Wednesday, February 25

Tag: Bill Shardlow

The Wizard of Oz – Northwich Memorial Court
North West

The Wizard of Oz – Northwich Memorial Court

In recent years, and thanks largely to the popularity of its spin-off cousin Wicked, it feels like the whole world has contracted Oz-mania. So, I was very much looking forward to this trip to Northwich to revisit the original tale. I also have fond memories of playing the cowardly lion in my final year at high school approximately one hundred thousand years ago. I can’t believe there is a person in the Western Hemisphere who needs the story setting out for them but briefly The Wizard of Oz tells how young Dorothy Gale (Sidney Causer) and her little dog Toto (Jess Hazel) is swept from her farm in Kansas to a magical faraway place – the land of Oz. Guided by Good Witch Glinda (Amy Rattenbury) and tormented by the Wicked Witch of the West (Laura Slater-Hatton)  Dorothy follows the Yel...
Beauty and the Beast – Grange Theatre
North West

Beauty and the Beast – Grange Theatre

Mid Cheshire Musical Theatre Company (MCMTC) are back with their annual musical offering bringing Disney’s Beaty and the Beast to the wonderful Grange Theatre. Beauty and the Beast is a stage adaptation of Disney's beloved animated film. The musical, with music by Alan Menken, lyrics by Howard Ashman and Tim Rice, and a book by Linda Woolverton, first premiered in 1994. It tells the timeless story of Belle (Gemma Chapman), a bright, independent young woman who is dissatisfied with her small village life and yearns for adventure. The story unfolds when Belle's father, Maurice (Bill Shardlow), gets lost in the woods and stumbles upon the Beast's enchanted castle. The Beast (Ben Vaughan), a prince cursed by an enchantress, imprisons Maurice. Belle offers to take her father's place and b...