TOMMY – Touring

In London theatre, Musicals, Opinion, Reviews, Touring by Jonathan BazLeave a Comment

Ramps On The Moon’s production of Tommy, directed by Kerry Michael, is a truly wonderful production. As the rock opera created by The Who is famously about a “deaf, dumb and blind kid”, so does this work build upon a cast, at least half of whom triumph in their performance over a range of disabilities.

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PARADE – Manchester

In Manchester, Musicals, Opinion, Regional theatre, Reviews by Kristy StottLeave a Comment

The dimly lit, eerie walls of Manchester’s newest performance space, Hope Mill Theatre stand with pride to present the harrowing true story about the trial of Leo Frank. Frank was a Jewish pencil factory manager in Atlanta who was tried for raping and murdering Mary Phagan in 1913. The intimate performance space in the old cotton mill provides the perfect backdrop for this emotionally charged and troubling narrative driven by the murder of the thirteen-year-old girl in the factory where she worked.

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PARADE – Manchester

In Musicals, Opinion, Regional theatre, Reviews by Jonathan BazLeave a Comment

As musicals go, Jason Robert Brown’s Parade is a tough gig. His Tony-winning score is an immense fusion of the sounds of America’s South, tackling a monstrous story of love in adversity and the utter depths of man’s capacity to hate. The Leo Frank trial in the early 20th century split America, laying bare the racist core of the Confederacy. 80 years later, Brown’s show was to become a troubling piece that held a mirror to its country’s soul – a mirror that to this day a large part of that nation still resolutely refuses to look in.