Composer: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart Libretto: Lorenzo da Ponte, translated by Orlando Jopling and Danielle de Niese Conductor: Orlando Jopling Director: Danielle de Niese Mozart’s The Marriage of Figaro, the iconic sequel to The Barber of Seville, is one of the best-known works in the operatic canon. Set over a single day, it follows Figaro and Susanna as they prepare for their wedding while navigating the schemes and infidelities of Count Almaviva and his household. Traditionally performed in Italian, Figaro can feel intimidating to those less familiar with opera. Wild Arts removes that barrier by performing the work in English. It…
Author: The Reviews Hub - East Anglia & South East
The Reviews Hub - East Anglia & South East
The South East team is under the editorship of Peter Marcus. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.
Music: Bob Gaudio Lyrics: Bob Crewe Writer: Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice Director: Des McAnuff It is over 60 years since 1962 when the Four Seasons had their first hit, and this is the 20th anniversary UK tour of the documentary style jukebox musical based on their story and their songs. The show spends a little too long in the back story extending the first act to 75 minutes but once the group renames itself, in 1960, as the Four Seasons, after a bowling alley sign, the show takes off with the hits weaved into the narrative. The book by…
Canterbury’s Marlowe Theatre has announced the cast for their new production of Charles Dickens’ A Tale of Two Cities, adapted for stage by Terence Rattigan and John Gielgud The premiere will be at the Marlowe Theatre, Canterbury before going to Leeds Playhouse, ahead of further dates in 2017 at Theatre Royal Bath, Cheltenham Theatre, Chichester Festival Theatre, King’s Theatre Edinburgh and Theatre Clwyd, with further dates to be announced. The cast includes EastEnders’ Scarlett Brookes, The Evermoor Chronicles’ Jordan Loughran, and So Awkward and Hollyoaks’ Jasmine Kerr, and is directed by Olivier Award and Grammy-nominated Michael Fentiman. Deborah Shaw, Chief Executive at the…
Music: Giuseppe Verdi Director: James Hurley Conductor: Adrian Kelly Verdi’s La Traviata remains one of opera’s most enduring tragedies, wrapping questions of love, reputation and sacrifice in some of the repertoire’s most recognisable music. Set amid the glittering excess of nineteenth-century Parisian society, it follows the celebrated courtesan Violetta as an unexpected romance with Alfredo offers the possibility of a different future, until the social expectations she has spent her life navigating prove impossible to escape. This production, a partnership between Norwich Theatre Royal and Buxton International Festival, presents the story with more confidence than reinvention. The familiar landmarks are…
Book: Patricia Resnick Music and Lyrics: Dolly Parton Director: Paul Jepson Hearing the words ‘9 to 5’ most people will think of one of two things; a day at the office of Dolly Parton’s hit song. This week the two collide as Landmark Theatres’ production of 9 to 5 the Musical arrives in Guildford. The musical, based on the 1980 film of the same name – itself a fictionalised retelling of the very real 9to5 movement, struggled to make an impact when it opened on Broadway in 2009 but has since gone on to become a firm favourite with this…
Writer: Enid Blyton Music: Nigel Lilley Adaptor/Lyrics/Director: Emma Rice Enid Blyton wrote Malory Towers as a series of six novels between 1946 and 1951 covering six consecutive school years at a private boarding school in Devon, long before JK Rowling wrote the Harry Potter series or Lawrence O’Keefe and Kevin Murphy wrote Heathers the Musical. All three deal with adolescent years, bullying and danger, and the absence of parental guidance. Yet there is a delightful charm and innocence in Blyton’s tale about eight girls sharing a dormitory and Emma Rice’s once again brings her considerable creative skills to the fore…
Book: Claude-Michel Schӧnberg & Alain Boublil Music: Claude-Michel Schӧnberg Lyrics: Richard Maltby Jr & Alain Boublil (additional lyrics Michael Mahler) Director: Jean-Pierre Van Der Spuy ‘The Legend Reborn’ boasts the marketing material for Cameron Mackintosh and Michael Harrison’s new production, reaching the end of its UK tour before it returns to London next year. Since it debuted almost four decades ago, Miss Saigon has been seen by over 38 million and continues to win new fans every time the curtain rises on Dreamland, truly earning the legend moniker. This production, directed by Jean-Pierre van der Spuy, continues the legacy Mackintosh…
Writer: Noël Coward Director: Philip Wilson In the first major presentation of Coward’s The Marquise for over two decades, Philip Watson brings the show into the 20th century – setting it some 200 years after Coward had originally set it – putting onto the stage a piece of theatre so quintessentially Coward while remaining fresh and new. The cast is led by Simon Shepherd (as Raoul de Vriaac) and Tristan Gemmill (as Esteban el Duco de Santaguano), playing the fathers of two people set to be married. Between them they provide stability to the events of the play and, vital…