Writer: Willy Russell Directors: Bob Tomson and Bill Kenwright You will find it difficult to find many who haven’t experienced the rollercoaster of emotions that is a trip to the theatre to take in Blood Brothers. That the play turned musical has recently celebrated its 40th anniversary with this tour is testament to its success in gripping audiences up and down the country. Willy Russell’s original play successfully tackled themes of the class divide, inequality and fate, but since its conversion to a musical, it has captivated young and old alike with its raw emotion in the form of powerful…
Author: The Reviews Hub - Central
The Reviews Hub - Central
The Central team is under the editorship of Selwyn Knight. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.
Book: Chad Beguelin Music: Alan Menken Lyrics: Howard Ashman and Tim Rice Director: Casey Nicholaw Disney’s Aladdin is a story universally loved thanks to its 1992 cartoon and the iconic performance of the genie by the late, great Robin Williams. This musical reworking encapsulates that Disney magic, but in its own image. It follows the story of Aladdin, a poor young boy with limited prospects who is sent on a fool’s errand and finds himself the owner of a magic lamp. From then on his life changes in the most unpredictable of ways. This musical has worked hard to create…
Writer: Yann Martel Adaptor: Lolita Chakrabarti Director: Max Webster Life of Pi is as near perfect as a theatrical production is likely to get. Every element – script, acting, set, lighting, sound, direction and choreography – combines to provide a tour de force that has the audience immersed in Pi’s fantastical story. And it seems everyone agrees: as the tour posters proudly proclaim, it has won pretty much all the awards going, including five Oliviers and three Tonys. Teenager Piscine Patel prefers to be called Pi. He’s an earnest and spiritual young man whose family runs a small zoo in…
Book and Lyrics: Robyn Grant and Daniel Foxx Music: Tim Gilvin Director: Robyn Grant Having had a successful run at the Edinburgh Fringe and also the Southwark Playhouse, London, Unfortunate: The Untold Story of Ursula the Sea Witch embarks on a UK-wide tour. The story recounts the events from The Little Mermaid but from Ursula’s perspective, in much the same vein as Wicked. Unlike Wicked, however, this is very much an adult, drag-style show carrying an age rating of 16+. Beginning with Ursula’s childhood, the show attempts to make us understand why the events of the movie played out as…
Music: Andrew Lloyd-Webber Lyrics: Tim Rice Director: Timothy Sheader For over 50 years, Jesus Christ Superstar has been thrilling audiences, starting life as a rock album before the first staged version on Broadway. Since then, it has been performed at many venues around the world, often to great acclaim, and this particular version is not new – first appearing at Regents Park Open Air Theatre in 2016, and returning there twice more, with a stay at the Barbican, also playing in Chicago and a US tour before embarking on its current UK tour. It’s done the rounds then – and…
Conductor: Michael Seal Take a concert programme full of popular classics, add the CBSO and the result is a buzzing Symphony Hall for the Classic FM Hall of Fame. It’s a wonderfully varied programme too, featuring music spanning three centuries from Vivaldi to Wiseman, all performed by Birmingham’s own world-class orchestra with guest violinist Tessa Lark. Starting proceedings is the ever-popular overture to Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro with its instantly-recognisable string opening – something that, if you don’t recognise it from its original setting, you may remember as the music for the candy room lock in Willy Wonka and…
Writer: William Shakespeare Director: Emily Burns Love’s Labour’s Lost is not an easy play to tackle as a director or cast member. The language is dense, packed with references that no longer have any meaning for contemporary audiences and some of the characters are very thinly drawn. Emily Burns and her team, the overwhelming majority of whom are new to the RSC, are to be congratulated on delivering a coherent, accessible and funny production that does not shy away from the challenges but rather tackles them head on with gusto. Navarre is reimagined as a high end hotel resort complete…
Writer: Sonali Bhattacharyya Director: Milli Bhatia Ruqaya and Sabi behave like typical schoolgirls do. They hang out together, beat-box, go to school. They choose which bus stop they use because they need to see if a bully has boarded the bus and they need to avoid her. It all seems totally normal. Then one day they meet social media influencer Xara and their lives change, starting to skip school and make TikToks. They spend time at the charity-run creative writing workshop that’s opened in what used to be the local library, but then there’s a falling-out between Xara and the…