Month: March 2018

CARRIE HOPE FLETCHER RELEASES DEBUT ALBUM:

‘WHEN THE CURTAIN FALLS’

30 MARCH 2018

• Available to pre-order from iTunes now

23:00 Records part of Club11 London are delighted to announce the title for award-winning West End star, YouTuber and best-selling author, Carrie Hope Fletcher’s debut album – When The Curtain Falls. Now available to pre-order from iTunes, the album is released on Friday 30 March.

The hotly anticipated album will feature some of Carrie’s favourite musical theatre songs covered in a way that listeners won’t have heard before. Today Carrie is delighted to share the tracks on the album will include Journey To The Past, What It Means To Be a Friend, Burn, Times Are Hard For Dreamers, I Dreamed a Dream, No One Else, Summertime, They Just Keep Moving The Line, Somewhere That’s Green, Let It Go, You Matter To Me, I Won’t Say I’m In Love, some of which are to be performed at the previously announced concert at Cadogan Hall on 31 March and 1 April 2018.

This follows on from an incredible 2017 for Carrie with the release of her third book All That She Can See, a critically acclaimed UK tour of The Addams Family and a starring role in the new musical The Christmasaurus.

Carrie Hope Fletcher is an award-winning actress, YouTuber and best-selling author. She has recently appeared in The Christmasaurus Live (Eventim Apollo, Hammersmith) and has completed a nationwide tour of The Addams Family, which included a televised performance on Tonight at the London Palladium. Other theatre credits include Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and War of the Worlds (UK tours), Les Miserables (Queen’s Theatre), Wind in the Willows (Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre) and Mary Poppins (Prince Edward Theatre). Her television credits include In Two Minds and Break Kids. Her forthcoming book, When The Curtain Falls, publishes in hardback in July 2018: a spellbinding, ghostly love story that takes place amid the special magic of the theatre – a setting that Carrie knows, and loves, so well. It follows the Sunday Times bestselling novels On the Other Side and All That She Can See and the No.1 bestselling memoir All That I Know Now (2015).

Carrie Hope Fletcher in Concert

Listings

Cadogan Hall

5 Sloane Terrace, Belgravia, London SW1X 9DQ

Box Office: 020 7730 4500

www.whenthecurtainfalls.co.uk

KATY LIPSON (ARIA ENTERTAINMENT)

& JIM KIERSTEAD (KIERSTEAD PRODUCTIONS)

CREATE A NEW PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPING & PRESENTING NEW MUSICALS IN LONDON AND NEW YORK

LAUNCHING WITH A CO-PRODUCTION OF THE NEW

BILL RUSSELL & JANET HOOD MUSICALPREMIERING OFF-BROADWAY AT THE YORK THEATRE COMPANY

BEFORE TRANSFERRING TO SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE

FROM 6 – 29 SEPTEMBER 2018

Award-winning producer, Katy Lipson of Aria Entertainment (The Addams Family, Hair, The Toxic Avenger, Yank, Little Women, Pippin, and recipient of a Stage One Bursary & Start-Up Award, OFFIES 2017 Producer Of The Year and The Stage 100’s Most Influential Figures 2018), announces a new partnership with New York City based Tony and Olivier Award winning theatre and film producer, Jim Kierstead of Kierstead Productions (Kinky Boots, Dreamgirls and Waitress), joining forces to develop and present new and groundbreaking productions on both sides of the Atlantic in Off-Broadway/Off-West End-sized venues.

Their first co-production will be the new Bill Russell (book and lyrics) and Janet Hood (Music) musical, Unexpected Joy, that will receive its Off-Broadway premiere at The York Theatre Company from 24 April – 2 May, before a run at Southwark Playhouse from 6 – 29 September 2018, with press night on Thursday 13 September. Both productions will be directed by Amy Anders Corcoran but will be individual and unique in casting and design elements.

The two producers met when Jim Kierstead joined Katy Lipson on the transfer of the musical Yank!from the Hope Mill Theatre in Manchester, to London’s Charing Cross Theatre, in the summer of 2017. Kierstead had been one of the original producers of the show Off-Broadway in 2010 at The York Theatre Company. The two realised that they shared the same passion for developing new musicals from the ground up and reconceiving old favourites in original and inventive ways.

