ANNIE GET YOUR GUN - THEATRE REVIEW

ANNIE GET YOUR GUN AT THE NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE, BIRMINGHAM

Theatre Run: Tuesday 01 - Saturday 05 July 2014
Performance Reviewed: Tuesday 01 July 2014 (Press Night)

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

The Ambassador Theatre Group have once more dipped into the barrel of great classic musicals this year to lovingly resurrect Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun, based on the original film and stage musical depicting the (fictionalised) life and times of legendary real-life sharpshooter Annie Oakley. It’s from a creed and calibre of musicals that many will still herald as a ‘golden era’ of sorts, that still-adored pocket of the 1950’s and early 60‘s in particular where the likes of Berlin, Rodgers and Hammerstein and co were a major force in Hollywood and Broadway, and were irreversibly shaping and defining the musical genre as a whole.

DAWN FRENCH: THIRTY MILLION MINUTES - UK TOUR REVIEW

DAWN FRENCH: THIRTY MILLION MINUTES AT THE NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE, BIRMINGHAM

Theatre Run: Wednesday 18 - Friday 20 June 2014
Performance Reviewed: Wednesday 18 June 2014

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

Dawn French’s first ever solo tour (yes, really), Thirty Million Minutes, is prefaced with an announcement that this is a show specifically for ‘nice’ people, and anybody critical, cynical or otherwise negative do not belong there. It dovetails off of that same well-meaning, bubbly, inoffensive and down-to-Earth vibe and persona that French has cultivated pretty much faultlessly across her career. It’s the same warmth and cuddly bonhomie that made The Vicar of Dibley such an irrepressibly lovable show, even when some of it’s plotting or narrative work was a trifle humdrum. It’s why French remains such a beloved and well-regarded National treasure - she genuinely registers as a nice person herself, and, just as crucially, a very empathetic and real one.

THEATRE PREVIEW - ANNIE GET YOUR GUN

ANNIE’S GOT HER GUN AND IS HEADING TO BRUM!

Jason Donovan leads the cast of a major new production of Irving Berlin’s Annie Get Your Gun as it rolls into town at the Birmingham New Alexandra Theatre next month!

Dates: Tuesday 01 - Saturday 05 July 2014

Preview by Kyle Pedley

The West Midlands is readying to welcome back Aussie star of stage, screen and the pop charts, Jason Donovan, as he heads up a major new revival of the beloved, Tony Award-winning Musical Western classic, Annie Get Your Gun. He will appear alongside TV, Film and Theatre star Emma Williams, who will be playing the title role of Annie Oakley and Normal Pace as Buffalo Bill in the new production from the producers of recent revival hits South Pacific and West Side Story.

LORD OF THE FLIES - THEATRE REVIEW

LORD OF THE FLIES AT THE BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME (International Dance Festival Birmingham)

Theatre Run: Wednesday 14 - Saturday 17 May 2014
Performance Reviewed: Thursday 15 May 2014 (Press Night)

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

William Golding’s magnum opus, Lord of the Flies, remains one of the continuing tentpoles of English Literature, and naturally has thus been adapted to stage and screen in almost every possible iteration imaginable. The simplicity of it’s tale - a group of schoolboys find themselves deserted on a remote island and gradually resort to feral, primitive behaviour as they fight to survive - remains as potent as ever, and it’s exploration of the human condition, societal structure and innate feral regression makes it rich for dramatisation and adaptation across a wealth of different mediums and forms. It is exciting, then, to see it given such a biting, inventive and quite boldly visceral re-imagining, courtesy of acclaimed choreographer and dance director Matthew Bourne, as part of this years International Dance Festival Birmingham.

