REVIEWS Archives - Page 249 of 549

23Nov

By Karen Morley-ChesworthNo Comments

North West

A Little Princess – Theatre by the Lake

The retelling of a classic children's story provides the perfect family production for Christmas at Theatre by the Lake in Keswick. The World Premiere of A Little Princess at the Lake District theatre brings to life the magic of storytelling that touches the heart with the highs and lows of Sara Crewe's young life - the daughter of a British Army Captain and a low-cast Indian woman during the time of the uprising against Colonial rule. When Sara is brought to Lancashire, England for her education, the story of her life changes forever. The original Frances Hodgson Burnett novel set in 1901 glamourises the British Empire, as we discovered in an interesting exhibition about the production in the first-floor bar and gallery space. However, Amanda Dalton's adaptation is set in 1...

23Nov

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

A Christmas Carol – Old Vic

Dickens' classic tale of redemption, empathy and love remains a powerful and timely reminder of the gross discrepancies between rich and poor. Seeing the intense deprivation many Londoners were experiencing, Dickens took up his pen and created Scrooge, a character whose name has become synonymous with miserliness. First published in 1843, the message of A Christmas Carol sadly remains just as valid in 2023. Ebenezer Scrooge is a man alone whose only love is money who literally receives a wake-up call on where his life will end up if he doesn't change his ways. Berated by a harsh father who showed no love to his son, but inculcated in him a need to pursue wealth, Scrooge leaves Belle, the love of his life and a secure position with Belle's father to take up an opportunity as Marle...

22Nov

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

Hamilton – Palace Theatre, Manchester

The Palace Theatre: 'The Grand Old Lady of Oxford Street', was dressed in her finest bib and tucker last night with a host of Northern glitterati present for the opening night of the much anticipated inaugural UK Tour of Hamilton. Anyone who has already booked their seats for a performance over the next sixteen weeks of its residency here is in for an absolute treat, this production brings the beauty and complexity of the West End and Broadway productions, whilst the cast to add their own unique interpretation of the characters combining to demonstrate musical theatre in its finest modern form. For those who are unaware of the cultural phenomenon that is 'Hamilton', it tells the story of Alexander Hamilton (Shaq Taylor) and his rise from Caribbean poverty to become one of the founding f...

Around the World in 80 Days – Octagon Theatre, Bolton

22Nov

By Hannah WildeNo Comments

North West

Around the World in 80 Days – Octagon Theatre, Bolton

Around the World in 80 Days is a brand-new musical adaptation of the classic novel by Jules Verne, written by Kate Ferguson and Susannah Pearse, and directed by Kash Arshad. What a spectacular show, this trio have created! Rarely have I seen a show that is both technically brilliant and so superbly acted, with costumes and set design that are second to none. While the medium of theatre can be a cornucopia of new and innovative ideas, it does have its limitations in terms of how this is presented to the audience. That said, this adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days was absolutely seamless in its visual storytelling, moving from place to place with graceful fluidity and depicting the characters’ journey by land, sea and sky with staggering ingenuity. The two standout scenes for...

22Nov

By Samantha CollettNo Comments

London

Wishmas – Bauble Factory, London

I love the spirit of Christmas. I may not have kids and be in my forties, but I love the festive cheer the season brings. It was for this reason I was so excited to be going to ‘Wishmas’. Billed as an all-age fantastical immersive Christmas experience, I was all over it. Sadly, Wishmas was not my Christmas wish. From the very start, I felt awkward: I did not have a child. This is the sort of experience where you are expected to have a child, the younger the better, because otherwise you not only feel like an imposter, but also the parents will look at you strangely. If they don’t, you will feel like they do. This is because all of the activities - and that’s a term I use loosely - have been based on the skills a three-year old would have. From spinning a giant spongy cog to placin...

La Bamba: A Musical – Grand Theatre, Blackpool

22Nov

By Gill LewisNo Comments

North West

La Bamba: A Musical – Grand Theatre, Blackpool

Danceathon with an infusion of Latin America and traditional rock n roll, is entertaining enough to excuse its style over substance in this bilingual jukebox musical. La Bamba introduces us to Sofia (Ines Fernandez), a young Latino woman with an upbringing immersed in Latin American heritage enriched with colourful cultural traditions. Sofia narrates us through her younger years as she pursues her dreams of becoming the next big Latino music star which is abruptly hindered by industry execs who insist that she changes her name, and water down her cultural identity to make her more acceptable to American audiences. The musical is inspired by Richard Steven Valenzuela, better known as Ritchie Valens, whose quick rise to 50s fame with the Mexican folk inspired ‘La Bamba’, made hi...

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Winter Gardens, Blackpool

22Nov

By Damian RiverolNo Comments

North West

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Winter Gardens, Blackpool

Blackpool Winter Gardens welcomes West End hit musical Everybody’s Talking About Jamie as part if it’s UK tour. Based on the true story of 16-year-old Jamie Campbell, the boy who wanted to go to prom in a dress, Tom Macrae and Dan Gillespie Sells have created a beautiful story with real heart, and songs that make you smile from ear to ear, to ones that have you crying from emotion. Lead by Ivano Turco as Jamie New, we are treated to a spectacular show, with stunning choreography (Kate Prince), an incredible and multifunctional set and beautiful costumes (Anna Fleischle), and fantastic direction (Matt Ryan and resident director Georgina Hagen). The story revolves around a group of teens ready to face their GCSEs and the more important after exams event, school prom. This is where w...

A Christmas Carol – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

21Nov

By Hannah WildeNo Comments

North West

A Christmas Carol – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

The Christmas season is well and truly on now, with Altrincham Garrick’s performance of A Christmas Carol kicking off the festive roster. This production had flashes of theatrical excellence, but sadly there were a number of areas that just didn’t capture the audience in the way director Barry J C Purves would perhaps have wanted. The lead antagonist, Jonathan Black as Ebenezer Scrooge, gave a fantastically nuanced and well-delivered performance - the audience really bought into him in the first act as the well-known miser who struck fear into the heart of the people of Victorian London, yet in the second act you could really believe his redemption after seeing the spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future. Given the supernatural nature of the story, it was a difficult narrati...

21Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Sister Act – Bradford Alhambra

Big Hair. Big tunes. Big Heart. That’s Sister Act in a nutshell as the stage show based on the smash hit Whoppi Goldberg movie where a nightclub singer goes on the run and hides in a nunnery gets back on the road. The sister in question is wannabe star Deloris Van Cartier who witnesses her gangster lover commit a murder in 1970s Philadelphia and goes on the lam. She finds sanctuary in a local convent attached to a dilapidated church under the watchful eye of a Mother Superior who is British for some reason. Culture clash is one of the classic tropes of musical theatre as earthy Deloris finds her own calling training the worst choir on the planet to get hip with the Lord’s word. Shock, horror, Mother Superior and her sisterhood of nuns learn something from the worldliness the flamb...

No Spray No Lay – St Augustine United Church

20Nov

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

No Spray No Lay – St Augustine United Church

Bare Productions exists for its local and accessible approach to theatre, with its “Bare Academy” doing the same for dance, vocal and acting skills. It therefore only makes sense that No Spray No Lay is a musical. Written by new writers Kat Dobell and Lara Dunning, who were also creative directors on the project, the show takes place in the ladies bathroom of a night club in 2005. It was intended as an ode to the female experience, with the female toilets creating a micro-society, one notorious for the bonds it creates. And with alcohol known for the drama it can cause (not to mention excusing some first night flubs, such as two characters getting their own names wrong), this club toilet quickly becomes both the eye of the storm and sometimes the storm itself, a centre for all the drama of...