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The Show Must Go On: Fame the Musical – YouTube

27Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

REVIEWS

The Show Must Go On: Fame the Musical – YouTube

The Show Must Go On YouTube channel makes a timely return to bring some theatre back into our lives. This week’s offering is Fame the Musical, the 30th anniversary production filmed at the Phoenix Theatre in London last year. Fame the Musical is based on the 1980’s film of the same name. It follows a group of students through their time at the School of Performing Arts in New York from their first day to their graduation. Many issues are briefly portrayed in this show, illiteracy, drug abuse, sexuality, weight worries, prejudice and the need to succeed. Cramming all of this into a small space means that each subject is merely touched upon. This keeps the pace up but at times makes the story feels disjointed. What the story lacks in cohesion the cast make up for in energy. The ...

Tonight at the London Coliseum: Carrie Hope Fletcher

25Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

Tonight at the London Coliseum: Carrie Hope Fletcher

From the moment I saw Carrie Hope Fletcher, I was mesmerised. A petite girl-next-door with a big voice, she blew me away when I saw snippets of her 3-year stint as Les Misérables’ tragic demi-heroine Éponine at the Queen’s Theatre, London, from 2013-2016. So, naturally, I jumped at the chance to review a one-time exclusive pre-recorded event - a night at the London Coliseum with Fletcher herself, delivered by Broadway on Demand. As the show was recorded during the COVID-19 pandemic, the performance took place in front of an empty theatre, but Carrie’s talent is such that all she needed was a microphone, a piano, and her tremendous voice. That was enough to fill the London Coliseum twice over, with plenty more to spare. What a performance it was! The only thing that was missing was th...

La Bohème Live at The Drive-In – ENO, East Car Park, Alexandra Palace

25Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

London

La Bohème Live at The Drive-In – ENO, East Car Park, Alexandra Palace

Monty Python used to say, and now for something completely different, and ne’er was a truer word said than with ENO director P.J. Harris’ contemporary English language adaptation of Puccini’s classic opera, and it is also transformed from its 19th C Parisian location to a modern-day encampment in a disused London car park, where we meet our four struggling hipsters: poet Rodolfo (David Butt Philip); painter Marcello (Roderick Williams); philosopher cum photographer Colline (William Thomas); and musician Schaunard (Benson Wilson), who arrives having had some good fortune. They are interrupted by Benoît (Trevor Eliot Bowes), a security guard, but cleverly trick him to avoid paying him his dues. Whilst the others leave, Rodolfo remains but is interrupted by a young lady needing a light for...

Romantic Anonymous Live Broadcast – Bristol Old Vic

24Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

South West

Romantic Anonymous Live Broadcast – Bristol Old Vic

Wise Children and director Emma Rice serve up a delightful musical comedy confection based on the quirky French film Les Émotifs Anonymes, written by Jean-Pierre Améris and Philippe Blasband, with this real-time broadcast from Bristol Old Vic. Angélique (Carly Bawden) is a gifted chocolate maker inhibited by social anxiety and Jean-René (Marc Antolin) the boss of a failing chocolate factory. Angélique is so timid, she faints when people look at her; Jean-René is so awkward he relies on self-help tapes and is prone to embarrassing sweating. When Angélique takes a job in Jean-René’s struggling factory, a fragile love affair unfolds. Funny, tender, and painfully awkward in moments we will all recognise, Romantics Anonymous – book by Emma Rice, Lyrics by Christopher Dimond, Music by Mich...

Liverpool Irish Festival returns with a virtual programme in 2020

24Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Liverpool Irish Festival returns with a virtual programme in 2020

Liverpool Irish Festival 15th – 25th October ● Ten days of music, performance and conversation shifts online for 2020 ● Patrick Kielty spearheads programme exploring theme of “exchange”. Liverpool Irish Festival returns with a virtual programme in 2020, celebrating the connections between Liverpool and Ireland. In a year of change and turbulence, the Festival explores exchange through art, conversation, music and history, how it connects communities and crosses borders. A series of events examine how exchange has played out through conflict, cultural exchange and artistic practice, while diverse conversations expose dual-heritage lives, reconciliation and collective trauma. Irish Comedian and TV presenter Patrick Kielty headlines the programme with a special event, Har...

