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York Theatre Royal – until 13 September 2018

Reviewed by Marcus Richardson

5*****

‘The Don’t Pay, We Wont Pay’ is a political farce by Dario Fo that has made its way from being originally in Italian to being performed on stage at York Theatre Royal. The play focuses on two couples who can barely afford to eat and pay their bills, due to rising prices. As a riot is happening one day at an Aldi the main character Anthea takes advantage of this to get some free food, with her friend Maggie she tries to hide the food from theirs husbands and one lie leads to another with each getting more and more ridiculous.

Lisa Howard Plays the character of Anthea, this was one of the funniest characters on stage, her skill to creating comedy the both felt natural which meant her excuses just became even more hilarious. Steve Huison plays Jack, Anthea’s husband who works in a factory and is a proud leftie, somehow believing all of Anthea’s lies.  Huison finds the serious political issues and in a way tell the audience off whilst also making them laugh, this really captures what Fo wanted from his plays. The other couple played by Suzanna Ahmet and Matt Conner are younger than the other two, Ahmet plays the character of Maggie who will go with any play Anthea makes up, Ahmet creates this confused and nervous character onstage that has no idea what happening this is both hilarious as she is the focus around Anthea’s plans. Conner plays Maggie’s husband, Both funny and doesn’t get to see his wife until after the interval. Michael Hugo takes in 4 roles in this show from being a Constable, Sargent, Undertaker and Jacks father, a man of many characters and many laughs. The show gave Hugo moments to play with the scenes and playing different characters, especially with both the police men, with the only difference between them being a moustache and accent, warning moustaches can fall off.

The play is both absurd and incredibly relevant to today’s political issues, thanks to Deborah McAndrew who has tailored the play to a post-vote Brexit. This created tongue in cheek comedy that made some people laugh and definitely made some people gasp. What the play does is make you think whilst also being very entertaining, the show will be at the York Theatre Royal until the 13th. I would push anyone to see this hilarious show that is refreshing and lighthearted whilst also being relevant and political.

Joe McElderry, Neil McDermott, Kate Robbins, Emily Tierney and Amelle Berrabah
announced to star in the world premiere of new 80’s musical

C L U B    T R O P I C A N A

Launching at Churchill Theatre Bromley on 24 January 2019

Star casting is announced today for the world premiere of Club Tropicana The Musical by Michael Gyngell, a summer adventure of love in the sun, with a soundtrack of smash-hit pop classics all performed live on stage. It takes a fun-packed trip back in time to the electric 80’s when hair was big, shoulders were padded, girls (and boys) just wanted to have fun and mobile phones were shaped like bricks and weighed a tonne!

Welcome to the vibrant Club Tropicana Hotel – the 1980s answer to Love Island – where the drinks are free and the whole family is invited to join the ultimate holiday musical.

When a budding bride and groom get cold feet, they each decide to jet off to sunnier climes and feel the heat – but little do they know they’ve checked into the same hotel…The sizzling summer season at the Club Tropicana sees drinks flowing and tans glowing. Will our young lovers decide to go through with the wedding? Will the hotel inspectors (finally) get their way and close the resort, or will the staff save the day? All will be revealed in hilarious style, to an irresistible soundtrack of some of the most iconic, chart-topping acts from the 80s, including ABC, Cyndi Lauper, Frankie Goes to Hollywood, a-ha, Culture Club, Kenny Rogers and Dolly Parton, Bucks Fizz and Depeche Mode: Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, Take On Me, Just Can’t Get Enough, Oops Upside Your Head, The Look of Love, Making Your Mind Up, Relax, Islands on the Stream, She Drives Me Crazy, Don’t Go, La Dolce Vita, Surprise, Surprise, Church of the Poison Mind, Fantasy Island, Up Where We Belong, I Could Be So Good for You, Fantastic Day and many more!

