Jeff Calhoun Archives - North West End UK

In 2009, nearly 30 years after the film's release, 9 to 5 made its debut as a Broadway Musical with new songs written by Dolly Parton. It then made its way over to the West-End where it premiered in February 2019. Since its UK premiere, 9 to 5 The Musical, has been seen by over half a million people at over 450 performances. This is its second national UK tour. I can remember watching the film 9 to 5 in the early 1980’s starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton and being blown away by it; straight from the start the music was gripping and of course the theme of feminism, equality and women’s rights was spot on. It was Dolly Parton’s acting debut, and she was fabulous as secretary to the story’s antagonist, exploitative boss. In a nutshell, the story is about three...

It was with some trepidation that I sat down to watch Newsies, from the comfort of my own couch. I wasn’t sure this was going to be for me. Surely a show that belongs on the stage should only be seen from a seat in the theatre, right? Wrong. This film of the 2017 Broadway production now on Disney+ shows just how easily you can watch a stage show without even leaving the house. Perfect in the current circumstances. The first thing that struck me was the enormity of the scaffolding set. This provided many interesting visual aspects throughout and was a fantastic way to represent the environment of the ‘Newsies’. At the end of the first number we see pairs of ‘Newsies’ in different sections of the set, all standing as one and the impact of that image was a clever inkling to the rest of the...

Tag: Jeff Calhoun

9 to 5: The Musical – Liverpool Empire

Newsies: The Broadway Musical – Disney+