Katy Lipson had this to share about the new partnership, “This is a very exciting time in Aria’s journey; Not only are we delighted to be co-presenting this incredible new musical which celebrates female empowerment with 4 great roles for women both in New York Off-Broadway and London’s Southwark Playhouse, but also to be collaborating with American producer Jim Kierstead on a new relationship which will see us working on similar co-productions of new chamber musicals both in the UK and across the pond.”

Jim Kierstead says of the partnership, “From the moment I met Katy, I knew we would get along wonderfully. She has boundless energy and endless ideas. She also is a tremendous multitasker and is incredibly organized, so we get along amazingly well.” He went on to add, “We can discuss ten different ideas in the span of ten minutes without getting confused. It’s a rare trait. I’m looking forward to the first of many collaborations together using this new model, as Unexpected Joy is a show that’s near and dear to my heart as I’ve spent the past 6 years developing it with the authors.  Stay tuned for our next collaboration!”

Unexpected Joy is the story of three generations of female singers, long-held family tensions and a week together where change is in the air – Joy, a baby boomer pop star, is visited by her daughter, Rachel and granddaughter Tamara. Rachel is married to a prominent televangelist, so Joy is reluctant to divulge that she’s planning to marry Lou, another singer who happens to be a woman. A week with all four together is bound to lead to tension, laughter, discoveries and happiness that really is unexpected.  Let the sparks and music fly!

In a time when the awareness of diversity and acceptance in society is at an all-time high, it’s the perfect opportunity to examine differences within our own families. It’s easy sometimes to disregard strangers who believe and live differently than the way we do, but what happens when those differences occur within our own family units? Unexpected Joy explores this concept by introducing three generations of women who have different values, dreams, and goals.  After drawing strong lines in the sand about what behaviors and thoughts each deems to be acceptable and unacceptable, at the end of the day, the question really is how can people get along and be the family they were always meant to be by finding common ground.  Through laughter, tears, self-discovery, and an original and compelling score, Unexpected Joy encourages its characters, as well as the audience, to take a journey of self-discovery because, at the end of the day, we really are all just one big family.

Full casting and creatives to be announced in due course

LISTINGS

UNEXPECTED JOY

SOUTHWARK PLAYHOUSE

FROM 6 – 29 SEPTEMBER 2018

Press Night: Thursday 13 September

Performances:

Wednesday – Saturday: 8.00pm

Thursday & Saturday: 3.30pm

Sunday: 3.00pm 

Ticket Prices:

£12 Previews

£20 Standard

£16 Concessions

Address: Southwark Playhouse, 77-85 Newington Causeway, London, SE1 6BD                   

Box Office: 020 7407 0234

Website:

www.southwarkplayhouse.co.uk

www.aria-entertainment.com      

Twitter:

@Swkplay

@AriaEnts

@UnexpectedLDN

Facebook:

@SouthwarkPlayhouse

@AriaEntertainment

It’s Easter Panto time – Oh Yes It Is!!

Enchanted Entertainment presents

Bobby Davro and Dani Harmer in Beauty and the Beast Monday 2 April 3.30pm & 7.30pm, Tuesday 3 April 1pm & 5pm

A fantastic Easter treat for all the family starring comedy legend Bobby Davro and Dani Harmer (CBBC’s Tracy Beaker and Strictly Come Dancing).

Don’t miss another fun-filled Easter pantomime from the same team behind The Wizard of Oz and Peter Pan. Featuring a star cast, impressive music, energetic dance routines as well as plenty of jokes, slapstick and heaps of audience participation!

Our spellbinding pantomime for Easter 2018 tells the story of Beauty who longs for romance and adventure, a bad-mannered Prince who is transformed into a Beast to teach him a lesson and a good Fairy who makes both their dreams come true.

