Scott Pask Archives - North West End UK

6Oct

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Mean Girls – Bradford Alhambra

Gangs of teenagers were eagerly posing with the publicity posters outside this historic venue keen to check out the theatrical version of Tina Fey's cult classic movie. It was refreshing to see so many young faces in the audience as some of them might be experiencing the same sort of high school pressures and teen angst that Fey’s witty book full of smart one liners so accurately captured, which was no doubt based on her own experiences. Home schooled Cady had returned from the wilds of Kenya to be plunged into a hormone driven jungle where different packs wander the corridors of an Illinois High School preying on each other. Top of the food chain were the Plastics led by Regina and her two sycophantic sidekicks Gretchen and Karen. Egged on by arty outsiders Damian and Janis, the sch...

14Apr

By Paul ClarkeNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Waitress – Bradford Alhambra

The Great British Bake Off had been going for some years when Waitress hit the West End a decade ago, so there was a ready made audience for a show based on cakes….or pies as they are known stateside. This warm hearted musical uses the ingredients waitress Jenna Hunterson uses in her unique pies as a metaphor for the trials and tribulations of her life and those around her. Waitress is actually much like Jenna’s pies, a bittersweet affair as whilst Jessie Nelson’s book celebrates the tight community that work and eat in her southern diner, Jenna is not only trapped in an abusive relationship with her husband Earl, but reluctantly expecting his baby. She escapes her grim life through an affair with her obstetrician Dr Pomatter and dreaming of winning a pie-baking contest to escape from E...

Shucked – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

22May

By Gemma PrinceNo Comments

London

Shucked – Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre

Tony Award-winning musical comedy Shucked has officially kicked off Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s 2025 summer season with its highly anticipated UK premier. The question on everyone’s lips, will such an American show be enjoyed by a UK audience? Set in the fictional Cob County, Shucked tells the story of young couple Maizy and Beau as they prepare to get hitched; however, crisis strikes when the town’s much-loved corn begins to die off. Maizy sets off on the adventure of a lifetime when she heads to Tampa in search of help and meets smooth-talking Gordy (Matthew Seadon-Young), who seemingly offers the solution to all their problems. Will Maizy bring back the close-knit town’s happily ever after? Indeed, Shucked is a musical that revolves around corn, yet Robert Horn’s clever writing ...

19Sep

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

North West

The Book of Mormon – Palace Theatre

The Book of Mormon rekindled its romance with Manchester and the Palace Theatre on Wednesday evening as it opened its 2nd UK tour in the city, as it did the first tour back in 2019. And as in 2019, a sold-out audience embraced the show cheering from the pre-show announcement to the curtain call. Not without controversy from the day it opened on Broadway in 2011 (where it is still running 23 years later) The Book of Mormon is one of, if not the funniest musical out there. Written by South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone alongside Avenue Q composer Robert Lopez the show pulls no punches laced with foul language and taboo subjects it is definitely not one for the kids. Adam Bailey and Sam Glen play Elders Price and Cunningham respectively in this latest production. They are a m...

22Jul

By Mark DavorenNo Comments

North West

The Book of Mormon – Liverpool Empire

The Book of Mormon has been meting out metaphors since it first broke on the stage in 2011 and this latest adaptation continues that rich vein with recent local topical references slipped in for good measure. Two young men, Kevin Price (Robert Colvin) and Arnold Cunningham (Jacob Yarlett) have finished their training to be missionaries for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and inspired by the memory of Joseph Smith (Johnathan Tweedie) and with the title Elder inserted in front of their names, the pair are thrust together and sent off on their two-year mission to find, recruit and baptise new members into the Mormon religion. However, it’s not to be the magic of Orlando but Africa when they pitch up in Uganda to help struggling Elder McKinley (Jordan Lee Davies) and team. W...