Music/Lyircs: Sherman Brothers New songs and additional music / lyrics: Neil Bartram Book: Brian Hill Directors: Candice Edmunds and Jamie Harrison The first ever stage adaptation of 1971 Disney classic Bedknobs and Broomsticks flew into the Liverpool Empire Theatre this week and brings with it some catchy songs, Illuminous fish and of course a magical flying bed! Featuring original music and lyrics from the renowned Sherman Brothers, the story centres around three siblings – the Rawlins children, who are orphaned and then evacuated from London during World War Two. During the very first scene you witness the close bond these…
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: James Dearden Director: Loveday Ingram Fatal Attraction, the highest-grossing movie of 1987, nominated for 6 academy awards and winner of People’s Choice ‘favourite dramatic movie’, is perhaps one of the most-watched thrillers of all time… but does this theatrical adaption translate on stage, providing all the thrills and chills that the movie does? Well, the answer is YES… yes, it does! This show is a must-see, not only for fans of the film but for anyone who loves a good thriller. Reuniting Corrie stars Oliver Farnworth and Kym Marsh in its leading roles, it’s mostly down to the dimensional performance…
Choreographers: Raúl Reinoso, Norge Cedeno, Thais Suarez, Pontus Lidberg, Maria Rovira, Alexis Fernandez, Yaday Ponce. Formed in 2016, Carlos Acosta’s Acosta Danza embodies the youthful exuberance of its home city of Havana. Like Acosta himself, now be based in the Midlands, as Director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, Acosta Danza is influenced and inspired by its homeland, and Cuba’s culture is at the heart of this programme of five wide-ranging works – three UK premieres by Cuban choreographers and two works revived from the company’s 2020 tour. The five works don’t flow as you might hope. The order they’ve chosen to…
Luke Wright should feel right at home in Liverpool’s Georgian Quarter. Last year, he was on the road performing rollicking ballads from the gin-soaked and gout-riddled days of the Hanoverian kings. Tonight, however, he has more contemporary issues on his mind: culture wars, murderous swans and a serious case of old-man love. Wright kicks off the evening with the gentle lament of Drawbridge followed by the louche, shirt-button-bursting Monster, the first single from his musical collaboration with electronic producer Cobbler. Tall, clad in black with dandyish flourishes, he cuts an energetic figure on the Philharmonic’s intimate Music Room stage –…
Writer: Noël Coward Director: Christopher Luscombe We’re told that, post-pandemic, what audiences want is the familiar. Dependable, cosy productions that aren’t too challenging. Private Lives is just that, and with two heavyweight theatre favourites in the lead roles, it’s hardly surprising that the auditorium for this opening night at the Lowry looks pretty full. But what’s astonishing about this play is that, almost a century on from its first performance, Coward’s dialogue is still so sharply biting and full of witty charm. When newlyweds Elyot and Sibyl discover they are honeymooning in the adjacent hotel room to Elyot’s ex-wife Amanda…
Writer/Director: Apphia Campbell Taking inspiration from one of the greatest jazz singers in living memory, Black Is The Color Of My Voice follow’s Nina Simone’s reflections on her life, from child prodigy to civil rights activist. Alone in her apartment, conversing with her father’s memory, the audience gets an insight into the incredible career and heartbreaking story of an incredible woman. Florence Odumosu takes centre stage in this one-woman show, and she is a force to be reckoned with. Taking the audience on a tour of Simone’s upbringing in the church, her early experiences of racism, her life choices, marriage,…
Lyrics: Fred Ebb Music: John Kander Book: Fred Ebb and Bob Fosse Director: Walter Bobby “Murder, greed, corruption, exploitation, adultery and treachery… all those things we hold near and dear to out hearts”, and so begins Chicago The Musical! Set in the 1920’s, during the age of jazz, Chicago is loosely based on true events witnessed by Maurine Watkins, who then turned her findings into a play. Watkins highlighted how in the 1920s a pretty face really could get away with murder and her script was such a hit that it became the basis of two films and the 1975…
Writer/Director: Kevin Finnan Nobody, the new dance/circus production from Motionhouse Dance, has a sinister opening. Although the cast are depicting a murder of crows, their synchronised movements are almost robotic and artificial rather than natural. There is, however, no mistaking the atmosphere of menace as they crane their necks scanning the horizon as if searching for prey. Sophie Donaldson’s costumes, resembling shreds of bondage gear, bring a shabby sense of desperation. The crows, we’re told, represent the inner voices of the characters as they try to make sense of their lives. It is hard, however, after the stress of the…