Gabriella Slade Archives - North West End UK

UK Pop Sensation Steps Present The World Premiere of New Musical Here & Now

26Jan

By NewsdeskNo Comments

NEWS

UK Pop Sensation Steps Present The World Premiere of New Musical Here & Now

UK pop band Steps are delighted to announce the world premiere of HERE & NOW, a brand-new musical using their iconic music, with an original book by Shaun Kitchener. HERE & NOW will open at The Alexandra, Birmingham for a limited engagement from 9 – 24 November 2024. Featuring Steps’ most beloved hit songs, HERE & NOW is produced by the band and ROYO with Pete Waterman, and will be directed by Rachel Kavanaugh, with choreography by Olivier Award winning Matt Cole. Casting to be announced. Welcome to seaside superstore Better Best Bargains, where it's Friday night, the vibe is right, and everyone's dancing in the aisles. But when Caz discovers the shelves are stocked with lies and betrayal, the summer of love she and her friends dreamed of suddenly feels like a tragedy. Ha...

19May

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

North West

The Cher Show – Opera House, Manchester

After six decades of a career encompassing pop and film stardom, political activism and television success, it was a no-brainer that the life of Cherilyn Sarkasian, aka Cher, would eventually make the transition to a stage musical. Now, the 2018 Broadway show (with a significant overhaul courtesy of Leicester Curve Theatre) lands at Opera House in Manchester to a rapturous reception on press night. The audience here is knowledgeable and primed (unlike at Sunderland Empire, where people left the theatre when they realised it wasn't Cher performing!) and they were not to be disappointed in the depth of detail with which the show represents her early life. Cher has long been a spokesperson for LGBTQ+ rights and her story of early marginalisation, mistreatment and oppression is a story that...

11May

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Cher Show – Sheffield Lyceum

From Disney princess childhood dreams to fierce warrior princess on stage: that’s the journey of Cher as told in this new musical that originally premiered in 2018 prior to a Broadway run, which won two Tony Awards. Now with an updated book by Rick Elice, the production uses Cher’s extensive catalogue of music to chronicle the highs and lows of the more than sixty years that she has spent as an entertainer. Such is the diverse and prolific nature of Cher’s work, that it takes three women to play her. They are on stage almost constantly, sharing the narration of the story and each enjoying their time in the spotlight. Millie O’Connell as Babe takes the audience through the early years, embodying the nervous and shy younger Cher as she tries to fit in with her peers and find an anchor in ...

4May

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Cher Show – Hull New Theatre

People may think the life of a theatre reviewer is one of freebies - free show tickets, free programmes, free interval drinks. But every so often, expenses are incurred and that was my lot after watching The Cher Show at the Hull New Theatre on Tuesday evening. The expenses? Well, I enjoyed the spectacular so much, back home I downloaded every Cher hit I could find - and, at 99p a pop, it created a sizeable dent in my pocket money! But I will get such enjoyment listening to Cher’s songs after being reminded of her wonderful career so far, in a glittering show that did more than justice to her musical legacy. Aided and abetted by a very atmospheric stage setting, lighting and live music from a talented group of musicians, plus, costumes to absolutely die for throughout, the stor...

Bedknobs and Broomsticks – Wolverhampton Grand

7Apr

By Clare ChandlerNo Comments

West Midlands

Bedknobs and Broomsticks – Wolverhampton Grand

The iconic Disney film Bedknobs and Broomsticks has been adapted into a ‘magical musical’ with additional songs from Neil Bartram, and a new book by Brian Hill. Adapting a beloved film for the stage can be risky, but Candice Edmunds and Jamie Harrison navigate the challenges with some flair and ingenuity. Harrison’s clever design references the original film’s animations, which also influence Gabriella Slade’s costume designs and Sam Cox’s hair and wig work. The opening sequence cleverly situates the piece in London during the Blitz as the Rawlins’ children’s world explodes. Following a bomb blast their bedroom shatters, its fractured parts framing the stage providing a constant reminder of the reality of war. There is some clever theatrical magic as we see the Rawlins’ children evacuat...

18Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

The Queens are taking you to court

Worldwide hit musical SIX, created by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss, will play three open-air concert performances at Hampton Court Palace, reuniting the original West End Queens and performing within the iconic main courtyard of their infamous ex-husband’s former residence on Sunday 19th June and two performances on Monday 20th June 2022. This production, staged in partnership with Historic Royal Palaces – the independent charity which cares for Hampton Court Palace - will see the global musical phenomenon staged outdoors for the first time, in front of an audience of over 3,000 at each performance. SIX Live at Hampton Court Palace will reunite the original West End line-up of Olivier Award nominated cast members; Jarnéia Richard-Noel (Catherine of Aragon), Millie O’Connell (Anne Boleyn...

16Mar

By Oliver GigginsNo Comments

Scotland

SIX: The Musical – Festival Theatre

The musical SIX, written by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss and directed by Moss and Jamie Armitage, is an 80-minute celebration of 21st-century girl power through the story of the six wives of Henry VIII. In it, Catherine of Aragon (Chloe Hart), Anne Boleyn (Jennifer Caldwell), Jane Seymour (Casey Al-Shaqsy), Anna of Cleves (Aiesha Naomi Pease), Katherine Howard (Jaina Brock-Patel), and Catherine Parr (Alana M Robinson) get to put across their point of view through a glitsy Chicago-esque Cell Block Tango set-up (replace “Pop – Six – Squish – Uh-Uh – Cicero - Lipchitz” with “divorced – beheaded – died – divorced – beheaded – survived). The show first premiered 5 years ago in a hotel conference room at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival performed by half a dozen student actors and has since then re...

25Feb

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

The Cher Show announces casting

The producers of the brand new production of The Cher Show are delighted to announce that the role of Cher will be played by Debbie Kurup, Danielle Steers and Millie O’Connell. The production features the actresses portraying Cher in three different ways throughout her iconic career, with Debbie as ‘Star’, Danielle as ‘Lady’ and Millie as ‘Babe’. Further casting is to be announced. With book by Tony and Olivier Award-winning Rick Elice (Jersey Boys, The Addams Family, Peter and the Starcatcher), direction by Arlene Phillips (Saturday Night Fever, Starlight Express, Grease), choreography by Oti Mabuse (two-time Strictly Come Dancing champion) and costume design by Gabriella Slade (Six, In The Heights, Spice World 2019 Tour), the UK & Ireland Tour will open at Leicester’s Curve ...

Bedknobs and Broomsticks – Sheffield Lyceum

28Oct

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Bedknobs and Broomsticks – Sheffield Lyceum

First, we had the spectacles that are The Phantom of the Opera, Harry Potter and the Cursed Child and Mary Poppins and now there is a new contender to the crown with more magical illusions than you can shake a magic wand at! From the very opening sequence we are inundated with illusion and magic from Illusion Designer Jamie Harrison and it doesn’t let up for one moment. The children in the audience gasp and the technically minded amongst us try to work out how it was done. From flying broomsticks to beds, magical moving clothing to magical magician’s tricks. Then there is Kenneth MacLeod’s puppets of mighty lions to neon fish and rabbits to ostriches, this production is nonstop wonderment with a sense of humour and more than a dash of panache! The 1971 Disney film classic staring Angela...