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La Bohème – L’Orchestra dell’Arte – Tung Auditorium

12Nov

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

La Bohème – L’Orchestra dell’Arte – Tung Auditorium

The Tung Auditorium proves the perfect intimate venue for l’Orchestra dell’Arte’s performance of Puccini’s timeless masterpiece of unforgettable music that tells of love, friendship, and death, under the direction of maestro Edward Peak and featuring vocalists from Flat Pack Music. Set in the Latin Quarter of Paris in about 1830, it is Christmas Eve when we meet four struggling bohemians living in a garret: a poet, Rodolfo (Joseph Buckmaster); a painter, Marcello (Matthew Durkan); a philosopher, Colline (Conall O’Neill); and a musician, Schaunard (David Cane) who arrives having had some good fortune and they agree to celebrate by dining at Café Momus. They are interrupted by their landlord, Benoît (Martin Lamb) but cleverly trick him into revealing he has been playing around which allow...

Rachmaninov’s symphony No. 2 in E minor – Liverpool Philharmonic

12Nov

By Johanna RobertsNo Comments

North West

Rachmaninov’s symphony No. 2 in E minor – Liverpool Philharmonic

It is a measure of the Royal Liverpool Philharmonic’s standing among the international music community that they can attract the very best to perform with the orchestra and choir. Nowhere was this more clearly seen than at last night’s performance, which saw young British award-winning conductor Adam Hickox take up the baton to conduct the orchestra in Rachmaninov’s symphony No. 2 in E minor, and internationally acclaimed violinist Ning Feng in Samuel Barber’s violin concerto. However, in keeping with the programming of traditional pieces with newer or lesser-known works, the concert began with ‘Nautilus’ by contemporary composer Anna Meredith. A short but intense piece featuring particularly the brass section, it was first composed in 2011 then orchestrated in 2021, Meredith says her i...

Manchester Musical Youth 10th Anniversary Concert – RNCM

11Nov

By Nicky LambertNo Comments

North West

Manchester Musical Youth 10th Anniversary Concert – RNCM

Manchester Musical Youth – the brainchild of Kimberly and Dave Holden – celebrated its ten year anniversary tonight at The Royal Northern College of Music. I am lucky to have reviewed at least half of the MMY productions since 2015 and I never cease to be amazed by the sheer level of professionalism and talent which shines out of every single MMY performer. Tonight was a show of two halves: the first bringing us “timeless musical classics” and the second, highlights from the past five years. I would have loved to have seen highlights from the past ten years as one of my fondest MMY memories is “Hot Mikado” which absolutely blew me away and secured a special MMY shaped space in my reviewing heart. It goes without saying that every single number which we were tr...

9Nov

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Run, Rebel – Traverse Theatre

Run, Rebel is an award-winning young adult fiction novel, which has garnered significant praise for its punchy verse led telling of life within a traditional Indian family in Britain. The story received Guardians Best Book of 2020 award. Amber Rai is a fifteen-year-old who lives with her non-English speaking parents on a tough estate somewhere in middle England. Her home life has never been easy, her mother and older sister all try hard to avoid and placate their temperamental domineering and sometimes violent, alcoholic father. He is determined to impose the traditional Indian values on his wife and children, and the older sister, Ruby (Simran Kular) has already flown the coop, choosing to go along with an arranged marriage as a way to escape, the lesser of two evils. But she is alread...

Northern Ballet: A Christmas Carol – Sheffield Lyceum

9Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Northern Ballet: A Christmas Carol – Sheffield Lyceum

Northern Ballet’s ‘A Christmas Carol’ is infused with festive wonder and spectacle, but is ultimately haunted by ghosts of an unwillingly bygone era, suffering in real-time, solemnly foreboding a future of split community and chairs belonging, but not occupied. There is an abundance of talent on display in this show, with some excellent set pieces and performances. It works well between large and small scale, with seamless interplay between soloists and group dancers. Even its transitional qualities in and out of scenes is impressive. This piece is both large and small, but for all the right reasons, it usually feels large. The design of the show is fantastic, with an immensely adept understanding of transformative set design and utility. Wardrobe excels in many areas, with the Ghost...

