REVIEWS Archives - Page 129 of 548

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – Leeds Playhouse

28Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe – Leeds Playhouse

Christmas is a magical time for most of us so a story that begins with a mysterious wardrobe that transports four traumatised children into another world should be the perfect festive treat. Leeds Playhouse have over the last decade offered a series of spectacular festive shows, and this is their second go at this C.S. Lewis classic so beloved of generations of children as goodies and baddies battle it out in a strange world. Peter, Edmund, Lucy and Susan Pevensie are evacuated from war torn London to Scotland where they discover a wardrobe that is a portal into a magical land called Narnia, ruled by the wicked White Witch Jadis where it’s permanently winter. The human children are the key to freeing Narnia’s motley collection of talking animals, who yearn to hear the roar of the myt...

Alice in Wonderland – Shakespeare North Playhouse

27Nov

By Jan MellorNo Comments

North West

Alice in Wonderland – Shakespeare North Playhouse

A fabulous theatre, a story of marvel and magic, at a pantomime time of year and excitement in bucket loads, this being the ingredients to the opening night for the journey into fantasy, written with brilliance by Nick Land and directed with creativity by Nathan Powell that greeted the packed theatre this evening. To greet the full house, there were children dancing in the foyer and magical colour-changing potions to add to orange juice with the famous quote from the book itself ‘drink me’ (now pour me), that had us all entwined in the world of Lewis Carroll from the onset. As the play started, the playing cards greeted the crowd, waving excitedly at children dressed as Alice in pale blue dresses or as Mad Hatters who all waved back with beaming smiles. The 4 cards on stage realis...

Here You Come Again – Blackpool Grand Theatre

27Nov

By Paddy Darnell-WalshNo Comments

North West

Here You Come Again – Blackpool Grand Theatre

They say you should never meet your heroes. Kevin, a gay, forty-something year old, failing comedian, does just that in this new Dolly Parton musical. With his career at a standstill, living in the attic of his parent’s house during the Covid pandemic and his relationship coming to an end, Kevin’s life can’t seem to get any worse. Not knowing where to turn, he seeks support from his icon, Dolly Parton. Right on cue, she appears and offers him the advice he needs to get his life back on track. Having heard very little about this brand-new show, with a transfer to the West End imminent, I was excited to see how Dolly’s iconic numbers could be brought to life. However, it was certainly not what I expected. No large-scale cast, dance routines or set changes as we are so often familiar with ...

27Nov

By Kathleen MansfieldNo Comments

Scotland

Cinderella – Festival Theatre Edinburgh

Yes, Sir, you can boo me - oh no, you can’t and all that jazz … Cinderella at the Festival Theatre is a feast for the eyes and a laugh-a-minute musical extravaganza. Featuring wicked stepmother, Grant Stott, endearing Fairy May (Allan Stewart), Jordan Young as a brilliant Buttons, Clare Gray and Gail Watson as Vindicta and Manipulata Fortuna, Amber Sylvia Edwards as Cinderella, Will Callan and his beautiful voice as Prince Charming and Iain Stuart Robertson as Baron Hardup, this line-up is a sure-fire hit. What a team! They delivered a fantastic evening’s distraction for the people of Edinburgh and beyond. The audience participation was wonderfully entertaining in the safe hands of Allan Stewart and the surprise elements were magical. The writing was a collaborative affair. It wa...

27Nov

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

The Jungle Book – Octagon Theatre

When Walt Disney was contemplating adapting Rudyard Kipling’s ‘Jungle Book’ stories, he gave his writing staff a copy with the instruction ‘The first thing to do is NOT to read it’. The resultant movie, released in 1968, bore only a passing resemblance to the source material, but still became one of the best love films in the Disney canon. For this adaptation, writer Andrew Pollard has stuck closer to the source material and whilst the result is an engaging retelling of the tale with some excellent, original songs, it still sits in the shadow of its more famous celluloid cousin. Mowgli (Kiara Nicole Piliai) and his adventures as an abandoned baby growing up in the Indian jungle in the company of wolves, bears and panthers, pursued by the menacing Shere Khan (Rachel Marwood), is a fantas...

