Author: FairyPoweredProductions

PRINCIPAL CAST ANNOUNCED FOR

LORD OF THE DANCE: DANGEROUS GAMES

AT LONDON’S PLAYHOUSE THEATRE

The principal cast for Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games at London’s Playhouse Theatre has been announced. The role of the Lord of the Dance will be played by James Keegan, Morgan Comer and brothers Cathal and Fergal Keaney, who have all been hand-picked and directed by Michael Flatley.  All four have won multiple World Irish Dancing Championship titles. Sophie Evans and Rachael O’Connor will share the role of Erin the Goddess.

Sophie Evans was runner-up on the hugely popular BBC series Over the Rainbow in 2010, and was subsequently chosen by Andrew Lloyd Webber to don the legendary ruby slippers and play the alternate Dorothy in selected performances of The Wizard of Oz at the London Palladium in 2011.  Sophie took over the role full time from February to September 2012.  She has most recently starred in You Won’t Succeed on Broadway If You Don’t Have Any Jews at St. James Theatre. 

Rachael O’Connor came to the nation’s attention after becoming the last girl standing in Kylie Minogue’s team on series 3 of The Voice UK on BBC One. Rachael made her West End debut in Lord of the Dance: Dangerous Games at the London Palladium in 2014.

 

Flatley’s latest show Dangerous Games has exciting and ground-breaking new technology, including holographs, special effects lighting, dancing robots, world champion acrobats and the greatest team of Irish Dancers in the world.  The score is composed by Gerard Fahy.

 

For further details, please visit www.lordofthedance.com.

LISTINGS INFORMATION

 

10 October 2015 to 3 January 2016

The Panto came early to Harrowgate Hill Primary School in Darlington with a special educational Roadshow.

IT’S BEHIND YOU!

A Pantomime Roadshow was held at Harrowgate Hill Primary School in preparation for Cinderella at Darlington Civic Theatre from Saturday 5 December to Sunday 10 January.

This special Panto Roadshow tours schools with an educational programme introducing children to the magic of live theatre and especially Pantomime. Run by Nigel Allacott the session was aimed at Key Stage Two Primary children and offered what may be the first experience of theatre to pupils in a comedy performance that was both entertaining and educational.

Nigel said “The aim in touring these roadshows is to encourage children to make that first contact with their local theatre, and to entertain and educate them in the history, traditions and enjoyment that can be gained by doing so. This is, after all the audience of the future”.

The first part of the show involved a comedy and interactive performance lasting 40 minutes, and after a short break the second part involved showing the children costumes and props from actual productions, allowing some children and staff to dress up in various costumes, and ended with a lively question and answer session.

Cinderella is at Darlington Civic Theatre from Saturday 5 December to Sunday 10 January.

To book contact the Box Office on 01325 486 555 or visit www.darlingtoncivic.co.uk

The Barbican have announced their full January to July 2016 programme.

Katie Mitchell will bring her Schaubuhne Berlin production of The Forbidden Zone to London for its UK premiere (26-29 May). The play is a female perspective on war and the advance of chemical weapons.

Another UK premiere will be the new Robert Lepage production of Needles and Opium, inspired by the lives of Jean Cocteau and Miles Davis, which is directed by the French-Canadian theatre maestro (7-16 July).

French film actress Isabelle Huppert will also appear in the new season in a production of Phaedra(s) directed by Polish auteur Krzysztof Warlikowski (9-18 June). The piece is a co-production between the Barbican and LIFT 2016 and draws on the writings of Sarah Kane, Wajdi Mouawad and JM Coetzee.

Maverick theatre company Forced Entertainment will also bring their epic undertakingComplete Works to the Barbican (1-6 March). The piece involves all 36 of Shakespeare’s plays being performed in condensed form, using only everyday objects as a cast.

It will also be the first time that New York company Split Britches will appear at the theatre. Actor and writer Peggy Shaw will perform her piece Ruff which looks at life before and after a stroke (14-16 April).

The Shadow King is a UK premiere from Australian company Malthouse. The piece reimagines King Lear as a tale of two indigenous families (22 June – 2 July). Michael Kantor directs the piece, and Tom E Lewis leads the cast.

Alongside these are the previously announced The Encounter by Simon McBurney, and Kings of War by Toneelgroep Amsterdam.

Tickets for the productions (unless specified) are available to Barbican Members Plus from today, to Barbican Members on Monday 12 October and on general sale from Thursday 15 October.