The cast is headed by Joe McElderry (X Factor winner and star of Joseph and his Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat), Neil McDermott (Ryan Malloy in EastEnders, Eugenius!, The Wind in the Willows, Shrek), Kate Robbins (Spitting Image, ITV’s The Imitation Game, Dinnerladies), Emily Tierney (Eugenius! , Wicked, The Wizard of Oz); and former Sugababe star Amelle Berrabah making her musical theatre debut.

It is completed by Karina Hind, Calvin Hudson, Cellen Chugg Jones, Megan Louch, Rebecca Mendoza, Alexanda O’Reilly, Joshua Pearson, Rory Phelan, Nye Rees, Camilla Rowland, Christina Shand, Courtney-Brogan Smalley, Tara Verloop, Kane Verrall.

INCOMING FESTIVAL – UK’S TOP FESTIVAL FOR EMERGING THEATRE COMPANIES HEADS TO BRISTOL FOR THE FIRST TIME

 

·         London & Manchester 24 – 30 June 2019, Bristol: 26 – 30 June 2019

·         All tickets just £5

 

New Diorama Theatre and A Younger Theatre are today delighted to announce that in 2019, Incoming Festival will take place at the Tobacco Factory Theatre in Bristol, as well as HOME in Manchester and New Diorama in London

 

Following five brilliant years at New Diorama in London, and a successful debut in Manchester in 2018, in 2019 Incoming Festival will take over the new studio theatre at the Tobacco Factory for five days in June.

 

Incoming Festival is a celebration of the best emerging theatre companies from the UK and beyond, and invites audiences to try something new for just a fiver. In previous years, the festival has featured companies including Bristol’s own Bucket Club and The Wardrobe Ensemble, Kill the Beast, Breach Theatre, The Pretend Men, Sleeping Trees, Footprint Theatre, Lost Watch, Silent Uproar and Kandinsky.

 

This year, in a radical shake-up of our programming model, we invited Lyn Gardner, Fergus Morgan (The Stage), the editorial team of Exeunt magazine and Critics of Colour to select the shows they would like to programme as part of the festival. The remaining slots will be programmed by co-directors David Byrne, Jake Orr and Eleanor Turney, and from the National Student Drama Festival. We will be announcing the full festival line-up in November, and tickets will go on sale in 2019.

 

New Diorama Theatre Artistic & Executive Director, David Byrne, says: “Incoming Festival is one of the very best things we do at New Diorama. It’s great we’re able to extend the festival’s reach even further to HOME and, now, Tobacco Factory, two of the very best theatres in the country.”

 

Incoming Festival co-director Jake Orr says “We’re thrilled to be bringing Incoming Festival to Bristol in 2019 and to be hosting it at the brand new Spielman Theatre at Tobacco Factory Theatres. It gives companies a third city to present their work and as Bristol has long been a thriving hub for emerging theatre companies, it feels the natural step for us to bring the best emerging companies from across the UK to the city in the festival’s sixth year.”

ARIA ENTERTAINMENT,

HOPE MILL THEATRE & SENBLA PRESENT

THE HIGHLY-ANTICIPATED UK TOUR OF

THE LEGENDARY ROCK MUSICAL

50^TH ANNIVERSARY PRODUCTION COMING TO THE EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE

Following the critically- acclaimed 50th anniversary production of Hair, The Musical at Hope Mill Theatre and sell-out transfer to The Vaults, London, the celebrated production will now embark on a nationwide tour – including a visit to the Edinburgh Playhouse from 22-27 June 2019.

This award-winning production (2018 WhatsOnStage Award – Best Off-West End Production) will open at the New Wimbledon Theatre on 22 March 2019, with national press night on 28 March, before visiting Cheltenham, Manchester, Cardiff, Plymouth, Birmingham, Sunderland, Dartford, Liverpool, Portsmouth, Edinburgh, Oxford, Sheffield, Brighton and Milton Keynes, with further dates to be announced in due course.

Welcome to the ‘Age of Aquarius’.

