Carl Man Archives - North West End UK

19Apr

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Wicked – Bradford Alhambra

If you’ve ever wondered how those red shoes came to be sticking out from under Dorothy’s house in The Wizard of Oz this prequel to that classic movie will give you the answer. It goes back to before Dorothy crash landed in the land of Oz ruled by a mysterious wizard to reveal the backstory of Elphaba – better known to us The Wicked Witch of the West - and her nemesis Glinda the Good. Based on Gregory Maguire’s revisionist novel ‘Wicked – The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of West’ rather than L. Frank Baum’s original text we firstly meet Elphaba and Glinda as they start life at Shiz University as sworn enemies. The brilliant twist in this version is that Elphaba's skin is green thanks to an accident of birth so is the outsider and blonde rich brat Glinda is her exact opposite. Bu...

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 defyi...

Thespie presents: Unlimited – The Songs Of Stephen Schwartz

It’s a sad fact that theatre is suffering greatly during these strange days so it is always welcoming when companies like Thespie can produce live performance streaming of such calibre. Stephen Schwartz is probably one of the most underrated of musical theatre talents and certainly (in my opinion) up there with the Lloyd Webbers and Sondheim’s of this world. From the sublime “Pippin” to the dazzling “Wicked” his music and lyrics positively shine through and it’s to Thespie’s credit that they have produced a superlative showcase of his songs featuring nine excellent West End performers – Nikki Bentley, Sophie Evans, Alice Fearn, Alexia Khadime, Melanie La Barrie, Carl Man, Dianne Pilkington, Liam Tamne and Oliver Tompsett. The concert starts with the wonderful “Magic To Do” from “P...