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Five Star Panto Cast Join AJ & Curtis Pritchard in Cinderella!

28Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Five Star Panto Cast Join AJ & Curtis Pritchard in Cinderella!

Wolverhampton Grand Theatre announced more magical casting for this year’s pantomime, CINDERELLA! Playing the title role of Cinderella is Kingswinford-born CBeebies presenter Evie Pickerill and Five Star’s lead vocalist Denise Pearson joins the cast as the Fairy Godmother. Denise and Evie star alongside the previously announced AJ and Curtis Pritchard as Prince Charming and Dandini from Saturday 4th December 2021 – Sunday 9th January 2022. Having grown up in Dudley, Evie has fond memories of Wolverhampton Grand. She performed at the theatre in her school days with West Bromwich Operatic Society before training professionally. On her return to the Grand and her first pantomime role, she said; “I’m so happy to be in my hometown for Christmas! Panto is always such fun...

Hope Mill Theatre presents A Celebration of Musical Theatre at Hope Fest

28Jul

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Hope Mill Theatre presents A Celebration of Musical Theatre at Hope Fest

Hope Mill Theatre’s summer festival of arts and culture will be closed with four nights celebrating the very best of musical theatre starring a cast of stellar stage performers. Written and conceived by Chris Burgess and directed by Kirk Jameson, A Celebration of Musical Theatre is a new show that will take audiences on a musical journey of song and dance featuring some of the best songs ever written for the stage. It has choreography by Tosh Wanogho-Maud, musical orchestrations by Nick Barstow and musical direction by Greg Last. The show will feature a selection of some of the best loved songs from the genre, including medleys of classics from Gilbert & Sullivan and Rodgers & Hammerstein, to more recent hits like You Will Be Found from Dear Evan Hansen. Other favourites s...

28Jul

By Lou SteggalsNo Comments

North West

Magic Goes Wrong – The Lowry

Forget your David Blaines and Copperfields. As the late Tommy Cooper knew in his variety shows of old, there’s big laughs to be had in watching a stage magician flounder and fluster when a much-practiced trick goes spectacularly wrong. It’s a ripe opportunity for the kings and queens of all things Wrong, Mischief Theatre, the team behind the massive smash hit of The Play that Goes Wrong. Almost like the adult movie industry, just name any play or subject and there’s a strong likelihood there’ll be a ‘Goes Wrong’ version of it from this prolific gang. And so, to tonight’s fare, co-written with anarchic magic duo Penn and Teller. In terms of a synopsis, it’s right there in the title. There’s magic, and it goes wrong. Very, very wrong. Under the guise of a fundraiser for ‘Disasters i...

The Two Character Play – Hampstead Theatre

27Jul

By Gaurav SinghNo Comments

London

The Two Character Play – Hampstead Theatre

After its world premiere in 1967 at the very same theatre, Tennessee William’s The Two Character Play returns to Hampstead Theatre in a spellbinding production directed by Sam Yates. When the play was originally written, its writing style was panned by critics as being “too experimental” and categorized as a marked departure from William’s earlier texts that now serve as his dramatic legacy. However, it’s this very departure from the tradition that allows the Hampstead production to shine, combining a multitude of modern-day visual storytelling techniques and a stellar performance by its cast to create a magical and moving experience. As Yates adds, the intent is to create “a theatrical event that will showcase everything that's vital about the live experience” and it succeeds in doing pre...

Mamma Mia! goes open air for the first time at historic Harewood House

27Jul

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

NEWS

Mamma Mia! goes open air for the first time at historic Harewood House

Mamma Mia! fans have their only chance to see the record breaking show outside London at the first ever open air production at Harewood House . Casting has been announced for the ‘Mamma Mia! Under the stars’ shows from 13th to 20th August at the historic venue near Leeds. and it’s full of veterans of the London and touring shows, which have has seen by over 65 million people in 50 productions in 16 different languages. Sara Poyzer plays Donna Sheridan, Nicky Swift is Rosie and Helen Anker returns as Tanya. The trio of possible dads are Richard Standing playing Sam Carmichael joined by Phil Corbitt as Bill Austin and Daniel Crowder is Harry Bright. Younger cast members include Lucy May Barker as Sophie Sheridan with Toby Miles as love interest Sky and Jasmine Shen as Al...