9Nov

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Bright Places – Traverse Theatre

‘This is a serious piece of small-scale, subsidised theatre,’ quips one of the actors at the beginning. One sincerely wishes it wasn’t. Small-scale, that is. A graphic, thorough depiction of Multiple Sclerosis (commonly known as ‘MS’), the title stems from the manifestation on an MRI scan of the lesions on the brain indicating the disease. Regarding the darkness and despair the condition generates this couldn’t be more ironic. If only that was all a sufferer needed for a confirmed diagnosis. There’s also the lumbar puncture procedure, which is just one example of the humorous light writer Rae Mainwaring manages to shed on the matter, as Junior Doctor McHotty applies himself to our heroine Louise. ‘Serious’ it does become towards the end but in the main it’s chock-full of laughs, the aff...

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Ambassadors Theatre

9Nov

By Olivia CoxNo Comments

London

The Curious Case of Benjamin Button – Ambassadors Theatre

The West End has become a shining treasure trove of new musical theatre gems as of late, and a glistening diamond of a show has just been added into the mix: The Curious Case of Benjamin Button. After two stints at the Southwark Playhouse in 2019 and 2023, Darren Clark and Jethro Compton’s musical has made its long-awaited West End debut at the Ambassadors Theatre. Adapted from F. Scott Fitzgerald’s 1922 short story of the same name, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button sets the extraordinary tale of the man who ages in reverse within a small fishing village in Cornwall. From the rebranding of the Ambassadors Theatre bar as ‘The Pickled Crab’ (the pub featured within the show) to the gentle call of seagulls heard before the performance starts, this production feels deeply and authentical...

7Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Book of Mormon – Bradford Alhambra

Most of us have heard the doorbell go and opened it to find a pair of earnest Mormon missionaries keen to discuss their faith dressed in their trademark white shirts and black name badges. Imagine if two of those naïve teenage missionaries were dispatched to Uganda to spread the word of Mormon founder Joseph Smith to a nation ravaged by brutal warlords, poverty and AIDS, and there you have The Book of Mormon. Along the way, devout Elder Price and nerdy Elder Cunningham find out that the local population are just a tad cynical that any god will help them, but somehow through the violence and a not a few moments when their faith is sorely tested manage to find some common humanity. It all sounds a bit grim, but this ribald musical is the brainchild of South Park creators Trey Parker...

Flint Street Nativity – The Little Theatre, Birkenhead

7Nov

By Damian RiverolNo Comments

North West

Flint Street Nativity – The Little Theatre, Birkenhead

As the first play of their series, The Carlton Players bring Tim Firth’s Flint Street Nativity to the Little Theatre in Birkenhead. As I enter the Little Theatre this evening, I instantly feel warm and welcome. My first visit to this lovey theatre and it certainly won’t be the last. With a lovely bar/waiting area downstairs and the auditorium upstairs, the ushers couldn’t do enough to make our visit a great one. One thing that stands out is the accessibility of the building, for such an old building, there is a lift down to the bar and a lift up to the auditorium, something that makes a return visit cemented in my eyes. Directed by Marc Smith, we are transported to Miss Horricks’ class where the juniors are putting on their nativity. But will everything go smoothly? We are about to f...

Beauty and the Beast – Gladstone Theatre

7Nov

By Bev ClarkNo Comments

North West

Beauty and the Beast – Gladstone Theatre

West Kirby MTC always turn out an excellent, entertaining show and after recent successes with A Christmas Carol and Betty Blue Eyes, this year they take on the well-loved story of Beauty and the Beast. It was evident that a lot of hard work and dedication had gone into this production, and we all know how much fun it is for all the participants, especially the youngest, for some of whom it may be their first performance. This ’Tale as old as Time’ is indeed a big challenge for director Sharon Henderson, as the show demands big sets, big costumes and big musical numbers and the Gladstone theatre is far from a big stage. Sensibly they have scaled down the scenery to include back projections and minimal pieces of set. In the main this worked well as the wonderful costumes really make thei...