ROCK OF AGES - THEATRE REVIEW

ROCK OF AGES AT THE BIRMINGHAM NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE

Theatre Run: Monday 12 - Saturday 17 May 2014
Performance Reviewed: Monday 12 May 2014 (Press Night)

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

Rock of Ages is a difficult beast to pigeonhole. It doesn’t so much suffer from an identity crisis as an identity overload, jostling with so many characters and subplots that can’t seem to decide if they’re being deliberately parodic or so-satirical-it’s-ultimately-sincere, and a fiercely postmodern approach that bandies around with tone so schizophrenically it sometimes feels more akin to musical theatre whiplash than anything else. The smash hits of the 80’s are in there too, and are plentiful, though some of the arrangements are disappointingly short and the whole ‘Rock’ through-line sometimes feels more of a clumsy afterthought than a titular McGuffin. Fortunately, for all the tonal incongruences and haphazardness of it’s plot, Rock of Ages does at least crucially make good on it’s promise of a fun, infectious and ultimately rather irrepressible evening of solid music and vibrant, high energy (see: super-charged) entertainment.

20TH CENTURY BOY - THEATRE REVIEW

20TH CENTURY BOY AT THE BIRMINGHAM NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE

Theatre Run: Monday 28 April - Saturday 03 May 2014
Performance Reviewed: Monday 28 April 2014

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

In decidedly meta fashion, the life and times of T-Rex frontman Marc Bolan were of such superstardom, hedonism and excess that by today’s standards it all seems ironically quite atypical and overly familiar. Talented, aspiring musician from humble beginnings does good, becomes rock ‘n’ roll wunderkind, devolves into heady life of drinks, drugs and dubious extra-marital relationships before ultimately leading to an untimely, some-would-argue tragic death. It has all been played out on film, television and, indeed, on-stage, to such an extent that 20th Century Boy, be it based on true events as it may be, won’t be bowling anyone over with its originality. And even within the confines of actuality, being thankfully a biographical piece rather than an original story inspired by his life, it is at times difficult to locate any palpable drama, and Bolan’s own murkier periods seem notably underplayed and fleeting, as though nobody involved wanted to tread too damagingly on the man’s memory and legacy.

HAPPY DAYS: A NEW MUSICAL - THEATRE REVIEW

HAPPY DAYS: A NEW MUSICAL AT THE BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME

Theatre Run: Tuesday 22 - Saturday 26 April 2014

Performance Reviewed: Tuesday 22 April 2014 (Press Night)

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

Happy Days is something of an oddity to review and fully digest as a brand new musical production (something which, as its marketing repeatedly assures us, it is) given that it leans so heavily on nostalgia and formula to the point that it not only feels dated but also heavily derivative. It seems an unfair critique to labour over the antiquity of a show based on a 1970’s sitcom which itself was set 20 years prior, but there is very little trace of modernity, irony or invention to practically everything Happy Days offers. This may, of course, be precisely the point, owing to the TV series' original creator Garry Marshall having penned the shows book, and there is likely a fairly broad demographic who will get a kick from such a faithfully styled recreation of the hugely popular show being brought to the stage, but for the rest of us it’s difficult to shake the feeling that his has all been done and seen before with greater fire in its belly and punch in its execution. Take Grease, Footloose and a soupcon of Hairspray, blend them together whilst simultaneously diluting their respective character and vim, and you pretty much have Happy Days - a perfectly inoffensive yet not particularly effective simulacra of the feel-good, period musicals of yesteryear.

DANCE 'TIL DAWN - THEATRE REVIEW

DANCE 'TIL DAWN AT THE NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE, BIRMINGHAM

Theatre Run: Monday 21 - Saturday 26 April 2014
Performance Reviewed: Monday 21 April 2014 (Press Night)

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

I loved Midnight Tango - last years dance vehicle for Strictly veterans Vincent Simone and Flavia Cacace. It was a fresh, confident and incredibly charismatic outing that allowed its prolific and dynamic leading duo to tell their story almost exclusively through some genuinely stunning dance. This year, Simone and Cacace return for another UK theatre tour with Dance ‘Til Dawn, and the question of how this new production could be distinctive and original enough from its predecessor to warrant a ticket purchase was the prevailing thought upon going in to what could very easily have been Midnight Tango Mk.2.

