HIGH SCHOOL MUSICAL

Whitley Bay Playhouse

Nice Swan Theatre Company may normally be associated with edgier productions than Disney’s High School Musical but, whatever this talented group bring to the stage, they always produce shows with standards that are second to none.

The cheesy Disney story of the problems associated with peer pressure and canteen cliques is, essentially, a modern-day fairy tale that chronicles the twists and turns of a blossoming romance between Troy Bolton (Jamie Douglas), the super-popular captain of the basketball team, and Gabby Montez (Bethany Walker), the brain-box transfer student, as they each strive to find an identity for themselves and land the lead roles in the big school production.

Douglas and Walker lead a phenomenally talented cast and they are superbly supported – and sometimes even upstaged – by the delightfully devious duo of divas, Sharpay Evans (Laura Stoker) and her twin brother Ryan (Daniel Mawston). The comedy relief is provided by a pair of bickering staff – Ms Darbus (Erin Gascoigne), the over-the-top drama teacher, and Coach Bolton (Micky McGregor), the basketball coach and Troy’s overbearing father.

Of course, love conquers all and everyone lives happily after by curtain-call, but there is plenty of action along the way and many a twist and turn to scupper our hero and heroine’s courtship.

The acting and singing on stage is testament to the dedication, commitment and natural talent that is at the heart of this group. Not a bum note nor a prompt in sight! Technically, there were a few issues that went wrong and which, no doubt, will be rectified in time for the remainder of the run. However, because none of the cast was at all phased by these glitches, it made it far easier for the audience to overlook them and they didn’t seem to impact on the overall enjoyment of the production at all.

Obviously, Nice Swan’s well-earned reputation for producing shows that rival fully professional productions is getting around – the auditorium was very respectably filled. And, during the summer holiday months, that is no mean feat! An appreciative audience left the theatre with a spring in their step and a tune or two in their heads, having enjoyed a production that is as wholesome as good old-fashioned American apple pie.

Steve Burbridge.

Runs until Friday 19^th August 2011.

Over The Rainbow – The Eva Cassidy Story

Interview with Sarah Jane Buckley

Best known for playing Crazy Cathy Barnes in Channel 4 soap, Hollyoaks and as the face of the Prince's Trust. Sarah Jane Buckley returns to the stage this Autumn in Theatre Productions seventh UK tour of Over the Rainbow, “a compelling award-winning musical telling the life story of the legendary Eva Cassidy. Following her life through dramatic scenes and stunning live renditions of her most infamous songs, Over the Rainbow is a haunting ode to one of music’s forgotten greats. This Award Winning Show has received plaudits from the Eva Cassidy Band, members of the Cassidy family and contains projection and original footage from Eva’s life.”  http://www.theatre-productions.com/

So how are you portraying the different stages of her life?

I played her last year, I listen to her music, it's a real challenge to be identical, as a singer to someone but you can always get away with adults playing kids, like in Blood Brothers. It's quite a challenging role, 25 odd songs, continuous music, lots of scenes, it's a big role let me tell you. There are 10 or so people, musicians and actors playing different parts. Maureen Nolan is playing my mum, Brian Fortuna from Strictly Come Dancing is playing my brother. When I played it last year, I took over from Zoe Tyler. We went from one end of the country to the other, from Aberdeen to the South Coast! Trying to get people into theatre, that's my passion.

How can you make a career out of theatre in the current financial climate?

Financially, it's a very tough career, a lot of my friends have dropped out. I do workshops for TV as well. If you're asking, should you do it? You shouldn't do it. If you have no choice in your soul, then you should do it. The highs are fabulous and the lows are tough. It has to be your passion, if you make a living out of it that doesn't really matter. You do it for the love of it.

When do you start rehearsals?

In about 2 weeks, they're very short, only 2 weeks. Last time I did a 6 week run, but the tours been going for 6 years. It's been very well received and very well attended. People love her music, they love Eva's beautiful voice, it's so instinctual. Unfortunately she was only really discovered posthumously. That makes it slightly easier to act as there's not much footage on the internet. She was incredibly shy, she didn't like performing.

How did you deal with the issue of making a musical about someone not interested in fame and fortune?

The directors always telling me to look down, a bit lady Diana-esque. No tits and teeth, here!

What songs will you be performing?

All the old favourites, Over The Rainbow, Times A Healer, a fantastic arrangement of Stormy Monday. She covered so many songs. She covered Imagine. She didn't really do any of her own original tunes, she only did a couple of her own songs. She died so young that she didn't really have time. She may have written some, but never released them, Golden Time I think one was called.

