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Dirty Dancing – Winter Gardens Blackpool

9Sep

By Rebecca CaseyNo Comments

North West

Dirty Dancing – Winter Gardens Blackpool

Tonight sees the return of Dirty Dancing, the Musical UK tour here in Blackpool. Dirty Dancing the movie was released back in 1987, starring Patrick Swayze and Jennifer Grey. The film based on the screenwriter’s own childhood was released to worldwide acclaim, holding the record for the first ever movie to sell more than 1 million copies of the home movie. The soundtrack is also the best-selling album of all time in Germany. There’s no denying its popularity and catchy quotable one-liners such as ‘Nobody puts Baby in a corner.’ I am a big fan of the movie and the soundtrack, but I have never seen the stage show until this evening, I didn’t really know what to expect, but I had high hopes that I would enjoy it as much as the movie. Without wanting to give too many spoilers, the sho...

9Sep

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Annie – Hull New Theatre

Some productions are so effortlessly professional and polished, it’s easy to forget they are that way because of all the hard work put into them, by everyone concerned - on stage and off. Effortlessly professional and polished perfectly describes the West End smash hit, Annie, which started its run at the Hull New Theatre on Tuesday night. Long before the 7.30pm start time the stage was set for us to view, giving us a glimpse of beds sparsely covered and over-lit with industrial-type lamps. This cold, prison-like scene is home to the world’s most famous orphan, Annie, and six of her chums, all under the “care” of the oft inebriated Miss Hannigan, in a New York orphanage. The year is 1933, during America’s Great Depression, and 11-year-old, red-haired Annie (the absolutely amazi...

9Sep

By Katie LeicesterNo Comments

North West

Jersey Boys – Palace Theatre

There is something reassuring about walking into a theatre knowing that within minutes an audience will be singing along to songs they have known for decades. Yet Jersey Boys offers far more than a nostalgic trip through a greatest-hits collection. Twenty years after it first opened on Broadway, the musical continues to demonstrate why the story behind Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons is every bit as compelling as the music they created. At the Palace Theatre in Manchester, the 20th-anniversary gala performance delivers the familiar songs alongside the less glamorous side of life in the spotlight. This isn’t a story where success simply arrives and everything falls neatly into place. It is about four young men chasing a dream, the relationships that suffer along the way, financial pro...

9Sep

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

East Is East – Octagon Theatre

There is something rather unsettling about watching East Is East in 2026. Ayub Khan-Din's celebrated play, first staged in 1996 and set in Salford in 1971, was written at a time when Britain was beginning to confront the contradictions of a multicultural society. Thirty years on, Kash Arshad's new production arrives with the play's questions about identity, belonging, family and prejudice still perhaps too stubbornly relevant. Set above the Khan family's chip shop, the play introduces us to seven children negotiating the competing expectations of their Pakistani father George (Bhasker Patel) and English mother Ella (Samantha Power). George is determined that his children should embrace his version of Pakistani tradition; his offspring, born and raised in England, have rather differe...

EINSTEIN!: A Genius in Tumultuous Times – Playground Theatre

8Sep

By Alan Stuart MalinNo Comments

London

EINSTEIN!: A Genius in Tumultuous Times – Playground Theatre

Written and performed by Jack Fry, this 85-minute solo show finds Einstein in Berlin in 1914, battling to prove general relativity while his world fractures around him. War, antisemitism, professional rivalry, ill health and a disintegrating marriage all compete for space within an already densely packed narrative. Fry has clearly undertaken formidable research and brings enormous commitment to the stage. This is clearly his passion, and for that he should be commended. Unfortunately, the resulting production feels overwhelmed by its own material. Rather than constructing a satisfying dramatic arc, the piece fires information, characters and incidents at the audience with an exhausting frequency that drove some from their seats and back out into the street. Everything about the s...