It’s 1967 and HAIR’s hippie ‘tribe’ youngsters in the East Village of New York are yearning to change the world, questioning authority and the American flag. Wild, colourful, sexually liberated and free, they are united in protest and song, under the shadow of the Vietnam War.

Hair, which is adored for its Grammy award-winning score featuring iconic hits such as ‘Aquarius’, ‘Let the Sun Shine In’, ‘I Got Life’ and ‘Good Morning Starshine’ is written by Gerome Ragni (book and lyrics), James Rado (book and lyrics) and Galt MacDermot (music).

The 50th anniversary production is directed by Jonathan O’Boyle (Pippin, Rain Man, Aspects Of Love), who is reunited with the brilliant creative team from Hope Mill Theatre: Gareth Bretherton (Musical Director), William Whelton (Choreographer), Maeve Black (Designer), Ben M Rogers (Lighting Designer), Calum Robinson (Sound Designer) and producers Katy Lipson for Aria Entertainment,Joseph Houston and William Whelton for Hope Mill Theatre, Ollie Rosenblatt for Senbla, and associate producer Guy James.

The production will be cast by the previous BBC Head of Casting Jane Deitch, and will be announced in due course.

 

 

LISTING INFORMATION

 

HAIR THE MUSICAL

EDINBURGH PLAYHOUSE

Greenside Place, Edinburgh, EH1 3AA

TUE 17 – SAT 22 JUNE 2019

Tue – Sat 7.30pm | Wed and Sat Mats 2.30pm

 

HOW TO BOOK

Online: atgtickets.com/Edinburgh

Box Office: 0844 871 3014*

*fees apply.

The Above & Beyond Festival
October 22nd – 24th, Plymouth Libraries

Popular Plymouth based theatre Company go Above and Beyond to bring you the best children’s shows from across the country in their new Half-Term Theatre Festival, for all the Family!

Above Bounds, who have proved a firm favourite amongst Plymouth’s families, return to Plymouth Libraries this October half term; but they’re not alone. Above & Beyond is Plymouth’s new family theatre festival featuring some of the UK’s best and most innovative companies producing shows for children. Taking place on 3 days, at a different library each day, there’s certainly something for everyone.

The festival kicks off on the 22nd October at Plympton Library with Oily Cart associate artists, Feel Theatre and their Sensory Circus. Ditto Theatre Company bring their touching debut show, Ingo’s War, which saw them winners of the 2017 Reviews Hub: Beyond the Fringe award. Exeter favourites, Paddleboat Theatre Company will entertain audiences in Plymstock on the 23rd with a preview of their newest production, Hansel & Gretel before it performs at Exeter Northcott this Christmas!

Besides the amazing programme of theatre, there’s plenty to entertain the little ones in the Libraries, as Above & Beyond will feature face painting, craft workshops and live music throughout the 3 day event.

Producing a festival is something of a new venture for Above Bounds, founded by Actor-Producer Helen Bovey and Actor-Playwright George Boundy. Thanks to support from The National Lottery Project grants through Arts Council England and funding from The Elmgrant Trust, the team will be able to bring first class theatre and performance for families at Plympton, Plymstock and Southway Libraries.

Helen Bovey said: “We have had the ambition to run our own theatre festival for a long time now and the hugely positive response we have had working with children and families at Plymouth Libraries this year has spurred us on to make Above & Beyond a reality. There’s a good mix of shows offering something for everyone and lots of fun to be had in the library too.”

Above & Beyond will also feature sensory performances from Collar & Cuffs, whose Little Meerkat’s Big Panic, is based on Jane Evan’s book for young children about understanding and managing anxiety. Described as, ‘Monty Python for kids’ by Children’s Theatre Reviews, Oliver Harrison’s clown masterpiece, Signor Baffo will close the festival at Southway Library on the 24th October.

