A free, outdoor dance spectacular finally managed to set sail after having the first night rained off – and the wait, well it was so worth it. The Voyage helping to launch the London 2012 festival is set upon a ship that spans the length of Birmingham’s iconic Town Hall and uses the space of Victoria Square (and its audience) to show the ship setting sail launching its passengers into a new life. Produced by Birmingham Hippodrome and created by dance company Motion House and featuring stunning aerialists and performers from Australian performance company Legs On The Wall it’s a massive treat for the eyes and with performances from the Town Hall’s own gospel choir and a stunning orchestra and soundtrack it’s also a treat for the ears.
Stunning projections that have been carefully mapped onto the side of the ship and the Town Hall to make it feel as though the ship is actually setting sail. From waves crashing against the hull, to cities forming on the Town Hall you really get the impression that you too are going on the journey.
The narrative of the piece is sometimes lost in the amazing visuals, but it is easy enough to follow along with when you get back on track but every single performance in the huge cast is brilliant. The cast includes a large number of local youngsters taking part alongside the professionals of Motion House and Legs On The Wall and all looked to be really enjoying themselves in taking part in such a fantastic event.
I could go on about this for a long time – but I’d only start spoiling things and repeating myself. It is honestly one of the best things I have ever seen and is a real life example of the word spectacular. The weather might not be looking too great for tonight (Saturday) but keep an eye out on the weather forecast and the website/twitter/facebook of The Voyage (links to follow) for the latest news. It’s on till tomorrow night ONLY and will not be seen again in Birmingham after that. It starts at 10pm but last night reached capacity by then so get there early. And as for the best place to stand? I was in line with the Victoria statue (which probably wished it had turned around to watch it – like the CCTV!) and had a great view, too close and you won’t have the full affect of the projections. And if it rains? Try to use a hood rather than a brolly.
The Voyage – 5 broken champagne bottles smashed against its hull out of 5!
The Voyage is performed (weather permitting) at 10pm on Saturday 23rd and Sunday 24th June 2012 in Victoria Square, Birmingham. It’s FREE!
Website: www.thevoyage.org.uk(Includes MUCH better photos than my grainy iPhone ones!)
First of all, let’s go back to April 11th 2009 when families gathered around their TVs to watch the first episode of a new series of Britain’s Got Talent. During the episode, there was this audition…
It turned out that that lone audition would capture the entire world thanks to the power of YouTube and the Internet. Now in 2012, a whole musical based around the life of Susan Boyle is touring the UK and last night I went to see the opening night of the show’s Birmingham run at the Birmingham Hippodrome.
I have decided that this blog is going to be the most honest ‘review’ I’ll have given so far – as I cannot decide exactly what I thought of this show but that’ isn’t necessarily a bad thing. As I waited outside the theatre for the other half to arrive I noticed the demographic of the audience was an older crowd mainly middle aged ladies and their mothers (or husbands). People walking past the theatre who weren’t attending scoffed at the idea of a Susan Boyle (affectively known as SuBo) musical and for a while I was in that camp too. I couldn’t fathom how a musical based on SuBo would work and wondered if we’d have some actors hamming it up as Cowell and co for the audition. However – the production surprised me and although there were moments when I did actually cringe, I left the theatre glad I had taken an evening to go see the show.
I didn’t always feel like that however. In fact for the first 20 minutes I couldn’t wait for the interval and was considering whether to even bother sticking around for the second half, but once (and this sounds horrible) SuBo was being bullied it stated to turn a corner. At times the imposing set of television screens and black glossy doors made too much of an impression, but on the whole it worked well, even if I did spend a lot of time trying to find the cameras filming reactions of actors for some of the screens.
All the cast were fantastic. Obviously Elaine C Smith in the role of Susan Boyle has to be mentioned. Her singing was great with her performances of ‘Wild Horses’ and ‘Someone to Watch Over Me’ sending tingles across the audience. Her renactment of the famous audition was performed with precision and her portrayal of Susan losing her parents and her breakdown were with great emotion. She told the story – in form of SuBo looking back at her life and narrating with clarity – although the constant clicking of fingers to freeze or switch action soon got tedious. Other stand out performances include James Paterson as Mr Boyle, Karen Mann as Mrs Boyle and Ashleigh Gray as the ever dependable friend Lorraine.
