Spare, visceral and gripping, this is an extraordinarily wonderful production of an important and difficult new play, which shines a light onto forgotten events and examines them in an entirely satisfying theatrical way. It leaves you desperate to see what happens next.
The Scottsboro Boys relies on the skills of its acting company, giving them chairs and tambourines and a few costumes, as their only tools and the show becomes all the more powerful as a result. This is an unbeatable, incredible ensemble of performers who manage to inject incredible humour into a story that by its very nature inspires indignation.
Set firmly in the present, this version lacks languid notions about the past, does not spend too much time on the intricacies of character and prefers shock and blatant slapstick to more gentle ways of making points. There is little sense of old versus new Russia, little sense of the changing of traditions and times and less complexity about everything. But it is radiantly bleak, full of brittle, awful people leading duplicitous and untruthful lives. In that way, it is a compelling re-imagining of Chekhov’s masterpiece.
It was announced today that award winning comedian Jason Manford will star in a brand new UK tour of Mel Brooks’ The Producers. The award-winning musical comedy will begin touring in March 2015. Jason Manford will play down-trodden accountant leo Bloom in what will be his first ever UK theatre tour. Manford’s wealth of experience spans from a critically acclaimed West End role in Sweeney Todd, alongside Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton, to award-winning stand-up comedy shows across the country. He shot to stardom in 2007 as team captain on C4’s 8 Out of 10 Cats, since then he has hosted prime time television shows including Sunday Night at the Palladium, BBC1’s A Question of Sport: Super Saturday and The Royal Variety Performance. Jason was the winner of ITV1’s Born to Shine and will star in BBC TV’s forthcoming drama Ordinary Lies. Jason said; “I’m so thrilled to be starring … Read more
Following its ongoing success in London’s West End and on Broadway, it has been announced that Matilda – the musical will be heading to Sydney in 2015. Tim Minchin launched the musical in Sydney recently and we thought we’d share the launch announcement with all the Matilda fans in the UK. No casting has been announced as yet.
A new trailer/featurette has just been released for the upcoming film adaptation of Stephen Sondheim’s Into The Woods. The film stars Meryl Streep, Johnny Depp, Emily Blunt, James Corden, Anna Kendrick, Christine Baranski, Frances de la Tour, and Tracey Ullman amongst others and is directed by Rob Marshall. The movie opens on Christmas Day 2014. We hope you enjoy this glimpse of what is to come. Let us know your thoughts. http://youtu.be/ImiIMBPO9kk
It’s a mystery why Lindsay Lohan chose this play as her world stage debut. Perhaps she knew she would be the best thing about it? That would seem the only rational explanation. Especially as she was correct.
As Calhoun, Killian Donnelly is a revelation…His mania, energy and sheer talent explodes off the stage driven by some of the finest rock vocals that I have ever heard in musical theatre.