Title The Above & Beyond Festival
Venues Plympton Library (22nd October)
Plymstock Library (23rd October)
Southway Library (24th October)
Producer Above Bounds
Performance Dates October 22nd 2018 – October 24th 2018
Ticket Price from £2
Box Office Ticketsource (ticketsource.co.uk/abovebounds)
Links Twitter (@abovebounds)

It’s a cats life for Jascha Kempf, the Grand Opera House German intern. Jascha is scaling new heights in the lead up to Pick Me Up Theatre’s production of Cats, which comes to the venue this November.  Jascha will be in York, learning all about the theatre, from marketing to front of house and technical, until December.

Pick Me Up Theatre presents

CATS

Music by Andrew Lloyd Webber

Directed by Ali Kirkham

Starring Joe Wawrzyniak as Asparagus and Ellie Hall as Bombalurina

 

One of the longest-running shows in West End and Broadway history – the original production played at the New London Theatre for 21 years.

Based on T. S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats, the musical tells the stories of the Jellicle Cats who come out to play on one special night of the year – the night of the Jellicle Ball.

the show is set amongst a larger- than-life junkyard playground and is alive with our favourite feline characters including Rum Tum Tugger, Mr. Mistoffelees, Macavity, Jennyanydots, Old Deuteronomy, Grizabella and Skimbleshanks.

One by one they tell their stories for the amusement of Old Deuteronomy, their wise and benevolent leader, who must choose one of the Cats to ascend to The Heaviside Layer and be reborn into a whole new Jellicle life.

The score includes the show-stopping Memory, which was a big hit for Barbra Streisand, as well as Elaine Paige, who played Grizabella in the original West End production.

ENDS

For more information or to arrange an interview please contact Celestine Dubruel on 01904 678711 or email [email protected]

Ticket from £13.40

Box office:  0844 871 3024

Online Booking: www.atgtickets.com/york

Blackeyed Theatre, in association with New Theatre Royal Portsmouth and
South Hill Park Arts Centre
2019 dates announced for Nick Lane’s
Adaptation of Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four
By Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
International Tour: September 2018 – July 2019
When you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains,
however improbable, must be the truth.

New dates have been announced for Blackeyed Theatre’s thrilling new adaptation of The Sign of Four, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle’s epic second Sherlock Holmes novel. Having successfully mystified audiences this autumn, this spectacular world premiere, adapted and directed by Nick Lane, will continue to tour to theatres across the UK throughout spring 2019, culminating in a four-week tour of China in July

When Mary Morstan arrives at Baker Street to request help following the mysterious disappearance of her father, Sherlock Holmes and his companion Dr Watson are plunged into a murky world of deception and a complex plot involving murder, corruption and stolen jewels

Crammed full of adventure, romance, comedy and, of course, one or two rather brilliant deductions, this faithful adaptation will combine original live music, high energy theatricality and ensemble storytelling

With music composed by Tristan Parkes, the cast of The Sign of Four features Luke Barton as Sherlock Holmes (The Unexpected Guest, Mill at Sonning; Misterman, Liverpool Everyman and Playhouse), Joseph Derrington as Dr John Watson (The Importance of Being Earnest, MAC Belfast; The Canterville Ghost, Erasmus Theatre), Zach Lee as Jonathan Small (Bouncers, Glass Menagerie, Hull Truck; The Derby McQueen Affair, York Theatre Royal), Stephanie Rutherford as Mary Morstan (Kubla Khan, Mirror Mirror, Oily Cart; Cinderella, Derby Theatre), Christopher Glover as Dost Akbar (Peckham The Soap Opera, Royal Court; Eastenders, BBC) and Ru Hamilton as Thaddeus Sholto (Tipping the Velvet, Lyric Hammersmith; Peter Pan, Derby Theatre)

Director Nick Lane comments, I don’t think I know anyone over the age of ten who doesn’t know at least the name Sherlock Holmes. He is part of the literary fabric of this country – hugely popular and hugely adaptable – and his cases with Watson are a blueprint for so many crime novels, films, TV shows and theatre. We have approached this adaptation in a stylised way which will appeal to avid fans of the novel as well as those who simply want to come to the theatre and enjoy a rattling good crime story!

