Book: Patricia Resnick Music and Lyrics: Dolly Parton Director: Jeff Calhoun Dolly Parton’s 9 to 5 the Musical is the musical adaptation of the popular 1980s 20th Century Fox movie and tells the stories of office workers Violet Newstead, Judy Bernly and Doralee Rhodes and how they come together to overthrow their misogynistic boss Franklin Hart Jr. The show has a strong cast and features a great score, however, in some ways the story hasn’t necessarily aged very well. Audiences of different ages seemed to respond in different ways. What some older members of the audience found funny, younger audience…
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.
Writer: Ronald Harwood Director: Terry Johnson “What play is it tonight?” queries Sir not long before curtain up. The question seems strange nowadays but not in Ronald Harwood’s 1980 play set in the days of 1940s touring repertoire. The Dresser is a detailed play about a bygone world of English theatre as well as acting as a love letter to the art form. Weary actor-manager (only know as Sir) played by Matthew Kelly is either in the midst or has recently suffered a nervous breakdown. His company of Shakespeare players are performing King Lear this evening with him taking the…
Writers: John Godber, Elizabeth Godber Directors: John Godber, Jane Thornton Much to John Godber’s credit, rather than continuing to plough a furrow that has brought almost continuous success, he attempts something different in this quirky feel-good musical romance, fantasy within a realistically mundane frame. Godber spans the generations by co-writing Ruby and the Vinyl for the John Godber Company with his daughter Elizabeth. In fact the Godber dynasty keeps a firm hold on proceedings, his wife, Jane Thornton, co-directing and daughter Martha serving as choreographer, though there’s not a lot of dancing on display. Sadly the distinctive tang of a…
Composer: George Frideric Handel Conductor: Laurence Cummings Director: Tim Albery Alcina is one of those Handel Italian operas (staged in London) that relied originally on myth, magic and massive spectacle. The sublime music remains a constant, but it’s important also to devise a stage language that makes sense in the 21st century. One problem is the absurdity of not only the general plot, but of individual situations. In the opening scene of Alcina, for instance, a woman catches her first sight of a handsome knight (actually another woman) and declares that she’s in love. The audience, inevitably, titters. The opera…
Writer/Director: Ross Ericson The Ballad of Mulan shares its name with a 4th/5th century Chinese poem, though the first appearance of the story is even older than that. How far we can attach the word “authentic” to Ross Ericson’s play is debatable, but it’s certainly much more real than the various Disney Princess versions. The legend of Mulan – and opinion is divided as to whether the character existed – tells of a young woman who assumes male identity to take her sick or aged father’s place in the Imperial Army, fights with great distinction, gains high rank and after…
Writer: Phillip Correia Director: Anna Girvan While they have all been around for well over 100 years, classic literature’s monsters and madmen such as Count Dracula, and Doctors Frankenstein and Jekyll, remain as famous and popular as ever. This is largely due to them constantly being brought back in popular culture as a reflection of the zeitgeist. This is also true of H G Wells’ Griffin aka the invisible man. The concept of becoming invisible is often explored in films and TV shows, most recently in 2020’s movie The Invisible Man which very effectively explored toxic masculinity and domestic abuse.…
Music and Lyrics: Andrew Lippa Book: Marshall Brickman & Rick Elice Director: Matthew White It is a long way from Halloween but the beauty of the creation of The Addams Family means that it always seems like All Hallows Eve in the company of this infamous spooky clan. Made most popular by the 1964 TV show, the family make-up need no introduction. Existing as a musical for a little over ten years this fun production tours the UK until summer. It is easy to see why producers and creatives created a musical stage show of the kookiest family on the…
Director: Daniel Clarkson The public’s appetite for Morecambe and Wise continues undiminished, with at least two re-creations of the great double act touring at the moment. Unlike The Play What I Wrote, which spools around the story of a different pair of comedians and foregrounds the costume “drama” and the guest star, Eric & Ern is simply and purely a brilliant re-creation of much familiar material. No writer is credited for the show; presumably it’s mostly Eddie Braben and, quite possibly, Sid Green and Dick Hills and assorted gag writers. Ian Ashpitel and Jonty Stephens have been “doing” Morecambe and…