As for the music, it was a collection of songs from musicals, pop songs and hymns used to try link the story together. On the whole it worked well with a haunting arrangement of ‘I Dreamed a Dream’ to open the two acts and ‘This Will Be Our Year’ sang between SuBo and her mother to show her mother’s support. However some of the arrangements weren’t too great and these were the moments I actually cringed such as the Blood Brothers’ inspired version of ‘Perfect Day’, the raggae ‘Mad World’ performed by the ensemble wearing Simon Cowell, Amanda Holden and Piers Morgan masks whilst holding newspapers to show the press attacks on SuBo and the chorus of Crowded House’s ‘Don’t Dream It’s Over’ to show SuBo in rehab. Another thing that bugged me about the music was that we never heard a whole song. Yes, there are 31 songs listed in the programme – 23 of them in Act 1 alone – but it wouldn’t have hurt to have had a full version of ‘Wild Horses’ rather than cutting it after one verse and chorus when the audience are entrapped.
One of the highlights for me was the scene prior to the audition with SuBo in the queue waiting to audition with a range of characters from musicians to a clown, to a trumpet player to a tapdancing group of ladies. As they wait they burst into ‘Stuck in the Middle With You’ – one the more inspired song choices.
As I mentioned earlier the play was full of finger clicking to freeze or gather thoughts. I felt this was the weakest aspect of the script which wasn’t the strongest to start off with. Personally this let it down as it felt a bit school-play like with the freezing for a thought idea. However, the script did tell the story well and I guess the thoughts were valuable to the story. I just wish they’d come up with a more original idea to do this. It would have been good too if they could have used Britain’s Got Talent branding – but guessing it would have been a mammoth task and very expensive to have done so.
I started this post saying I didn’t know what I thought of this show – and I still don’t. However, I did send these tweets last night and this morning:
And I think that’s my conclusion. It really is intriguing and at times surreal – especially the final 10 minutes when SuBo makes an appearance to perform a couple of songs. I wanted to see this because I was curious. I went in with no expectations and no idea what it was going to be like. That was the best decision. Yes, there were moments I didn’t like, but on the whole it was one of those shows that will stick with you for a long time – and for the right reasons.
Oh yeah, and if you do see this show at the Birmingham Hippodrome this week do not attempt to take photos of SuBo at the end – the staff will pounce on you!!
I’m not going to rate this show – but it comes recommended.
‘The Susan Boyle Musical I Dreamed a Dream’ is on at Birmingham Hippodrome until Saturday.
The tour continues to Inverness and Manchester until June 23rd. Information at the show’s website.
Apologies for my silence. Things need to change and change they will.
Anyway last night I was lucky enough to go see Bernstein’s ‘Wonderful Town‘ at Birmingham Hippodrome. The show, currently touring across the UK starring the ‘nation’s Maria’ Connie Fisher, isn’t one that I was attracted to in any way, and if it wasn’t for an invite on a day I wasn’t busy I probably wouldn’t have gone to see. However, I quickly realised that my feelings towards this show were wonderfully wrong.
Wonderful Town is a traditional American musical – based in the 1950s we follow two sisters, Ruth (Fisher) and Eileen (Lucy van Gasse) who decide to come to New York from Ohio to seek their fortunes. It’s a clichéd plot where two people move to a bigger city and their innocence is battled but all comes good in the end – but clichéd or not, it works well in this show. There aren’t any complicated side plots, and the main plot you see coming a mile away, but it’s all good fun and the cast appear to be having a whale of a time on the stage.
Just thought of another title for this post – Wonderful by name, Wonderful by nature. The show just gives itself awesome names for positive blogs and reviews!!
The design (by Simon Higlett) of the show is classic 1950s America. Costumes are of the period, and the buildings depicted are classic skyscrapers from the era. The colour purple is the main colour for the throngs of people – from purple suits to shiny purple trousers of writers to a purple desk with purple paper and purple side way sky scrapers showing the depth of the stage. There is an early set piece in which the ensemble in their purple suits and orange gloves mould the first days in the city with tight cheography (by Andrew Wright) and direction which uses the set to its full potential.