Sherlock Holmes: The Sign of Four is produced by Blackeyed Theatre in association with New Theatre Royal Portsmouth and South Hill Park Arts Centre in Bracknell and supported by Arts Council England

One of the most innovative, audacious companies working in contemporary English Theatre. (The Stage)

 

WILTON’S MUSIC HALL ANNOUNCE SPECTACULAR 2019 SPRING SEASON

·       Poignant one-woman show from Rachel Bagshaw and Chris Thorpe The Shape Of The Pain(19 – 23 March)

·       Brexit Eve brings Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho and late-night special Margaret Thatcher Queen of Club Nights on 29 March (full run 26 – 30 March)

·       Camille O’Sullivan – Cave, produced by Wales Millennium Centre as part of the Festival of Voice 2018, showcasing the music of Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds (9 – 13 April)

·       The premiere of The Tiger Lillies’ new concert One Penny Opera (2 – 6 April)

·       The awarding-winning Sasha Regan’s all-male The Pirates of Penzance (20 February – 16 March)

 

Wilton’s Music Hall, the oldest grand music hall in the world, today announces its 2019 Spring season – a glorious collection of theatre, and music from some of the UK’s most exceptional companies and artists.

What if you could see pain, as well as feeling it? What if it were reflected in colour, and shapes, so that other people could experience how you felt? Director Rachel Bagshaw and Royal Exchange Associate Chris Thorpe’s unique, disconcerting and touching one-woman show The Shape of the Pain(19 – 23 March) looks at physical suffering with no apparent cause, conditions that aren’t recognised by medical professionals but which destroy lives. A Fringe First Award winner in 2017 and with an original score by the award-winning Melanie Wilson, the production uses light and sound to explore the way we talk about pain and understand it better.

As Britain leaves the EU, the Iron Lady herself hits the Wilton’s stage for the very first time in Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho (26 – 30 March) in her full outrageous cabaret glory. In this smash hit drag extravaganza, diva Maggie gets lost in Soho on the eve of the crucial Section 28 vote and accidentally becomes a cabaret superstar – will she change her mind about the homophobic bill before it’s too late?  A big, beautiful, gay adventure about LGBT rights, the 80s and disco created by Olivier Award winner Jon Brittain and performer Matt Tedford, it’s politics, glitter and riotous romping at its very finest. There will be a special one-off club night Margaret Thatcher Queen of Club Nights on the night of Brexit itself (29 March), featuring non-stop 80s hits, dance-offs, lip-sync battles and more.

Wilton’s is delighted to host the London premiere of a staggeringly beautiful new show Camille O’ Sullivan – Cave (9 – 13 April) produced by Wales Millennium Centre as part of the Festival of Voice 2018. Returning to the stage of her musical home, this run will see the mesmerizing chanteuse perform the songs of Nick Cave & the Bad Seeds, exploring the dark and the light of their music in her dangerous yet fragile theatrical style. Recently voted one of Later…with Jools Holland’s top 25 performances of all time by The Telegraph, Camille enjoys a formidable international reputation worldwide for her intensely beautiful and emotional shows.

Regan De Wynter Williams’ award-winning and hilariously funny take on the much-loved classic The Pirates of Penzance (20 February – 16 March) arrives at Wilton’s fresh from a hugely popular tour in Australia, which saw the production play Cate Blanchett’s Sydney Theatre. Now back in London, the all-male cast effervescently and joyously tell Gilbert and Sullivan’s much-loved tale of a child adopted by a band of tender-hearted orphaned pirates in an inventive and brilliant night of theatre.

From a revival of an opera classic to an insanely brilliant fusion of two more, the Olivier Award-winning Godfathers of alterative cabaret, The Tiger Lillies, will celebrate their 30^th birthday with the premiere of a new concert One Penny Opera (2 – 6 April), bringing their dark and sardonic world back to Wilton’s with their own mash-up of John Gay and Brecht’s Beggar’s Opera and Weill’s Threepenny Opera. Glasgow songbird Christine Bovill will also grace the East London stage, as she transports audiences into a Parisian twilight world of song with her new show Christine Bovill’s Paris (29 January – 2 February).

