FIRST LOOK: UK Tour of Rock Of Ages

ROCK OF AGES The Musical is the ultimate rock mix-tape musical, an hilarious story of dreams, love and - of course - rock. A celebration of classic 80s rock culture, the show tells the story of a small town girl and a big city rocker falling in love to the greatest songs of the decade. Featuring memorable tunes such as ‘We Built This City’, ‘The Final Countdown’, ‘I Wanna Know What Love Is’ and ‘Don’t Stop Believin’, the show brings its wild celebration of Los Angeles rock culture to the UK. Warning: this show may unleash your inner rock god, and have you reaching for your air guitar in the aisles.   

ROCK OF AGES The Musical is written by Chris D’Arienzo, directed by Kristin Hanggi and choreographed by Kelly Devine.  The UK Associate Director & Choreographer for this tour is Leigh Constantine, and the UK Musical Supervisor is Elliott Ware.  Scenic design for the production is by Beowulf Boritt, costume design is by Tony Award nominee Gregory Gale, lighting design is by Jason Lyons, sound design is by Tony Award nominee Peter Hylenski, and projection design is by Zachary Borovay. 

DATES ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2014/15 UK TOUR OF TO KILL A MOCKINGBIRD

Following its hugely successful run in 2013 at London’s Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, To Kill a Mockingbirdwill embark on a UK tour in September 2014. Casting will be announced in due course.


The tour will begin on 15 September 2014 at Canterbury Marlowe Theatre and then will tour to Norwich, Malvern, Woking, Leicester, Cardiff, Hull, High Wycombe, Cambridge and Birmingham. Further dates for 2015 will be announced in due course.


Directed by Timothy Sheader, To Kill a Mockingbird originally opened Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre’s 2013 season to critical acclaim and sell out performances. Due to popular demand, it will return to conclude the 2014 season at the Open Air Theatre which will also include All My Sons, Hobson’s Choice and The Gershwins’ Porgy and Bess. Proving its success across every art form, the 1960 novel was awarded the Pulitzer Prize, followed by the film adaptation in 1962 which won three Oscars out of the eight it was nominated for.


The UK tour of To Kill a Mockingbird will be produced by Regent's Park Theatre Ltd, Fiery Angel, Adam Spiegel and William Village.

ROCK OF AGES announces full cast

Following a three-year run in London’s West End, audiences around the country will get the chance to enjoy ROCK OF AGES The Musical as it embarks on a UK tour, opening at The Palace Theatre, Manchester on 5th May 2014.

The show will then tour to: Birmingham, Edinburgh, Torquay, Nottingham, Bromley, Bradford, Aylesbury, Bristol, Stoke, Liverpool, Sunderland, Glasgow, Brighton, Milton Keynes, Woking, York, Southampton, Dublin, Belfast, Hull, Cardiff, Oxford, Sheffield, Southend and Wimbledon.

ROCK OF AGES announces UK Tour, Starring Ben Richards and Noel Sullivan

Following a three-year run in London’s West End, audiences around the country will get the chance to enjoy ROCK OF AGES The Musical as it embarks on a UK tour, opening at The Palace Theatre, Manchester on 5th May 2014.

The show will then tour to: Birmingham, Edinburgh, Torquay, Nottingham, Bromley, Bradford, Aylesbury, Bristol, Stoke, Liverpool, Sunderland, Glasgow, Brighton, Milton Keynes, Woking, York, Southampton, Dublin, Belfast, Hull, Cardiff, Oxford, Sheffield, Southend and Wimbledon.

LET IT BE Cast announced for UK Tour

Following its hugely successful run in London’s West End, the hit Beatles show LET IT BE will tour the UK and Ireland from 28 February 2014. The touring company, which includes members of the London cast, has been confirmed as Emanuele Angeletti, John Brosnan, Ben Cullingworth, James Fox, Michael Gagliano, Reuven Gershon, Stephen Hill and Luke Roberts. They will be joined on keyboard by Michael Bramwell, Steve Geere and Mike Lindup.

Having been seen by more than 450,000 people, the West End run of the hit Beatles show LET IT BE ended on 8 February 2014 and will now embark on a tour of the UK and Ireland, starting at the Palace Theatre, Manchester, on 28 February 2014.