The cast are brilliant – they all support each other and there isn’t one member letting the others down. Connie Fisher is brilliant as Ruth, the sensible sister to Lucy van Gasse’s care free Eileen. The two together have such a large range from Fisher’s lower tones to Gasse’s higher pitched singing and they work so well together, complimenting each other’s styles perfectly. The main male character Bob Baker is played by Michael Xavier who’s lowest tones almost cause the theatre to vibrate!! There are such wonderful voices in this show – possibly the best cast in terms of singers I’ve seen in a very long time. Other stand out performances include Nic Greenshields who plays the giant of a laundry expert Wreck Loomis and the artist landlord Mr Appopolous played by Sevan Stephan. The ensemble are fantastic – with the opening of Act 2 to go down in comedy legend with their portrayal of the New York police department…. (won’t spoil it for you – but the accents are all brilliant!) The only downside to the show is that the few slower songs/ballads don’t necessary suit the show and slow the action down, but it’s only a small point and with this cast they make those songs great!
Wonderful Town is a great show – and should be amongst the American classics but is overshadowed by the likes of Bernstein’s other musical hit West Side Story. It’s definitely worth a trip to the theatre – even if the weather is getting better outside!!
4.5 Big Apples out of 5
Tour stays in Birmingham until Saturday 26th May – Ticket information can be found at the Birmingham Hippodrome website. Then moves onto Southampton, Norwich, Newcastle, Woking, Plymouth and Cardiff ending on 7th July 2012. More tour information at the Wonderful Townwebsite.
End of the Rainbow, currently on at the Birmingham Hippodrome, tells the story of the the final tragic months of Judy Garland. Far from her days as Dorothy, the Garland, played by (Olivier award nominee for best actress for this part) Tracie Bennett, shows us the Garland who couldn’t get through shows without the support of drugs and alchol and who allowed everyone around her to dictate what she should and could do while trying to repay her debts. The tragic story is performed with immense drama but also contaibs hilarious (yet hearbreaking) comedy as Garland tries to make light of moments – such as when it turns out she’s downed a bottle of pills for a dog.
Bennett is supported by Norman Bowman playing her fiance Mickey Deans and Hilton McRae as Anthony her trusted pianist. Bowman shows how difficult Garland was to deal with as Deans deals with managing the global star as both her manager and lover, while McRae shows how Anthony tried to help Garland get out of the stressful situations. A moving scene towards the end shows Anthony trying to get Garland to leave Deans and move with him to Brighton where they could lead a platonic but loving life by the sea. When Deans enters and demands to know what’s happening, Garland simply says they were saying goodbye, leaving Anthony heartbroken knowing that she was sealing her fate. Each actor brings life to these real characters and pull at the appropriate heart strings to make the audience believe they are seeing it actually happening infront of them.
I would love to go on and on about this show – but on this occassion I can’t. I can’t fault it and I can’t sing it’s praises highly enough and I don’t want to ruin anything for you by adding spoilers! I know that’s rare of me, but on this occassion I can’t do it. It is a stunning show. It was nothing like I expected it to be, and although I had heard great things before I had no real expectations – but I was blown away. Bennett really steals the show and her Garland is near perfect. There is a lot of pain but also some genuine laughs.
So yeah, a short, brief review but this show is awesome and if you can see it before it goes to Broadway (of course with Bennett) then do so. It’s got a few more dates on it’s tour so if it comes near you then get some tickets.
First things first, this is a review – but you know me – I ramble. Maybe skip to the end if you want a quick look at a score!
I feel as though I’ve been on quite a journey with Legally Blonde – having been in New York around the latter days of it’s run on Broadway I avoided seeing it. I thought it’d be a bit too cheesey and as I hadn’t seen the film at that point only knew the name and how pink it was.
