Birmingham Hippodrome Archives

The Drifters Girl – Birmingham Hippodrome

17Apr

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

North West

The Drifters Girl – Birmingham Hippodrome

Faye Treadwell, born in Arkansas in 1926, owned and managed the Drifters following the death of her husband George Treadwell in 1967 and since then navigated their careers and oversaw many legal battles over the use of the name. She made history as one of the first African American managers in show business and created a reputation as a hard-headed businesswoman. Plus, she gave the world the Drifters! For those of us brought up in the seventies the great American songbook was filling up nicely with much loved numbers by tunesmiths who’d long since packed away their music stands and headed for swimming pool filled retirement, but not Miss Treadwell and not the Drifters. They were still touring well into the eighties and beyond with Tina Treadwell taking over her mother’s musical mantle ...

8Mar

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

West Midlands

Wicked – Birmingham Hippodrome

“There’s No Place Like Brum!” There’s certainly no place Brum for the next few weeks as the international green-faced, broomstick-wielding, hit-stuffed mega-musical drops its house on the stage of the Birmingham Hippodrome which it will be calling no place like home until the 7th April. “Wicked” erupted on Broadway in a flume of green smoke 21 years ago and has been dazzling us with a rainbow of pizzazz ever since. Stemming from Gregory Maguire’s 1995 revisionist exploration of the characters from L.Frank Baum’s 1900 novel “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” itself adapted into the cloyingly sentimental and techo-surrealist 1939 movie starring Judy “Slippers” Garland, “Wicked” has become the mainstay of both West End and Broadway with many an actress donning the Shrek-hued make-up and defy...

Edward Scissorhands – Birmingham Hippodrome

7Feb

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

West Midlands

Edward Scissorhands – Birmingham Hippodrome

Matthew Bourne’s buoyant, yet tender, tale of acceptance and difference arrives at the Birmingham Hippodrome to a rousing audience welcome adding to the growing list of shows about inclusivity and understanding, “Everyone Talking About Jamie”, “Billy Elliot” etc which British audiences seem to adore and welcome with open arms. For those who don’t know, the ballet first emerged as a film by Tim Burton, a director known for championing odd, quirky and ultimately endearing tales of equally odd, quirky and ultimately endearing characters with Edward Scissorhands being, perhaps, one of the oddest. The 1990 gothic fantasy romance (as Wikipedia terms it covering as many bases as possible in an attempt to describe it) provided a great vehicle for Johnny Depp drawing on the director’s feelings of ...

Sadlers Wells Breakin’ Convention 2023 – Birmingham Hippodrome

15Jun

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

West Midlands

Sadlers Wells Breakin’ Convention 2023 – Birmingham Hippodrome

A smorgasbord of hip-hoppery whooped and hooted and hollered and exploded on the stage of the Birmingham Hippodrome last night as “Breakin’ Convention 2023” delivered a gobsmacking, head spinning array of some of the finest hip-hop dancers from “around the corner and around the world” and the audience lapped it up. This was a whole new world to me. Our host, Jonzi D (MC, spoken word artist, dancer and director) entreated us to “give it up” and “big it up” and “make some noise” which we were only too eager to do. The cast included Gloucestershire’s victorious street dance company, CoadyCrew, Company Apidea and Gfunk Collective. Apart from the first the programme tells us nothing of these people or where they are from, but wherever it is they must be very proud. But my guess is they are ...

24May

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

West Midlands

Peaky Blinders – Birmingham Hippodrome

Ballet Rambert play a Peaky Blinder Full Disclosure: I’ve never seen the TV show “Peaky Blinders” Fuller Disclosure: After this stunning, definitive version I don’t want to. With all the visceral violence of its leading characters, this ballet stomps into town, kicks open the door and makes itself at home before you can even say, “Come in.” It throws us against the wall, blows smoke in our face and threatens to rob us blind - and we love. As any Brummie worth their pork scratchings will tell you, Stephen Knight’s TV show was wrought in the Midlands and forged in the land which once produced half the world’s consumption of iron products. The ballet starts with anvils and chains and literal sparks flying as our anti-heroes emerge battered, bruised and bewildered from the fetid t...