How was she discovered?

She used to go out gigging with a band, she did the local gigging circuit, she could have been an artist, she was a great artist and loved to paint, loved nature. It is referred to in the story. In the UK she was discovered by Terry Wogan. She was never married, but she had a relationship with Chris Biondo and even though they spilt up halfway through her life, he supported her all the way through her Chemotherapy till she died from Cancer, she was only 33.

Anything else you'd like to add?

The production's amazing, its fabulous theatre, although its heart wrenching. Please support live theatre, escape from the TV, escape from the DVDs, see real people doing acting. It's hard to imagine what theatres like if you haven't seen it, so come and support live theatre.  


Over the Rainbow – The Eva Cassidy Story opens on 3 September 2011 at St Helen's Theatre Royal. See below for further details. 

http://www.theatre-productions.com/shows/Over_The_Rainbow/dates/ 

David Walliams’s odorous childrens novel is transformed into an entertaining family musical with a ‘scratch n sniff’ twist at the King’s Theatre this week.

Twelve year old Chloe is bullied at school and somewhat lonely.  Mr. Stink, a local well-mannered tramp, befriends her and accepts an invitation to live in her shed.  This is to the horror of Chloe’s snobbish mother who is campaigning to become a local MP!  A local newspaper gets hold of the story and soon Chloe’s mother is thrust into the limelight as the press mistakenly assume this as a move to eradicate homelessness on the part of the prospective parliamentary candidate.  But, as in all children’s stories, the truth has a habit of coming out when the grown-ups least expect it!

The show is heralded as a World Premier of the “scratch n sniff” musical.  The format is certainly a success for the intended audience of young families … although I’m sure it does borrow something from Opera North’s production of “Love for Three Oranges” in the early nineties (I’m sure none of the intended audience of 6 – 12 year olds had the pleasure of attending that production).  The six supplied smells in the Quentin Blake illustrated booklet were certainly revolting but were a little similar to each other.  This was the only disappointment, though, as other production qualities were very well executed.  Matt Brind’s original music, in particular, was excellent (as you would expect from the man behind Legally Blonde).

Performances from Peter Edbrook (as Mr Stink) and Lotte Gilmore (Chloe) were charming and engaging in equal measure.  The supporting cast who played several roles and also presented the puppet characters (including Mr. Stink’s dog, Duchess and Chloe’s perfect sister, Annabelle) were animated and entertaining throughout.

An enjoyable family treat!.

Listings Info:

Mr. Stink

Tuesday 12 – Saturday 16^th July

Tickets: £18

Box Office 08448 717 648 (Bkg fee)

www.ambassadortickets.com/glasgow (bkg fee)

If you ask anyone who has seen Avenue Q what the show is about, you usually get told “it’s like Sesame Street for grown-ups!”. This is indeed a good description, but it sells this show short. Avenue Q has a decent plot and a very good (and funny) script. The musical numbers too are witty and at times moving. The music is catchy and hummable. All in all, everything you want in a musical – and then they add puppets!

Following the story of college graduate (and puppet) Princeton (one of two roles/puppets played by Adam Pettigrew) who has found himself on Avenue Q to find an apartment – having started at Avenue A and worked his way out to the cheaper neighbourhoods – Avenue Q is a story with lots of heart, but peppered with enough risqué humour to please a varied audience of musical die-hards and those of the Family Guy generation who can enjoy childish humour in adult territory (or vice versa).

Avenue Q could easily have gone down the “star name” casting route, but have luckily avoided that to bring back some previous cast members from the West End run of the show. Rachel Jerram has moved up into the leading role of Kate Monster and shows a real skill in comic timing and a powerful belt voice in the moving ballad of 'There's a Fine, Fine Line' and in the duet 'Fantasies Come True'. Her 'doubled' role of Lucy The Slut provided some great moments of humour and showed how versatile this young actress is (Jekyll & Hyde take note - this is how you perform two characters convincingly at the same time - studied voicework!)

Miss Jerram was not alone in showing this skill, in fact all principal puppeteers/performers were taking on (at least) two roles! Chris Thatcher as Nicky/Trekkie Monster/Bad Idea Bear showed the greatest variety of voices and if he’d slightly toned down the “mugging” facial expressions, could easily have stolen the show from Miss Jerram.

A special mention must go to Katherine Moraz who played Mrs T and one of the Bad Idea Bears. She provided the “second hand” to many of the two person puppets and her timing made the transitions for the principals seamless and gave an effortless look to what must be a fastpaced show both on and off the stage.

