REVIEW: Cinderella The Rock N Roll Panto, New Wolsey Theatre ✭✭✭✭
Paul T Davies reviews Cinderella, The Rock N Roll Panto at The New Wolsewy Theatre, Ipswich.
Mark Newnham
REVIEW: Bananaman, Southwark Playhouse ✭✭✭
The kids will be somewhat amused by it, and you may enjoy the quips, but Bananaman probably won’t be a holiday show to remember for long.
Bananaman the musical cast announced
Casting was today announced for Bananaman the musical which is to run at Southwark Playhouse from 15 December 2017.
Sunny Afternoon UK Tour Cast Announced
The UK tour cast for the multi award-winning musical Sunny Afternoon was announced today. Producers have also announced extra dates to the extensive tour. The tour which opens in Manchester on Friday 19 August 2016, is based on the true story Ray Davies and of 60’s British rock group The Kinks. The Sunny Afternoon UK Tour will star Ryan O’Donnell as Ray Davies, with Mark Newnham as Dave Davies, Garmon Rhys as bassist Pete Quaife and Andrew Gallo as drummer Mick Avory. They are joined by: Jayne Ashley; Victoria Anderson; Nathanael Campbell; Marcelo Cervone; Tomm Coles; Deryn Edwards; Sophie Leigh Griffin; Sam Haywood; James Hudson; Richard Hurst; Cleo Jaeger; James Lorcan; Joseph Richardson; Robert Took; Alex Wadham; Libby Watts; Michael Warburton; Lucy Wilkerson and Lisa Wright. Tickets for the Sunny Afternoon Tour are now on sale with extra dates now added for Llandudno, Dublin, Canterbury, Norwich, Wolverhampton and Belfast. The … Read more
REVIEW: Cinderella And The Beanstalk, Theatre 503 ✭✭✭✭✭
Pantomimes have the potential to be uniquely excruciating. Children are merciless critics, and decades of expectation weigh heavily on poor productions. Such is the genre’s status in British popular culture that it is very difficult for any show to achieve mass appeal – it must be original enough to set itself apart from hundreds of other pantomimes, yet inclusive enough to appeal to several generations of families. What makes Sleeping Trees’ reprisal of Cinderella and the Beanstalk so wonderful is that it doesn’t centre on celebrity performers, topical jokes or endless double entendres. Rather we are treated to three highly talented comic actors both subverting and celebrating the genre, with uproariously funny results.
REVIEW: Return To The Forbidden Planet, UK Tour ✭✭✭
It is a jukebox full of lively hit after hit just some of which are Great Balls of Fire, Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood, Good Vibrations, Young Girl and She’s Not There. On the one hand, there is the joy of identifying the Shakespearean quotes or mis-quotes (“To Beep or not to Beep” is a crowd favourite). On the other hand, the Science Fiction idiocy provides a great potential for fun. It’s a completely silly story, complete with silly costumes, that shamelessly bastardises Shakespeare’s words in a goofy, nerdy Sci-Fi way while banging out Hit Parade tunes loudly and wholeheartedly
REVIEW: Cinderella And The Beanstalk, Theatre 503 ✭✭✭✭
It abounds with heart and wit, is propelled with boundless energy from the three inventive actors who devised the piece, is blessed with a surprising and clever narrative which weaves its way through aspects of pretty much every popular nursery rhyme or fairytale and is genuinely laugh-out loud funny, engaging and joyful.
