Sheffield Lyceum Archives - Page 5 of 7

6Jul

By Morgan EvansNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Chicago – Sheffield Lyceum

At its best, Chicago is a biting, hilarious and glamorous satire. This production demonstrates a great balance of all the razzle-dazzle you would expect with this show whilst possessing a very welcome comedic humility. The cast of performers are fit for their respective roles. The ensemble was worked astutely and intelligently and lent themselves tremendously to many of the set pieces of the show, and all were at the level set by their main roster counterparts. Faye Brookes’ portrayal of Roxie Hart is brilliantly devious and glamorous, yet refreshingly is a portrayal possessing fantastic comedic sensibilities. Jamie Baughan’s Amos Hart almost steals the show, a performance rich in pathos. Michelle Andrews stepped into the role of Mama Morton with an equally admirable poise. One of th...

24May

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Cluedo – Sheffield Lyceum

The maid, in the hall, with the champagne! That is how Wadsworth the butler greets us, and the six guests who each received a mysterious invitation, as we enter Boddy Manor. Most, if not all of us, will be familiar with Miss Scarlett, Professor Plum, Mrs Peacock, Reverend Green, Mrs. White and Colonel Mustard, the protagonists of the now 70-year-old board game, Cluedo, on which this play is based; and now we get to meet them in the flesh. They arrive in time for dinner, but the staff are acting strangely, and the evening soon comes to an unforeseen halt, as a body is discovered in the study. But… who was it that brought the evening to its arresting conclusion? The script by Sandy Rustin, based on Jonathan Lynn’s original screenplay, is full of clever nods to the board game, snappy...

11May

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Cher Show – Sheffield Lyceum

From Disney princess childhood dreams to fierce warrior princess on stage: that’s the journey of Cher as told in this new musical that originally premiered in 2018 prior to a Broadway run, which won two Tony Awards. Now with an updated book by Rick Elice, the production uses Cher’s extensive catalogue of music to chronicle the highs and lows of the more than sixty years that she has spent as an entertainer. Such is the diverse and prolific nature of Cher’s work, that it takes three women to play her. They are on stage almost constantly, sharing the narration of the story and each enjoying their time in the spotlight. Millie O’Connell as Babe takes the audience through the early years, embodying the nervous and shy younger Cher as she tries to fit in with her peers and find an anchor in ...

4May

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Bat Out Of Hell – Sheffield Lyceum

Set in a dystopian future, this post-apocalyptic rock and roll musical has the audience fully invested as the characters live and relive the spine-tingling drunkenness of youth and love. With the greatest storytelling hits of the legendary Jim Steinman and Meatloaf forefront and taking centre stage, this UK tour is setting the theatres in its path alight, and Sheffield was no exception. With its unusual live video capture on stage, which is projected onto both a screen and the windows of Falco Towers, the audience are subject to aesthetic ensemble spectacle and heart wrenching close up intimacy – a peep into a hybrid between theatre and film. The story is set in Obsidian (Manhattan as we know it) which has floated out to sea and is tyrannically ruled by Falco played by the role’s origi...

21Apr

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Six – Sheffield Lyceum

So, I polished my crown and headed (minus the be-) off to the beautiful Sheffield Lyceum, my husband reluctantly in tow to witness the royally resplendent Six. Before I even got in the building I was praising the show for its allure to so many young theatre goers, the diversity of the audience was a real heart warmer. Six has become a cultural phenomenon and is a British musical comedy with book, music and lyrics by Toby Marlow and Lucy Moss. Presented as a pop concert, the competitive wives of Henry VIII each tell their stories and vie to be ‘the one who suffered the most’ to enable the victor to become the group’s lead singer. Under the direction of Lucy Moss and Jamie Armitage the stylish Six took to the stage. With a set mainly given over to lighting and upstage steps, which hous...

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Sheffield Lyceum

14Apr

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Everybody’s Talking About Jamie – Sheffield Lyceum

Back in its original home and setting of Sheffield, South Yorkshire, everybody left the theatre last night Talking About Jamie! After the shows premier of 19 performances at the Crucible Theatre in Sheffield in 2017, it then moved to the Apollo Theatre London in November 2017 and by May 2021 had racked up its 1000th performance. Everybody’s Talking about Jamie - The Movie premiered in September 2021 and there have been performances and future planned performances in Japan, Los Angeles, Australia, New Zealand and Italy. With awards in abundance, everybody is talking about the meteoric rise of the story of Jamie Campbell, a boy who had a dream to attend his 2011 Prom in a dress and ultimately become a drag queen. Conceived; from the Firecracker documentary ‘Jamie: Drag Queen at 16’ on BBC HD...

9Feb

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

9 to 5: The Musical – Sheffield Lyceum

“Working 9 to 5, what a way to make a living / Barely getting by, it's all taking and no giving” I’m sure this sounds familiar, if not musically then probably existentially! One of country music’s most iconic singers, Dolly Parton, wrote these well-known lyrics back in 1980 for the film ‘9 to 5’, which she then transferred to the stage in 2008 with the help of book-writer Patricia Resnick. Parton’s fingerprints are everywhere, from the tone of the music and lyrics throughout, to her on-stage presence as the narrator of the story; that was a cute and unexpected touch, although I’m not sure that the story was complex enough to warrant the level of narration it got! 9 to 5 takes us to a corporate office in middle America where Judy is starting her first ever job having been dumped by...

26Jan

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Da Vinci Code – Sheffield Lyceum

The controversial 2003 bestselling novel The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown has been adapted for the stage by Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel for its premier UK tour. Can we solve the greatest secret of last 2000 years? Well, it certainly helps if you are familiar with the book like 100,000,000 worldwide readers are or even the subsequent film starring Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon and Ian McKellan as Sir Leigh Teabing. Exquisitely directed by Luke Sheppard, the story is a complex and a heavily narrative one as it takes us on a pulse racing dash through Europe and the British Isles before leaving us firmly and more wisely at the Louvre in Paris, questioning the probability of a lifetime of deceit. The story starts with American Professor Robert Langdon delivering a lecture in Paris, he receiv...

13Dec

By Morgan EvansNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Sleeping Beauty – Sheffield Lyceum

Sheffield Theatres and Evolution Pantomimes have a rich reputation for their pantomimes, and this year’s edition is once again Damian Williams and his cohort on their finest form. Superbly directed by Paul Hendy, this is a tour-de-force of panto, and ultimately panto at its finest. Titular character Hannah Everest holds the role very well and is a very stable anchor for both the narrative and comedy within. The same can be said for her royal romantic counterpart played by Dominic Sibanda, who brings an appropriately friendly and fun sensibility to his role whilst playing the melodrama effectively. Janine Duvitski’s Fairy Moonbeam is at her best deployed in comedic ensemble sections, and Lucas Rush’s evil Carabosse delves delightfully into devilishly camp malevolence. Ben Thornton’s exci...

24Nov

By Tracey BellNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

The Addams Family – Sheffield Lyceum

The Second UK tour of the neighbours from hell The Addams Family moves into the Sheffield Lyceum this week – and what an entrance! Originally conceived by Charles Addams in 1938 in the New Yorker. With the book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice and Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lippa, this spine chillingly spectacular tour is directed by Matthew White and designed by Diego Pitarch. The choreography by Alistair David from the initial finger clicks through the Addams Family letter box to the full ensemble splendour is the beating heart of the stage show. Elaborate, abundant and exquisitely amusing, the ethereal ensemble takes this new production to a higher level than its predecessor. The set is yet another star of the show with slick movement and sumptuous detail its huge size never detracts...