WEST SIDE STORY - THEATRE REVIEW

WEST SIDE STORY AT THE BIRMINGHAM NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE

Theatre Run: Tuesday 01 - Saturday 19 April 2014
Performance Reviewed: Wednesday 02 April 2014 (Gala Press Night)

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

Few musical productions come with as great a repute and standing as West Side Story. With a cavalcade of plaudits and gongs to its name, from Tony’s and Grammy’s through to a staggering 10 Academy Awards including Best Picture (being one of the most awarded movies of all time), to it repeatedly heading up any number of ‘greatest musicals of all time’ lists and polls (including the Number 1 spot in our 2012 countdown of The Greatest Movie Musicals), there is no doubting the prestige, clout and indeed, love, that has become synonymous with the name. As such, any revival or touring production is accepting a heavy mantle of responsibility to do such a fabled piece of musical theatre justice, and it is with a heady swell of both pride and relief that one can safely say that this current touring production of West Side Story, arriving at the Birmingham New Alexandra this week, does a somewhat exceptional job of doing precisely that.

LA TRAVIATA (WELSH NATIONAL OPERA) - THEATRE REVIEW

WELSH NATIONAL OPERA PRESENTS 'LA TRAVIATA' AT THE BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME

Theatre Run: 04, 08 March 2014 (Manon Lescaut and Boulevard Solitude run in between)

Performance Reviewed: Tuesday 04 March 2014 (Press Night)

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

I rarely offer any personal or contextual preface to my critiques, but it seems particularly prudent going into this review to clarify it as having been not only my inaugural opera review, but also indeed my first opera viewing experience. I have always afforded the form the utmost of respect from an outsiders perspective, not to mention a growing intrigue and curiosity that shall hopefully lend this review an added relevance and purpose to those readers out there who may similarly have never been.

GHOST - THEATRE PREVIEW

CITY GETS IN THE 'SPIRIT' AS GHOST THE MUSICAL ARRIVES IN BIRMINGHAM FOR CHRISTMAS!

Celebrated tearjerker musical, based on the 1990 Oscar-Winning hit film starring Patrick Swayze, Demi Moore and Whoopi Goldberg arrives at the New Alexandra Theatre this week to begin an extended Christmas and New Year Run!

Dates: Tuesday 17 December 2013 - Sunday 05 January 2014

Preview by Kyle Pedley

Theatre fans in Birmingham and beyond had best get their hankies and tissues at the ready this Christmas and New Year season as one of the most celebrated touring musical theatre productions of the year returns to the Midlands to see out 2013 and welcome in the New Year in the city's New Alexandra Theatre. Technically audacious and visually stunning, our previous review of this same touring production gave it a coveted 5 out of 5 stars, citing it as "Single-handedly the most ambitious, bombastically visceral and tirelessly inventive touring musical production[s] we've had the pleasure of experiencing.... an at-times breathtakingly dynamic and kinetic explosion and exploration of eye-candy and splendour".

A MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET - THEATRE REVIEW

MIRACLE ON 34TH STREET AT THE NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE, BIRMINGHAM

Theatre Run: Thursday 05 - Saturday 07 December

Performance Viewed: Thursday 05 December (Press Night)

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

I’m going to go out on a limb and say the majority of people who pay to go and see a musical version of ‘Miracle on 34th Street’ are likely in the market for something to top up their festive spirit. Either those familiar with the movie version (be it the 1947 or ’94 incarnations) or generally enthused about the time of year to indulge in a bit of added mirth and merriment.

AN EVENING OF BURLESQUE - THEATRE REVIEW

AN EVENING OF BURLESQUE AT THE NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE, BIRMINGHAM

Theatre Run: One Night Only at New Alexandra Theatre, Tour Ongoing

Performance Reviewed: Saturday 28 September 2013

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

Burlesque as both a concept and an art form is one that has undeniably grown in popularity and awareness of late, and yet despite this, the abundance of differing perspectives and opinions on what exactly constitutes Burlesque, coupled with external influences such as the insipid 2010 movie of the same name (from which this production thankfully only lifts the movies highlight, it's opening number), continues to lead to some confusion. Many read it as being nothing more than stripping and adult entertainment set to music, others conjure up images of elaborate costumes and spectacle toe-dipping into almost carnival, circus-esque levels of flamboyance. 

