Sunday, February 15

Tag: Kirsty Sparks

Top Hat – Sheffield Lyceum
Yorkshire & Humber

Top Hat – Sheffield Lyceum

Irving Berlin’s classical romantic spectacle ‘Top Hat’ slides its away across Sheffield Theatres’ stages with pomp and playfulness, marking a highly respectable and enjoyable musical instalment to the current season of live entertainment in the heart of the city. Matthew White & Howard Jacques author the piece, based on the 1935 film of the same name starring icons Fred Astaire and Ginger Roberts. Their script is almost a clean emulation of the original work, the plot unchanged bar some superficial rearrangements, with even many of the lines mirrored. This is both admirable and unavoidably slightly kitsch. It is inescapably of its time which lends itself to nostalgic and historic appreciation, but in 2026 it draws few parallels to our days. The show functions as glitzy escapism, whi...
Hairspray – Hull New Theatre
Yorkshire & Humber

Hairspray – Hull New Theatre

Hull New Theatre was packed to the rafters on Monday evening, in anticipation of watching Hairspray - “the hilarious, joyous and most inspiring musical of all” according to the press release. Did it live up that that description? You bet. I loved every madcap minute. It’s 1962 America - Baltimore to be exact - and teen schoolgirl Tracy Turnblad (Katie Brace) is desperate to appear on her favourite TV programme, The Corny Collins Show. Corny (Joseph Bristow), invites teens to show off their dancing skills, but racial segregation is prevalent in America at that time, so all of the dancers are “white”, with a “negro” night being held every so often. Corny’s show is sponsored by a hairspray company, and Tracy’s ears prick up when she hears of a competition for a Miss Teenage Hairsp...