‘FOG’ ANNOUNCES UK TOUR AFTER SUCCESSFUL SELL-OUT RUN AT THE FINBOROUGH THEATRE

Following a highly successful run at the Finborough Theatre in 2012, AGF Productions pleased to officially announce the UK Tour of FOG by Tash Fairbanks and Toby Wharton in the Autumn of 2013. Toby Wharton will again be starring as Gary, with direction again by multi-award-winning writer/director Ché Walker, whose credits include Been So Long (The Royal Court Theatre and  The Young Vic London), The Frontline (The Globe, London) and His Greatness (Finborough Theatre, London). The project is supported by the Arts Council England.

Two families: one white and dysfunctional, the other black and aspiring. Gary and Lou were put into care as young children by their soldier father, Cannon, following the untimely death of their mother. Ten years later, Cannon returns, expecting to reassemble his family around him. But he feels a stranger in this ‘new’ England of broken promises. And nothing could prepare him for the damage that abandonment and an inadequate care system has wreaked on his kids. He desperately tries to repair what has been broken, but is it all too little too late?

Top Hat the Musical: Theatre Review

Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers created the roles of Jerry Travers and Dale Tremont in the 1935 film of Top Hat, that one sentence would make anyone think ‘why hasn’t this been made into a musical sooner?!’. But in late 2011 the musical premiered at the Milton Keynes Theatre before embarking on a UK Tour and after that the show transferred to the Aldwych Theatre in London’s West End in April 2012. The show opened with Tom Chambers and Summer Strallen in the lead roles (With Charlotte Gooch taking over Strallen in November 2012) and since opening it has an almost entire new cast.
I've never seen the movie before nor do I know anything about the plot so going along to see this musical was pretty exciting for me. Jerry Travers (Gavin Lee) is a Broadway star and comes over to London to open a new show. Whilst there he stays with Horace Hardwick (Clive Hayward) who is producing the show, whilst in their hotel he awakes Dale Tremont (Kristen Beth Williams) who is staying below them and Jerry instantly falls in love with her, however she mistakes him for Horace who is her friend Madge’s new husband so she gets very disturbed when she realises this because they’ve basically fallen in love. They all go (separately) to Italy where Dale confronts Madge about this and after lots of tap dancing and plenty of scene changes the whole thing gets resolved.

Cabaret the Musical: Theatre Review

 

The premier production of Cabaret opened on Broadway in 1966 with a US Tour and a West End production opening in 1968. The iconic film starring Liza Minnelli was released in 1972 after the success of the musical. After three West End revivals and two Broadway revivals the show returns to London, playing at the Savoy Theatre after a short UK tour. The musical is based on the play ‘I am a Camera’ which was adapted from the novel ‘Goodbye to Berlin’.
The story focuses on nightlife at the Kit Kat Club in World War II Germany following the relationship between English Cabaret performer Sally Bowles and American writer Cliff Bradshaw. This recent revival reunites the creative team from the 2006 London revival at the Lyric Theatre, however they’ve re-imagined the show and given it a new life but stuck to the original idea that they put together for their last production. Rufus Norris really understand this production and what he wants to give to the audience, he’s presented an intelligent but entertaining piece which presents the story in a way in which the audience are completely engaged and the links he has created between the Kit Kat Club and 1931 Germany is astonishing.

9 to 5 the Musical UK Tour: Theatre Review

9 to 5 the Musical is based on the 1980 film of the same name, starring Jane Fonda, Lily Tomlin and Dolly Parton. The film was adapted for stage, opening on Broadway in 2009. Parton, who wrote the title song of the original film, wrote the music and lyrics for the musical. The original production on Broadway closed after just 24 previews and 143 regular performances. However the musical didn’t just go away, it embarked on a US tour and last year came over to the UK and is currently touring the country. Set in the 1980s where the work place was a sexist place for women the show tells the story of three women Violet, Doralee and Judy who kidnap their horrible boss and give him a taste of his own medicine. They take over the office and show that just because you’re a women doesn’t mean you’re incapable of doing anything a man can do.

I must say that the score of this show is brilliant, for Dolly’s first musical she’s really done a fantastic job and really seems to understand each one of the characters plus getting the musical theatre style spot on, adding her own style to it too. She’s written a song for Judy which comes near the end of the show called Get Out and Stay Out, any person who likes musical theatre would know this song already but this has to be my favourite musical theatre song of all time. Patricia Resnick has written a great script, the thing I love about the show is that it’s a modernised version of the story (obviously still set in the 80s) but it still stays so true to the original essence of the film.

