Edinburgh Playhouse Archives - Page 3 of 3

21Apr

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Waitress – Edinburgh Playhouse

A story of baking, infidelity and finding love, waitress is a problematic musical surrounding a waitress who bakes pies to avoid talking about her feelings. Jenna (played tonight by Aimee Fisher) is a waitress for a small diner who specializes in making the best pies in town whilst avoiding dealing with her unhappy marriage and overall feeling of failure for the life she believes her mother would have wanted her to live. When a pregnancy test proves positive, she is forced to reconsider her life choices as she begins an affair with her gynaecologist (played by Liam McHugh) and starts to save up money to enter a baking contest that could guarantee her enough money to leave her abusive husband Earl (Donal Brennan) for good. At the same time, we follow her co-workers Dawn (Evelyn Hoskins)...

7Apr

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

Dreamgirls – Edinburgh Playhouse

Effie White (Nicole Raquel Dennis), Lorrell Robinson (Paige Peddie) and Deena Jones (Natalie Kassanga) are the talented young 60s R&B group The Dreamettes. This musical charts their journey to stardom over a ten year period (subtly done through music genre and changes in costumes and wigs, by Suzanne Runciman, Danielle Bryson, Poppy Camden, Natalie Onoufriou, Lee-Ellen Wilson, Maria McLarnon, Olta Citozi, Aimee Harrison and Kirstie Lavin). It's not all singing and dancing though, with their journey including compromise, broken friendships (as seen in their name change from the Dreamettes, to The Dreams, and later Deena Jones and The Dreams) and the inherent issues of trying to make it as a black person in a white-dominated industry, aided and hindered by Dom Hartley-Harris as Curtis T...

15Mar

By Roger JacobsNo Comments

Scotland

Hairspray – Edinburgh Playhouse

‘Save your personal life…’ instructs Velma Von Tussle ‘… for the camera, Sweetie.’ She, back in ‘62 (OK, John Waters in the mid 80’s) had clearly seen something in a crystal ball about TV beyond the early 90’s. Despite how prescient this observation, it was soon overwhelmed by a production possessing strength, power and above all… rhythm. The dialogue - sharp and indestructible as a diamond – swung perfectly between the songs and vice versa, but where musicals can often find themselves staffed by good actors who can sing and dance a little, or good singers/dancers who can act a bit, this had a cast capable of handling it all. Of a Dick Van Dyke accent catastrophe there was barely a flicker. Not a cue nor a laugh was missed. It’s scarcely believable that this was the professional deb...

9Feb

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Bat Out of Hell – Edinburgh Playhouse

Romeo and Juliet meets Peter Pan, meets Meatloaf is probably the best summary one can give of Bat Out Of Hell the musical. The plot is familiar and so is the music, and perhaps that’s what makes it such a fun and lovable show. In what we can assume is a futuristic world just like our own a chemical leak has led to a portion of society remaining forever at the age of 18. This has caused a rivalry between the forever young and those still bitterly aging. Our Peter Pan archetype: Strat (Glenn Adamson) leads the Lost however becomes infatuated by young 18-year-old Raven (Martha Kirby) the unsatisfied daughter of our villain Falco (Rob Fowler) and his even more so unsatisfied wife Sloane (Sharon Sexton). Throughout we see Strat and Raven fight the odds to be together even with the disapprov...

26Jan

By Melissa JonesNo Comments

Scotland

School of Rock – Edinburgh Playhouse

I was 7 when I first saw School of Rock in the cinemas, as part of its original release. For me, the film was an instant five stars. Approaching Andrew Lloyd Webber’s production, my fears were rife. Could this film withstand a musical counterpart? Rebellious, unhinged and filled with angst, could it also cope with the slick trappings and stage design of a slick modern west end musical? It’s more or less the same story we all know and love from the film. Slacker and failed rockstar Dewey Finn (Jack Sharp) is down on his luck and in need of rent. One day he answers a call for a job offer at a prestigious fee paying junior school meant for his flat mate Ned Schneebly. Desperate and posing as Ned, he takes the job, and enters Horace Green School with no clue about pedagogy, but plenty of k...

17Dec

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

White Christmas – Edinburgh Playhouse

Veterans Bob Wallace (Matthew Jeans) and Phil Davis (Dan Burton) have had a successful musical career since being discharged after World War II. But instead of continuing on with an engagement in Florida, they decide to follow female double-act the Haynes Sisters, Betty & Judy (Jessica Daley & Emily Langham) whom they have just met, to a Vermont lodge for a special Christmas show. There they discover the lodge happens to be owned by Bob and Phil's old Army General (Duncan Smith) and is in desperate need of their help. Though the original show has been cancelled, a whole new show must now be organised to save the place from ruin and the General from his mood. White Christmas was directed by Ian Talbot, based on the original direction by Nikolai Foster (Annie) and two-time Olivie...

Heathers the Musical – Edinburgh Playhouse

8Dec

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Heathers the Musical – Edinburgh Playhouse

A toe tapping dark comedy, Heathers will have you laughing out loud at subjects in which you should really keep a straight face. Based on the cult classic 80s movie Heathers (Starring Christian Slater and Winona Ryder), Heathers the musical draws a very fine line between satire and serious subjects such as rape, suicide and of course murder, fortunately it does so very well indeed. Veronica Sawyer (Rebecca Wickes) is a student trying to survive life in high school, who just happens to have a talent for forging people’s writing. When this talent gets her noticed by the popular girls/ the Heathers (Maddison Firth, Merryl Ansah and Lizzy Parker) she finds herself entangled in a life of popularity, sex and one mysterious new boy: Jason Dean (Simon Gordon). One thing leads to anoth...

Beauty and the Beast – Edinburgh Playhouse

27Oct

By Beth EltringhamNo Comments

Scotland

Beauty and the Beast – Edinburgh Playhouse

"Be our guest" and so you should, this toe tapping bonanza of a musical is a treat for the eyes. Mixing pre-recorded projections, detailed set pieces of course some magic, this production is one for the whole family. The story follows a Selfish young Prince turned beast and a bookworm beauty who doesn't quite fit in and find herself pursued by a man who just can't take no for an answer. When her father is held prisoner by the beast, belle volunteers to take his place, thus beginning our love story. Of course, one cannot forget the merry band of living furniture who guide us along the way. Expect classics from Howard Ashman and Tim Rice such as: Beauty and the Beast, Be Our Guest, Human Again and Gaston. Casting for this production does not disappoint for the most part, with the r...