REVIEWS Archives - Page 35 of 340

14Dec

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Cinderella – Bradford Alhambra

Taking your seat in this historic theatre you can’t help reflecting that for the local mill workers who made this city rich a festive trip to the panto must have been a real treat, and this old school spectacular with a modern sensibility proved to be just that. Unlike other pantos that often push the boundaries of good taste this is very much a family show, so grannies and the little kids being carried into the venue can all share some good clean fun. Cinderella is a no expense spared panto from Britain’s biggest festive producers that starts with Strictly star John Waite flying down onto Ian Westbrook’s big set. The hard working cast then gleefully go over the top from there with daft jokes aplenty, flamboyant costumes, energetic dancers, pyrotechnics, a couple of real Shetland ponie...

14Dec

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Beauty and the Beast – Sheffield Lyceum

What a wonderful sight, a packed auditorium full of all age groups, laughing, engaging and experiencing collectively – a tradition that spans the generations – Pantomime! Well, as Sheffield Theatres have opened their panto season, it is well and truly Christmas in Yorkshire! This year’s excellent new production being Beauty and the Beast, written by Paul Hendry who can heroically claim his 17th year of directing writing and producing Sheffield’s panto. The script contains all the expected pantomime traditions from the audience participation, the ‘it’s behind you’ scene in the dark woods and the manic ‘messy’ comedy mayhem and some very funny moments which are very geographically and topically observant. ‘Woodseats’ is now firmly on the panto map and never has it looked so effortlessly gra...

13Dec

By Maani WayNo Comments

London

Cinderella – New Wimbledon Theatre

Pantomime season is back and this year you shall go to the ball! Craig Revel Horwood stars as Cinderella’s Wicked Stepmother in this fresh and colourful version of Cinderella set in the great land of Wimbledon. We are introduced to the characters of the show in a bold and modern number describing the local area of Wimbledon. The set is bold and remnant of a fairy tale, with everything you’d expect for a pantomime. The grand staircase used for the palace is impressive and fitting, with the decoration of the wings adding to the grandeur. Cinderella’s carriage at the end of the first act is a stunning surprise, leaving audience members in magical disbelief. Our narrator of the show is Buttons (Pete Firman) who is exceptional at holding the audience’s attention, both children and adults...

13Dec

By Zoё MeeresNo Comments

London

21 Round for Christmas – Park Theatre

21 Round for Christmas gets off to a promising start. Into a realistically lived in Christmas kitchen set glides Tracey (Cathy Conneff), adorned in a tinsel boa and belting out a gutsy performance of Santa Baby. Tracey is frazzled – dealing with the various dietary demands of family members, including a vegan tart, a ham and a turkey and concerned about the gravy which usually falls to her friend Jackie. Conneff’s Tracey is chatty and familiar, if not entirely relatable; it’s an interesting cross between feeling like you’re gossiping with a friend and having that person at work talk at you about people from their life that you’ll never meet and frankly don’t care about. It’s all pretty safe territory, though – amusing gripes about picky family members, her irritating mother-in-law and cha...

Cinderella – Portobello Town Hall, Edinburgh

13Dec

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Cinderella – Portobello Town Hall, Edinburgh

The story of a once beautiful town hall falling into rack and ruin but being saved, just in the nick of time, by the local community sounds like a fairytale, but here we are in the stunning interior of the revitalised Portobello Town Hall and the successful staging of the family favourite pantomime, Cinderella. Big, bold, colourful and entertaining. This Stage Door Entertainment, production of the timeless classic, could perhaps do with a bit of a reboot, riven as it is with stereotypes and outdated values, but nevertheless, from the reactions of the almost full house, still appears to hit every mark. Tommie Travers, Musical Director and co-Producer, correctly puts music centre stage, in a show which is jam-packed with banging tunes and great singing, and with a leading lady, Amy Ca...

