Paul French Archives - North West End UK

An Officer and a Gentleman – Hull New Theatre

5Nov

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

An Officer and a Gentleman – Hull New Theatre

An Officer and a Gentleman the Musical got off to a delayed start on Monday evening with a voice emanating from the nether regions of the Hull New Theatre stage, informing us that “due to unforeseen circumstances the show will now start at 8pm”. We’d all taken our seats ready for curtain up at 7.30pm, so 30-minute delay sort of dimmed or excitement. No matter, I just hoped the show was worth waiting for. It most definitely was, so that delay I mentally grumbled about, was very soon forgotten. I had seen the movie (of the same name) upon which this musical is based, way back on its UK release in 1983, and could only remember its star, Richard Gere, resplendent in white naval uniform, doing something so breathtakingly romantic that the scene has stayed with me all these years later....

An Officer and a Gentleman – Sheffield Lyceum

20Jun

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

An Officer and a Gentleman – Sheffield Lyceum

In the same genre as recent musical adaptations such as 'Dirty Dancing' and 'The Bodyguard', using an extensive and repurposed catalogue of music from the period, this jukebox of the beloved 80's film classic - 'An Officer and a Gentleman' is touring the UK in 2024. Fifteen years in the original making, written by Douglas Day Stewart and later adapted for stage alongside Sharleen Cooper Cohen, this new interpretation follows the 2018 version and is again directed by Nikolai Foster. The raw and raunchy story is set in Florida 1982. It tells the story of both autobiographical naval officer recruits and a group of female factory workers at a time when Ronald Reagan sowed the seeds of a new America. These characters collectively, regardless of class and gender, all have their demons and bindin...

An Officer and a Gentleman – Manchester c

2May

By Damian RiverolNo Comments

North West

An Officer and a Gentleman – Manchester c

Based on the original screenplay by Douglas Day Stewart, An Officer and a Gentleman the musical is here at the Manchester Opera House as part of its UK tour. Directed by Leicester Curve Artistic director Nikolai Foster, we are treated to a well-rounded piece of theatre which has been well thought out to keep it fresh and smooth with an air of familiarity about it. The story follows Zack Mayo and his fellow Navy recruits at their training camp in Pensacola, Florida, and their journey through a 12-week programme to try and become Navy Jet pilots. Through rigorous training, we see recruits struggle and fail, leaving the training programme, eventually bringing the other recruits closer together, pushing each other along to reach their final goal. But not everything runs smoothly, and we see...

An Officer and a Gentleman – New Wimbledon Theatre

3Apr

By Maani WayNo Comments

London

An Officer and a Gentleman – New Wimbledon Theatre

Based on the award-winning movie of the 1980s and featuring a soundtrack with hits from Madonna, Bon Jovi, Cyndi Lauper and Blondie, An Officer and a Gentleman bursts into their tour run as a must-see, feel-good romance which will leave your heart fulfilled. This is the emotional story of Zack Mayo (Luke Baker), a young officer candidate with a dark past, and his captivating love interest Paula Pokrifki (Georgia Lennon), who bonded over their zest for life and fiery spirits. The plot also centres around Zack’s right-hand man on the Officer Candidate School (AOCS) course, Sid (Paul French) and his sweetheart Lynette (Sinead Long) navigating their newly formed romance. The set in this production immediately stands out and is hard to believe that it belongs to a tour production. Large m...

24Oct

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Annie – Hull New Theatre

What a fabulous, uplifting start to the week - all thanks to a cute, little, red-haired orphan called Annie, whose story is told in a production of the same name. A jam-packed Hull New Theatre was the setting on Monday evening for this smash-hit show, which has come direct from London’s West End. At curtain up, the stage featured metal bedsteads and sparse bedding, in an orphanage run by the drunken, cruel Miss Hannigan (Craig Revel Horwood). With unkempt hair, make-up, sloppy negligee and a fridge-full of booze, the Strictly Come Dancing star is perfection in the role, bringing much hilarity to proceedings as well as a fine singing voice. Equally perfect in her role is young Zoe Akinyosade as Annie, who is on stage for over two hours - no mean feat for a nine-year-old. With a ...

1Dec

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Grease – Leeds Grand Theatre

It’s great that this production carries on the classic movie’s proud tradition of having twentysomethings playing teenagers about to leave Rydell High School for the real world. It’s a bit odd the thick American accents the relatively inexperienced cast deploy seem to be from Brooklyn rather than the tough working-class area of Chicago the original theatre production was set in. The voice coach should have dialled it down a bit which would have helped with the sometimes wayward diction. It’s probably fair to say most of the audience were looking for a scene by scene recreation of the beloved movie, and to that extent they do get well staged versions of all songs they had grown up loving. But the producers claim to have retained the darker elements of the rawer early 1970s scrip...

17Nov

By Ezzy LaBelleNo Comments

North West

Grease the Musical – Liverpool Empire

Fantastically feel good and naughtily nostalgic, Grease the Musical arrived in Liverpool this week with all the right moves and an abundance of exuberant energy. You cannot help but leave this show with a smile. Starring Peter Andre, and debuting several newcomers, it offers a slightly different flavour to what has been done before. Expect to have a good time. This production took a couple of scenes to find their flow but once they were in it there was no stopping them. Directed by Curve’s Nikolai Foster and choreographed by Arlene Phillips, Grease demands strong dancing from the cast in order to carry out creative sequences and transports the audience back to Rydell High School with ease. Led by Dan Partridge (Danny Zuko) and Ellie Kingdon (Sandy) the dialogue is fast paced with ...