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The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) – Hope Street Theatre

29Nov

By Blathine MaguireNo Comments

North West

The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!) – Hope Street Theatre

It is no shock that ‘The Musical of Musicals (The Musical!)’ is in fact, a musical by Joanne Bogart and Eric Rockwell. The show premiered off-Broadway in 2003 and went on to tour around London, Australia, Canada and America. It is a brilliant to see that a show like this has now made its way to our very own Hope Street Theatre in Liverpool. From the get-go, it is apparent that Jordan Alexander (musical director) is a musical genius on the piano as he begins playing the opening score with vigor and charm. This complex musical score barely stops for the full duration of the production and his talents lays excellent foundations for this musical creation. The thinking behind this show is unusual in that it promotes the idea that there is ‘nothing new here’. There is a loose plot which in...

28Nov

By Peter RuddickNo Comments

North West

The Wiz – Hope Mill Theatre

There are a few big secrets in musical theatre. One of the biggest is that aside from one overwrought and over-covered number there’s not a lot of great music in The Wizard of Oz. It’s not the only retelling of L. Frank Baum’s original story, so why is it considered a classic when The Wiz remains unknown to many? Unknown despite having more songs, better music and a lot more heart? Why have there only ever been three professional UK productions of The Wiz on stage? Why has it never made it to the West End, whilst a lordly revival of the Judy Garland movie was deemed worthy of a primetime TV show? Important questions. I will leave the answers to others except to say there was something incredibly powerful about taking a seat in the Hope Mill Theatre in front of a sparse stage and a...

From Japan to Leeds Playhouse – Jonathan Munby

28Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Interviews

From Japan to Leeds Playhouse – Jonathan Munby

Peter Pan is one of our culture’s most enduring characters but a new festive production at Leeds Playhouse takes a fresh look at the boy who refuses to grow up. This time round in Wendy & Pan the endless child’s traditional sparring partner Wendy Darling takes centre stage in Ella Hickson’s adaption of JM Barrie’s classic, but you can still expect to see the dastardly Captain Hook, The Lost Boys, a pirate ship and a crocodile in the Playhouse’s festive spectacular. This production comes straight from a successful run in Tokyo during the Olympics, featuring input from Japanese creatives, and boasts a big cast who will fight and fly their way round the huge Quarry theatre. Jonathan Munby is co-directing Wendy and Peter, and in the first of a two part look at this show tells our ...

Dianne Pilkington flies into Leeds Grand with Bedknobs and Broomsticks

28Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Interviews

Dianne Pilkington flies into Leeds Grand with Bedknobs and Broomsticks

When families settle down for a festive film one of the perineal favourites is BedKnobs and Broomsticks starring musical legends Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson. It’s a magical and often surreal tale of a trainee witch Eglantine Price who takes under her wing three orphans evacuated from the London blitz who fly an enchanted bed in a quest to find a spell helped by a dodgy professor of magic. The movie features some memorable songs from the pen of the Sherman Brothers and its cutting-edge animation combined with live action won the Disney team an Oscar for best Special Effects. Now it has been turned into a stage show with some new songs that comes to Leeds Grand from December 8th and plays into the new year. Dianne Pilkington plays the trainee witch on the show’s first UK tou...

28Nov

By Carole GordonNo Comments

London

Aladdin – Lyric Hammersmith

Panto's resurgence in recent years has brought new attention to a format which often is a child's introduction to live theatre. Vikki Stone's re-imagining of the traditional Aladdin keeps the plot (well, not that there is much plot and what there is makes little sense) and brings in modern elements of beatboxing, references to TikTok, current politics and celebrity gossip. The leads wear tracksuits, the princess is feisty and unwilling to be married off to just anyone or at all but the villain is still evil and the good guys win in the end. The show starts with a song about how they all know they are just pretending because they are in panto. The audience does already know that, obviously, but it's a very on-the-nose statement to start by challenging the high level of suspen...

