Yorkshire & Humber Archives - Page 5 of 43

7Sep

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Void – Hull Truck Theatre

My out-of-this-world experience on Saturday night came courtesy of the fertile imagination of writer Ryan Simons, creator and director of The Void sci fi horror story set in the year 2160. As we theatregoers took our seats, we were faced with a darkened stage setting that bore no resemblance to planet Earth - all bare metal, wood, leather with a central huge “porthole” giving us a tantalising glimpse of outer space, eight million miles from our blue planet. One man sat by this window to other worlds, answering and asking questions of Nova (voiced by Olwen May), an all-seeing AI. Dressed in loose-fitting beige coloured overalls, the one-eyed man, Flint, a disillusioned space ranger, sounded bored with his lot, until a distress call comes through regarding ageing space research ...

3Sep

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Calamity Jane – Alhambra Bradford

When the town drunk picks out the notes of the Deadwood Stage on a banjo in front of the curtain, and the audience without thinking starts singing along, you can see why Calamity Jane has been such a successful old school musical revival Most of the people here when they think of Calamity Jane would be immediately thinking of Doris Day’s rollocking performance in the classic 1953 movie. This warm hearted and often very funny show offers a more folky version as a team of actor/musicians stroll and dance around Matthew Wright’s Golden Garter saloon set playing all the show’s familiar numbers. Rootin’ tootin’ tomboy Calamity Jane lives up to her name causing mayhem everywhere she goes in gold rush town Deadwood shooting her mouth off and telling tall stories much to the disgust of Wild ...

Reception: The Wedding Present Musical – Slung Low Warehouse, Leeds

27Aug

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Reception: The Wedding Present Musical – Slung Low Warehouse, Leeds

If we could travel back to 1985 and tell David Gedge -the inspirational lead singer and songwriter of indie musical darlings The Wedding Present - that forty years later his songs would be used in a musical theatre production, he would have laughed in your face and maybe kicked you in the balls for good measure. Back then the worlds of musical theatre and guitar-based indie rock were so far apart musically as to be on different planets. Gedge freely admits to not even knowing whether he even liked the format when initially approached by Writer/Director Matt Aston. Thankfully his trademark curiosity won out and he engaged with the project, resulting in the World Premiere of ‘Reception - The Wedding Present musical’ at Slung Low Warehouse in the suitably gritty streets of Holbeck, Leeds, the...

20Aug

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

War Horse – Leeds Grand Theatre

For most of us in this country our first exposure to puppets are Mr and Mrs Punch going at it hammer and tongs on a seafront, but War Horse is a reminder that puppetry is an art form that challenges both the practitioners and the audience. There is something incredibly special watching a team of puppeteers moving in perfect synchronicity asking us to believe we are watching a thoroughbred horse in full flow. All theatre is to an extent a suspension of disbelief, but puppetry makes special demands of any audience’s imagination as we are constantly asked to make the inanimate real in our minds. Michael Morpurgo who wrote the novel said the producers ‘must be mad’ to try and stage a story about a horse who is transported from the idyllic Devon countryside to the horrors of the Great War...

23Jul

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Calamity Jane – Hull New Theatre

Within two minutes of the plush curtain raising at the Hull New Theatre, on Tuesday evening, I was singing away to the song, Black Hills of Dakota. Calamity Jane was in town and the guilty party making me join in was Theo Diedrick who, playing the banjo, purposely made a hash of the above song until getting the hang of the well-known ditty. In fact, Diedrick kept us entertained all night long with his amusing mannerisms and facial expressions. I’m sure I spotted him playing the violin as well at one point in this rip-roaring production. In the 1953 film of the same name, on which this production is based, Calamity was played by Doris Day, and it’s her singing voice that musical lovers will associate with many of the songs in this stage version. Fast forward 72 years and it’s th...

15Jul

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Rocky Horror Show – Hull New Theatre

A reviewer’s job is not without risks and the sights I saw on Monday evening at the Hull New Theatre will probably scar me for life. Males in fishnet stockings and suspenders, strutting around in stiletto heels. Some were even wearing make-up - shock, horror. But that’s enough about the audience. The Rocky Horror Show was in town, performing to theatregoers who were obviously determined to get into the spirit of the well-known madcap production; hence the proliferation of fishnets, maids’ outfits, gold lamé top hats and tails, long black cloaks and black lacy costumes in many different designs, mainly worn by the females in the audience. There can’t be a person on this planet, or even off the planet, who hasn’t heard of Richard O’Brien’s infamous rock ’n’ roll musical and the s...

Anything Goes – Montgomery Theatre Sheffield

11Jul

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Anything Goes – Montgomery Theatre Sheffield

In their 80th year, Woodseats Musical Theatre Company donned their sea legs and are all aboard the SS American on its transatlantic journey - in Cole Porter’s classic Anything Goes. The ship had taken a while to set sail as the Covid Pandemic had forced in into dry dock in both 2020 and 2021. But at long last, the anchor is raised and Woodseat’s voyage can finally reach its designated destination! I do so enjoying watching local amateur productions and especially ones that through adversity triumph – and that can certainly be said for Woodseat’s MTC over the past 80 years and particularly this show – Anything Goes, seems to resonate with their struggles. But theatre once in the blood is there to stay and the resurrection of this company and this production are proof of that! In the n...

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Sheffield Lyceum

11Jul

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat – Sheffield Lyceum

When ‘Joseph graced the scene’ in a town, the whole crowd bow down like stars and ears of corn and Sheffield is no exception. A packed audience of all age ranges filled the Lyceum to witness the music of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice’s lyrics in their first successful collaboration (1968) - Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat. Originally written 50 years ago as an Easter school concert for London’s Colet Court School by request of the music teacher; this phenomenon known as ‘Joseph’ shows no signs of abating! This is important to understanding the origins of this show as the latest touring production does not lose sight of its original intended audience. Definitely, one that children can easily comprehend and necessarily a little twee in places. This current touring version ...

Jesus Christ Superstar – Hull Musical Theatre Company

10Jul

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Jesus Christ Superstar – Hull Musical Theatre Company

Nobody likes a snitch. And the most famous snitch of all was sensationally brought to life by the talented members of Hull Musical Theatre Company in their production of Jesus Christ Superstar, on the stage of Middleton Hall, Hull University. The snitch in question, of course, is Judas Iscariot, who famously betrayed Jesus Christ for the princely sum of 30 pieces of silver. As we in the audience settled into our very comfortable seats on Wednesday night, our chatter died as the lights dimmed and an amazing guitarist, on a walkway high up at the back of the stage, began to play rock, leading to the other musicians joining in, under the guidance of musical director Rebecca Barques. As the strains of rock died away, woodwind, horn, trumpet, keyboards, percussion, guitars, bass and dr...

1Jul

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Chicago – Hull New Theatre

Ten very talented musicians, led by fun-loving maestro Neil MacDonald, opened Chicago the Musical at Hull New Theatre on Monday evening – or at least, one of the three trumpeters did. But all ten played an enraptured audience out at the show’s end, with the aforementioned maestro encouraging us to wave our arms in the air to the music. Such talents are often hidden away in a theatre’s orchestra pit, so for these musicians to be on stage for the duration was a joy. All the action takes place in 1920s Chicago, Illinois, mostly in the women’s block of the Cook County Jail, after unfaithful housewife and nightclub dancer Roxie Hart (Janette Manrara, of Strictly Come Dancing fame) is held there pre-trial for murdering her lover. The stage designers of this amazing production cleverl...