Edinburgh Playhouse Archives - Page 3 of 4

22Mar

By Nazaret RaneaNo Comments

Scotland

Annie – Edinburgh Playhouse

What a show! The sun may come out tomorrow, but you should go see ‘Annie’ today! It follows the story of an optimistic young orphan trying to find her way in New York’s Great Depression. Based on a 1924 comic script “little orphan Annie” by Harold Gray, the Ambassador Theatre Group really brought the performance to life with catchy songs, cheeky humour and captivating choreography. All performers had a lot of chemistry and really brought the characters to life - we all had a particular sweet spot for the kind Mr Warbucks whose kindness really moved the audience. Paul O’Grady was captivating as Miss Hannigan with sass and his own particular brand of humour. All the child actors were extremely talented and surely have a bright future ahead of them and hit all the complicated choreography. Ho...

The Rocky Horror Show – Edinburgh Playhouse

14Mar

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

The Rocky Horror Show – Edinburgh Playhouse

On their way to announce their engagement to their old science teacher - no wait, this is the part of the plot that makes sense - Brad (Richard Meek) and Janet (Haley Flaherty) are forced to take refuge in a castle when their car breaks down. Inside, they find Doctor Frank'n'Furter (Stephen Webb), and their acolytes Riff Raff (Kristian Lavercombe), Columbia (Darcy Finden), Magenta (Suzie McAdam) and phantoms (Reese Budin, Fionan O'Carroll, Jessica Sole, Sefania Du Toit, Tyla Dee Nurden and Nathan Shaw), transvestites from the planet Transylvania - told you it was getting less run-of-the-mill - experimenting on human matter Eddie (Joe Allen) and Rocky (Ben Westhead) with sonic tranducers, rubber gloves, sex, and a floor-show. (And we're back to the every day stuff. Or is that just me?) R...

21Feb

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

The Bodyguard – Edinburgh Playhouse

A show that literally starts with a bang. The Bodyguard follows Pop sensation Rachel Marron (Melody Thornton) as she receives death threats from an obsessive fan (Marios Nicolaides), to save the pop stars life her team hire Frank (Ayden Callaghan) as her personal bodyguard. Despite their dislike for one another the situation only serves to bring the two closer together providing us with a will they won’t they love story within the midst of danger. Of course, this is all accompanied by the hits of musical legend Whitney Houston. Visually this show is something to be seen, using techniques very rarely seen within musical theatre such as a heavy load of pre-recorded video projection used to give the show a much more sinister true crime atmosphere when discussing the stalker building suspen...

13Feb

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Madama Butterfly – Edinburgh Playhouse

Three weeks into a five-month tour of the UK, Director Ellen Kent brings the Ukrainian Opera and Ballet Theatre, Keiv, to Edinburgh Playhouse with a triple bill of La Bohème, Madama Butterfly and Aida, playing on consecutive nights. This is quite an undertaking for any company, but Ellen Kent who is celebrating thirty years of bringing opera and ballet to the UK was never likely to take the easy option. And if this powerful rendition of Puccini’s masterpiece, Madama Butterfly, does not move you, the finale featuring a passionately sung Ukrainian National Anthem, together with ubiquitous blue and yellow flag, surely will. Madama Butterfly is perhaps the best known of Italian composer, Giacomo Puccini’s 12 Opera output. The story is set in 1904, when the Russo Japanese war is taking place...

<strong>Jersey Boys – Edinburgh Playhouse</strong>

27Jan

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

Jersey Boys – Edinburgh Playhouse

Twelve months into an epic 18-month tour of the UK and Ireland, Jersey Boys splashes down at Edinburgh Playhouse. The lines are smooth as silk, the choreography is on point, hair is perfect, music is tight and the vocals – well… they are simply fantastic, and from the look of the packed audience, dancing, singing and whooping by the finale there is no denying this slick production is a hit. Having previously seen this musical 3 years ago, my expectations of being slightly bored by what I recalled as a somewhat formulaic juke box musical were quickly blown away by the sheer energy of this new cast with superlative acting and by the imaginative and brilliant staging. The two-storey scaffold set looked simple but with imaginative modelling and brilliant choreography the actors moved around...