Spamalot the Musical: Theatre Review

Spamalot is a musical comedy which has been “lovingly ripped off” from the 1975 film Monty Python and the Holy Grail. As much as it stays true to the Monty Python legacy it also is packed with jokes about musicals, TV and the music industry which means there is definitely something for everyone in this show. The original Broadway production opened in early 2005, closing four years later. The West End production opened in September 2006 in the Palace Theatre, this production closed only a week before the Broadway production closed (January 2009). A UK Tour was planned in 2009 but this was cancelled due to unforeseen circumstances however the tour went ahead the following year. The UK Tour finished mid 2012 and transferred back to the West End, playing at the Harold Pinter Theatre and later transferring to the Playhouse Theatre.Other productions have opened in Las Vegas, Australia, New Zealand, Germany, Hungary, Sweden, France and loads of other places!
The show follows King Arthur and his knights on their journey to find the Holy Grail. The show has been scaled down a lot from the original production, just one set with a few small changes. Even though Hugh Durrant’s designs are very ‘panto’, it still fits in with the context of the musical. So even though it’s got a very cheap feeling to it, it still works. The only thing that is sacrificed is the dramaticness of the Lady of the Lake entrance which was, if I’m honest, dreadful. Eric Idle has done a brilliant job with the Book, Lyrics and Music (music with John Du Prez), they’re genius! It is truly a Musical Comedy, possibly one of the funniest musicals ever to be written.

Sister Act the Musical UK Tour: Theatre Review

Sister Act the Musical first premiered at the Pasadena Playhouse in California in late 2006 and moved to the Alliance Theatre in Atlanta, Georgia in early 2007. The production was labelled as Broadway success from this first production. It transferred to the West End in mid 2009 and closed in October 2010 and was replaced by The Wizard of Oz, the Broadway production opened in April 2011 and closed in late August 2012.Other productions are planned for Stuttgart, The Netherlands, Paris, Australia, Mexico, Spain and many more.
The first UK Tour of the show opened at the Manchester Opera House in September 2011 and tours until October 2012. The story follows Deloris Van Carter, she auditions for a nightclub when she witnesses a murder and has to be put away in hiding. She gets put in a Nunnery where she is appointed the leader of the choir, this is something she begins to feel passionate about and she grows closer to her fellow Sisters. Based on the 1992 film, which itself just screams “Make me into a musical!!!” The show undertook a lot of changes when it moved to Broadway and these are included in this touring production, the show felt and looked like a touring production however this didn’t take away from the enjoyment and quality of the piece.

Cynthia Erivo | Interview

Cynthia Erivo trained at RADA and she is currently playing the role of Deloris Van Carter in the UK Tour of the West End hit, Sister Act. Before that she played Madeleine in the Umbrellas of Cherbourg at the Gielgud Theatre. Her other credits include Ellie Jackson in Marine Parade, Leila in I was Looking at the Ceiling and then I saw the Sky and Constance in The Three Musketeers and the Princess of Spain. Cynthia also was a support act for American Idol winner Fantasia Burrino and was nominated for a BEFFTA for best female act 2010. I caught up with Cynthia on her busy tour schedule to talk about her...

How and when did you realise you wanted to perform?
As cliché as it sounds, I knew I was going to be a performer when I was five, it's actually one of my clearest memories..... I was asked to sing silent night on my own in the nativity play that year, and I remember that after I ?nished singing there was applause, I remember loving how it felt to hear that and see people happy..... I was hooked.

Were your family and friends supportive about your career decision?
They always have they always will be, they've been with me every step of the way.

Andrew Wright | Interview

Andrew Wright has become one of the West End's favourite choreographers recently, with productions that have astounded the public. His choreographer credits include Singin' In The Rain (Palace Theatre and Chichester Festival Theatre), 42nd Street (Chichester Festival Theatre and The Curve, Leicester), Wonderful Town(National Tour), The Showgirl Within(Garrick Theatre), Once Upon A Time At The Adelphi(Liverpool Playhouse, Union Theatre and Trafalgar Studios) ,By Jeeves(Landor Theatre) and many many more! His performance credits include Scrooge(London Palladium), Mary Poppins (Prince Edward), Anything Goes (Drury Lane), Cats (New London), Disney's Beauty and the Beast (Dominion and National Tour), A Chorus Line (Derby Playhouse and National Tour) and many more! His list of credits are endless, a career that anyone would be very jealous of! He was also nominated for an Olivier Award in early 2012 for Singin' in the Rain. Taking time out of very busy life, Andrew had the time to answer a few questions!

