Stephen Sondheim Archives - North West End UK

Into The Woods – Hull Musical Theatre Company

9Jul

By Jackie FoottitNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

Into The Woods – Hull Musical Theatre Company

Members of Hull Musical Theatre Company it was a pleasure and an honour to see you in action, during your rehearsal for Into The Woods. It’s a brave crew who invite theatre critics to witness a production in which there are little, if any, props, not too many costumes and no microphones. And as I entered the Derringham Bank Methodist Church, in Hull, where the rehearsal would take place, I was more than curious to see how this local group would perform. After being introduced to the company’s chairman, Jane Bradley, and the show’s director, Martyn Payne, and our seating placed in a prominent position for us to view proceedings, we reviewers were made even more welcome by the arrival of coffee and biscuits. I could think of worse ways to spend a Sunday afternoon. Classed ...

Merrily We Roll Along – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

18Jun

By NewsdeskNo Comments

North West

Merrily We Roll Along – Altrincham Garrick Playhouse

With an uncanny sense of timing, Director Joseph Meighan and the creative team at Altrincham Garrick Playhouse open their production of Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Merrily We Roll Along’ on the same day it was announced that the current Broadway production won 4 Tony awards, including Best Revival of a Musical. So, if a trip to New York is beyond the budget of south Manchester residents, this week they get the opportunity to see a superb rendition of this poignant commentary on the nature of friendship at their local theatre instead. On its initial run in 1981, ‘Merrily’ closed after just two weeks and was a commercial disaster for Sondheim and co-writer George Furth, critics at the time found the storyline confusing and the characters unsympathetic and audiences agreed. But, as with many Sondh...

11May

By Louise KershawNo Comments

North West

Passion – Hope Mill Theatre

‘Die, Fosca! Die’ was the call from the auditorium in response to the first production of Stephen Sondheim’s ‘Passion’ in May 1994. Theatre trolling alive and well before the internet even existed. Who would have known? No such reaction from the audience gathered in a packed Hope Mill Theatre this evening I can assure you, but I will come back to that… Based on Tarchetti’s 1869 novel Fosca, Passion is one of the few projects that Stephen Sondheim himself conceived. When it first opened on Broadway in May 1994 it was admired by critics but not by audiences who were utterly repelled by the character of Fosca, the woman with whom Giorgio eventually falls in love. Unattractive, manipulative, obsessive, relentless in her pursuit of this younger man, audiences refused to believe that th...

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – Buxton Opera House

30Apr

By Jo TillotsonNo Comments

North West

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street – Buxton Opera House

Following the death of Stephen Sondheim in November 2021, it was inevitable that many of his shows would be performed this year, but I was surprised to see a community theatre group tackling this particular production. Putting on the story of Sweeney Todd is a big challenge for any theatre, and this company has risen to that challenge and smashed it! Director and choreographer Paul Kerryson, who also serves the High Peak Theatre Trust as its CEO, has clearly provided excellent leadership for this Platform 3 production, part of the Buxton Opera House’s learning and engagement initiative. One of Sondheim’s more widely known musicals, thanks in part to the 2007 film adaptation by Tim Burton, the story follows Sweeney Todd as he returns to London, determined to seek revenge for his exile an...

Passion starring Ruthie Henshall to play 4-week run at Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester

18Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Passion starring Ruthie Henshall to play 4-week run at Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester

Full casting is now announced for Stephen Sondheim/James Lapine’s Passion this May: Dean John-Wilson (Steven Spielberg’s Masters of Air, Apple TV; Aladdin) will play Giorgio, the man who finds himself at the heart of a passionate love affair, alongside Olivier nominated Kelly Price (What’s New Pussycat?, Birmingham REP; A Little Night Music, Menier Chocolate Factory and Garrick Theatre) as Clara. The cast is completed by Adam Robert Lewis (The Phantom of the Opera, Her Majesty’s Theatre), Charlie Waddell (South Pacific, Chichester Festival Theatre), Danny Whitehead (Wicked, UK tour), Dalton Harris (The X Factor), Ray Shell (Starlight Express, The Lion King), Steve Watts (As You Like It, Cheek by Jowl), and Tim Walton (Matilda the Musical, RSC). They join the Olivier Award winner and mus...

4Mar

By Paul DownhamNo Comments

NEWS

Old Friends celebrate Stephen Sondheim

Cameron Mackintosh has invited many of Stephen Sondheim’s old friends to join him in celebrating his extraordinary talents and legacy at the theatre which was recently gloriously rebuilt in Sondheim’s honor. The all-star cast for OLD FRIENDS so far includes Michael Ball, Petula Clark, Judi Dench, Daniel Evans, Bonnie Langford, Adrian Lester, Damian Lewis, Julia Mckenzie, Bernadette Peters, Elaine Paige, Clive Rowe, Imelda Staunton and Hannah Waddingham. They will be joined by a featured company of West End stars, currently being finalised. The evening, which takes place for one night only on 3rd May 2022 at 8pm, will be staged by Matthew Bourne and Maria Friedman with choreography by Stephen Mear and a 26-piece orchestra conducted by Alfonso Casado Trigo. Patrons can sign up for ...

15Jul

By Paul WilcoxNo Comments

Yorkshire & Humber

A Little Night Music – Leeds Playhouse

A hot July evening in West Yorkshire proved to be the perfect backdrop for a musical set at the Scandinavian midsummer, as the theatregoers of Leeds joyfully returned to a stunning adaptation of Stephen Sondheim's puckish, satirical operetta from Leeds Playhouse and Opera North. Written in 1973, during a golden period of his gilded career, 'A Little Night Music' shows Sondheim at the peak of his powers, utilising his tongue twisting lyricism and complex musicality to stunning effect, against the backdrop of a country weekend in 'fin de siecle' Sweden. Sondheim always chooses arcane subject matter around which to base his work, everything from a Seurat painting (Sunday in the Park with George) to homicidal pie making (Sweeney Todd), have been used by him as source material and 'Night Mus...