SLEEPING BEAUTY ON ICE - THEATRE PREVIEW

THE IMPERIAL ICE STARS PRESENT 'SLEEPING BEAUTY ON ICE'

International Ice Dance sensations The Imperial Ice Stars, including ITV Dancing on Ice's Olga Sharutenko, make a triumphant return to the UK with a dazzling new production coming to Birmingham next month!

Dates: Tuesday 8 - Saturday 12 October 2013

Preview by Kyle Pedley.

As Winter seems to be drawing upon us with worrying pace (the heating went on in our household for the first time last night, much to all our dismay), Birmingham prepares to welcome it in gracious, internationally-acclaimed style as a dazzling new ice dance spectacular comes to the city in the form of Sleeping Beauty on Ice at the New Alexandra Theatre for a one-week only engagement.

UP4AMEET? - Theatre Review

UP4AMEET? AT THE CRESCENT THEATRE, BIRMINGHAM

Theatre Run: Monday 22 - Wednesday 24 July (at Crescent Theatre, tour ongoing)
Performance Reviewed: Wednesday 24 July

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

PLEASE NOTE: Although this review does not contain adult language or any full nudity, it does refer to the adult content within the show. As such, reader discretion should be advised.

From it’s brazenly homoerotic posters and marketing through to the first (of many) flashes of no-holds-barred, full-frontal male nudity within literally the opening thirty seconds, Up4aMeet makes no qualms about the kind of show it is going to be. Fabulously gratuitous, gloriously camp and peppered with an acerbic wit and cheeky tone that keeps it all feeling knowingly tongue-in-cheek, this is the perfect kind of guilty pleasure theatre experience for the Grindr age that deserves to become something of a gay cult favourite.

The show as a whole has an air of sassy 90’s Brit-Com about it, echoes of Gimme, Gimme, Gimme and even Absolutely Fabulous in tone and execution, by way of Russell T Davies’ seminal gay drama Queer as Folk (which I did notice an orgasm quip had been borrowed from). It’s decidedly gay-oriented, and it’s certainly difficult to envisage those unfamiliar with the likes of Grindr (replaced here by identical phone app C*ckShop), or the likes of ‘NSA’ and questions of ‘Top or Bottom?’ getting as much mileage and investment out of the show. That being said, there is still plenty of witty interplay, casual nudity and general fun and silliness to make Up4aMeet an easy recommendation for a shamelessly entertaining night out.

CAROUSEL - THEATRE REVIEW

CAROUSEL AT THE NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE, BIRMINGHAM

Theatre Run: Tuesday 16 - Saturday 20 July
Performance Reviewed: Tuesday 16 July (Press Night)

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

BMOS - The Birmingham and Midland Operatic Society - has a long, rich history of over 125 years of staging big, prolific musicals and theatrical projects with a level of ambition, scope and quality usually reserved for professional touring productions. As Centre Stage Magazine deftly put it, they are “professional in all but name” and their latest showcase of ability and talent comes in the form of Rodgers and Hammerstein classic Carousel, which the company are performing at the Birmingham New Alexandra Theatre for this week only.

THE LION KING - THEATRE REVIEW

THE LION KING AT THE BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME

Theatre Run: Friday 28 June - Saturday 28 September 2013

Performance Reviewed: Friday 28 June (Opening Night)

Reviewed by Kyle Pedley

Film to stage adaptations can be quite the challenge to get right. It may seem an obvious point that theatre and cinema are two wildly different mediums and creative forms, but it’s often overlooked in the hopes that merely replicating the images that we watched on-screen onto the stage will rekindle the same emotions, impact and fire in an audience. The opposite is a far easier and more liberating experience - the scope and breadth of film, the luxury of the edit and the canvas of cinematography can often open up a previously stage-bound tale to new sights and heights, yet so often film-to-theatre is a much bumpier process. Slavishly loyal adaptations fail to explore and utilise the unique strengths and opportunities of the medium or, sometimes worse, do so in horribly egregious and detrimental ways (see the recent Broadway failure of The Little Mermaid, another Disney offering). 