Fast forward a year and it was announced that it would be coming to London with Sheridan Smith in the lead role of Elle. Sheridan Smith is an amazing actress. Having seen her in a variety of roles (mainly comedy) on TV I had grown to become, not exactly a fan, but interested in her work. I liked the facebook page for the show and there was a competition to go along to the press launch at Cafe de Paris. I entered… and I won! I found myself in London with a friend of mine on a cold autumnal day queueing up along the outside of KFC next to Cafe de Paris wondering what the hell we were actually going to witness. As it turned out we had an introduction from producer Sonia Friedman then had the newly assembled cast perform a few songs for us, including Sheridan Smith singing ‘So Much Better’ just a few feet away from us. As well as mini handburgers and other snacks and drinks and a free goody bag, that was my Legally Blonde experience over for a while.
Skip forward 10months or so and I end up outside the Savoy Theatre ready to finally see the show which I will admit – I loved!! Any doubts I had about it went out of the window and I fell head over heels for Sheridan Smith. So much so it’s the only show I’ve ever been to where I’ve been to the stage door after to get an autograph and photo (and she told me she loved my jacket – win!)
SO when I heard the show was touring, I knew I wanted to go see it – but due to ticket prices, ridiculously high booking fees and an impending trip to London it wasn’t looking great. Luckily (and I seem to be a lucky bugger accoriding to this post – I’m not by the way) I won a pair of tickets to the opening night on Twitter.
So you know that I love the show – and that hasn’t changed. I’ve seen tour productions of productions I’ve seen the full London show for before and know that there will be changes to the set and possibly the show itself and so I was fully aware that there’d be changes. Big changes include no Delta Nu house, but just a door way; Elle’s original entrance; Paulette’s smaller shop; and a lack of a caravan. These changes don’t change the show and if you haven’t seen the original you wouldn’t know. Talking of the set though (and we did have a few techincal difficulties the night we saw it – but it didn’t affect the show) I had one huge bug bear about it. The flats which tradtionally would be black were red. It didn’t look right, and at times stuck out when I guess they should have just blended in with the set.
(L-R: Claire Sweeney (Paulette), Neil Toon (Warner), Faye Brookes (Elle), Iwan Lewis (Emmett), and Dave Willetts (Professor Callahan))
The cast were fantastic. My heart willalways be with Sheridan for the role of Elle, but Faye Brookes was brilliant. She was more Reese Witherspoon than Sheridan’s portrayal and she conveyed Elle’s innocence and belief that she could get where she wanted by citing love as the reason for her to get by. Neil Toon and Iwan Lewis (Warner Huntington the Third and Emmett Forrest respectively) also did stirling jobs as the two central male roles and love interests with Dave Willetts impressing the audience as Professor Callahan. Claire Sweeney was awesome as Paulette and provided some brilliant moments of comedy. The rest of the ensemble were fantastic and noone lost any energy throughout the show.
The show was fantastic – though sadly the experience during the first act wasn’t. Through no fault of the theatre, a couple were sat a couple of rows infront one of which was a drunk French man. They spent much of the first half talking loudly and passing a wine bottle in a loud Sainsbury’s bag between each other. After allerting the staff we then had a fantastic steward standing guard ready to shine her torch at them whenever they got noisy again. She then offered to move us to another section of the theatre and was hugely apologetic. Luckily the couple didn’t return for the second half, but I just wanted to make sure I included this into this post. If this blog get’s hugely successful may even consider something to congratulate the great and mighty theatre staff of the land…
ANYWAYS, I love the show. I would recommend anyone who can’t make it to London to make sure they see the tour. If you can make it to London, bypass the tour and go straight to London.
Legally Blonde: On Tour is at The New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham until October 15th.
It then travels to Manchester, Torquay, Nottingham and Sunderland until the end of the year, beginning again in 2012 in Southend. The tour continues through to June 2012.
Had a bit of a summer break, but now that the wind and rain is battering at the windows I thought I’d better make a return. Sadly my summer wasn’t filled with theatrical delights, apart from the one stunning evening in which I got to see Singin’ In The Rain at Chichester’s Chichester Festival Theatre. If you follow my twitter you’ll have seen a very brief review which simply stated that it was fantastic – but I will explain why in a future blog.