Come and be our guest this Easter! Tickets* from: Adults £20, U16 £18, Family ticket £77 *All ticket prices are inclusive of a £2 restoration levy To book contact the Box Office on 01325 405405 or online at www.darlingtonhippodrome.co.uk

David Walliams’ Stage Show in search for Local Dancer

Producers seek dancer for Hull New Theatre production of Gangsta Granny

Birmingham Stage Company, one of the world’s leading producers of family friendly theatre, is searching for a local dancer to appear in the hit David Walliams play Gangsta Granny when it comes to Hull New Theatre later this year.

The award-winning production tells the story of Ben, a young boy who spends every Friday night with his ‘boring’ Granny, being served cabbage soup, cabbage pie and cabbage cake. What Ben doesn’t know is that Granny has a secret and Friday nights are about to get a whole lot more exciting.

Producers are looking for an 18 year-old female to play the role of an 11/12 year old girl in the show when it arrives in Hull in July.

To enter, dancers will need to email a video of themselves performing a short modern or disco piece to [email protected] stating they are from the Hull area.

Whoever is successful will be sent a video of the two minute dance she will be performing in the show so that she can learn the choreography.

The dancer will be expected to appear in all performances of Gangsta Granny at Hull New Theatre from 5 – 8 July 2018 and will be paid £21.38 per show.

Tickets for Gangsta Granny at Hull New Theatre are on sale now priced from £15.50. To book visit the Hull City Hall Box Office, call 01482 300 306 or visit our new website www.hulltheatres.co.uk.

West Yorkshire Playhouse, Leeds – Until 24th March 2018.  Reviewed By Dawn Smallwood

4****

Henry James’ classic ghost story comes alive on stage for a week at the West Yorkshire Playhouse in Leeds. Tim Luscombe’s adaptation tells the story about a young Governess (Carli Norris) who comes to Bly to look after Flora (Annabel Smith) and Miles (Michael Hanratty), two orphaned children, and the place appears peaceful and perfect. Soon after the Governess settles in things become unsettled and the household including Mrs Grose (Maggie McCarthy) has additional company, ghosts of a troubled past. The events make the Governess more determined to protect the two children even at all costs.

The play, under the direction of Daniel Buckroyd and produced by Dermot McLaughlin , opens with both the Governess and Flora who, a number of years later, confront each other with past events at Bly and both uncomfortably narrate what actually happened. During their conversations there are past flashbacks of events when the young Governess looked after the children and the decisions and emotions have been relived amid a dark and sinister setting.

Sara Perks’ staging is excellent and creates the atmospheric ambience for the nature of the play with the use of lighting, music and soundscapes, courtesy of Matt Leventhall and John Chambers, being applied for ghostly and scary touches of the story. The four person cast do a stellar performance with some doubling up as two characters and their accounts are articulately portrayed.

Turn of the Screw is more than a ghost story as it explores the characters thoroughly with touches of suspense, supernatural and obscurities of fantasy and reality. The audience is encouraged to think of the underlying themes raised for each of the characters, particularly the Governess, which are never shared except for suggestive texts and innuendo’s.

It is certainly a thought provoking play with a scope for personal interpretation of events and its circumstances that happened at Bly when The Governess took care of the children. This production is currently touring and is recommendable to go and see.

Salisbury Playhouse – until 24 March 2018.  Reviewed by Jo Gordon

4****

The Importance of Being Earnest is Oscar Wilde’s most well known play, a satirical take on Victorian high society and their ideals. Set around two friends; Jack Worthing (Peter Sandys-Clarke) and Algernon Moncrieff (Thomas Howes)  are both leading double lives. When Jack heads into London from the country he is known as Earnest and when in the country he is known as Jack referring to Earnest as his younger reprobate brother, and Algernon using Bunbury to be able to escape any tedious commitments that may be place upon him. Both men learn of the other ones double life. Jack has fallen in love with Algernons cousin Gwendoline Fairfax (Hannah louise Howell) and wishes to propose marriage and of course she accepts she always wished to marry an Earnest. Gwendoline’s Mother, the snobbish yet hilarious lady Bracknell (Gwen Taylor) soon puts a stop to this after learning that earnest was adopted after being found in a handbag within Victoria station.

