Writer and Director: Will Brenton Shangri Fa! The land where everyone is treated equally. Well, in theory, anyway. In practice, some, like the Notary, are more equal than others. Among the residents is a shady Robin Hood-like character, Aladdin, who is pure of heart and has pledged to help others. But trouble is brewing: the evil Abanazar wants world domination (of course) and just needs the legendary magic lamp and its genie to get it. One hitch: the lamp is in a cave near Shangri Fa – but it is protected by powerful magic and can only be retrieved by someone…
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.
Writers: Anna Nicholson and Bobby Goulder Director: Toby Hulse It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a regional theatre in search of a good fortune, must be in want of a pantomime. And there is no doubting the power of pantomime not only to sustain our regional theatres but also to give many people their first experience of live theatre. Oxford Playhouse is to be commended for continuing its long tradition of creating original pantomimes with new scripts and stagings every year. Cinderella marks the start of a new era for the theatre with the introduction of a new creative…
Writer and Director: Iain Lauchlan The very fact that a grumpy teenager who would usually rather be playing computer games was so excited about heading back to the Belgrade Theatre for this year’s pantomime is testament to the reputation Iain Lauchlan and Craig Hollingsworth have created over the years. Jack and the Beanstalk is this year’s offering and it is clear from the faces of those waiting in the foyer that this is a yearly highlight for many. As the curtain goes up, Lauchlan and Hollingsworth quickly resume their familiar banter. Despite the audience veterans at times being able to…
Music: Nicky Ager and Debbie Isitt Writer and Director: Debbie Isitt It’s November. The people of Birmingham might be forgiven if the decorations aren’t up and those letters to Santa haven’t hit the post boxes yet. It’s a debate that repeats itself year after year in every workplace up and down the country. ‘When can we start celebrating Christmas?’ The answer at the REP is a resounding now! Nativity! is the critically acclaimed film which hit our screens back in 2009. Debbie Isitt’s heart-warming storyline captured what Christmas is all about, but in recent years Nativity! has been turbo-charged into…
Music: Harold Arlen Lyrics: E. Y. Harburg Writer: L Frank Baum Adaptors: Andrew Lloyd Webber and Jeremy Sams Director: Nikolai Foster The first thing to say about this production of The Wizard of Oz is that it is non-traditional. In many ways that can be regarded as a good thing, and theatre is all about pushing boundaries and experimenting, but this feels like it’s trying just a little bit too hard to bring itself out of the ordinary. As a result we have some changes to the soundtrack – out go some of the traditional numbers and in come a…
Adaptors: Robert Stigwood with Bill Oakes Director: Bill Kenwright It’s hard to appreciate now the impact that the film Saturday Night Fever had on its release in 1977. It thrust a young John Travolta into the spotlight as Italian-American Tony Manero and gave the Bee Gees a new direction and lease of life as they provided its thumping disco soundtrack. So it’s perhaps no surprise that Tony Manero’s story was adapted as a stage musical in 1998. But it’s not a musical in the usual sense of the word, rather this is a play about late 1970s society, that uses…
Book and Lyrics: Tom Eyen Music: Henry Krieger Director: Casey Nicholaw Right from the start, you can tell that Dreamgirls is going to be something spectacular. It’s glitzy with a killer soundtrack and some powerhouse vocals. It’s the 1960s and Effie, Lorrell and Deena are trying to break into showbusiness, calling themselves the Dreamettes. They enter a talent contest, which results in an unexpected outcome and sets their friendship on the road to some challenging times as fame, love and ambition threaten to derail their relationship. Dreamgirls has a fantastic soundtrack full of powerful numbers. A good part for the…
Music: Alan Menkin Lyrics: Glenn Slater Book: Cheri Steinkellner and Bill Steinkellner Director: Bill Buckhurst Based on the 1992 classic movie of the same name, starring Whoopi Goldberg, Sister Act has been adapted into a joyous stage musical. The musical largely follows the movie plot (but is set in the 1970s) of Deloris Van-Cartier (Sandra Marvin), a small-time club singer who must go into witness protection having been a witness to a murder at the hands of her gangster boyfriend. The officer in charge of her safety, ‘Steady’ Eddie Southern (Graham Macduff) places her in the most unlikely sanctuary, a Roman Catholic…