Book: Brian Hill Original Music/Lyrics: The Sherman Brothers New Music/Lyrics: Neil Bartram Director: Candice Edmunds & Jamie Harrison The power of magic is firmly alive in the latest Disney musical to take to the stage in this sumptuous, heart-warming, and enchanted production. Based on the 1971 hybrid live-action/animated movie starring Angela Lansbury and David Tomlinson, this new musical adaptation pays homage to the original film, while still ensuring plenty of original touches capture the hearts of a new generation. World War II is in full swing and children are being evacuated from London to the country. Recently orphaned Charlie Rawlins…
Author: The Reviews Hub - North West
The Reviews Hub - North West
The North West team is under the editorship of John McRoberts. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.
Writer: Charles Dickens Devised by Ben Duke and the Company Director: Ben Duke ‘It was the best of times, it was the worst of times’; even those with no further knowledge of Charles Dickens’ 1859 novel A Tale of Two Cities may recognise these words, one of the most famous opening lines in literature. It is therefore clear that this will not be a traditional adaptation, when this line comes not at the beginning, but about two-thirds of the way through theatre company Lost Dog’s absorbing re-imagining of the tale. Instead, the audience are welcomed by performer Nina-Morgane Madelaine, introducing…
Book: Laurence Marks & Maurice Gran Director: Bill Kenwright Dreamboats and Petticoats, Bill Kenwright’s jukebox franchise based on the bestselling compilation album is certainly “Bringing back the good times” just as the title promises, with its third instalment of the musical series at Manchester’s Palace theatre this week. This sequel reunites the characters some may have seen before, following sweethearts Laura (the chart-topping TV star taking up a glamorous summer season residency at the Torquay Palace) and Bobby (who’s been offered a summer gig with his boyish bandmates at Butlins, Bognor Regis) as they venture through the early days of…
Music/Lyrics: John Kander and Fred Ebb Director: Walter Bobbie Chicago, the 6-time Tony award-winning show is currently back on tour with a new cast for 2022. It stars the acclaimed classical singer Russell Watson as Billy Flynn and Faye Brookes as Roxie Hart. Originally a 1926 play by Maurine Dallas Watkins, it is a satire about corruption in the justice system and ‘celebrity’ criminals at that time. The musical was created in 1975 and like many musicals, it has gone through periods of popularity and decline but has currently has an impressive twenty-six-year run. Roxie Hart is a housewife and…
Writer: Barry Hines Adaptor: Robert Alan Evans Director: Atri Banerjee It is accepted educational inequalities and social deprivation increased dramatically during the COVID pandemic. Barry Hines’s A Kestrel for a Knave, with themes of how the lives of working-class children are adversely shaped by preconceptions and limited opportunities, remains, therefore, as relevant as ever. Having already been adapted for screen and stage and even re-imagined as a dance the story is, however, over-familiar and Robert Alan Evans exploits the likelihood audiences may already know the plot with a radical adaptation. Even before the play starts it is apparent the production…
Composer: George Frideric Handel Director: Tim Albery With their current productions at The Lowry, Opera North have tried to make an art form often regarded as elitist accessible to a wider audience. Carmen has changed from a seductress/femme fatale to a single mother oppressed by the patriarchy and Rigoletto is ostracised because of his race rather than a disability. However, as Alcina is a fairy tale, developing contemporary relevance is a challenge and the approach taken, while satisfactory to hardcore opera buffs, may not appeal to those whose interest is more general. Enchantress sisters Alcina (Sky Ingram) and Morgana (Fflur…
Writer: Jonathan Larkin Director: James Baker Jonathan Larkin’s gripping new comic drama Cherry Jezebel is a dark and dramatic delight. A love letter to the queer community of Liverpool that is given a raw and honest production thanks to the assured and confident direction of James Baker. On the multi-leveled and perhaps overly detailed set by Ellie Light which transforms from toilets to living room, Larkin’s characters show that the life of a drag queen is not all glitz and glamour and occasionally that despite the attacks on the streets, it’s the ones closest to home that hurt and cut…
Composer: Giuseppe Verdi Librettist: Francesco Maria Piave Director: Femi Elufowoju Jr Conductor: Garry Walker Rigoletto is one of the top ten most frequently performed operas in the World. Based on a play by Victor Hugo, Rigoletto, tells the story of a disabled Jester who fiercely protects the innocence of his daughter from a hedonistic Duke and his retinue of philandering aristocrats. In this stunning modern-day production by Opera North, Rigoletto, one of Verdi’s most popular operas is powerfully reimagined. In the wake of the Me-Too movement, this production takes on a deep resonance highlighting the exploitation of the vulnerable, especially…