10Dec

By Priya GuptaNo Comments

West Midlands

Peter Pan the Musical – The Old Rep

Go on and join The Old Rep Theatre for something magical this Christmas as Peter Pan The Musical flies into Birmingham. Based on the infamous novel by J.M. Barrie, with book, music, and lyrics by Piers Chater Robinson. This production is produced by the BOA group. Alec Fellows-Bennett returns to head up the creative team as Director, with CiCi Howells as Choreographer, Stephen Watkins as Musical Director, Daniel O’Neill as Set Designer and Leanne Fitchett as Costume Designer. Alongside them is Will Monks as Lighting and Projection Designer and Clive Meldrum as Sound Designer. The story follows a free-spirited, mischievous young boy who can fly and never grows up, Peter Pan spends his never-ending childhood having endless adventures in Neverland as the leader of the Lost Boys, intera...

Florencia en el Amazonas – Met Opera Live in HD

10Dec

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

REVIEWS

Florencia en el Amazonas – Met Opera Live in HD

With Marcela Fuentes-Berain’s libretto inspired by the magical realism of Gabriel García Márquez, Mexican composer Daniel Catán’s 1996 opera is an enchanting story about love with Mary Zimmerman’s new production establishing the story through a series of vignettes where we meet some of the passengers embarking on a trip to Manaus along the Amazon River, all with the goal of seeing the famed diva Florencia Grimaldi (Ailyn Pérez) perform at the legendary opera house. Unbeknown to them, she is actually travelling incognito among them on her own personal quest into the past to seek out her lover, Cristóbal, a butterfly catcher, who has gone missing in the jungle. Love as the recurring central theme is explored further through the other passengers: Paula (Nancy Fabiola Herrera) and Alvaro (...

Turn & Face the Strange – Hull New Theatre

9Dec

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Turn & Face the Strange – Hull New Theatre

Having seen Turn & Face the Strange a while ago, in a smaller theatre, I was keen to see how the show would play out on the larger Hull New Theatre stage. I wasn’t the only keen theatregoer on Friday evening - the place was jam-packed. The stage setting was how I remembered it - huge images of rock legend and David Bowie sideman, Mick Ronson, with a giant video screen in the centre. Turn & Face the Strange tells the story of Ronson’s early life, through to his premature death in 1993 at the age of 46 Ronson was born in Hull and, despite his global fame working with the likes of Bob Dylan, Lou Reed, Van Morrison, John Mellencamp, and Morrissey to name just a few - had “Hull-ness” running through him like a stick of Bridlington rock. But most will always associate him...

9Dec

By Codie WrightNo Comments

North West

We’re going on a Bear Hunt – The Lowry

There are very few books as iconic as Michael Rosen’s classic tale of a family going on an ill-advised bear hunt in a questionable climate and so both myself and my toddler were excited to see it translated onto stage. We follow Tim Hibbered, as the lovable Dad, as he takes his creatively named children, Neha Eapen as Girl, and Benedict Hastings as Boy, on an adventure through a variety of terrains to find a bear hunt. Hibbered, Eapen and Hastings brought an energy to the stage that managed to be engaging to the children without being annoying to the adults - not an easy feat! The baby (aptly named Baby) was played (if that’s the right term) by an adorable puppet, and there were some really lovely moments with them. However, after a cute lullaby, the baby was put inside a cardboard ...

9Dec

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

Little Red – Theatre Porto

Kevin Dyer’s delightful re-imagining of this tale as old as time is wonderfully brought to life under the direction of Nina Hajiyianni with memorable musical composition by Patrick Dineen to keep us on the right path as Little Red (Fatima Jahara) heads into the forest with the blessing of her mother (Anoush Kendrick) to visit her sickly Grandma (Francesca Anderson), but on the way she encounters a rather hungry Wolfie (Stephanie Greer) who has other plans for her. There is a surreal quality to this re-telling and the all-female cast deliver inspired performances with Anderson, Greer, and Kendrick also taking on ensemble roles as the journey unravels with lots of humour and the right amount of scare, wrapped up in song and some outstanding choreography. Anderson’s Grandma is instantly r...