28Nov

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

Flinch – Pleasance Theatre

Emma Hemingford’s two-hander ‘Flinch’ returns for a new UK tour after its 2019 premiere at the Old Red Lion Theatre in London. Tracing the gradual breakdown of a young couple's relationship, Flinch offers a complex perspective on modern dating. Directed by Gemma Aked-Priestley and produced by Liam McLaughlin Productions, the show emphasizes the unrelenting negotiation between words and action in defining personal boundaries and shared intimacy. We meet Jess (Emma Hemingford), a 25-year old working actor who has just finished drama school and is on the lookout for her first break into the industry. She's expressive, extroverted and a little self-conscious. For the last three years, she has been dating Mark (Benjamin Aluwihare), a 25-year old working professional who works as a foreign ex...

A Show With No Name – Woodford War Memorial Community Centre

26Nov

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

North West

A Show With No Name – Woodford War Memorial Community Centre

A musical theatre show is always a must in the calendar of a theatre lover, and after a warm welcome at the door, the audience were in for a treat. The Company put together a very well thought out programme of musical favourites, but also included some less well known but equally deserving songs. The staging was kept simple which kept the showing flowing, and cast changes were sleek and went without a hitch. The show began with ‘A Million Dreams’ sang by David Lambert and Gilly Thompson with wonderful support from the ensemble, this was an easily recognizable winner to begin with. The trio of songs from Les Misérables were well performed with a passionate delivery of one of my personal favourite songs, ‘On My Own’ by Abi Frost. Steve Sheppard treated us to a remarka...

Donald and Benoit are at Pitlochry Festival Theatre this Christmas

26Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

NEWS

Donald and Benoit are at Pitlochry Festival Theatre this Christmas

Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Prime Theatre are staging new audio play Donald and Benoit as their Christmas treat. This whimsical and musical tale for children tells the tale an unlikely friendship between a man and a cat that has been brought to vivid life by playwright John Patrick Byrne and adapted by award winning theatre maker Jeanine Byrne. Benoit lives a life of mundane ordinariness in his Scottish seaside town, but he is feeling very lonely with no mother and his father lost at sea. Enter Donald, a small and mischievous kitten, to cheer him up. Sound Stage is a new audio-digital venture, designed by theatre makers and leading technologists, giving audiences a unique and engrossing online theatre experience of new plays from the best in British theatre which in the future ...

While The Sun Shines – Orange Tree Theatre

26Nov

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

While The Sun Shines – Orange Tree Theatre

British writer Terence Rattigan’s 1943 comedy ‘While The Sun Shines’ makes a grand return at the Orange Tree Theatre in Richmond, after its sold-out run in 2019. Directed by Orange Tree Theatre’s artistic director Paul Miller, the show breathes a new life into Rattigan’s sharply-written farce about a lovers’ quarrel in the backdrop of the war through well-crafted performances and an engaging in-the-round staging. When it was first published, the show surpassed the success of Rattigan’s 1936 comedy ‘French Without Tears’ and had an immensely popular run of over 1000 performances on the West End. Many attribute this to Rattigan’s ability to wring humour from ordinary characters in absurd situations as well as subtly acknowledge the circumstances and implications of war in day-to-day life....

Tripartite – Slip Theatre Company Stage@Leeds

26Nov

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Tripartite – Slip Theatre Company Stage@Leeds

It has been 125 years since Austrian neurologist Sigmund Freud developed the practice of psychoanalysis. In the ensuing century, his book 'The Interpretation of Dreams', became the touchstone for psychology and psychiatry worldwide, assisting millions of people towards better mental health. As we emerge from a pandemic which has taken its toll on the entire population, it is timely that Slip Theatre has devised an accessible and illuminating piece of theatre to explore Freud's theories and their place in the modern world. We are introduced to this abstruse and theoretical world through the vehicle of a Greek chorus (Liv Taylor-Goy, Eden Vaughan, Lucy Tait). Clad in white lab coats, they outline the basics of Freudian theory with clarity and humour, Taylor- Goy and Vaughan bickering whil...