What really makes this show stand out is the great comedic script and the witty song lyrics, Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx really are the Noel Coward for the Facebook generation. With titles like “Everyone’s A Little Bit Racist”, “The Internet Is For Porn” and “Schadenfreude” (look it up – even the word in itself brings joy in its own unique way!) it also doesn’t shy away from controversy, but everything is dealt with in the best possible taste (except perhaps from the puppet sex – which leads to another witty song entitled “You Can Be As Loud As The Hell You Want (While Making Love)”).

Anna Louizos very clever set design combined with the sharp lighting from Howell Binkley make a simple single set transform from exterior to interior with ease, and a very ingenious lighting transformation into the Empire State building shows that even in the design, ingenuity outweighs flashy set-pieces and full stage transformations.

The biggest compliment that I can give this show is that having dragged my (rather reluctant and non-musical fan) partner to see this in London, they not only begged to come see this again with me, but have been telling all their friends to go to. So, in case word hasn’t already reached you that way, get your tickets sorted now and head down to Avenue Q for that great childhood feeling of laughing at things you know you shouldn’t!

Contains scenes which may be unsuitable for under 12s.

Performances:

Tue 28 Jun:       7.30pm

Wed 29 Jun:      2.30pm, 7.30pm

Thu 30 Jun:       7.30pm

Fri 1 Jul:           5.30pm, 8.30pm

Sat 2 Jul:          4pm, 7.30pm

Tickets: £12.50-£30.50

Box Office: 08448 717 648(bkg fee)         
Web: www.ambassadortickets.com/glasgow

Laura Waggott, Zephryn Taitte,  Rob Hughes, and Samuel Hargreaves

Together we are safe! Together we are strong!

Apart from the characters played by humans but there is also skilful puppetry – particularly the young Mowgli and the mysterious snake Kaa (Laura Waggott). An animal movement expert (Peter Elliott) worked with the actors and this is very noticeable – especially in the wolves and the monkies.

Samuel Hargreaves is a likeable, cocky Mowgli – the boy raised by wolves who must find himself and defeat his enemy Shere Khan. Peter Sowerbutts superbly portrays his menacing antagonist. In one scene the tiger sneaks up on Mowgli and I almost jumped although I could see exactly what was happening. Rob Hughes and Zephryn Taitte are very good as Mowgli’s mentors – the bumbly Baloo who occasionally forgets his strength and knocks Mowgli to the ground and the graceful Bagheera. Natasha Lewis plays both Mowgli’s wolf mother Raksha and the human mother Messua who has lost her son to Shere Khan and accepts Mowgli into her home. Iwan Tudor conveys the strength and humaneness of the wolf Akela.   

Until 25 June 2011

Richmond Theatre
The Green
Richmond
Surrey
TW9 1QJ

Box Office
0844 871 7651

http://www.ambassadortickets.com/2175/659/Richmond/Richmond-Theatre/Jungle-Book-Tickets

Girls Night

Gala Theatre, Durham

I’m becoming accustomed to being only one of a sprinkling of men in the audience now. Having already had the dubious honour of reviewing The Vagina Monologues, Women on the Verge of HRT, Hot Flush!, Menopause the Musical, Mum’s The Word and The Naked Truth, I can now add Girls Night to the ever-increasing list of productions aimed at a predominantly female audience.

Louise Roche’s comedy-musical follows the lives of four friends as they gather to celebrate the engagement of Candi-Rose, the daughter of another friend who died 22 years ago in a motorcycle accident. Little do they realise that their deceased mate, Sharon (Serena Giacomini) is watching over them as a rather unconventional guardian angel!

The plot sees the four friends, Carol (Gillian Taylforth), Liza (Rebecca Wheatley), Anita (Katie Paine) and Kate (Lizzie Frances) meet in a nightclub for an evening of Karaoke, drinking and reminiscing and also provides the perfect opportunity for the cast to belt out a succession of girlie anthems including ‘Young Hearts Run Free’, ‘I’m Every Woman’, ‘I Will Survive’, ‘I Am What I Am’ and ‘We Are Family’.

Kate Unwin’s set design, complemented by Kris Box’s lighting, sets the scene well and effectively recreates the look and feel of a nightclub. However, Colin Ashman’s sound tended to be over-amplified on occasion and drowned out some of the singing.

The cast is comprised of actresses who are also great singers and even Gillian Taylforth, a performer who is not usually associated with singing, delivers a very respectable version of ‘We Don’t Cry Out Loud’, despite a slight lyrical mix-up.