Legendary comic Omid Djalli will make his Wilton’s debut with his show Schmuck for a Night (15 – 19 January), and, celebrating 50 years of the legendary sitcom, James Seabright’s Dad’s Army Radio Show (22 – 26 January) sees a brilliant staging of three classic radio episodes based on favourite scripts from the original TV series. Poet in the City presents Rumi: The Universe in Ecstatic Motion (11 February), bringing an exploration of Rumi’s poetry on the subject of love, returning with Audre Lorde: Sister Outsider (15 April), an empowering evening of live poetry performances celebrating the radical pioneer of intersectional feminism.

Defying all the laws of live comedy, The Good, The Bad and The Fifty: The 12^th Annual London 50-Hour Improvathon returns (15 – 17 February), showcasing some of the world’s best improvisers as they bring their comedy soap opera to the Wild West of Wilton’s. Hypnotist Luke Jermay also makes a return appearance, this time with his brand-new interactive stage show Intuition (5 February) jam-packed with jaw-dropping demonstrations of intuition, telepathy and prediction. And back with even more wonderful tales and music from fascinating people is OneTrackMinds (6 – 7 February), two captivating nights of sound and storytelling as a panel of guests discuss the one song that changed their life.

It’s not just the adults having all the fun, with plenty for kids to enjoy over the season: from Jay Foreman’s Disgusting Songs for Revolting Children (19 January) with a devilishly cheeky hour of songs, poems and comedy, followed by two magical stints from Morgan & West’s Magic Show for Kids and Childish Grown Ups! (10 – 12 April), with the duo also playing Morgan & West: Time Travelling Magicians (4 February).

Listings Information

Omid Djalili: Schmuck for a Night

Dates: 15 – 19 January

Times: 7:30pm

Prices: £12.50 – £25 full price, £10.50 – £23 concessions

Jay Foreman’s Disgusting Songs for Revolting Children

Dates: 29 January

Times: 2pm

Prices: Prices: £4 – £8.50 full price, £2 – £6.50 concessions

Dad’s Army Radio Show

Dates: 22 – 26 January

Times: 7.30pm; 3pm Thursday and Saturday matinees 

Prices: £15.50 – £25 full price, £13.50 – £23 concessions 

Christine Bovill’s Paris

Dates: 29 January – 2 February

Times: 7.30pm; 2.30pm Saturday matinee

Prices: £12.50 – £25 full price, £10 – £22.50 concessions

Morgan & West: Time Travelling Magicians 

 

Dates: 4 February 

Times: 7:30pm

Prices: £8.50 – £16 full price, £6.50 – £14 concessions 

Luke Jermay: Intuition

Dates: 5 January

Times: 7.30pm 

Prices: £8 – £15 full price, £6 – £13 concessions

OneTrackMinds

Dates: 6 – 7 February 

Times: 7:30pm

Prices: £5 – £12 full price, £3 – £10 concessions

Rumi: The Universe in Ecstatic Motion 

 

Dates: 11 February

Times: 7.30pm

Prices: £10 – £16.50 full price, £8 – £14.50 concessions

The Good, The Bad and The Fifty: The 12th Annual London 50-hour Improvathon 

 

Dates: 15 – 17 February 

Times: 7pm Friday 15 February continuously until 9pm Sunday 17 February 

Prices: £10 for first episode, £7 for subsequent episodes; £65 Weekend Passes; £5 for under 12’s for the Family Episode 

