The Hope Theatre continues to programme top rate Fringe theatre and Moments & Empty Beds, two bijou theatrical nuggets from Pennyworth, are no exception.
Pantomime season is nearly over, oh yes, it is! What were your Top 5 this year?
Choosing my top five favourites from amongst the pantomimes I had the great pleasure and privilege of watching has been really easy! Here they are…. oh yes, they are…. (I need to stop that).
New Year’s Resolutions: Break a Leg looks back & plans ahead
2018 – a new year to embrace new shows and experiences in the theatrical bubble I often find myself mooching around in. As I’ve said in my previous more personal blog posts, I rarely take to my own blog to have a chat – but it’s a new year and I felt an update was… Continue Reading →
My Top 5 Productions of 2017
2017 has been a bumper year for Break A Leg, we’ve literally been all over the place in as many theatres as possible and loving every minute.
CINDERELLA – Liverpool ★★★★★
With a small cast of lead roles, an extremely able ensemble and a set to rival most of the pantomimes I’ve seen this season – it’s one to bag a ticket for if you can.
Robin Hood & the Babes in the Wood (with Sandy Grigelis) – Stafford ★★★★★
It’s been a long time since I last saw Robin Hood And The Babes In The Wood performed, and it was a very different incarnation to the Rock ‘N’ Roll version currently being staged at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre. This particular version has become one of my favourite pantomimes of the season!
INTERVIEW: Spotlight On… Sandy Grigelis
‘I just love the festive season anyway, it’s something which doesn’t take itself too seriously – you know what you’re going to get with a pantomime.’
CINDERELLA (with Alison Hammond) – Malvern ★★★★
As pantomimes go, Cinderella is up there with the most renowned and the magic of the fairy tale has been brought to life superbly at Malvern Theatres.
INTERVIEW: Stephen Beckett on playing the baddie in Jack & the Beanstalk
He can now be seen treading the boards as Fleshcreep in Jack And The Beanstalk at Cambridge Arts Theatre and he’s appearing with a stellar cast. I caught up with Stephen to find out all about his latest journey into Pantomime.
JACK & THE BEANSTALK (with Gareth Gates) – Wolverhampton ★★★★★
Last year’s pantomime at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre was exceptional – this season they’ve only gone and topped it!
101 DALMATIONS – Birmingham ★★★★★
101 Dalmatians – no easy feat for a stage production, one might imagine, getting all those dalmatians up on stage in one go with no unruly canine behaviour, etc. What’s the answer? Use puppets of course, reminiscent of War Horse – and it works fantastically well.
CINDERELLA – Coventry
It’s the first pantomime of Break A Leg’s busy season – oh yes it is! What better way to kick start it than with Cinderella at Coventry’s Belgrade Theatre?
BLOOD BROTHERS – Touring ★★★★
Blood Brothers is one of Break A Leg’s favourites and it’s always a due to review the show, the dynamics are different each time and yet the overall drama, comic timing and splendour of the production never waivers.
INTERVIEW: Spotlight On… Actor Matt Houlihan
Next year he’ll be treading the boards as Claudius in Hamlet, you can catch him in a web series called A Lesson Learnt and he also appears in a short film, Saving Me From Me.
AND THEN THERE WERE NONE – Stoke ★★★★★
Having reviewed The Hollow at Stoke Repertory Theatre earlier this year, also care of United National Productions Limited, and thoroughly enjoyed the exceptional staging of one of Agatha Christie’s masterpieces – I anticipated great things from their version of And Then There Were None.
OUT OF THE BLUE – Manchester ★★★★
It’s a brave individual who takes up a career in stand up comedy, however Sallyann Fellowes has just done that having left careers in both the police and as a nurse behind her.
Blood Brothers: Sarah Jane Buckley is ‘my’ Mrs J
Mrs Johnstone is the lynchpin in the story, there wouldn’t be a tale to tell without her, after all. The musical numbers that she sings are classics, from Tell Me It’s Not True to Easy Terms and every actress who’s taken on the coveted role has put their own stamp on the part.
THE HUNTING OF THE SNARK – Touring ★★★★★
Inspired by Lewis Carroll, The Hunting Of The Snark is a musical cornucopia of delights, silliness and adventure. A fantastic show for kids and adults alike and engaging from beginning to end
THE WEDDING SINGER – Touring ★★★★
I confess that The Wedding Singer is one of my favourite films, it is not even a guilty pleasure, it is just sheer eighties throwback joy and cast brilliantly. It definitely works though, the musical adaptation is not trying to be an incarnation of the film.
HOW THE OTHER HALF LOVES – Touring ★★★★★
In my humble opinion, the ultimate specialist in farce is Alan Ayckbourn and nowhere is my point more finely demonstrated than in How The Other Half Loves. A classic, fast-paced, quick-humour-packed bundle of confusion and chaos which it could be so easy to lose the thread of if it’s not directed and performed on point.