and Emma Edwards combine splendid silliness with a heightened, fantastical sensibility. The costumes, created by Jess Eaton, are a fine example of this elevated foolery. The "dragged through a hedge backwards“ costume features a wild...