The Curve, Leicester has announced its Spring 2016 season with highlights including a new production of Legally Blonde alongside the already announced premiere of Breakfast at Tiffany’s with Pixie Lott.

Legally Blonde The Musical, the award-winning West End and Broadway show, will run from 11 April to 14 May. Nikolai Foster will direct the production, which follows sorority sister Elle Woods who heads off to Harvard Law School to win back her boyfriend.

Under the new creative partnership of chief executive Chris Stafford and artistic director Foster, the season will open with Rupert Goold’s successful King Charles III tour which will run from 26 to 30 January.

Wipers, a Curve commissioned play written by Ishy Din also features in the season. Inspired by the real life story of Khuddadad Khan, the first South Asian soldier to be awarded a Victoria Cross for his bravery at the First Battle of Ypres, the play examines the contribution made by South Asian soldiers in WWI.

The production will run from 8 to 23 April and will be directed by Curve associate director Suba Das.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s, starring Lott as Holly Golightly, is directed by Foster and described as a ‘play with music’. It will feature an onstage band and have music composed by Grant Olding (One Man, Two Guvnors). Truman Capote’s novella is being adapted for the stage by Tony and Olivier Award-winning playwright Richard Greenberg.

It will run at Leicester Curve’s main house from 3-12 March 2016 before touring the UK. Breakfast at Tiffany’s will culminate with a 12-week West End run at the Theatre Royal Haymarket, also starring Lott, from 30 June to 17 September 2016.

Other shows in the season include JB Priestley’s An Inspector Calls (17-23 March); Kali Theatre’s The Dishonoured (10-12 March) and Zoonation’s Into the Hoods (14-15 March).

Phillip Jackson’s statue of the legendary theatre director Joan Littlewood was unveiled in London over the weekend.

Celebrities turned out to see the moment where the covers were pulled off the artwork.Barbara Windsor, who worked with Littlewood when her career was starting off, was there to dish out cake.

Ian McKellen also appeared at the unveiling, which took place in front of the Theatre Royal Stratford East, a theatre Littlewood based her pioneering company the Theatre Workshop at during the Fifties.

Murray Melvin, an actor and writer who also worked closely with Littlewood, was also there at the unveiling. He said: “I’m delighted that a sculpture by Philip Jackson will be unveiled in Theatre Square in recognition of her great contribution to the community of Stratford and theatre.”

Littlewood became famous for her work with Theatre Workshop, and productions of musicals Fings Ain’t What They Used T’Be and Oh What a Lovely War, both of which were revived by the Theatre Royal Stratford East recently.

The bronze statue of Joan Littlewood will stand in Theatre Square near the Theatre Royal Stratford East.

BRYAN ADAMS
THE GET UP TOUR
SHEFFIELD ARENA
SATURDAY 14^TH MAY 2016

 
Multi-platinum, recording artist Bryan Adams is set to hit the UK in April/May next year with ‘The Get Up Tour’ in support of his forthcoming studio album ‘Get Up’ (releasing in the UK on 23^rd October).

The 10-date arena tour will include a show at Sheffield Arena on Saturday 14^th May, which will be the 12^thtime Bryan has played the venue since it opened in 1991.

Tickets go on general sale at 9am on Friday 9^th October in person at the Arena Box Office, by phone on 0114 256 5656 or online at www.sheffieldarena.co.uk.

Tickets purchased by phone or online are priced £38.50 & £46.75 (including booking fee).  Tickets purchased in person at the Arena Box Office are priced £36.75 & £44.73 (including booking fee).

Bryan Adams is set to release his thirteenth studio album, Get Up (UMe), on Friday 23^rd October. Produced by famed ELO frontman Jeff Lynne and co-written with his long-time collaborator Jim Vallance, the album features nine new songs and four acoustic versions. Get Up is available for pre-order now via all digital partners and includes instant-grat track “You Belong To Me,” followed by lead track “Brand New Day”, and the final early download, “Don’t Even Try” prior to street date. 

Tickets for Bryan Adam’s Sheffield date go on general sale at 9am on Friday 9th October in person at the Arena Box Office, by phone on 0114 256 5656 or online at www.sheffieldarena.co.uk.

