Theatre and performance in Greater Manchester & other places.
Review of 42 Balloons at The Lowry, Salford. On seeing an online video of Larry Walters flying in a lawn chair over Los Angeles held aloft by a load of balloons, Jack Godfrey didn’t just think OMG - his overriding thought was “THIS IS A MUSICAL!” Six years later, Godfrey has written that dream into [...]
Review of In The Time of Dragons at The Edge. For its new musical In the Time of Dragons, The Edge artfully creates a sixties nightclub vibe - with a dressing room in one corner, piano in the other, lamplit cabaret tables along one side, and big neon sign. The Blue Angel obviously doesn’t like [...]
Review of The Book Thief at Bolton Octagon. The world premiere of a new musical, an adaptation of a best-selling book, and the largest scale show staged in the new building - The Book Thief is obviously a big deal for Bolton Octagon. Yet there is no sign of any nerves in director Lotte Wakeham’s [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. In recent years the Royal Exchange has been serving up a musical as their festive season main course, and things are no different this year. A rags-to-riches story, set in 1920's Vaudeville and packed with familiar tunes, Gypsy promises a touch of glitz and glamour to brighten the winter months. It also [...]
11 April 2019. Royal Exchange, Manchester. Sarah Frankcom's revival of Jerome Robbins' popular musical has undoubtedly captured the attention of Manchester audiences, with the show's entire run selling out before opening night. However, the production has also secured a unique place in the West Side Story 'hall of fame' by being the first major professional [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. 5 December 2018 & 3 January 2019. After the success of Sweeney Todd, Sweet Charity and Guys and Dolls it's no surprise to see the Royal Exchange programming in another crowd-pleasing musical as their Christmas and New Year show. Mel Brooks’ The Producers, however, might not seem the most obvious choice for [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. 11 & 14 April 2018. A beat. Hear it. Making music, pulsing through the body and marking time. Beats can come together to make something bigger - a song, a crowd, a symphony, a city and a show. Press START Mixtape is a collection of beats, powered by the rhythms of young [...]
Royal Exchange, Manchester. 6 & 8 December 2017. Director Michael Buffong shuffles Frank Loesser’s musical along Broadway and uptown to 135th Street. His all-black cast brings Damon Runyon's tales of gamblers, salvationists, chancers and dreamers right in to the beating heart of the Harlem Renaissance. The stage is all hustle and bustle, drugstore doorways, sharp [...]
Hope Mill Theatre, Manchester. 15 & 21 November 2017. Manchester's musical mill is warming up another revival for a surely inevitable transfer to London. This time they're hosting the European premiere of 'Little Women - The Musical'. The musical version of Louisa May Alcott’s novel, premiered on Broadway back in 2005, views the lives of [...]
Oldham Coliseum. 12 September 2017. A 'musical entertainment' from the 1960s casting a satirical eye over the First World War and done in the style of old music hall theatre could sound like a dusty museum piece of a show. However while the Great War is now a century ago, as tensions simmer in Korea [...]
Circles & Stalls 