Hope Mill Theatre announces its long-awaited cast of RENT

24Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Hope Mill Theatre announces its long-awaited cast of RENT

The cast and full creative team has been announced for Hope Mill Theatre’s hotly anticipated revival of the classic rock musical RENT, directed by Luke Sheppard. RENT will play at Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester from Friday 30th October to Sunday 6th December 2020. The 12 company members, who were originally cast back in February are finally getting the opportunity to come together for this special revival of the much-loved musical. The cast will receive a Covid-19 test prior to being placed in one household (bubble) for the length of the run in Manchester. Jocasta Almgill (& Juliet, Dreamgirls – West End) will play Joanne; Blake Patrick Anderson (Be More Chill – The Other Palace, Closer to Heaven – Off West End/Above the Stag) will play Mark; Tom Francis (Arts Ed 2020 g...

The Curtain Rises on Live Performance at The Dukes

24Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

The Curtain Rises on Live Performance at The Dukes

Following a successful reopening of their cinema back in August, Lancaster arts organisation The Dukes have announced that audiences will be able to enjoy the return of live performance at their venue this autumn. The season of live theatre and comedy will be housed in Moor Space, The Dukes’ second site on Moor Lane, beginning with a hop back on board the hilarious and heart-warming comedy-drama Ladies That Bus from Tuesday September 29th – Thursday October 1st. Inspired by the passengers, travels and tales of the Route 555 bus between Lancaster and Keswick, and originally borne out of a collaborative project between The Dukes, Kendal’s Brewery Arts Centre and Theatre by the Lake, the popular play made its debut at The Dukes in February this year to critical acclaim. Audiences wil...

Northern Ballet dance back to Leeds Playhouse

24Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Northern Ballet dance back to Leeds Playhouse

After seven months away from the stage Northern Ballet are back with two shows at Leeds Playhouse. The Leeds based company will perform three different hour-long mixed programmes from 21st – 24th October followed by four full-length performances of Artistic Director David Nixon’s Dangerous Liaisons last performed a decade ago from 28th – 31st October. Government guidelines now permitting indoor performances with socially distanced audiences so working with Leeds Playhouse the team have been able to establish a viable programme to get performing again. With the exception of Contemporary Cuts, all performances will include live music played by members of Northern Ballet Sinfonia. All performances will be performed in full costume but ‘black box style’ without sets. Photo Merlin H...

Imelda Staunton and Maxine Peake perform Talking Heads in Leeds and Sheffield

23Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Imelda Staunton and Maxine Peake perform Talking Heads in Leeds and Sheffield

In a massive coup for Leeds Playhouse and Sheffield Theatres two of the nation’s best actors Imelda Staunton and Maxine Peake will be performing two of Alan Bennett’s Talking Heads monologues in his native Yorkshire. The transfers of Staunton in A Lady of Letters and Peake in Miss Fozzard Finds Her Feet from the Bridge Theatre are a show of solidarity with the two Yorkshire venues by the performers and the creative teams of these two pieces. For these performances, as at the Bridge, Alan Bennett has generously waived his royalty. During April and May while the Bridge Theatre was closed the London Theatre Company worked with the BBC to produce two of the iconic monologues, which were then broadcast on BBC One in June. Leeds Playhouse has already announced Connecting Voices, a colla...

Critically acclaimed Noir goes online this Winter

22Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Critically acclaimed Noir goes online this Winter

Multi award winning Vertigo Theatre Productions have been at the forefront of the fringe theatre scene in Manchester since 2007, now in these troubled times, the company are thinking outside the box and are premiering a BRAND NEW production of their hit play NOIR online this December. Rather than just showing a copy of the original try out production from 2017, Vertigo and the cast and crew will film this brand new production this November at The Empty Space Theatre without an audience, meaning you can see the premiere before the show ever goes in front of a live audience. This December you can be at the world premiere from the comfort of your own home. NOIR transports you back to a time of black and white movies of the 30s, 40s and 50s. It's New York City, a single spotlight illuminate...