27Jul

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Piaf – Leeds Playhouse

Imagine if instead of Beyonce the world’s biggest female star was a foul-mouthed Parisian street urchin who was blessed with a golden voice that lifted her out of the slums to global fame. That’s the story of Edith Piaf – aka The Little Sparrow – and this raucous revival of Pam Gems’ musical biography pulls no punches telling the tale of a damaged woman who flew high before crashing back to earth as like Lady Day she was totally unequipped for the price of fame. If anything, Gems tries too hard to pack in too much of Piaf’s rich life, overegging her rough beginnings, and the second half feels a touch padded. This is not an evening for the faint hearted as the C bomb is dropped a couple of times, among an impressive array of expletives, drawing gasps from some of the more genteel a...

An onstage garden paradise is promised at Leeds Playhouse

27Jul

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Interviews

An onstage garden paradise is promised at Leeds Playhouse

During the pandemic precious time spent in the great outdoors has kept many people safe as they strolled round parks or tended their allotments and gardens. In response a team of older performers have decided to create a new botanical paradise on the vast Quarry space at Leeds Playhouse where they will share their personal stories, visions and dreams of times past, present and future creating a garden out of nothing The Promise of a Garden is a show that will blend performance, dance, music, film and photography to create blossoming moments of joy and reflection. Our Yorkshire Editor Paul Clarke asked Alan Lyddiard who is directing The Promise of a Garden to find out what audiences might expect The Promise of a Garden is billed as an unusual hybrid production so what audiences ...

25Jul

By Samantha CollettNo Comments

London

Kaleidoscope – Alexandra Palace

Going to a festival during a pandemic may seem a strange choice. But if life is to get back to ‘normal’ then attending an event outside is part of the journey – plus you have to show proof you’ve been double jabbed. The difference with Kaleidoscope is in the setting of Alexandra Park. The gently sloping grounds cradling the main stage (Hilltop) mean you can watch from afar taking in the views of London as an accompaniment to the main act on stage. The awesome sound system means you don’t have to be right up front to hear the action, you can dance on your picnic blanket to your heart’s delight. And if you don’t like the main stage, there’s the bandstand or the terrace or the fringe theatre offering alternative entertainment. Short of options you are not. And talking of options, the...

25Jul

By Harriet AndrewsNo Comments

North West

We’re Queer For It – Unity Theatre

Young Homotopia are here to ask the questions that the LGBTQ+ community have been asking themselves for the longest time. The show began with the question of ‘should I go to pride?’ which has been a question many of us have asked ourselves and I thought this was really thoughtfully developed. The idea of ‘am I too gay, am I not gay enough, am I the right kind of gay, would I fit in?’ Is still a very real train of thought for people of all ages wondering whether to go to pride. Many of the methods of addressing stereotypes and the irony of playing out straight stereotypes was a really interesting idea and really entertaining. The game show idea in particular landed very strongly, I just wish the people delivering it could have stood still. The topic of the piece is really...

25Jul

By Philip EdwardsNo Comments

REVIEWS

Naked Hope – Seabright Productions

These days, much is said about people being able to choose pronouns which apply to them. Quentin Crisp is one of the people who might debate his chosen pronoun, yet I get the feeling he would have poo pooed the whole idea. “Be who you are whenever you want” I think I can hear him say in that nasal drawl which was one of his trademarks. That nasal drawl was an attribute Mark Farrelly used sparingly In the first part of the play, but used to great effect in the second part. However, I’m ahead of myself. When we first meet Farrellys’ Quentin recounting his early life, I was distracted by the Phyllis Pearce wig and the dead centre of the forehead microphone. Fortunately, the actor drew me back very quickly with many of Quentin Crisp’s standard phrases “I’m not just a homosexual, bu...