27Nov

By Anne PritchardNo Comments

North West

The Signalman – Thingwall Hall

ArtsGroupie CIC presents this retelling of Charles Dickens’s classic ghost story which was written after Dickens himself survived a train crash; adapted and directed by David Griffiths, it is performed by John Maguire and Zoran Blackie. This haunting story is performed in almost total blackness, the only lights being the signalman’s two signal lamps which are used throughout, sometimes blinding the audience and at other times utilised to uplight the performers faces or to help portray large shadows on the stage backdrop. The only other lighting is a red coloured lamp depicting a fire in the corner of the signalman’s hut. The production opens with the stage in pitch darkness, eerie background music playing with a stark set consisting of two wooden boxes serving as seating for the play...

Zoraida di Granata – Teatro Sociale, Bergamo

27Nov

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

REVIEWS

Zoraida di Granata – Teatro Sociale, Bergamo

Director Bruno Ravella excels with a stunning interpretation of Donizetti’s 1824 version of his two-act heroic opera in this new production by the Fondazione Teatro Donizetti in co-production with Wexford Festival Opera, that resonates strongly with events currently unravelling in Ukraine and the Middle East. Based in the Moorish kingdom of Granada in Andalusia, Almuzir (Konu Kim) has killed the king of the city by usurping his throne and would like to marry his daughter, Zoraida (Zuzana Marková), who is in love with Abenamet (Cecilia Molinari), head of the Arab aristocratic clan of the Abencerragis. Having declared war on the Spaniards, Almuzir entrusts the command of the army to Abenamet, ordering him to return with the flag. He has however set a trap for his rival by arranging for...

Roberto Devereux – Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo

27Nov

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

REVIEWS

Roberto Devereux – Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo

Director Stephen Langridge delightfully breathes new life into Donizetti’s three-act lyrical tragedy in this new production by the Fondazione Teatro Donizetti in co-production with the Teatro Sociale di Rovigo, and which, in spite of its title, is all about two women: one loved and one scorned, and the resulting danger that ensues. In late 16th C London, Elizabetta I (Jessica Pratt) feels neglected by Roberto Devereux (John Osborn), Earl of Essex, with whom she is madly in love. Two of the Queen’s advisors, Lord Cecil (David Astorga) and Raleigh (Ignas Malnikas), Essex’s enemies, ask her to charge him with treason for his lenient behaviour in the war against Spain. Elisabetta receives Roberto, who is detached and reserved. The Duke of Nottingham (Simone Piazzole) is concerned by the ...

Don Pasquale – Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo

27Nov

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

REVIEWS

Don Pasquale – Teatro Donizetti, Bergamo

Director Amélie Niermeyer has bravely adopted a modern interpretation of Donizetti’s classic comedy opera in this new production by the Fondazione Teatro Donizetti, but at the end of the day, there’s just too much going on which becomes a distraction and disrupts the singing. In Rome, the old and rich Don Pasquale da Corneto (Roberto de Candia) has decided to disinherit his nephew Ernesto (Javier Camarena), guilty of having refused the hand of a rich spinster because he is in love with Norina (Giulia Mazzola), a poor young widow. Despite his age, and in order to have an offspring, Don Pasquale therefore decides to marry and instructs Doctor Malatesta (Dario Sogos) to find him a wife. Malatesta, who is actually a close friend of Ernesto’s, extols the virtues of his ‘sister’ Sofronia, who...

26Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Hairspray – Bradford Alhambra

Hairspray is one of those rare musicals that can happily combine big, breezy show tunes with a clear political message, but still easily fill big theatres like this. It’s 1962, Tracy Turnblad is a plus size teenager with an enormous beehive living in racially segregated Baltimore, who has a dream of becoming a star of the Corny Collins TV dance show despite limited talent, which certainly feels familiar in our reality TV obsessed world. Along the way Tracy who is mocked by the 'cool' white teens finds she has much in common with her black friends, and leads an assault on Corny’s show to try and unite the races through the medium of song and dance. Hairspray was the creation of transgressive cult filmmaker John Waters who brought together a gang of misfits in his home city to cre...