Tag Archives: Birmingham

Choreographers: Jack Lister, Cathy Marston, Twyla Tharp Reviewer: John Kennedy A Brief Nostalgia reveals two vertical, concreted-texture slabs. A vicious, horizontal fusillade of power-shadowed lighting splays the six dancers flaying in a dystopian matrix nightmare. Well, Birmingham Royal Ballet (BRB) just wouldn’t have it any other way when inviting the Queensland (Australia) Ballet to nimble/stomp tread their guest-spot balletic brilliance on the ...

Writer: Bryony Lavery from the book by Alice Sebold Director: Melly Still Reviewer: John Kennedy Protagonist, the traumatised young teenager, Susie Salmon (‘like the fish’), following her abduction, rape, murder and dismemberment, maintains a compelling narrative as she navigates through and beyond the ‘Inbetween’. That gossamer veil separating her personal Heaven from her family still stupefied with guilt and grief ...

Book: Arthur Laurents Music: Leonard Bernstein Lyrics: Stephen Sondheim Director: Matthew Hawksworth Reviewer: John Kennedy Everything was possible in Bernsteins’s late 50s Atomic-Age ‘America’ where inter-racial antagonism imploded with incendiary, teenage trouser-powered cool, hormonal-hip braggadocio to a Romeo and Juliet riff. ‘Is that a GAT in your cod-piece buddy - or are you just frightened to see me?’ Plus ça change, ...

Writers: Rachel Wagstaff and Duncan Abel, based on the book by Paula Hawkins Director: Anthony Banks Reviewer: Clare White Rachel Watson’s life has spiraled out of control. Lonely, divorced and teetering on the edge of a serious breakdown, she continues to catch the commuter train to London every day despite being fired from her job, a result of her excessive ...

Reviewer: C L Delft Before he became the defining producer of the 80s, Trevor Horn had served an apprenticeship as a performer, topping the charts in 1979 as part of The Buggles with Video Killed The Radio Star and going on from there to front a later incarnation of the progressive rock band Yes, before settling for a life mostly ...

Book: Thomas Meehan Music: Charles Strouse Lyrics: Martin Charnin Director: Nikolai Foster Reviewer: Hannah Powell The 2019 cast of Annie certainly does not disappoint. In a world of government bankers and a society which seems to treat the working classes as something to exterminate, Annie brings with it not only incredibly orchestrated music and intricate choreography but most importantly an ...

Book: Craig Lucas Music: Daniel Messé Lyrics: Nathan Tysen & Daniel Messé Reviewer: Selwyn Knight Amélie the Musical is a sweet and quirky story of a French girl. Brought up by a distant father and neurotic mother, she is isolated from the world and retreats into her own imagination. When her mother is killed in a freak accident, Amélie leaves ...

Writer: Roderick Smith, based on Homer's Iliad Directors: Madeleine Kludje and Philip Morris Reviewer: James Garrington Homer’s Iliad is a lengthy and detailed epic poem, with a huge array of characters – Greeks, Trojans and Gods. That undoubtedly creates difficulties in translating even the essence of a part of it onto the stage. Writer Roderick Smith has had a fair ...