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Flat Pack Music announce winners of inaugural Opera Competition

26Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Flat Pack Music announce winners of inaugural Opera Competition

2020 saw a great many changes for everyone at Flat Pack Music. Foremost was the change in their status from a partnership with charitable aims to a fully-fledged Charity. The goal has always been to make opera and classical music more accessible to the public. They also try to provide opportunities to young professional musicians just starting in their career. Throughout the national lockdowns and the trials and tribulations of the past 12 months, Flat Pack Music have been trying to keep music alive. Like so many others they had to adapt to working and performing almost exclusively online. They began with weekly singalong sessions on Facebook Live aimed at the over 70's, called 'Isolation Vocalisation' and also set up a weekly recital series called 'Flat Pack Fridays' where they invi...

Curve set to bring one singular sensation to Leicester this Christmas

24Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Curve set to bring one singular sensation to Leicester this Christmas

Curve is set to bring one singular sensation to Leicester this Christmas with a new Made at Curve production of the legendary Broadway musical A Chorus Line, running Friday 3rd to Friday 31st December. The iconic show will be directed by Curve’s Artistic Director Nikolai Foster, whose recent productions include Sunset Boulevard – at Home (“A game changer”, The Telegraph), West Side Story (“A superb production”, The Sunday Times) and White Christmas (“Dazzling, joyous”, The Stage). Full casting and production team will be revealed in due course. The news comes as Curve also announces its production of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s The Wizard of Oz has now been postponed until Christmas 2022, due to plans for a national tour of the musical in 2023 following its run at Curve. All ticket-holders...

The Black Cat – Threedumb Theatre @ the Space

24Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

The Black Cat – Threedumb Theatre @ the Space

Edgar Allen Poe’s macabre short story written in 1843 is one of the finest examples of gothic horror ever written. The story explores the psychology of guilt and the consequences of a grim and unspeakable crime. It is also a story about revenge and retribution but to go any further in its description would spoil all the fun. Suffice to say, after The Tell Tale Heart this is probably one of Poe’s most accessible and memorable stories and Threedumb Theatre using their now familiar live-stream one take promenade approach gives us a richly dark and quite chilling rendition of this strange story. Stephen Smith (who also directs this piece) plays the haunted yet totally unsympathetic narrator whist Michaela Bennison plays the narrators wife. Both actors exude great energy throughout but it...

BKLYN: The Musical – Lambert Jackson/Stream.Theatre

24Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

BKLYN: The Musical – Lambert Jackson/Stream.Theatre

Towards the end of Schoenfeld and McPherson’s sidewalk fairytale a character warns that sometimes memories are better than reality. Throughout lockdown the option to stream shows has provided a theatrical lifeline, entertaining audiences whilst providing the theatres and production companies some much needed money. However, sometimes these productions felt like pale imitations of the live versions we crave. BKLYN takes a cinematic swipe at the streamed musical, some of the theatrical trappings are visible (Leo Munby’s tight trio of a band, chunky stage lights at the edge of the action) but the show is carried by Dean Johnson’s attempts to create something more innovative than a love song to an empty theatre. The dilapidated warehouse setting works well with An...

Channing Tatum’s Magic Mike Live comes to UK arenas in 2022

23Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Channing Tatum’s Magic Mike Live comes to UK arenas in 2022

Magic Mike The Arena Tour will open in May 2022. With more dancers, bigger numbers and more spectacle than ever before, this will be the first time a live performance of Magic Mike has ever been staged outside of an intimate, cabaret-style space. The Arena Tour will open in Belfast on 6th May, followed by Glasgow, Aberdeen, Leeds, Sheffield, Newcastle, Nottingham, Birmingham, Manchester and finishing in Liverpool. Following two hugely successful films starring Channing Tatum and the hit Live show at the Theatre at the Hippodrome Casino in London, the show’s producers and creative team felt it was time to develop a new Magic Mike production to bring to people in other parts of the UK to celebrate the rebirth of live entertainment.&...