Titanic the Musical – Birmingham Hippodrome

19Apr

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

West Midlands

Titanic the Musical – Birmingham Hippodrome

Thom Southerland’s impeccably directed production dropped its anchor into harbour at the Birmingham Hippodrome tonight and took us on a fascinating voyage though, let’s admit it, well charted and much sailed waters. This story has been told many times before not least of which in the famous 1997 film from James Cameron. This incarnation tells the well-worn story not through the eyes of two lovers or, indeed, any single character, but from the point of view of multi-protagonists. Therein lies the flaw in its structure. Through Jack and Rose in the movie we empathise with them as they epitomise the struggle, the anguish and the loss of all the victims of the disaster. Here we have innumerable characters we meet only for moments before we are introduced to others, and it proves difficult to ...

The Spongebob Musical – Birmingham Hippodrome

15Apr

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

West Midlands

The Spongebob Musical – Birmingham Hippodrome

I’m not too familiar with Mr Squarepant’s portfolio of work but it seems his previous incarnation was as a wildly successful children’s animated cartoon television series and that, it seems, was what a lot of today’s audience were expecting. Springing from the mind of marine biologist Stephen Hillenburg, Spongebob premiered on Nickelodeon way back in 1999 and, unlike a real person, hasn’t aged since. I’m not going to Google this, but I think we can safely assume he has also appeared as varying dolls, toys, games and nameless and endless merchandising tie-ins. Originally named SpongeBoy, and we can only imagine the days of sweat and toil put in at various board and focus meetings to revise that name, he has proved himself a nice little earner over the years. So, what are we to make of the ...

Motionhouse: Starchitects – Birmingham Hippodrome

6Feb

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

West Midlands

Motionhouse: Starchitects – Birmingham Hippodrome

The Hippodrome is awash with young, vibrant faces each peering curiously into the gaping chasm of the empty auditorium daunted by its size unaware what they are about to see will blow their minds. Louise Richards and Kevin Finnan founded MotionHouse in 1988 and since its inception it has created an array of world-class, breath-taking circus-danced productions which have toured the globe integrating physicality, acrobatics, strong story and dynamic sound. “Starchitects” is no exception. Opening in a child’s bedroom, young buoyant dancers, each clad in child-like pyjamas, strive try to stave off their night time boredom by inventing games using cardboard boxes to create cars, tricks and, more importantly, a space rocket. So far, so predictable. Many kids shows employ cardboard boxes e...

5Oct

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

West Midlands

Sister Act – Birmingham Hippodrome

Immaculate! If you see only one Holy Catholic mass this season, make sure it is “Sister Act - A Divine Musical Comedy” at the Birmingham Hippodrome! It’s a joyous, elegant, comic romp riven through with the kind evangelical zeal usually only witnessed at the most passionate of churches. In the beginning was the film and the film, according to most critics, was good, and Whoopi Goldberg was, according to those same critics, “heavenly”. That was 1992 and now, thirty years later, the story is reborn and praise the lord it’s a hit! The Good Book by Cheri Steinkeller and Bill Steinkeller wipes out memories of the film whilst still retaining its joyful, liberating tone. Mix in Alan Mencken’s music and Glenn Slater’s lyrics and you have nothing short of a miracle of musical theatre! Oka...

14Aug

By Peter KinnockNo Comments

West Midlands

Les Misérables – Birmingham Hippodrome

Theatre critics can sometimes be very useful. Take Sheridan Morley, for instance, who, in the mid eighties, was almost the only voice amidst a tsunami of naysayers to have something nice to say about Les Misérables. Nearly every other critic slammed it with lines like "a witless and synthetic entertainment”. The show proved them wrong and continues to prove them wrong and at 38 years it is undoubtedly one of the most successful theatrical achievements in world history. I hadn’t seen the show since 1986 but it has been with me ever since so reuniting with it last night at the Birmingham Hippodrome was like meeting a long lost friend and a long lost friend who looks and sounds a lot brighter and vibrant than the passing years would suggest. It really is a stunning price of work. The plot tr...