8Sep

By Coral MourantNo Comments

North West

Waitress – Liverpool Empire

The diner doors are open and excitement is served, as Liverpool Empire welcomes the UK tour of Waitress. And this particular audience got an extra helping of sweetness added to an already superb show. Jenna is an expert pie-baker and waitress, whose dreams of happiness seem a little out of reach. While her friends support her, and a new Doctor in town spices up her love-life, Jenna has to take matters into her own hands; will baking the perfect pie be the solution to her problems? Based on the film by Adrienne Shelley, this musical takes a fantastic score by Sara Bareilles and an inspiring story written by Jessie Nelson and creates a perfectly seasoned piece. (Yes, there are more baking puns to come) This evening, Ellie Ruiz Rodriguez donned the leading lady’s apron for the first ...

Sound Strokes: A Harmonious Blend of Chinese and Scottish Music – Camden People’s Theatre

7Sep

By Saloni SanwalkaNo Comments

London

Sound Strokes: A Harmonious Blend of Chinese and Scottish Music – Camden People’s Theatre

As in language there are untranslatable words which are uniquely capable of capturing the abstract, so in music there are sounds which are singularly placed to do the same. The Chinese instrument zheng and the four elements in our world— earth, wind, fire, water—is one such perfect marriage, as showcased by the masterful Wan Xing in Sound Strokes: A Harmonious Blend of Chinese and Scottish Music. Photo: Cheung Chi Wai The show combines pieces from Chinese, Scottish and Irish musical traditions to create fresh arrangements that demonstrate the commonalities between them as they seek to capture the elements. It begins with earth, played against the backdrop of a soil painting by the artist Qiu Yangzi and the calm thrum of Gregor Black’s brushstrokes on percussion, emulating the sound o...

7Sep

By NewsdeskNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

King Lear – The Crucible, Sheffield

Widely regarded as one of the greatest pieces of literature of all time, King Lear triumphantly took to the Crucible stage this weekend just gone and is preparing to enjoy a further two weeks playing to packed out audiences. If tonight is anything to go by, a trip to the theatre will be a worthwhile one. Director Titas Halder, supported by Vicky Moran and Marc Small in associate and assistant director roles respectively, makes it so much of this show is only as good as its actors – arguably aptly Shakespearean – which is welcome. That is also not to say they are shy of imposing bold, abstract creative conceits. Halder leans on imagery of eclipses, using the sun and the moon’s veiling involvement with one another to draw parallels to the familial discontent that cannot escape orbit and i...

Harry Judd to star in the final two shows of Disney’s High School Musical at Lowry

4Sep

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

Harry Judd to star in the final two shows of Disney’s High School Musical at Lowry

Hope Mill Theatre and Chris Harper Productions in association with Lowry are delighted to announce that Harry Judd will star in the final two shows of Disney’s HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL at Lowry, Salford on Saturday 19th September 2026 before transferring to London’s Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre from 12th October 2026 – 3rd January 2027. Harry takes over from Jason Donovan who is currently starring as Coach Bolton. Harry Judd will play Coach Bolton in all performances at Troubadour Wembley Park Theatre. Starring in both venues are Disney icon KayCee Stroh as Ms Darbus, Tobias Turley as Troy Bolton, Leonor Correia as Gabriella Montez, Caitlin Tipping as Sharpay Evans and Luke Bayer as Ryan Evans with Char Burnett (Frozen; The Book of Mormon, West End) as Taylor McKessie, Jordan Benja...

Matt Rawle Returns to The Tightrope For a Spectacular Barnum Comeback in Liverpool

4Sep

By NewsdeskNo Comments

Interviews

Matt Rawle Returns to The Tightrope For a Spectacular Barnum Comeback in Liverpool

Returning to the lead role in Barnum - The Circus Musical for its UK and Ireland tour, Matt Rawle says: "It's such a dream part for an actor because there's the showman aspect to Barnum, of course, but he's also a flawed human being. He was an entertainer who wanted to bring joy to people's lives. He had great imagination and he was a philanthropist, but the flip side of that is that he could be exploitative. All of that makes for great drama amidst all of the songs and spectacle." Connecticut-born P. T. Barnum revolutionised entertainment in the 1800s through the Barnum & Bailey Circus and his sensational The Greatest Show on Earth. With music by Cy Coleman, lyrics by Michael Stewart and a book by Mark Bramble, the musical about the colourful life of the marketing genius and master...