How did you first get into Dance?I went to a local dance school in Somerset and also danced at my main school, Millfield. However I didn't start to professionally train until the age of 17 at Arts Ed, London.

Is there any advice you'd give to any aspiring dancers out there?That there is no short cut to success. Put the hours of training in. The more skills you have to offer the better your chance of employment is.

Wonderful Town the Musical: Theatre Review

Wonderful Town is based on the novel My Sister Eileen, which itself is based on a collection of short stories by Ruth McKenney. It was then made into a play, then a film, then the musical! The musical originally ran on Broadway in 1953 and closed the following year. A production then opened in London in 1955 and starred the likes of Shani Wallace and Sid James and a revival opened in 1986 at the Queens Theatre. A Broadway production opened in 2003 staring Donna Murphy (Later Brooke Shields) which earned her a Tony Award nomination.

Recently we saw the return of the show when it toured the UK, this production starred 'How do you solve a problem like Maria?' winner Connie Fisher.

Wonderful Town follows the story of two sisters, Eileen and Ruth both of which want to make it in New York. Ruth who is an aspiring journalist and Eileen who wants to be an Actress move into the city and end up having a very hard time, they can't seem to catch a break. Eileen uses her charm to try and help Ruth in her bid to become a professional journalist but that goes wrong as someone who claims to have been able to help was just using the situation to get to Eileen, the Marilyn Monroe type character.

Hannah Levane | Interview

Hannah Levane trained at the BRIT School of Performing Arts before going on to train at Arts Educational. Her credits include Keisha in Flashdance, Teacher and Alternate Killer Queen in We Will Rock You, Taylor in Disney's Tour of High School Musical and Annie and covering the roles of Bess and Clara in Porgy and Bess. She is currently about to embark on a UK Tour playing Michelle and covering the lead role of Deloris Van Carter. I was lucky enough to catch up with her before the Tour starts for a chat...

You've been performing for a few years now, but what age did you realise that you wanted to perform?
I was taken to all different types of shows as a kid back in the days when kids went free a lot of the time it was a great way of my mum and I enjoying something together, I saw operas and plays, ballets, concerts and big west end shows as well, I remember being about 6 or 7 and asking my mum after seeing a show once "do people earn money doing that" she said yes, and told me that some people make a great life from doing it and are actors all their lives. I remember thinking yes please that's the life for me and I told her so straight away. "mummy I'm going to do that, I'm going to be an actor".

Legally Blonde the Musical: Theatre Review

Legally Blonde first opened on Broadway in 2007 with a US Tour starting in 2008, It then made its way over to the West End in 2009 with a cast which included Sheridan Smith and Duncan James. The show tells the story of Elle Woods who follows her love to Harvard law school where she is put through her passes by Emmett Forest and eventually takes on a murder case and wins her man, though it wasn't the one she intentionally chased to Harvard. On the 21^stJuly I went to see the show at the Savoy Theatre.I saw the show in June of last year with the Original London cast with the addition of Richard Fleeshman, since then the cast has been through multiple cast changes.
I was very impressed with the production when saw it last year, it exceeded all my expectations and I loved it.
However I feel like I was watching a different show, the sound system seemed very quiet and of poor quality while the energy levels from the majority of the cast seemed very low.

Jekyll and Hyde the Musical: Theatre Review

 

Jekyll and Hyde the Musical was first staged in 1990 in Houston with a Broadway production following in 1995 which closed in 2001. Recently the show starting its second UK tour staring Marti Pellow. The show follows the story of Doctor Jekyll and his journey on exploring the duality of man, but with his experimenting he slowly phases out his Fiancée, Emma, and he takes on a new personality (Mr. Hyde) when taking the positions he makes. While he is Mr. Hyde he meets and falls for a prostitute, Lucy. The love triangle adds in some drama and passion which the original book didn't have and the score was also beautiful with a Les Miserables feel.

Marti Pellow plays the title role of Doctor Henry Jekyll and Mr. Edward Hyde, he plays it very two dimensional with no chemistry with the other characters. When he played Jekyll he didn't pronounce his words properly and whether it was his fault or the sound system (it didn't affect anyone else) I don't know but I personally found it very hard to understand him, although when he turned into Hyde, I found his characterization very interesting and he played it very dark and mysterious which was fantastic.