Music: Arthur Sullivan Libretto: W.S Gilbert Director/Choreographer: Liam Steel Conductor: Jack Ridley English Touring Opera began their Spring tour at Sheffield with a sparkling production of Gilbert and Sullivan’s The Gondoliers. It’s interesting to see what has happened to Gilbert and Sullivan’s productions in the 50-odd years since the D’Oyly Carte monopoly ended. One important change has been in the reduced size of chorus fielded by companies such as English Touring Opera. The contadine in the opening sequence actually refer to there being 24 of them (comic counting of fingers on stage put it at seven at Sheffield) and, while this might reduce…
Author: The Reviews Hub - Yorkshire & North East
The Reviews Hub - Yorkshire & North East
The Yorkshire & North East team is under the editorship of Jacob Bush. The Reviews Hub was set up in 2007. Our mission is to provide the most in-depth, nationwide arts coverage online.
Book and Lyrics: Dougie Blaxland Music: Chris Anthony Creative Director: Amanda Horlock Biographical theatre always faces a delicate balancing act: how to honour a life without overwhelming the stage with detail. Our Little Hour, written by Dougie Blaxland and produced in association with Show Racism the Red Card, tells the story of Walter Tull – a pioneering footballer, one of the first Black players to compete at the highest level of the English game, and later an officer in the British Army during the First World War. It is a remarkable life, marked by resilience and quiet determination, but also…
Book and Lyrics: Marsha Norman Music: Lucy Simon Director: John Doyle The Secret Garden is a musical based on the 1911 novel of the same name by Frances Hodgson Burnett. The musical’s script and lyrics were crafted by Marsha Norman, with music composed by Lucy Simon. It premiered on Broadway in 1991, enjoying a successful run of 709 performances. The musical initially debuted as a staged reading at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, during the summer of 1989. This production was facilitated by the Capital Repertory Theatre and directed by R.J. Cutler, who later directed its world premiere…
Writer: Leo Butler Director: Abigail Graham Sheffield’s award-winning Leo Butler’s new play Living is an ambitious play that attempts to cover the lives of an ordinary family over five decades. Kathy and Brian as newlyweds move into a house on Burngreave Road in Pitsmoor. They go on to have a son and a daughter. Times change and so do some of their attitudes but their deep-rooted premise is love and family connection. The play starts in 1969 and goes up to the present day, through Thatcherism, Blairism, Covid and to Trump. The television is ever present and serves as a…
Writer: Andrea Levy Adapter: Helen Edmundson Director: Matthew Xia Matthew Xia’s production of Helen Edmundson’s adaptation of Andrea Levy’s saga of the Windrush generation is wonderfully involving, perhaps marginally less convincing in the shorter second half than in the first which clocks in at 100 minutes, but seems much shorter as it ranges widely over place (Jamaica and Britain), time (from 1939 onwards) and character. The first half alternates between the stories of Hortense, Queenie and Gilbert, each narrating and enacting the pre-1948 scenes. Hortense is brought up in the oppressively religious household of Mr Philip and Miss Ma, with…
Writer: Alan Janes Director: Matt Salisbury These days it seems that every other show that crops up is a jukebox musical (i.e. a show with a narrative and featuring the repertoire of a particular musical act). With MJ the Musical being one of the more recent ones, and Mamma Mia! definitely being one of the most famous ones, it’s interesting to see one of the original ones in the form of Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story which debuted in 1989. Buddy wasn’t the first jukebox musical but it was the first to be a monster hit, and it subsequently created a template that many have followed since. Unfortunately for Buddy: The Buddy Holly Story, there isn’t much story to tell considering that Holly tragically…
Book, Music and Lyrics: Willy Russell Directors: Bob Tomson and Bill Kenwright What more can possibly be said in praise of Blood Brothers? Willy Russell’s musical magnum opus has toured nationally and internationally for almost forty years and, helmed as always by director Bob Tomson, Bill Kenwright’s classic production is the epitome of the phrase ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it’. The story follows fraternal twins Mickey (Sean Jones) and Eddie (Joe Sleight), separated at birth, brought together by apparent coincidence (or possibly fate), and doomed to die if they ever know the truth. This vividly theatrical premise provides…
In the midst a major UK and Ireland tour of Julia Donaldson and Axel Scheffler’s Zog, we spoke to Lotti Brogan, who is starring as Madam Dragon and Governess, about the production, theatre for young people and her success at The Pantomime Awards 2024. Please can you tell us what Zog is about and a little bit about your character? Zog is about a young dragon who goes to dragon school to learn skills like flying, roaring, breathing fire and capturing princesses. He tries very hard but is often clumsy and gets hurt. A king girl, Princess Pearl, secretly helps him…