North West Archives - Page 126 of 178

Noga Ritter Trio – Manchester Jewish Museum

21Oct

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Noga Ritter Trio – Manchester Jewish Museum

Noga Ritter made her inaugural performance as part of Manchester Jewish Museum’s Synagogue Nights autumn 2022 season, delighting the audience with a fusion of diverse musical influences from around the world, in particular Africa, South America and the Middle East. Joined by Tomer Eldor on Piano and Giuliano Osella on percussion, the trio took us on an eclectic journey informed as much by Ritter’s upbringing in Israel as her experiences of other cultures including taking Hebrew back to its original nomadic context. The opening song, Falling In Love In The Middle Of Lockdown, had an infectious rhythm with poetic lyrics, whilst Horizon that followed drew on Ritter’s time in Haifa near the sea and reflected strong emotions reinforced by a bluesy piano providing a richer, deeper and hope...

20Oct

By Brian MaddenNo Comments

North West

Jersey Boys – Opera House, Manchester

The swinging 60s, what a time to be alive! The first man walked on the moon, England won the World Cup, and of course Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons became international sensations. However, their journey to fame wasn’t always as slick as their harmonies, as is presented in the stage musical, Jersey Boys. As the curtain goes up, the audience are greeted with a rendition of the classic ‘Oh What a Night’, which really sets the tone for the evening. However, this has a more contemporary twist on the classic hit. On this night Frankie Valli was played by Ryan Heenan, who I was surprised to learn was the understudy for the role. He was absolutely sublime and a perfect fit for the character. Singing mostly in falsetto is very difficult, especially for a male, but he did a great job and...

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical – Blackpool Grand

20Oct

By Coral MourantNo Comments

North West

Beautiful: The Carole King Musical – Blackpool Grand

Leicester Curve’s production of Beautiful completely changes the original blueprint of the musical. This staging is a cool, stripped-back version focusing on the music and sound that shaped one of the most successful singer-songwriters. At the start, we find an eager sixteen-year-old Carole Klein (yes, that’s right), trying to prove to her mother that she can be more than just a music teacher. The audience follows Carole through her song catalogue, all the way to her infamous performance of the Grammy award winning album Tapestry at Carnegie Hall. Set mostly in a recording studio, the stage easily shifts to more intimate spaces with simple furnishings and choreographed movements. It’s modern and almost metallic, with a giant “beautiful” sign adorning it at beginning and end. With the...

19Oct

By Hazel BumbyNo Comments

North West

Blood Brothers – The Lowry

I love Blood Brothers and have to admit Mrs Johnstone is role I dream of playing one day. With more drama than any soap, this wonderful story is set in the exciting City of Liverpool with a move to Skelmersdale later in the show. Set between the 50’s-70’s, it tells us of a young woman who met a ‘fella’ and got pregnant and in those days, children without marriage was frowned upon, so very quickly they wed…. She went on to have several children with him before he left her, and she no longer looked like ‘Marilyn Monroe’ who he had always likened her to. He left her pregnant “with seven hungry mouths to feed and one more nearly due”. Only one more turned into two more mouths… The lady she cleaned for hatched a plan and as she couldn’t have her own child, Mrs John...

Titus Andronicus – The Kings Arms, Salford

18Oct

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Titus Andronicus – The Kings Arms, Salford

When you arrive at a venue and are offered a plastic poncho and earplugs as you make your way into the theatre, you have an inkling that this production may be a little different. A bare arena stage surrounded by white curtains greets you, allowing the audience to be sat virtually on stage and witness at close quarters a ninety-minute onslaught of murder, rape, mutilation and cannibalism that is definitely not for the faint hearted. Titus Andronicus is one of Shakespeare's more problematic texts, indeed literary scholars have debated if he even wrote it at all. It fell out of favour during the 19th Century, its gory depiction of strong sexual themes making it unsuitable for the more gentrified theatre audiences of Victorian Britain. However, Cream Faced Loons are a company that love a c...