Intrigued by the sound of Jack’s ward, Cecily (Louise Coulthard), Algernon heads to the country under the guise of Jack’s brother Earnest, and is welcomed into the home by Cecily who instantly falls in love with him and he her, again having a love for the name Earnest. Meanwhile Jack has decided to abandon his double life, returning home in full mourning suit declaring Earnest’s demise from a chill in Paris… awkward! Gwendoline then arrives to complicate matters further as she has absconded from home with Lady Bracknell hot in pursuit. In case you are a rarity like myself in not really knowing much about the story I will not go any further with the spoilers! Having only ever touching base with Oscar Wilde in my school days a 100 years ago, I will admit I was pretty adamant this would not be something that would fill me with enjoyment, how wrong I was! Maybe all the years that have passed since and maturity (some would argue that’s yet to come) has changed my opinion.

The set design was fantastic, portraying the country house, London pad and the country garden beautifully and transitioning you to each space effortlessly.

A brilliant cast that left me in awe of how strong they were in delivering such large pieces of dialogue effortlessly.  Peter Sandys-Clarkes stiff, serious demeanour as Jack balanced well with the bumbling, bouncy childlike presence of Algernon. Gwen Taylor’s Lady Bracknell had me loving her and disliking her in the same breath, utterly frustrating with her elitism but delivering her opinions and thoughts with impeccable comic timing and amusing quips.

I think this play has as much place in today’s world than when it first opened on 14 February 1895 as many people now seem to have a double life, the life they actually live and then the life they wish people to perceive they have as they share it with the world on social media . Maybe we should take heed of Jacks revelation of realising the importance of being earnest in life.

Grand Theatre, Leeds – until 31 March 2018.  

5*****

From the moment you enter the auditorium – to be greeted by the giant TV showing pages from Ceefax in 1993 – to the curtain down at the end, this show is nothing short of a phenomenon. The Band celebrates how music soundtracks our lives – and powerfully brings back memories while making plenty of new ones too.  Bursting with emotion, laughter and some of the most loved pop songs ever written. Laugh out loud jokes mixed with some heart-rending and tear-jerking moments, it takes the audience on a roller-coaster of emotions from the opening scene to the very last.

Written by Tim Firth and co produced by David Pugh, Dafydd Rogers, Gary Barlow, Howard Donald, Mark Owen and Robbie Williams – The Band revolves around five teenagers who adore “The Band” and win tickets to a concert of their heroes.  After the most perfect night of their 16 year old lives tragedy strikes and 25 years later the women meet up again after winning tickets to a concert again.

Whilst some “jukebox” musicals have songs shoehorned in and very little in the way of story, The Band is different.  The music of Take That is secondary to the piece, it doesn’t drive the show and its fits perfectly into the story.  Firth has woven a tight script around a simple premise of schoolgirl crushes and the pains of love and loss across a narrative that spans over 25 years.  The simplicity of which means that we can really connect with the characters

It would feel wrong to single out one member of the cast for praise as they were all outstanding, all playing their parts superbly.  The younger group of friends Faye Christall (Rachel), Debbie (Rachelle Diedericks), Heather (Katy Clayton), Claire (Sarah Kate Howarth) and Zoe (Lauren Jacobs) show great chemistry on stage together.  The older group of Rachel Lumberg, Emily Joyce, Alison Fitzjohn and Jayne McKenna are fierce, funny and wonderful. The casting is superb with the scenes in which they appear together showing how similar they all are. Back For Good sung by the teenagers to their adult selves was particularly moving.  It takes no imagination to believe they could be a younger and older version of the same person.  For these are real people, totally identifiable. And you will sit looking at your 16 year old self and recognising the 40 plus year old woman you have become

To “The Band” themselves, Gary Barlow’s TV talent show, Let it Shine, found the perfect line up of boys to play the part of the productions boy band Five to Five (A J Bentley, Yazdan Qafouri, Curtis T Johns, Sario Solomon and Nick Carsberg) who perfectly fit the bill.  The boys are the backing singers and musical interludes to the leading ladies, acting as cleaners, air port staff and statues amongst others to provide comedic, and sometimes more sombre, moments to the plot