UPDATE ON THE ROYAL SHAKESPEARE COMPANY AT THE BARBICAN

• King and Country: Shakespeare’s Great Cycle of Kings – All four History plays combine to play in repertoire, J.P. Morgan is the Global Tour Premier Partner
• RSC Shakespeare on Screen – A film season in association with Barbican Cinemas to run alongside the shows onstage, giving a unique opportunity to view rarely-seen screen adaptations of RSC productions
• King and Country: Talks Series – A series of talks and debates with leading RSC actors including David Tennant, Julian Glover and Alex Hassell
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• A Midsummer Night’s Dream: A Play for the Nation will play at the Barbican in May 2016 as part of its National Tour
• The RSC will participate in Play On at the Barbican Weekender, a two-day event inspired by Shakespeare’s work, in March 2016

King and Country: Shakespeare’s Great Cycle of Kings

The Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC) returns to the Barbican in November with Henry V, followed by a major theatrical event in January 2016 to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare’s death – with performances of all four productions of Gregory Doran’s history plays in repertoire.

The season brings together the previously production of Richard II (premiered in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon in October 2013) with the recent Henry IV Parts I & IIand the new production of Henry V straight from its acclaimed run in Stratford.

Running from 11 November 2015 to 24 January 2016, the repertoire includes the majority of the original cast members. David Tennant reprises the title role of Richard II; Antony Sher and Jasper Britton return as Falstaff and Henry IV respectively in the Henry IV plays and Alex Hassell reprises his role as the young Hal and reaches maturity as King in Henry V.

RSC Shakespeare on Screen
9-31 January 2016
Barbican Cinemas 2 & 3

In January 2016, alongside the work onstage at the Barbican, a special festival of RSC Shakespeare on Screen has been created to complement the King and Country plays.

Curated by John Wyver, RSC Director of Screen Productions, in association with the Barbican, RSC Shakespeare on Screen will uncover highlights from 50 years of Shakespeare in performance. Nine titles have been selected from the huge archive of RSC work captured on stage or reconceived for film and television, and include Trevor Nunn’s iconic 1979 production of Macbeth with Ian McKellen and Judi Dench, originally performed at The Other Place in Stratford-upon-Avon, Peter Hall’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1959) with Charles Laughton as Bottom in a rarely-seen partial recording of Hall’s staging which was filmed on three cameras for American television in the theatre in Stratford-upon-Avon, and Gregory Doran’s production of Hamlet (2009) filmed on location in an abandoned seminary in North London, with David Tennant in the title role. Questions about the RSC’s involvement with film and television and the challenges of translating stage productions to the screen will be discussed with current RSC artistic director Gregory Doran and other guests to be announced.

Talks and Debates

A programme of talks and debates explores Shakespeare’s portrayals of Richard II, Henry IV and Henry V. Guest panellists will include Alex Hassell, Julian Glover and David Tennant amongst others. The talks will be held in the Frobisher Auditorium 1 in the Barbican.

Further information here: www.kingandcountry.org.uk/events/talks/

Education

An Education programme will run alongside the RSC season, exploring Henry V and the King and Country cycles. RSC Education and Barbican Creative Learning teams will also work with experts from the Museum of London on an active workshop on Shakespeare’s Histories. For more information on the RSC Education workshops visit:http://www.kingandcountry.org.uk/productions/henry-v/education/

Barbican Box 2016

From November 2015

RSC associate directors will be supporting the Barbican Box education programme for schools and colleges. The project involves a portable box containing tools and stimuli to encourage young people in their personal and imaginative approach to the arts. Joining the programme, schools also get mentoring, teacher training courses, tickets to the Centre’s performances and opportunities to perform at the Barbican – among other benefits.

First Encounter: The Famous Victories of Henry V
19 November 2015

Following its opening in Stratford-upon-Avon in June 2015, and its tour to school halls and theatre spaces across the country, The Famous Victories of Henry V comes to the Barbican for one performance only. Directed by Owen Horsley and using Shakespeare’s original language, the production condenses the three great plays of Henry IV Parts I & II and Henry V into a 90 minute adventure for 8 – 13 year olds.

Exhibition

This Realm, This England – the RSC’s free exhibition will be on display in the Barbican Mezzanine Foyer from 6 November 2015 – 24 January 2016. The exhibition features a new lighting installation developed by the Royal Shakespeare Company, inspired by Stephen Brimson Lewis’ design for theKing and Country cycle of plays.

International King and Country tour

Following the Barbican season, Henry IV Parts I & II and Henry V tour to China and are then re-joined by Richard II in Spring 2016 for an exclusive season in New York, at the Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM).

J.P. Morgan is the Global Tour Premier Partner for all four productions, and will be supporting the upcoming tour from London to China and the US.

