Bradford Alhambra Archives - North West End UK

The Adventures of Pinocchio – Bradford Alhambra

12Dec

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Adventures of Pinocchio – Bradford Alhambra

Next year Bradford becomes the UK City of Culture so what better way to prepare for that momentous year then joining local legend Billy Pearce for his 24th panto. Pinocchio is a new show for both this theatre and panto giant Crossroads, so it makes sense to launch it with Billy leading a strong company and getting the audience revved up from the moment he came on. Billy may be in his seventh decade, but he retains an infectious energy, and razor sharp comic timing honed by his years slogging round the club circuit. He’s also the king of the fart gag, much to the delight of the young kids laughing their heads off alongside their loved ones. He’s equally at home with the corny gags that are so central to a satisfying panto experience, and the smutty asides that go over the heads of...

26Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Hairspray – Bradford Alhambra

Hairspray is one of those rare musicals that can happily combine big, breezy show tunes with a clear political message, but still easily fill big theatres like this. It’s 1962, Tracy Turnblad is a plus size teenager with an enormous beehive living in racially segregated Baltimore, who has a dream of becoming a star of the Corny Collins TV dance show despite limited talent, which certainly feels familiar in our reality TV obsessed world. Along the way Tracy who is mocked by the 'cool' white teens finds she has much in common with her black friends, and leads an assault on Corny’s show to try and unite the races through the medium of song and dance. Hairspray was the creation of transgressive cult filmmaker John Waters who brought together a gang of misfits in his home city to cre...

7Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Book of Mormon – Bradford Alhambra

Most of us have heard the doorbell go and opened it to find a pair of earnest Mormon missionaries keen to discuss their faith dressed in their trademark white shirts and black name badges. Imagine if two of those naïve teenage missionaries were dispatched to Uganda to spread the word of Mormon founder Joseph Smith to a nation ravaged by brutal warlords, poverty and AIDS, and there you have The Book of Mormon. Along the way, devout Elder Price and nerdy Elder Cunningham find out that the local population are just a tad cynical that any god will help them, but somehow through the violence and a not a few moments when their faith is sorely tested manage to find some common humanity. It all sounds a bit grim, but this ribald musical is the brainchild of South Park creators Trey Parker...

31Oct

By Phoebe Olivia Sian HobsonNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Ghost The Musical – Bradford Alhambra

This musical makes you finally realise what Frankie goes to Hollywood has been singing about, the power of love. Passion, tears and heartbreak were left on that stage on Tuesday night, truly a sensational story about the afterlife of modern day Sam Wheat played by John St Clair, alongside his living soulmate Molly Jenson (Rebekah Lowings).Their love affair takes a terrifying turn splitting them apart, but Sam’s soul lingers and the love continues, the performance was remarkable in portraying the passion between the pair despite his death. Photo: Alastair Muir Bruce Joel Rubin’s famous narrative was displayed on that stage beautifully with grace, leaving the audience in awe of the talent that was shared with them. The show was a credit to the deeply loved original but also featured ne...

22Oct

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Chicago – Bradford Alhambra

There is no better opening in musical theatre than Chicago as a troupe of ripped and toned dancers shimmy, strut and shoulder roll their way round the stage in perfect unison as vaudeville performer turned murderess Velma belts out All That Jazz. Originally choreographed by the great Bob Fosse this is a show full of ‘jazz hands’, which is a concept that many people sneer at, but as Craig Revel Harwood constantly points out on Strictly strong hands make for great dancing. There is something really elemental about a simple move like a hand roll, and the dancers in this cast nail some of the toughest and naughtiest routines in any show. At heart Fosse’s wonderfully cynical book is both a tribute to the exuberance of vaudeville and to the nature of fame, aided by the med...

NOW That’s What I Call A Musical – Bradford Alhambra

16Oct

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

NOW That’s What I Call A Musical – Bradford Alhambra

Back in the eighties when CDs first came on the market NOW That’s What I Call Music! compilations packed full of mega chart hits dominated the hit parade, so it’s no shock that a jukebox musical version is on the road. We’re back in 1989 with Brummie best mates livewire April and sensible Gemma, who for some reason is in love with Jay Osmond, but years later like many intense teen friendships they have drifted apart until a school reunion. Shock, horror - it’s all soundtracked by the sort of middle of the road bangers featured on the NOW collections. Pippa Evans' slightly flabby book is full of eighties inspired gags, but she does cleverly weave the narrative from 1989 to the reunion, and then backwards and forwards. Evans makes some good points about the fragile nature of friendship...

Only Fools and Horses the Musical – Bradford Alhambra

10Oct

By Phoebe Olivia Sian HobsonNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Only Fools and Horses the Musical – Bradford Alhambra

Bonjour! What a show! And what more can you ask for other than Del Boy, dancing and a dry sense of humour, this show will have you gripping at your sides in fits of laughter. Caroline Jay Ranger captured the authenticity of the hit sitcom perfectly, while also intertwining entertaining musical numbers and infectious routines, sprucing up all the action. The show throws you right back into the boot of the totters van and sells itself to you like Rodney does when he’s trying to auction off another knock off product. If you’re worried you won’t experience the well known and loved working class Londoners that feature in the TV show, let us reassure you these actors have the characters spot on. Sam Lupton well and truly had Del Boy down to a T, the voice, personality and even his mann...

16Aug

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Aladdin – Bradford Alhambra

This classic tale of a poor Arabian boy given three wishes by a Genie in a bottle so he could woo a princess was perfect for an Oscar winning Disney animation, and let’s be honest an obvious choice for a stage production. It’s not surprising this high energy show had been seen by 15 million people worldwide as it cunningly melded 1950s musical tropes with a knowing and often funny book by Chad Beguelin, where the Princess was a feminist, and the old order came under threat. But if you didn’t want any subtle subtexts, then you could just wallow in a warm heated show full of extravagant sets, and some big numbers. The tone was set from One Jump Ahead as Kerry Spark’s streetwise Aladdin jumped around a street market as a big ensemble danced around him. After a slightly shaky start...

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Bradford Alhambra

3Jul

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Bradford Alhambra

When I was at school in the less enlightened 1970s the mere hint of being different would have earned you a beating, so turning up to an end of year disco in a dress would have been inviting real trouble. So when in our more liberal times Sheffield teenager Jamie New announces he wants to wear a dress to his prom you’d think no-one would care. Sadly, as in most musicals, the road to true self expression is never an easy one as he battles to overcome prejudice and his own insecurities to achieve his dream. Openly gay Jamie doesn’t want to be a forklift driver that his career teacher thinks is his destiny, instead he wants to be a drag queen like the real life character who Dan Gillespie Sells and Tom MaCrae based their lively musical on. It helps that Jamie has the support of his sing...

Frankie Goes To Bollywood – Bradford Alhambra

19Jun

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Frankie Goes To Bollywood – Bradford Alhambra

One of the joys of theatre is it can transport to worlds that you have no experience of in real life, and Frankie Goes To Bollywood takes us into heart of a flamboyant billion dollar movie industry that puts millions of bums on seats in India and entertains diaspora South-Asians around the world including the UK. Every year Bollywood filmmakers based in Mumbai churn out hundreds of films taking people away from their daily grind to a glitzy world where they can forget their troubles for a few hours. That was the inspiration for the book by RIFCO Theatre Company’s Artistic director Pravesh Kumar - who has worked in Bollywood - that he says is an ode to those movies, but also a call to action for an industry still rife with sexism. Like so many Bollywood movies it is a fantasy where na...