We must also mention Rachel’s partner Jeff (Martin Miller) who has some fabulous one liners and Andy Williams who played Every Dave – including the bus driver, the Czech policeman, the cleaner and the caretaker, who has you laughing in every scene

Directors Kim Gavin and Jack Ryder ensure the production is as slick and sharp as possible which is helped by clever and immersive staged set-pieces with likeable attention to detail and brilliant special effects which really brought the room to life – be it in a fountain in Prague, on a hilltop outside Manchester, or in the middle of a concert.  With set design by Jon Bausor, alongside a lighting design from Patrick Woodroffe. And the live on stage band John Donovan, Richard Beesley, Tim Sandiford, Stu Roberts and John McKenzie

The Band knows that most people are there to hear the music of Take That, but the music doesn’t detract from a story that wears its heart loudly and proudly on its sleeve, for this is a musical love letter that makes you laugh, cry and want to sing at the top of your lungs.  With a message about the fragility of life making you ensure you live every moment as fully as possible. A nostalgic journey back in time for anyone who grew up loving a boy band 

This is a show that is fun and larger than life, and you don’t have to be a Take That fan to get enjoyment from.  I left the theatre completely worn out from the emotion, and made sure I told my life long trio of best friends just how much I loved them whilst trying to work out exactly when I can get to see the show again.

On tour around the UK for at least the next year I’m sure there will be plenty of chances for many more people to fall in love with this 5*, flawless, production.

Presented by Damsel Productions
Grotty
The Bunker, 53A Southwark Street London SE1 1RU
Tuesday 1st May – Saturday 26th May 2018

No one goes to the circus to get laid, do they? I do

Following the success of Brute at Soho Theatre, Damsel Productions teams up again with award-winning writer Izzy Tennyson to present Grotty, a semi-autobiographical piece centred on East London’s lesbian scene. The play is a provocative, satirical and at times grotesque exploration of intergenerational tension in the lesbian community, as well as struggles with mental health, identity and grief.

Izzy Tennyson who will be playing Rigby, won the Ideastap/Underbelly award with the debut show Brute (Edinburgh fringe festival 2015). Tennyson will be starring alongside Grace Chilton (Father Brown, BBC; Humans, Channel 4; Pride & Prejudice, Sheffield Crucible; Macbeth, National Youth Theatre Rep Company) who will be playing Witch/Elliot, Rebekah Hinds (Shameless, Channel 4; Humble Boy, Orange Tree; Billy Liar, Manchester Royal Exchange; Around The World, Mint Theater Company, New York) playing Toad/Kate and Anita-Joy Uwajeh (Twelfth Night, Shakespeare’s Globe; Fury, Soho Theatre; Girls, Soho Theatre) who will be playing Josie/Natty/Dr Alexandra.

Grotty is not a sentimentalised view of the London lesbian scene and is certainly not for the faint hearted. Told through the eyes of a young and reckless Rigby, a series of flashbacks expose Rigby’s taste for self-destruction and girlfriends with nice flats. Rigby doesn’t just fall down the rabbit hole, she hits the very bottom of it – mind games with no logic, laddish girls with a ‘fuck them and leave them’ attitude, desperate nesting 30-somethings and fetish club outcasts who, if they were men, would probably be on some sort of list.

Director, Hannah Hauer-King comments, Damsel is thrilled to bring this new, provocative and caustically funny play by Izzy Tennyson to our recent venue of residence, the Bunker Theatre. There is a dearth of stories focused on the queer female experience, and Grotty is a fantastic exploration of this underrepresented part of the community, and ultimately a compelling piece that will engage a diverse audience.

The Bunker’s Spring Season sees the venue truly celebrate its place as a playground for ambitious and adventurous audiences, just over a year after it first opened its doors. The exciting season highlights the venue’s commitment to work with brilliant playwrights, both established and emerging.