THEATRE INTERVIEW - Stewart Clarke (Ghost the Musical)

GHOST THE MUSICAL INTERVIEWS:

Part Two - Stewart Clarke (Sam)

Fresh off of it's run at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre last month, and garnering a 5 star rating from us here at (A)musings (click here for Kyle's full review), the superb Ghost the Musical made a pitstop at the opulent Laurent Perrier champagne bar in Birmingham on a fittingly drizzly Thursday afternoon (fans of the show will understand) for a launch event to promote it's run at the New Alexandra Theatre this coming December.

Last time we brought you editor Kyle's interview with leading lady Rebecca Trehearn (which for those who have not yet read it can be found here) and in this second part he talks to the shows leading man and local-lad-done-good Stewart Clarke...

Stewart Clarke (Sam) at the Birmingham
launch of Ghost the Musical last month

Well Stewart, thank you very much for your time!

No, it’s fine!

So we saw the show in Wolverhampton last week and loved it, but we’ll kickstart for the uninitiated - how would you describe the experience of Ghost the Musical in a nutshell?

Well it’s a heart-wrenching tale of this undying love that triumphs through adversity, and how people deal with loss and how they move on from that. But underneath all that it’s a thrilling tale of action and deceit and all sorts. It’s a great show, I love it.

THEATRE INTERVIEW - Rebecca Trehearn (Ghost the Musical)

GHOST THE MUSICAL INTERVIEWS:

Part One - Rebecca Trehearn (Molly)

Fresh off of it's run at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre this past fortnight, and garnering a 5 star rating from us here at (A)musings (click here for Kyle's full review), the superb Ghost the Musical made a pitstop at the opulent Laurent Perrier champagne bar in Birmingham on a fittingly drizzly Thursday afternoon (fans of the show will understand) for a launch event to promote it's run at the New Alexandra Theatre this coming December.

Editor Kyle attended the launch, conducted the photocall at the end and sat down for a chat with the show's leads. Today we bring you the first in a set of three interviews for the show, beginning with it's wonderful leading lady, the delightful Rebecca Trehearn...

Well Rebecca, thank you very much for your time!

Rebecca Trehearn (Molly) at the Birmingham
launch of Ghost the Musical last Thursday

My pleasure!

We saw the show in Wolverhampton last week, but before discussing Ghost, I was just wondering if we could talk about yourself a little first, and how you got into acting and musical theatre. Was it something you always wanted to do?

Yeah, it kind of was. I started very young because I grew up in North Wales, and singing and performing is very much a part of the culture there, I would say. There’s an annual competition called the Eisteddfod that kind of moves around the country, but basically you can do choral singing or solo singing or a specific Welsh form of singing, so I started competing as a singer there when I was 7 or 8, something like that, and then joined a local Am Dram group when I was 9 and I never really looked back.

I did my first professional theatre job when I was 10 or 11, I can’t remember! But I’ve been doing it ever since... I have no other skills! (laughs).

THEATRE PREVIEW - NOISES OFF

NOISES OFF AT THE NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE, BIRMINGHAM

STARRING NEIL PEARSON AND MAUREEN BEATTIE

FROM MON 24 - SAT 29 JUN 2013

NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE, BIRMINGHAM

Next Monday evening, (A)musings will be entering a world of acclaimed hilarity and farce as Chris Larkin joins David Bark-Jones, Maureen Beattie, Simon Bubb, Danielle Flett, Geoffrey Freshwater, Neil Pearson, Thomasin Rand and Sasha Waddell in the UK tour of Michael Frayn’s multi-award-winning backstage comedy Noises Off, directed by Lindsay Posner. Following its acclaimed run at The Old Vic and then at the Novello Theatre in the West End, Noises Off will arrive at Birmingham’s New Alexandra Theatre for one week from 24-29 June 2013, and as always we'll be there to bring our review of the show on opening night!