The Pirates of Penzance

By W.S. Gilbert & Arthur Sullivan 

Dates: 20 February – 16 March

Times: 7.30pm; 2.30pm Thursday and Saturday matinees 

Prices: £12.50 – £30 full price, £10 – £27.50 concessions 

The Shape of the Pain

Dates: 19 – 23 March

Times: 7.45pm; 3pm Saturday matinee 

Prices: £12.50 – £25 full price, £10 – £22.50 concessions

Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho

Dates: 26 – 30 March

Times 7.45pm

Prices: £22 – £14.50 full price, £20 – £12.50 concessions 

Margaret Thatcher Queen of Club Nights

Date: 29 March

Time: 9.30pm – 12.30am

Prices: £15, or £10 for ticket holders of Friday’s performance of Margaret Thatcher Queen of Soho

 

The Tiger Lillies’ One Penny Opera

Dates: 2 – 6 April

Times: 7.45pm 

Prices: £10.50 – £23 full price, £8.50 – £21 concessions

 

Camille O’Sullivan – Cave

Dates: 9 – 13 April

Times: 7.45pm 

Prices: £10.50 – £23 full price, £8.50 – £21 concessions

Morgan & West’s Magic Show for Kids and Childish Grown Ups!  

Dates: 10 – 12 April

Times: 12pm 

Prices: £4 – £8.50 full price, £2 – £6.50 concessions

Audre Lorde: Sister Outsider

Dates: 15 April

Time: 7.30pm 

Prices: £10 – £16.50 full price, £8 – £14.50 concessions

WILTON’S MUSIC HALL

East London gem Wilton’s Music Hall re-opened the doors to its Grade II listed building in 2015 after extensive refurbishment. The oldest Grand Music Hall in the world, they are fast becoming one of the country’s most vibrant multi-arts venues, home to a year-round programme of live music and theatre productions which have been seen by over 40,000 people in the past year alone. It also houses two main bars which are much-loved destinations in their own right, serving a carefully selected range of beers, wines and spirits. Their delicious menu of seasonal dishes and small plates is designed by in-house caterers Gatherers and inspired by Wiltons’ distinctive heritage. Wilton’s is not open on Bank Holidays.

https://www.wiltons.org.uk/

A third wish granted! Lee Ryan swaps the ballroom for a magic carpet to star in Aladdin at New Wimbledon Theatre this festive season!

Having temporarily hung up his dancing shoes and left the Strictly dancefloor, New Wimbledon Theatre are delighted to announce that boyband and television star Lee Ryan will be the handsome hero Aladdin in this year’s wish-filled, must-see SW19 pantomime from 8 December.

Since joining the BRIT award-winning boyband Blue in 2001, Lee and his bandmates went on to sell over 14 million records worldwide, releasing five critically acclaimed studio albums and headlined several UK tours. The band released hit after hit, including All Rise, One Love, If You Come Back and Fly By, collaborating with the likes of Sir Elton John and Stevie Wonder along the way and winning legions of fans the world over.

In 2011, to coincide with their tenth year in the music industry, Blue represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest with their entry I Can. In 2013 Blue were a featured addition to the ITV2 reality television show The Big Reunion, which culminated in a sold out performance at the Hammersmith Apollo.

Since then Lee, who trained at the Sylvia Young Theatre School and Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts starred as Woody Woodward in EastEnders for the BBC, a role which won him the Inside Soap Award for Best Newcomer. Earlier this year he participated in the sixteenth series of Strictly Come Dancing for the BBC opposite professional dancer Nadiya Bychkova. Despite impressing with their Waltz, Jive and Cha-Cha-Cha, Lee and Nadiya quickstepped out of the competition on Sunday’s result show.

Speaking on his starring role in Aladdin at New Wimbledon Theatre Lee said: “I had an incredible time on Strictly and I’m sad to have left the competition, but on the plus side it means I can finally reveal my plans for Christmas, playing Aladdin in pantomime. This will be my third panto and I absolutely love it, and I’m sure there’ll be more dance moves in store for me as I dance around Old Peking.”

