Tuesday, December 17

Tag: Neil Townsend

Singin’ in The Rain – Grand Theatre, Blackpool
North West

Singin’ in The Rain – Grand Theatre, Blackpool

On World Theatre Day, Blackpool Operatic Players presented ‘Singin’ in The Rain’ at the beautiful Grand Theatre. Blackpool Operatic Players was established in 1953 to present day and have had an accolade of successes, the last production being Shrek in 2023. Neil Townsend the Artistic Director has created a visual and auditory delight in his latest production of ‘Singin’ in The Rain’ which is worthy of any main stage. Singin’ in The Rain is set in 1927, when silent films were all the rage, and at this time the main stars of the silent screen were Don Lockwood (Jack Price) and Lina Lamont (Stephanie Cartell). Unfortunately, their rivals Warner Bros were ahead of their time and had started to produce talking pictures and had a huge success with their production of ‘The Jazz Singer’. ...
Kinky Boots – Blackpool Grand Theatre
North West

Kinky Boots – Blackpool Grand Theatre

If Musicals bingo was a thing, Kinky Boots would surely tick every single box. Based on a true story? Check. Working class factory setting? Check. Underdog who wins the day? Well, that would be something of a spoiler, but you can guess the answer. Based on a true story, we meet Charlie Price who, following a chance meeting with a drag queen named Lola, decides to re-invigorate the shoe factory he has recently inherited from his late father, by making shoes for drag queens. Soon a prestigious trade show in Milan beckons but Lola and Charlie look set to fall out over whether the Italian critics will like the cut of their leather. With Harvey Fierstein’s devilishly funny script, adapted from Tim Firth’s original screenplay (himself no stranger to ‘beat the odds’ musicals) and a sparklin...