So after spending my summer away from the red velvet curtains and the plush purple seats of the theatre, I’m preparing myself for several delights over the coming month or two. I’m hoping to make it to an amateur production of Just So at the Arena Theatre in Wolverhampton (cast your mind back to my underrated blog a while back), seeing the touring production of Evita when it visits the Birmingham Hippodrome, and seeing the Judy Garland biopic End Of The Rainbow. I will also be venturing down to London to attend a very special concert at the Royal Albert Hall by Idina Menzel and while visiting London will probably go see Ghost The Musical to get over my obsession. I’ll also be venturing down to Chichester again in October to see Micheal Ball’s Sweeney Tood. I’m also hoping to make it to the tour of Legally Blonde, the opening of The Crescent Theatre’s new season with Talking Heads, and if I’m able to find the time, the world premiere produciton of Top Hat at the Hippodrome.
As long as I don’t forget the password (again) and don’t break my computer (my laptop went to PC Heaven over the summer) I hope to keep this blog updated regularly and with continuation of the features I started way back when… If you have any suggestions feel free to send my way (and that includes if you can get my hands on any nice, free, tickets!!)
The New Alexandra Theatre isn’t a new theatre. It somehow got given the ‘new’ to the name of it last December – no idea why, no reason why – but that’s against the point. The Alex as it’s known locally, is Birmigham’s ATG (Ambassador Theatre Group) theatre. 99.9% of it’s shows are touring shows which have been to the other ATG theatres in the country so expect Grease, Colin Fry the medium, and those awful tribute act shows. It’s a strange building, and you have to be careful as on more than one occassion I have been there and had a broken seat so spent the first act with my knees holding my body weight. You might also recognise the blue painted interior from the ITV show, Britain’s Got Talent as it shares the Birmingham auditions with the Hippodrome.
I have just completed a short series of blogs about the theatres of Birmingham, but as you can imagine there are more than just three theatres in Birmingham! I focussed on those three as they’re the most well known. Don’t worry though, over a number of blogs I’ll let you know of some of the other theatres.
More than just a theatre, the MAC is a fully functioning Arts Centre which hosts galleries, a cinema and with a huge variety of workshops to get your teeth stuck in all things arty. The MAC reopened last year after a massive refurbishment and is a stunning space within the confines of Cannon Hill Park.
The third, and for a while the final, blog about the theatres of Birmingham, this time a theatre that I have a massive respect towards, The Crescent Theatre.
The Crescent Theatre is more about the company rather than the building. The company is one of Birmingham’s oldest theatre companies dating back to the 1920s when it began as the Municipal Players performing in a converted building, formally Baskerville Hall in the Crescent, Cambridge Street. It all began with a group of council employees wanting to entertain their colleagues and their friends and the rest, they say, is history. The Crescent Theatre is an amateur group. It is run mainly by volunteers with people taking time out of their schedules to perform, design, make, build, pour drinks and direct across the theatre. The members of the theatre are vital in the running and there is a real community feel whenever you go to the theatre.
It’s current building, part of the Brindley Place development opened in the 1990s. It’s current building, boasting two performance spaces (a 340+ seat main house and a 120 seat studio), a large bar area and conference facilities as well as a workshop to build sets as well as a large props and wardrobe department. It thrives to produce quality shows that attract a large amount of different people of different backgrounds and does so with great success. In the season just gone the theatre produced a sell out production of Sweeney Todd (which, in my opinon put professional theatre companies to shame), a highly emotional All My Sons, a family production of Danny the Champion of the World, and a highly effective production of Shakespeare’s Julius Ceaser to name just a few of the productions produced.
The company produce on average 15 shows a year across the two performance spaces including a summer tour which visits a number of locations around Birmingham and a Christmas Wassail which also tours as well as having a sell out run in the main house. The theatre is used by a large number of amateur groups from around the region who come back time and time again, as well as by musicians and comedians who also use the bar as a performance area. Birmingham School of Acting also use the theatre to perform it’s productions in – a great chance to see some new acting talent. Highlights in the forthcoming season include Talking Heads, Macbeth, and Bedroom Farce as well as The Rep taking residence over the Christmas period for their production of Sleeping Beauty. I know that there are still some more awesome shows still to be announced so keep an eye out!