Pretty Woman: The Musical returns to the West End with a new home

23Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Pretty Woman: The Musical returns to the West End with a new home

After breaking advance box office records at the Piccadilly Theatre when it opened in February 2020, the smash hit feel-good PRETTY WOMAN: THE MUSICAL returns to the West End this Summer in its new home the Savoy Theatre, with performances from 8th July 2021. On behalf of all the producers, Paula Wagner said today “Our London production of Pretty Woman: The Musical had just opened when the world changed and our cherished theatres were forced to close due to the pandemic. When we opened in the West End a year ago, we had broken advance box-office records at the Piccadilly and were playing to sold out houses. With so many ticket holders eager to see this show about love and resilience, we knew we would bring back Pretty Woman when the time was safe...

Drag Royalty will Ru-Turn in 2022 for the UK’s biggest ever RuPaul tour

22Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Drag Royalty will Ru-Turn in 2022 for the UK’s biggest ever RuPaul tour

Manchester prepare yourself! Drag Royalty will Ru-Turn in 2022 for the UK’s biggest ever RuPaul tour. Join the queens of RuPaul’s Drag Race UK for an evening of endless eleganza extravaganza as this brand-new tour takes in theatres and venues across the country including a date at Opera House, Manchester, on Saturday February 12th. Witness the Charisma, Uniqueness, Nerve and Talent of your favourite queens LIVE on stage as they sashay into a theatre near you. Tickets go on general sale from www.cuffeandtaylor.co.uk at 10am Friday March 26th. Acclaimed for their amazing production values, expect the unexpected in this glittering tour featuring UK Season 2 Finalists Tayce, Bimini Bon Boulash, Ellie Diamond and Laurence Chaney, along with stars from Drag Race UK. RuPaul’s Drag ...

West End Musical Drive-In – Halloween Special

22Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

West End Musical Drive-In – Halloween Special

Last year, the West End parked up and staged a series of live outdoor concerts to musical theatre lovers from the comfort of their own vehicles. They are now being streamed, allowing everyone the chance to pull in for some socially distanced showtunes. Donning a pointy hat and black cape, Shanay Holmes introduces the Halloween edition with a bewitching performance of ‘I Put a Spell on You’ from Hocus Pocus. She hosts the evening with infectious flair, firing the audience up by encouraging them to sashay in their bay and welcoming her revered fellow performers to the stage. Though Jon Robyns’ rendition of Les Misérables hit ‘Bring Him Home’ is nothing short of sensational, receiving a well-deserved standing ovation in the form of car horns and flashing lights, his supposed Dracula out...

22Mar

By Caroline WorswickNo Comments

Interviews

Spotlight on Kristin Milward

In August 2020, playwright Andrei Kureichik witnessed the harrowing scenes of violence that unfolded following the protests against the rigged election results that enabled Alexander Lukashenko to be re-elected. Kureichik (who is a member of the Co-ordination Council of Belarus) decided to document events very much as things happened; in his play, that can be live streamed at home on Saturday 27th March at 7pm. This event is part of a series of monthly readings at The Cockpit giving voice to dissident writers past and present. To book tickets for ‘Insulted’ go to https://www.thecockpit.org.uk/show/dissident_voices. We talked to Kristin Milward who is co-directing and performing in the play, to learn more about it. Kristin, what inspired you to get involved with t...

Jersey Boys to begin performances in London on 28th July 2021

19Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Jersey Boys to begin performances in London on 28th July 2021

The beloved Tony, Grammy and Olivier Award-winning smash hit musical JERSEY BOYS returns to London’s West End, opening at the new multi-million pound reinstated Trafalgar Theatre, with performances from 28th July and an opening night of 10th August 2021. Performances through Christmas 2021 are on sale and JERSEY BOYS is now booking until 2nd January 2022. JERSEY BOYS is written by Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice, with music by Bob Gaudio and lyrics by Bob Crewe. Casting is to be announced. Go behind the music and inside the story of Frankie Valli and The Four Seasons in the Tony and Olivier Award-winning, true-life phenomenon, JERSEY BOYS. They were just four guys from New Jersey, until they sang their very first note. They had a sound nobody had ever heard… and the radio just ...