Lee joins Have I Got News For You stalwart and comedy star Paul Merton as Widow Twankey, alongside leading funny man, magician and television regular Pete Firman as his brother Wishee Washee. They will be joined by leading ladies Linda John Pierre and Lauren Chia as The Empress and Princess Jasmine, with Adam Pearce as Abanazar and Josh Donovan, Maria Crawford Clarke, Isaac Hesketh, Sarah Marie Maxwell, Jessica Oakman, Georgia Reid and Michael Stewart. Aladdin will be directed by Kerry Michael MBE, with choreography by Mitch Sebastian, with featured special effects by The Twins FX and an eye-popping 3D sequence which will transport audiences on a truly magical carpet ride.

New Wimbledon theatre Director Nick Parr said: “We are delighted Lee Ryan completes the cast as our hero Aladdin, we are now ready to take a magic carpet ride to the best show in Merton this Christmas!”

With tickets selling fast, audiences shouldn’t leave it any longer to secure their tickets for the pantomime everyone wishes for, Aladdin, which runs from Saturday 8 December 2018 to Sunday 6 January 2019.

 

Lee Ryan will not be appearing in Aladdin on Saturday 15 December due to existing television commitments.

LISTINGS

Aladdin

New Wimbledon Theatre Sat 8 Dec 2018 – Sun 6 Jan 2019 atgtickets.com/newwimbledontheatre 0844 871 7646*

ON SALE NOW

Grand Opera House York – until Saturday 13th October 2018.

Reviewed by Michelle Richardson

4****

The record breaking Dirty Dancing has hit York once again with its current tour. Everyone, well nearly everyone, knows the beloved film, set in the Catskill Mountains at Kellermans, in the summer of 1963. This classic tale revolves around Frances “Baby” (Kira Malou) and Johnny Castle (Michael O’Reilly making his professional debut) having the time of their lives, but did this excitable audience have the time of theirs?

Whilst we first met Baby and her family arriving at Kellermans, there was an eager anticipation within the audience, of predominately woman, waiting for their first glance of Johnny. We didn’t have to wait too long to see him dancing in his very, very tight trousers, much to the audience’s delight. I’m still convinced that he had borrowed them from someone else after having a wardrobe malfunction, they were that tight and just a wee bit too short, I digress…

Malou, complete with the mop of curly hair, plays Baby with a kooky sweet innocence, growing from awkward teenager into a confident young woman. O’Reilly certainly has huge shoes to fill, following in Patrick Swayze’s footsteps. It must be such a daunting prospect, especially considering this is his first professional role, but what an opportunity. At times during the first act I felt that he needed to put his own identity into his character and not try too hard to emulate Swayze, he just seemed a little stilted. By the second act O’Reilly was a lot more comfortable and was Johnny Castle, and then the chemistry between the two certainly sizzled.

The choreography throughout is exhilarating and mesmerising, performed with such enthusiasm by the talented cast. Simone Covele is wonderful as Penny, with those high kicks and oh what flexibility, you can’t take your eyes off her when she is dancing. Lizzie Ottley delivered a great comic turn as Lisa during her Hula Hana song, and had the audience in stitches.

There was a bit of an issue with the set, that saw the curtains come down for a short while, where we could hear hammers and drills in action. I believe this may be due to the York stage being one of the smaller stages on their run. There were a few hiccups during the performance and the cast amiably carried on. Even with these slight hitches the set was effective with moving buildings and rotating rooms.

Dirty Dancing is not really a musical, more a play with a bit of live singing, some recorded songs and quite a bit of superb dancing, some of it “dirty”. It is certainly a play to make you smile, I could feel myself grinning virtually the whole time. The audience appreciation of a very muscular O’Reilly, as Johnny, taking his shirt off and then bearing a naked bottom were sounds to behold, a whole lot of whooping and cat calling, not by me of course?.

Dirty Dancing does not disappoint, what with “I’ve carried a watermelon”, “nobody puts baby in a corner” and that iconic lift. Try and catch it if you can and see if you can “have the time of your life”.