What kind of shows will you find at The Crescent?
The Crescent does a variety of shows, usually mainly plays with a big musical once a season. However they do ensure that there is a good mix of shows and you’ll find a couple of shows at least per season that will get you interested.
Who goes to the Rep?
Depends on the show. You’ll find a lot of members going to shows and the families and friends of those in the cast, but at the same time you’ll find students, families, adults, a real mix really.
What’s coming up?
So far announced for the following season are Talking Heads (September), MADEA (devised by the theatre, October), Macbeth (November) and Bedroom Farce (January). Over December and January The Rep will be taking residence with their production of Sleeping Beauty.
First show seen here?
Acorn Antiques the Musical (the amateur premier production).
Last show seen here?
Sweeney Todd.
Over notable shows seen:
Danny the Champion of the World; Wedding Singer (GBMTC); Arcadia; Julius Ceaser; Dad’s Army; Women on the Verge of HRT
When I did my Hippodrome blog you may recall I mentioned Six Summer Saturdays. A fantastic idea and I cannot fault the Hippodrome for trying to fill those summer Saturdays with some culture and theatre – however, and the ‘Hmmm’ in the title probably suggests, I wasn’t that excited or thrilled by what I saw on Saturday when I was in Birmingham.
The main event for the weekend just gone was circus performance and circus skills in Chamberlain Square. Fine, it’s a good idea and parts were great – however when there’s a huge event happening on the adjoining space (Victoria Square) that is seriously outdoing what they’re doing in terms of effort and activities it doesn’t bode well. And sadly I felt deflated and let down by the Hippodrome’s offers on Saturday and I spent most of my time enjoying the music, food and festivities at Jamaica Live – that huge event next to them.
Looking further into these two events they were apparently linked, although Jamaica Live had been arranged by other groups. The one thing linking them was the Olympics Open Weekend. Events were happening across the country to celebrate there being only a year until the start of London 2012. Jamaica Live had the Olympic mascot, Olympic flags and genereally had a huge celebratory atmosphere – it also had a clear link to the Olympics, celebrating the Jamaican team not only for next year but also with a display of replica tobaggan carts used in training for the winter Olympics. I find it very difficult to see what link the Hippodrome’s ‘No Fit Circus’ had with the Olympics. Maybe at a stretch some gymnastics, but apart from that not much else. It seems very much that the Hippodrome were more latching themselves onto a (I’m pesuming) funded event and taking advantage with some strenious (if that) links.
Looking through the programme for this year’s Six Summer Saturdays I’m not impressed. The first event for example was some Jazz music – which, with massive ‘coincidence’ just so happened to fall into Birmingham’s International Jazz Festival. So nothing new of different from what had been happening across Birmingham, nothing unique, nothing that exciting. Poor effort for something to launch a summer of ‘big’ events. Another event they had was using Titan the robot. You’ve seen him on Paul O Grady, in pantos, on other TV shows, on Big Brother and a number of other events – a couple of years back. Where’s the new, exciting, unique and artistic things we’re expecting? Also, to highlight my opinion that the Hippodrome have been jumping onto pre arranged things and hijacking them – the Hippodrome have been promoting ‘Ping!’ which, in fairness they do acknowledge that it’s run by another company, as an event you can do as part of 6SS…. they had nothing to do with them being installed, and if I’m right in thinking, members of the public can use the ping pong tables across the city whenever they want or whenever someone from STK International is present.
To compliment the negative vibes so far, I do have to admit that the events planned for the next few weeks do look better. But when promoting the event ‘Snow in the City’ why do they have to use a picture of the event being held in London?! Make these things seem unique to Birmingham, make them look special, make them look fun and make them look like they belong to the people of Birmingham like the theatre. This year’s 6SS doesn’t seem to have the intregrity and promise that last year’s highly successful one had. Whatever the reason why needs to be addressed as 6SS is a fantastic idea, and needs to be brilliantly executed.
afterthecurtaincomesdown 