Bradford Alhambra Archives - Page 2 of 3

21Mar

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Wizard of Oz – Bradford Alhambra

We’re off to Bradford to see the wonderful Wizard of Oz in an updated stage version of the classic Judy Garland movie that has become a must see every Christmas for generations of families everywhere. Unless you have spent your life in a closed religious order then there is no point in detailing the plot as a young girl in depression era Kansas enters a strange new world, and with the help of some new mates fends off a wicked witch to find her way home. This lively technicolour revival comes straight from a sell-out run at the London Palladium, and the good news for all friends of Dorothy is the classic movie tunes are still here, with typically solid extra songs by the venereal duo of Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice in the second act. Whilst staying true to the movie’s message t...

31Jan

By Phoebe Olivia Sian HobsonNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Calendar Girls – Bradford Alhambra

‘The flowers of Yorkshire are your women of Yorkshire’, from the initial spotlight to the closing curtain the women on that stage empowered each and every lady in that theatre. The show is a true testament and representation of womanhood in both its beauty and difficulty. Seven inspiring women took to the stage to demonstrate the beloved 2003 original narrative from female favourite ‘Calendar Girls’ that starred Julie Walters and Helen Mirren. A true traditional Yorkshire tale that concours relatable life hurdles with a devotion to honesty, what you see is what you get and there’s no hiding the truth. While the show is both entertaining and fascinating it’s also down to earth, much like the friendships and relationships on stage, the show covers the audience in a blanket of comfort and whi...

14Dec

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Cinderella – Bradford Alhambra

Taking your seat in this historic theatre you can’t help reflecting that for the local mill workers who made this city rich a festive trip to the panto must have been a real treat, and this old school spectacular with a modern sensibility proved to be just that. Unlike other pantos that often push the boundaries of good taste this is very much a family show, so grannies and the little kids being carried into the venue can all share some good clean fun. Cinderella is a no expense spared panto from Britain’s biggest festive producers that starts with Strictly star John Waite flying down onto Ian Westbrook’s big set. The hard working cast then gleefully go over the top from there with daft jokes aplenty, flamboyant costumes, energetic dancers, pyrotechnics, a couple of real Shetland ponies...

Jesus Christ Superstar – Bradford Alhambra

28Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Jesus Christ Superstar – Bradford Alhambra

When Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber wrote a rock opera with a provocative title about the last days of Christ one potential investor described it as ‘the worst idea in history’ so with no-one willing to put it on a stage they stuck it out as a platinum selling double album….and the rest is history. Britain’s greatest musical theatre duo loosely based Jesus Christ Superstar on the Gospels and for a show no one wanted it ended up setting a record for the longest run in London. I have a simple proposition for what makes a great musical, and that they always need a minimum of two showstoppers – preferably one at the end of each half – but this is packed full of the duo’s best tunes. Everything’s Going to Be Alright, I Don’t Know How To Love Him, Herod’s Song and Gethsemane are all killer ...

21Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Sister Act – Bradford Alhambra

Big Hair. Big tunes. Big Heart. That’s Sister Act in a nutshell as the stage show based on the smash hit Whoppi Goldberg movie where a nightclub singer goes on the run and hides in a nunnery gets back on the road. The sister in question is wannabe star Deloris Van Cartier who witnesses her gangster lover commit a murder in 1970s Philadelphia and goes on the lam. She finds sanctuary in a local convent attached to a dilapidated church under the watchful eye of a Mother Superior who is British for some reason. Culture clash is one of the classic tropes of musical theatre as earthy Deloris finds her own calling training the worst choir on the planet to get hip with the Lord’s word. Shock, horror, Mother Superior and her sisterhood of nuns learn something from the worldliness the flamb...

15Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Full Monty – Bradford Alhambra

The Full Monty was one of a group of films shining a light on the traumatic impact Thatcherism had on Northern communities, but unlike the risible Billy Elliot it did it by never pulling its punches. Simon Beaufoy has adapted his movie script for a stage version of how six jobless Sheffield blokes fought back to become unlikely strippers and let it all hang out to pay off their debts. The stage version is far funnier than the film, although it still tackles some big themes including class, suicide, ageism, body shaming, gay visibility, and the utter corrosion of the human spirit when you’re cast on the scrapheap. Beaufoy wisely still holds it together round the core theme that hope can spring from despair in often the most unlikely of ways like getting your kit off. For fans of the m...

8Nov

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Life of Pi – Bradford Alhambra

When Yann Martel wrote the mega selling Life of Pi he probably thought it too technically challenging for it ever to become an Olivier winning play, but thanks to the magic of puppetry this epic tale of one man lost on a raft with only a Bengal Tiger for company really works onstage. Life of Pi was such a hit with over ten million readers worldwide that then U.S. President Barack Obama wrote to Martel describing his novel as ‘an elegant proof of God, and the power of storytelling.’ Obama didn’t specify which God, although most deities get a namecheck here, and you don’t need to believe in a higher power to enjoy Life of Pi. The former President was spot on about the storytelling as aside from the forest of allegories this is a rip-roaring theatrical experience, albeit one wit...

11Oct

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Dirty Dancing – Bradford Alhambra

‘I like that Johnny, he ticks a few boxes.’ That was one woman’s verdict on ripped Michael O’Reilly who plays the hero of this musical version of the classic kitsch movie, and evidently shared by someone who wolf whistled at the start when he merely sauntered onstage wearing his shades. In fairness to the talented O’Reilly he’s far more than just a six pack as he brings the required swagger and some strong dancing to Johnny who is the moody dance instructor at an early sixties American holiday resort. It’s no spoiler to anyone familiar with film history to reveal that privileged holidaymaker Baby falls in love with the muscled blue-collar dancer. The musical is pretty much a scene by scene recreation of the movie that at heart is a coming of age story at the end of the golden Eise...

26Sep

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Rocky Horror Show – Bradford Alhambra

Look, after 50 years of camp genius this show is bomb proof from reviews so all you can do is judge how good the latest production is. The good news is that this is a really solid version of Richard O’Brien’s bonkers tribute to the schlocky 1950’s horror B-movies he watched as a kid in his native New Zealand, complete with some delicious pastiches of rock and roll songs from that period. Unless you have been living in a cave since the show premiered in 1973 - or have never been to a musical - then you don’t need a synopsis of what happens, and to be honest none of it makes sense anyway. What this show does need is two things – a great narrator and a crowd that is up for it as unlike others shows audience participation is not only encouraged but expected. Well, one out of two ai...

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo & Juliet – Bradford Alhambra

13Sep

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Matthew Bourne’s Romeo & Juliet – Bradford Alhambra

This story of two star crossed lovers has been performed in every medium imaginable, so it was inevitable that our greatest choreographer Matthew Bourne would at some stage be lured by Sergei Prokofiev’s iconic ballet score. Be warned this is far from a straight scene by scene version of the Bard’s masterpiece, and Bourne’s interpretation sets this ageless tragedy in the near future. Romeo and Juliet are inmates in the Verona Institute, which might be a closed psychiatric unit for troubled teenagers, or a young offenders institute. That’s up to you, but it has echoes of The Handmaid’s Tale, although the battle between the inmates and the establishment that acts as a surrogate for Shakespeare’s familial conflict is more reminiscent of One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest. Into this antisep...