Live from Stratford-upon-Avon

Henry V will be broadcast ‘Live from Stratford-upon-Avon’ to cinemas in collaboration with Picturehouse Entertainment on 21 October 2015. For details on screeningshttp://onscreen.rsc.org.uk/

As well as streaming the shows live into cinemas around the world, the RSC also offers another unique opportunity to schools across the UK to experience the Company’s productions for free in classrooms, with a live Q&A following the screening. Henry V will be screened in schools on Thursday 19 November 2015.

This hugely popular initiative is made possible through collaboration with Ravensbourne College. Alongside the webcast, the RSC has created an extensive package of online resources for use by teachers and students in the classroom, both in the lead up to the broadcast and for use as follow up materials afterwards.

For full cast and production information www.kingandcountry.org.uk

 

Paul Walden & Derek Nicol for Flying Music in association with Adrian Grant for Key Concerts present

Direct from London’s West End

CELEBRATING THE UNDISPUTED KING OF POP

GRAND OPERA HOUSE YORK

Monday 1 until Saturday 6 February 2016

Direct from London’s West End where it is now in its record breaking 7^th year, THRILLER LIVE is a spectacular concert created to celebrate the career of the world’s greatest entertainer.

Seen by over 3 million people in over 30 countries, THRILLER LIVE continues to moonwalk around the world, taking you on a visual, audio and electrifying journey through the magic of Michael’s 45 year musical history.

 

You will experience over two hours of non-stop hits from pop to rock, soul to disco as the cast play homage to Jackson’s legendary live performances and innovative dance moves executed with flair, precision and passion,  this is a show that you will never forget.

 

Expect your favourite songs delivered by an exceptionally talented cast and band, including: I Want You Back, ABC, Can You Feel It, Off The Wall, The Way You Make Me Feel, Smooth Criminal, Beat It, Billie Jean, Dirty Diana, Bad, Rock With You, They Don’t Care About Us, Dangerous and Thriller plus many more!

What the papers say:

“****  (4 stars) A TOTAL BLAST. The staging and constant brilliance of the musicians keep us riveted. A WONDERFUL SHOW”  Whatsonstage.com

**** (4 stars) “You can’t beat it!” Evening Standard

“AN EXUBERANT BLAST!”  Daily Mail

“This theatrical extravaganza is a breathtaking celebration – QUITE LITERALLY, THRILLING” The Stage

“A glitzy concert of song and dance. THE HITS JUST KEEP ON COMING” Daily Telegraph

“Dazzlingly well-drilled and brilliantly done” Mail on Sunday

“IMMENSELY ENJOYABLE.” The Independent

Grand Opera House York

1 – 6 February 2016

Performances: Mon – Fri at 7:30pm, Sat at 4pm and 7.30pm

Tickets: £21.75 – £36.75

Box Office: 0844 871 3024

Online Booking: www.atgtickets.com/york

 

Pick Me Up Theatre present

THE ADDAMS FAMILY

 

The perfect Halloween treat for all the family – Pick Me Up Theatre bring Andrew Lippa’s Broadway musical version of The Addams Family to York’s Grand Opera House

Wednesday 28 – Saturday 31 October

 

The loveable family of creepy kooks is alive and well and living in their super spooky mansion in Central Park.

Book by Marshall Brickman and Rick Elice

Music and Lyrics by Andrew Lippa

Based on characters by Charles Addams

As the curtain rises, the last dead leaf of autumn falls from the Family Tree, and all is right with the morbid, macabre world of Gomez, Morticia, Fester, Grandma, Wednesday, Pugsley and Lurch.  They’ve gathered – where else? – in the family graveyard, to celebrate life and death in a yearly ritual to connect with their past and ensure their future.  They seem at peace, not just with each other and their inimitable, unchanging Adams-ness, but with their dead ancestors, too – who emerge from their graves on this night each year to join in the celebration of continuity.

But, at the end of the ritual, Fester blocks the ancestors’ return to their graves. Those unchanging Addams family values are about to be tested. Fester enlists their help to set things right, just in case a new family secret goes terribly wrong.  What’s the secret? Wednesday Addams, that irresistible bundle of malice, has grown up and found love.  So what’s the problem? The young man, Lucas Beineke, is from Ohio, and his parents are coming to dinner to meet the family. Two different worlds are about to collide.  Will love triumph, or will everyone go home vaguely depressed.

Performances: Wed, Thur, Sat 7:30pm, Fri 5pm & 8pm, Thu & Sat mats 2:30pm

Tickets: £11.00 – £25.00

Box Office: 0844 871 3024

Online Booking:  www.atgtickets.com/york