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The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals – AO Arena

27Jan

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

The National Lottery’s Big Night of Musicals – AO Arena

For the 5th year running 12,000 people packed into the AO Arena to witness some of the best musicals from West End and touring companies. Hosted once again by Manchester’s own Jason Manford this was the biggest production to date. Opening with the unmistakeable The Lion King, and Circle of Life, the arena was transported to the African savanna, a stunning opening to a stunning treat for musical theatre fans. Ava Brennan followed with an emotional version of As Long As He Needs Me from the current West End revival of Oliver. This was followed by a powerful medley from Miss Saigon who had brought their entire touring cast to Manchester led by Seann Miley Moore, the Engineer whose performance of American Dream will live long in this reviewer’s memory soaring high above the stage. Tak...

24Jan

By Coral MourantNo Comments

North West

Clementine – Theatr Clwyd

The internet generation has an obvious infatuation with period drama adjacent shows, and there seems to be a never-ending conveyor belt of production to feed this appetite. Bridgerton and the new “Wuthering Heights” adaptation are just around the corner, and as an Austen fan myself, I’m always intrigued by a show that gives a nod to a fairytale-like bygone era. Enter Lady Clementine. A hopeless romantic, with neither sense nor sensibility. If Charlotte Lucas was chronically online and high on opium; our heroine prances around the stage lamenting her lowly life without love. Clementine is turning 27, has no husband and no prospects. She has til midnight to turn her life around and instead of turning inward, she's asking for guidance from the universe. An hour of non-stop frolicking an...

Sally Ann Matthews Joins The Cast of Here & Now

24Jan

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

Sally Ann Matthews Joins The Cast of Here & Now

The producers of the UK and Ireland tour and Whatsonstage Award-nominated musical HERE & NOW, presented by UK pop sensation, Steps, are delighted to announce that Coronation Street star Sally Ann Matthews will take over the role of Patricia from 23rd January 2026. Sally takes over the role from originator Finty Williams who finished her run in December 2025. Sally Ann Matthews is best known for playing the role of Jenny Bradley in ITV’s Coronation Street. She joined the show in 1986 through to 1991, she returned for a brief return in 1993 before coming back as a regular in 2015 staying with the show until October 2025. Outside of the role that spanned 39 years Sally has starred in various theatre productions including: Mum’s The Word (UK Tour), The Business of Murder (UK Tour), ...

Guess How Much I Love You? – Royal Court Theatre

24Jan

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Guess How Much I Love You? – Royal Court Theatre

As a young couple wait in a hospital room for the results of a 20-week pregnancy scan, they chat happily, the possibility of a wonderful future stretching in front of them. Baby names are discussed and discarded, dreams of happy family holidays shared. This picture-book future comes crashing down as the results of the scan send their world into torment. They have to make a decision that clashes with their upbringing and societal pressures. The decision feels like a no-win situation, only arising because of advances in medical science that check regularly on the development of the pregnancy in a way that wasn't possible years ago. But they do choose, then have to live with the impact of what they have decided. Luke Norris's drama follows the couple from their initial joy to the depths of...

24Jan

By Adam WilliamsNo Comments

North West

The Execution of Private Slovik – 53two

It is well known that, in response to potential harm, the human body can go into fight-or-flight mode. It is a physiological survival mechanism, and some people choose to face the danger, whilst others will run away. This play concerns the true story of Private Eddie Slovik (Jamie Peacock), who was the only American soldier to be executed for desertion in the Second World War. Indeed, he was the first to face that punishment since the American Civil War. We are presented with a moral dilemma. Do we see Slovik as a flawed man, with a difficult upbringing, who froze at the vital moment and wanted, like many would in the middle of a war, simply to run away and back to his sick wife? Or do we see him as a cog in an army machine that should simply obey orders for the good of the natio...

ROTUS: Receptionist of the United States – Park Theatre

22Jan

By Eleanor HallNo Comments

London

ROTUS: Receptionist of the United States – Park Theatre

What is the role of the ROTUS? Keeper of cue cards to remember the music tastes and coffee orders of Washington's VIPs? Or is it a surreptitious post for sleuthing? For Chastity Quirke, this front-facing job descends from one into the other... After a sold-out run at Fringe, Leigh Douglas’ one woman show starts off with a whirlwind. Her obnoxious protagonist is doing a whip round of the White House, showing off in front of her Kappa Gamma Zeta sorority girls and militantly reaffirming the importance of American ‘Hotness'. The it-girl-giggling soon sharpens into a satire on the marked crop circles of cronyism. We watch Chastity dabble in manipulation, then wholeheartedly embed herself into the surrounding political fabric. From the show's commencement, Chastity's smart but dolefu...

22Jan

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Miss Saigon – Hull New Theatre

The musical, Miss Saigon, has been watched by over 33 million worldwide. You can add probably a few more thousand on to that figure, if Wednesday night's attendance of the show at Hull's New Theatre is anything to go by. The place was packed. Miss Saigon is in the city as part of a major UK and Ireland tour and relates to events during the last days of the Vietnam War, in 1975, exactly 50 years ago. As soon as the opening stage screen, depicting a huge sacred bird, rose, it was non-stop drama all the way. Many theatre productions now have glorious video backdrops which, brilliantly, showcase much of the story that there would be no time to explain in words. And this production was no different with opening images of bombing, fighter aircraft et al showing us the horrors of w...

21Jan

By Jessie MartinNo Comments

Scotland

Into The Woods – Church Hill Theatre

Edinburgh University Savoy Opera Group (EUSOG) opens their production of Into The Woods this week at the Church Hill Theatre. Sondheim's notoriously complex and finicky musical score provides quite the challenge for both the performers and musicians, especially given this is an amateur company. EUSOG's ambition in taking this musical on cannot be denied, but I'm not sure the company was quite prepared for the challenges this musical demands. Co-directed by Tai Remus Elliot and Hunter King, with assistance from Elise Chan, their take on Into The Woods follows the typical fairytale style of the show. In the director's note, we are told that this production has been made more 'relatable', by making the 'characters feel more connected to the modern world'. I'm not qu...

21Jan

By NewsdeskNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Top Hat – Sheffield Lyceum

Irving Berlin’s classical romantic spectacle ‘Top Hat’ slides its away across Sheffield Theatres’ stages with pomp and playfulness, marking a highly respectable and enjoyable musical instalment to the current season of live entertainment in the heart of the city. Matthew White & Howard Jacques author the piece, based on the 1935 film of the same name starring icons Fred Astaire and Ginger Roberts. Their script is almost a clean emulation of the original work, the plot unchanged bar some superficial rearrangements, with even many of the lines mirrored. This is both admirable and unavoidably slightly kitsch. It is inescapably of its time which lends itself to nostalgic and historic appreciation, but in 2026 it draws few parallels to our days. The show functions as glitzy escapism, whi...

21Jan

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Murder at Midnight – The Lowry

The latest outing from writer Torben Betts is a gleefully farcical affair that never once pretends to be believable. From the opening moments where the audience is faced with the aftermath of what is described by a policeman as murderous ‘carnage’, Murder at Midnight announces itself as broad and proudly and knowingly over-the-top. The decision for our theatregoers tonight is not whether any of what they witness makes sense but if they are willing to go along with the foolishness. If they do, there is a great deal of fun to be had. Resistance will result in the play’s relentless absurdity becoming quickly wearing. The vague plot centres around the home of Jonny Drinkwater, a local gangster, on New Year’s Eve, where a series of events will lead to a body count that rivals a Tara...