Strictly Ballroom the Musical – Liverpool Empire

18Oct

By Anne PritchardNo Comments

North West

Strictly Ballroom the Musical – Liverpool Empire

Anyone attending this show and expecting BBC TV’s Strictly Come Dancing will be disappointed; Strictly Ballroom the Musical is a musical theatre adaptation of the 1992 cult, classic, film Strictly Ballroom. The glitzy glamour and ballroom dancing is there but that’s where the similarity ends. The show was preceded by a voice-over by Director/Co-Choreographer, Craig Revel Horwood announcing in an Australian accent, jokingly, that any photographs taken during the performance are not allowed and should be instantly uploaded to as many social platforms as possible immediately after the performance. The Strictly Ballroom film directed and co-written by Baz Luhrmann is a comedic satire on the cut-throat world of amateur ballroom dancing; it is regarded as an edgy, in-your-face mockumentary...

Souvenir De Florence – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

18Oct

By Kiefer WilliamsNo Comments

North West

Souvenir De Florence – Royal Liverpool Philharmonic

This delightful concert in the Close-Up series features musicians from the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic Orchestra. The ensemble consists of: Thelma Handy- violin Sarah Brandwood-Spencer- violin Alex Mitchell- viola Gwendolyn Cawdron- viola Jonathan Aasgaard- cello Alexander Holladay- cello The evening comprises of three pieces of superlative chamber music. Vaughan Williams Phantasy Quintet (1912) is probably one of Williams most lyrical and moving compositions. Its melody positively soars over the course of four short movements. There is an overriding theme of contemplation that runs throughout each movement. It is a truly beautiful piece of music and the ensemble play this with great finesse and precision. Exquisite. Martinu String Sextet (1932) is a more mod...

15Oct

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

North West

Fiddler On The Roof – Gladstone Theatre

Young performers show great potential. This well-loved musical by Jerry Bock and Sheldon Harnick offers many memorable songs. Even if the story is dark in places, it does have plenty of ‘Yiddish’ humour and opportunities for a large cast of mixed ages. After a three-year break from a main production, St Paul’s performed to good houses this week at The Gladstone Theatre, Port Sunlight. Set at the turn of the 20th century, Fiddler opens in Anatevka in the western region of Imperial Russia. It is a hard, bleak life for the families, held together by their religion and tradition, when an edict from the Tsar evicts the Jewish settlers from their village. Who would have thought that just over a hundred later we would see people from that same region, modern day Ukraine, fleeing from ...

The Day They Kidnapped The Pope – Rainhill Village Hall

15Oct

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Day They Kidnapped The Pope – Rainhill Village Hall

Rainhill Garrick Society start their 80th birthday celebrations with a bang with this startling and surreal comedy whose improbable events become all too believable through the magic of the theatre. Written in 1979 by Joao Bethencourt, a celebrated Hungarian actor, playwright and director, it was well received throughout Europe including a rave review when presented in Rome. On a visit to New York, the Pope (Rick Young) mistakenly gets into a taxi and is immediately kidnapped by its driver, Samuel Leibowitz (George Lowe) who takes him to his Brooklyn home much to the surprise of his wife Sara (Tracey Duffy) and daughters Esther (Sophie Brogan) and Miriam (Lucy Whitfield). As events outside unfold through TV media (Angela Vose; Tom Nevitt), the demands of the ransom become clear: a day o...

House Guest – Allerton United Reformed Church

14Oct

By Kiefer WilliamsNo Comments

North West

House Guest – Allerton United Reformed Church

Originally written in 1976, Francis Durbridge’s House Guest can be best described as a quintessential “cosy crime” thriller. Spanning just over 50 years, Durbridge was a prolific writer of crime novels and plays and his most famous creation was Paul Temple, the debonair and exclusive private investigator. House Guest is one of his least known standalone plays that centres around the kidnapping of a child and suspicious goings on with the so-called police! Unfortunately, no Mr Temple is in sight here to sort things out! The play by today’s standards is quite dated and some of the dialogue is gruesomely wooden but having said that its clear to see that the RADS have tremendous fun in performing Durbridge’s creaky script and I must say, their enthusiasm was infectious. ...