Although Girls Night won’t ever set the theatrical world alight, it is a crowd-pleasing concoction of Karaoke classics that does what it says on the tin.

Steve Burbridge

Runs until Saturday 25 June 2011.

Marti Pellow deserves to be ‘sold out’ out as he ‘pops in’ to the Kings Theatre to present Jekyll and Hyde this week.

Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic story remains at the core of this contemporary musical.  The show is a predictably dark tale; very much in the mould of Sweeney Todd.  Brilliant Dr. Henry Jekyll researches the source of man’s dual nature – good versus evil.  He hopes to rid the world of the curse of evil.  But, when seeking backing for his research, his appeal is cruelly rejected by his hospital Board of Governors leaving him no option but to continue his research by experimenting upon himself.  However, his experiments only serve to unlock the evil side of his own personality which manifests itself in the form of Mr. Hyde.  Jekyll frantically researches an antidote for his potion against the backdrop of a vicious string of murders across London while his alter ego becomes more dominant over the body that they share.

Bill Kenwright’s new production was a vast improvement on the 2004 tour with a partial re-write, a new set put cleverly to use by director Martin Connor, fresh choreography from Bill Deamer, much reduced reliance on click track and a simpler, more effective, transformation between Jekyll and Hyde.  Marti Pellow’s accent didn’t move further south than Kelvinside, but this was not offensive (even to my Glaswegian ear).  More importantly, Mr. Pellow’s character had sincerity and duality as he leaned heavily on his outstanding past experience in The Witches of Eastwick to deliver a believable and, sometimes, frightening performance.

The beautiful score, featuring the songs “This Is The Moment”, “Someone Like You” and “In His Eyes” was lovingly and powerfully rendered by Marti Pellow and co-stars Sabrina Carter (Lucy) and Sarah Earnshaw (Emma).  Ms Carter’s star shone particularly brightly as her character’s tough outer layers were gradually peeled back to reveal a genuine vulnerability.  The talented support cast even managed to weave a little comedy into this sombre tale to deliver a rounded show with appeal to a wide audience.

Listings Info:

Jekyll & Hyde

Mon 13 – Sat 18 June

Mon – Sat eves 7.30pm

Wed & Sat mat 2.30pm

Tickets: £14 - £33

Box Office 08448 717 648 (Bkg fee)

www.ambassadortickets.com/glasgow (bkg fee)

Picture (l to r):  Richard Blackwood (Donkey), Nigel Lindsay (Shrek), Amanda Holden (Princess Fiona), Nigel Harman (Lord Farquaard).


Shrek the Musical
Review by Anne Darnell 

Shrek the Musical, the latest show to hit London’s Theatre Royal Drury Lane, is set to be a long running hit. The matinee preview opened to a full house and children and adults alike, waited in anticipation. They weren’t to be disappointed as the story of Shrek, the swamp ogre, began with Shrek setting out to free the swamplands for him and his fairy tale friends, from the evil Lord Farquaad. His mission was simple, free the princess from the tower guarded by a fierce and fiery dragon.

This endearing and funny adventure delighted the audience with characters from all of our childhoods. The cranky gingerbread man, excellently articulated by Alice Fern, and the tap dancing Pied piper rats were brought to life with humour and fun.

We soon met the damsel in distress Princess Fiona who lives in the tower alone with her curse, beauty by day, fluorescent green ogre by night. Shrek’s battle to free her, enthrals the audience with impressive and well designed sets including moving bridges, and the creatively puppeteered dragon who is charmed by Donkey, played to its full comic effect by  Richard Blackwood.

In return for being freed, Princess Fiona must marry the pint sized Lord Farquaard. A truly stunning performance by Nigel Harman who stole the show with the whole performance carried out on his knees with Lord Farquaard's tiny limbs in front of him. Harman shows his great versatility as an actor with the comic genius and parody played out in his character.

On the journey to the castle where she will wed, Princess Fiona and Shrek fall in love. Nigel Lindsay as Shrek is captivatingly realistic. With the Scottish accent off to a tee, powerful vocals and an amazing costume and make up, he becomes Shrek, the gruff ogre with a big heart.

There is a great chemistry with Britain’s Got Talent’s Amanda Holden who showcases her many talents including comic timing, singing, tap dancing and burping! After a misunderstanding along the way Princess Fiona leaves Shrek to marry Lord Farquaard before sunset when she turns into an ogre. Realising the misunderstanding and his true feelings, Shrek arrives at the wedding in time for Fiona to reveal her ogre and finds true love in Shrek. The show comes to a dazzling finale with the dragons breathtaking entrance above the heads of the audience and the great vocals from Landi Oshinowo.