<strong>My Fair Lady – Edinburgh Playhouse</strong>

17Dec

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

My Fair Lady – Edinburgh Playhouse

Working-class flower girl Eliza Doolittle (Charlotte Kennedy) takes up an offer (or rather, bet) by renowned phonetician Professor Henry Higgins (Michael D. Xavier) saying that in six months he can teach her to pass for a member of the aristocracy enough to fool royalty. If they succeed, they will prove accents are a real but surmountable limitation on one's condition in Edwardian London and may improve one person's prospects, but if they fail, more than one life may be ruined. The musical, based on the 1913 George Bernard Shaw play and 1938 film Pygmalion (which was in turn based on the Greek myth of the same name about a sculpture who fall in love with Galatea, a statue of his creation), has been hailed as a classic since its 1956 stage and 1964 film premieres, with many classic songs...

<strong>The Commitments – Edinburgh Playhouse</strong>

29Nov

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Commitments – Edinburgh Playhouse

Two months in to a nine-month tour of the UK, The Commitments lands in Edinburgh Playhouse. The lines are delivered crisply, the music is tight, and the vocals are on point, and from the look of the almost capacity audience, dancing, singing and whooping by the finale, all is well, or is it? It is hard for this not to be a hit, based on Roddy Doyle’s 1987 book set in Dublin and the subsequent 1991 BAFTA Award-winning film classic. The hit ingredients keep coming in the form of over 20 soul classics performed live on stage by a group of committed and talented actor / musicians. If you think there is a but coming, you would be right. Sometimes all of the right ingredients is just not enough, which is …well, disappointing. The story follows James Killeen as Jimmy Rabbitte, a young worki...

Saturday Night Fever – Edinburgh Playhouse

2Nov

By Louise BalaguerNo Comments

Scotland

Saturday Night Fever – Edinburgh Playhouse

Adapted from the acclaimed 1977 film of the same title, ‘Saturday Night Fever’ is a show that, regardless of whether you are familiar with the original film or not, will hit you with an urge to dance as soon as you hear the Bee Gees soundtrack, an absolute delight for the ears all the way through. Greeting its audience with a very satisfying opening, sounds of electric guitars echoing loudly as the music smoothly morphs into ‘Stayin’ Alive’, our three Bee Gees singers (Aj Jenks, Drew Ferry and Oliver Thompson, nailing every single one of the songs) are ready to go, a full cast on stage dancing energetically to the classic hit, disco balls turning the theatre into a giant discothèque. Our hero in this colourful Bee Gees infused landscape is Tony Manero, interpreted by Jack Wilcox, a y...

The Book of Mormon – Edinburgh Playhouse

15Sep

By Greg HolsteadNo Comments

Scotland

The Book of Mormon – Edinburgh Playhouse

As Edinburgh comes down off its narcotic high of hosting the largest arts Festival in the world, and just as it starts to hunker down for the onset of Autumn and Winter, here comes a wake-up of epic proportions as ‘Mormon’ marches unashamedly into town. One of the world’s highest grossing musicals, this multi award-winning show is not to be missed, from the creators of South Park, Avenue Q and Frozen, Trey Parker, Robert Lopez, and Matt Stone. This is a show of high pedigree and high quality that does not disappoint and is probably one of the funniest musicals you are ever likely to see. Halfway through a UK tour the cast are drilled, the music is tight, and the laughs are guaranteed! Stripped down this is a buddy road-trip musical, think Abbott and Costello meets the Lion King, that...

20Jul

By Melissa JonesNo Comments

Scotland

Footloose – Edinburgh Playhouse

Footloose tells the musically infused tail of wayward Ren and his journey from Chicago to rural backwater Bomont. A town tragedy involving the loss of the preacher’s son results in a town-wide ban on dancing in the bible-led town. Really? Oh yes. For newly arrived Ren and the preacher’s rebellious daughter Ren, this is devastating, especially as romance blossoms and the desire to dance ensues. But more interestingly, Ren embraces Christianity and uses a newly gifted bible to argue his cause for dancing which is a rather impressive move. Footloose is your classic jukebox musical complete with hits of the day spattered throughout the production for some dramatic and often comic effect. West-End star Darren Day relishes the spotlight as tough preacher Rev. Shaw Moore. In fact, his performa...