With Rent being my all-time favourite musical, I did not know what to expect tonight in Wakefield College’s performance of the rock-opera. I was pleased the musical theatre students were taking on such a powerful, contemporary musical but also anxious about challenge of the show, with the mature subjects and themes within the narrative. The Mechanic’s Theatre provided the perfect performance space for the minimalistic set design and intimate atmosphere. The set design matched the original Broadway stage design, with scaffolding and graffiti suiting the 1980s New York City setting. However, this isn’t the glitzy and glamourous New York we often see within musicals, Rent is set in the bohemian fuelled East Village, and follows the struggles that regular people go through behind the charm of Times Square.
The Lamproom Musical Theatre Company proudly present Sister Act The Musical, based on the film with the same name. The film has always been a firm favourite of mine and despite walking past the West End production at least three times a week during its first run, I never managed to get round to seeing it, so was delighted to have the opportunity this evening.
The show had already received a great deal of hype prior to opening night. Whilst reviewing “Brief Encounter” recently at the Lamproom, I overhead some gents talking about the upcoming production (Sister Act) and I soon latched onto the fact that the leading lady had unexpectedly dropped out just a three weeks to opening night, but that they had secured a replacement in the form of a Gospel Choir singer. Janine Dyer, who runs two community choirs in South Yorkshire and has also recently turned her vocal talents to competing on The Voice UK, made her theatre debut with such ease and as such, the entire weeks run has already sold out prior to opening evening.
Wakefield is officially pink this week as Wakefield West Riding Theatre Company present Legally Blonde The Musical playing at the beautiful Theatre Royal until Saturday.
Legally Blonde is one of my favourite modern day musicals and as such I have had the chance to see many different productions since it first burst into the West End in 2010. With the latest revival currently enjoying rave reviews at the Curve in Leicester and the shows release to amateur companies recently there is more pink around than ever before in UK theatres.
There can be few things more iconic in the recent history of British theatre than The Whitehall Farce, and those expert exponents of this genre, with Ray Cooney being right at the top of the pile. Fallen somewhat out of favour at the moment, this style of farce - trousers down and more tea vicar - has probably had its day. It's appeal is only to reminisce times gone by when actors like Sir Brian Rix would grace the stage and you would see more people in lingerie on hotel corridors than you would in a brothel.
Last night I went to watch a production of Sister Act performed by Curtain Call productions at the Lyceum Theatre in Crewe, South of Chester. The Lyceum is a medium size theatre and was packed out for the first night of the show. I was sat close to the front and had a brilliant view of the stage.
Sister Act is a long time favourite movie of mine and I was excited to watch the theatre version with all the singing and dancing included. The first Act began with Deloris, performing on stage with her backing singers. Played by Paula Kay, Deloris is a witness to a murder and is quickly placed into police protection at a Catholic Nunnery. Paula did a great job of acting and was a fantastic at singing and performing.
Competent, Assured and Entertaining
First published in 1902, The Hound of the Baskervilles was a return to the story of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's famous sleuth, Sherlock Holmes, after an 8-year hiatus although this story is set before the latter events of his 1893 story, 'The Final Problem', when Holmes was apparently killed off. The story behind this play, adapted for the stage by Tim Kelly, draws from the legends and supernatural folklore of Devon and Dartmoor in particular where the play is set.
"A fantastic representation of the outstanding and exceptional talent of today’s youth"
The beautiful venue of Crow Wood Leisure Ltd in Burnley hosted Basics Junior theatre schools 4th annual cabaret night. With a packed itinerary of over 30 performances promised the audience a fun filled evening of entertainment. The cabaret night is where the talented students from Basics showcase their outstanding performances to their family and friends. During the evening the awards for the end of year achievements are presented to the winners of the nomination categories.
Cabaret is a musical based on a book written by Christopher Isherwood, music by John Kander and lyrics by Fred Ebb. The 1966 Broadway production became a hit, inspiring numerous subsequent productions in London and New York, as well as the 1972 film by the same name. Tonight RNCM Engage take on this challenging musical, and they actually do a very good job.
It is based on John Van Druten's 1951 play I Am a Camera, which was adapted from the short novel Goodbye to Berlin (1939) by Christopher Isherwood. Set in 1931 Berlin as the Nazis are rising to power, it is based in nightlife at the seedy Kit Kat Klub, and revolves around the 19-year-old English cabaret performer Sally Bowles (Madeleine Healey) and her relationship with the young American writer Cliff Bradshaw (Lucca Chadwick-Patel).
Miss Saigon has recently closed in the West End after a relatively short but hugely successful revival which is now transferring to Broadway before a UK National tour in 2017/18. With this move the rights for school groups have now reopened and this performance at Airedale Academy’s own Phoenix Theatre is one of the first to seize this great opportunity to stage the work with its sixth form students – The CAST. The story of Boublil and Schönberg’s epic reimagining of Puccini’s Madam Butterfly is relocated to Vietnam days before the fall of Saigon and captures the confusion and terror of the Vietnam War, the desperate lives of the Vietnamese women and tragic story of love and hope that endures over the years. The CAST did a wonderful job of bringing this powerful and challenging musical to life and from the almost shocking opening scenes it was clear that they meant business.
There is something very special happening at The Forum Theatre between 27th – 30th April and it has completely changed my longstanding opinion of this musical.
Jesus Christ Superstar was the first Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice musical to be produced for the professional stage. It actually began as a rock opera concept album but made its stage debut on Broadway in 1971, coming to London in 1972 and by the end of 1980, it had become the longest running musical in West End history. This is quite a lot for any theatre company staging this show to live up to but tonight, NK Theatre Arts completely blew the audience away with their absolutely amazing version of this long-established musical.
I have always been a great fan of Mel Brooks’ The Producers as it was the first occasion I witnessed such dark humour within a musical. The Producers (based on Brooks’ 1968 film of the same name) first opened on Broadway in 2001 with a new musical twist, and this proved extremely popular with the show going on to win a record breaking twelve Tony Awards. Due to this success the majority of the original Broadway cast were involved in the film adaptation of the musical in 2005, which unlike the hugely successful stage show, received mixed reviews upon release. Nevertheless, The Producers has continued to tour and bring in audiences around the world.
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