The happy ever after fairly tale concludes with ‘I’m a Believer’ and the full cast getting a standing ovation from the delighted audience.

Shrek the Musical is a spectacular addition to the West End's musical theatre mix. It is set to delight audiences young and old for a long time to come.

To enjoy this musical delight yourself click here for tickets.

Abigail Jaye gives a legendary performance as Eva Peron in the musical, Evita, at the King’s Theatre this week.

It is easy to see why this musical has become one of the most loved and enduring successes of the Andrew Lloyd Webber / Tim Rice partnership.  With an appealing score carrying the real life narrative including musical favourites like High Flying Adored, Another Suitcase in Another Hall, On This Night of a Thousand Stars and, of course, Don’t Cry For Me Argentina the show lives long in the memory of the audience.  The drama, too, is hard hitting set against the backdrop of civil unrest, a military coup and the untimely death of Eva aged just 33.

Bill Kenwright’s production, as we would expect, brings the story to the audience with authority and a high presentation standard.  The set, by Glasgow trained designer, Matthew Wright, brought an extra dimension to the performance with a flexible system of balconies, pillars and sweeping staircases which effectively represented interior and exterior scenes.  Choreography from Bill Deamer firmly placed the story in Latin America and added energy to several scenes.

Performances were solid throughout but the spotlight must rightly remain on Abigail Jaye as Eva.  Her voice was simply astonishing with power and control utilised to great effect; raising hairs on the back of the neck more than once.  She effectively balanced the (sometimes cold) ambition of Eva with her passion for the people to ensure that the audience were ready to shed a tear upon her death.

Listings details

EVITA

King’s Theatre, Glasgow

6 – 11 June 2011

Tickets £17 - £36

Box Office: 08448 717 620

Tell Me On A Sunday

Darlington Civic Theatre

It seems that popular culture has a peculiar preoccupation with young women going to New York to find a career, a husband and a happy-ever-after. In the theatre, Millie Dillmount upped-sticks from Salina, Kansas, to head for the Big Apple in Thoroughly Modern Millie and Lola Lamar bid farewell to Tulsa, Oklahoma, in favour of NYC in Copacabana. On film, Andy Sachs graduated from Northwestern University and landed a prestigious job with ‘Runway’, a fashion magazine based in New York, and, on television, Carrie Bradshaw arrived in ‘the city that never sleeps’, aged 21, and ended up writing a weekly sex column for The New York Star in Sex and the City.

Similarly, in the Andrew Lloyd Webber and Don Black hit musical, Tell Me On A Sunday, Laura is a Liverpudlian girl (although, originally, the character came from Muswell Hill) who has made New York her home. Brimming with optimism, she seeks success and love. But as she weaves her way through the maze of the city and her own anxieties, frustrations and heartaches, she begins to wonder whether she's been looking for love in all the wrong places.

Originally conceived for television, starring Marti Webb, the role has also been performed by some big names from the world of musical theatre, including Sarah Brightman, Lulu, Denise Van Outen, Faye Tozer and Patsy Palmer. This latest version has been tailored to suit the current incumbent, Claire Sweeney and there has even been a new song added, ‘Dreams Never Run On Time’.

Sweeney has a charm and charisma within her performance, is easy on the eye, and connects well with the audience. She delivers the musical numbers with emotional intelligence and beautiful enunciation and one feels that they are all heartfelt. Her strength lies in her ability as an actress rather than a singer, which enables her to sell a tune despite the fact that she is not a ‘belter’. The five-piece band, under the musical direction of Leigh Thompson, are bang-on and never miss a beat.

The set, designed by Janet Bird, effectively depicts Laura’s studio apartment with a lounge area to the fore and a kitchen and bedroom, slightly higher, further back. Girly props and satin sheets also contribute a feminine feel. The updated version now sees Laura armed with a pink laptop and the ‘Writing Home’ songs are now done via e-mail. These touches work nicely enough.

It is a rather large undertaking to expect one performer to keep an audience of around 1,000 people entertained, predominantly with song, for approximately 90 minutes. However, Claire Sweeney pulled it out of the bag and neither of the two 45 minute acts ever lost their momentum.

Steve Burbridge.

Runs at Darlington Civic Theatre until 11^th June, then tours to Edinburgh, Glasgow, Woking, Cardiff, Norwich, Malvern, Eastbourne and Aberdeen.