Preview: Sleeping Beauty at Newcastle Theatre Royal

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MATTHEW BOURNE’S SLEEPING BEAUTY  A GOTHIC ROMANCE REVIVED AT THE THEATRE ROYAL FOR 2 WEEKS ONLY

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Tuesday 5^th – Saturday 16^th April 2016.

The UK’s most popular dance company, New Adventures, returns to Newcastle Theatre Royal this Spring with Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty, a gothic tale for all ages. This ground-breaking production heads to Newcastle Theatre Royal from Tuesday 5^th– Saturday 16^th April 2016.

Directed and choreographed by probably the ‘hottest’ choreographer in the world right now, Sir Matthew Bourne OBE,and from the UK’s most popular dance company, Sleeping Beauty is a revival of this new classic, giving audiences one more chance to see the final piece in the trio of Tchaikovsky masterpieces.  With sumptuous sets, costumes and evocative lighting, the audience will be transported in time.

Returning to the central role of Aurorain this first revival is rising star Ashley Shaw. Ashley recently played Lana in the triumphant revival of The Car Man, also played Kim in Edward Scissorhands, Sugar in Nutcracker! and the title role in Cinderella. Cordelia Braithwaite made her debut with New Adventures in Swan Lakein 2013 and has since featured in this year’s revival of The Car Man, covering the role of Lana. Cordelia makes her debut as Aurorathis season; her first Principal role with New Adventures.

Matthew Bourne’sSleeping Beauty premiered in 2012, and was the fastest selling production in the company’s history. Sleeping Beauty was created for New Adventures 25th birthday celebrations and completed Sir Matthew Bourne’s OBE trio of re-imagined Tchaikovsky ballet masterworks that started in 1992 with Nutcracker! and, most famously, in 1995, with the international hit Swan Lake. This dazzling production has won the hearts of thousands and smashed box office records across the UKand at Sadler’s Wells. 

The leading role of Leo will once again be played by Dominic North and Chris Trenfield who co-created the role in 2012.

Perrault’s timeless fairy tale, about a young girl cursed to sleep for one hundred years, was turned into a legendary ballet by Tchaikovsky and choreographer, Marius Petipa, in 1890. Bourne takes this date as his starting point, setting the Christening of Aurora, the story’s heroine, in the year of the ballet’s first performance; the height of the Fin-de-Siecle period when fairies, vampires and decadent opulence fed the gothic imagination. 

As Auroragrows into a young woman, we move forward in time to the more rigid, uptight Edwardian era; a mythical golden age of long Summer afternoons, croquet on the lawn and new dance crazes. Years later, awakening from her century long slumber, Aurorafinds herself in the modern day; a world more mysterious than any Fairy story!

Tickets:

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty appears at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Tuesday 5^th – Saturday 16^th April 2016 (Evenings: 7.30pm, Matinee: Thursday 2pm, Saturday Matinee 2.30pm). Tickets are from £17.00 and can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 (calls cost 7ppm plus your phone company’s access charge).

Review: Stomp at Newcastle Theatre Royal

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Spectacular Cacophony of Rhythm

Stomp

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Until Saturday 20^th February 2016

There is something delightful about a show that appeals to everyone from 6 to 106. Theatre should be inclusive and Stomp is just that. It is a spectacular cacophony of rhythm.

The show was conceived in Brighton during the summer of 1991 by Luke Creswell and Steve McNicholas. This talented pair of creatives is still involved and directed the 2016 show.

The show starts simply enough. One member of the ensemble of eight starts sweeping the stage. He soon produces a number of rhythms with his brush against the floor and the set. Soon he is joined by the rest of the cast and very quickly you are consumed by the intricate percussion patterns and dance routines.

As the show progresses numerous objects will be used to create the sounds. From pipes to literally the kitchen sink. Sometimes the patterns resemble tap dancing hand bell ringers, except using the contents of a DIY store rather than conventional bells.

Where Stomp really scores with the audience are the opportunities to join and the humour between cast members. For a show with no dialogue, the theatre was frequently filled with laughter.  The clapping routines are infectious and everyone was happy to get involved.  Stomp does a cracking job in pulling down the barriers and entertaining everyone.

The show runs for 100 minutes without an interval. During that time the talented cast work extremely hard and the pace doesn’t drop. Ultimately the show reaches a fabulously loud climax that had the Theatre Royal crowd on its feet.

Stomp is an exhilarating experience that is well worth checking out.

Read the original North East Theatre Guide preview here: http://nomorepanicbutton.blogspot.co.uk/2015/12/preview-stomp-at-newcastle-theatre-royal.html

This review was written by Stephen Oliver for Jowheretogo PR (www.jowheretogo.com). Follow Jo on twitter @jowheretogo, Stephen @panic_c_button or like Jowheretogo on Facebook www.facebook.com/Jowheretogo

Tickets:

Stomp is at the Newcastle Theatre Royal until Saturday 20^th  February 2016. It plays evenings at 7.30pm, matinees on Thursday 2pm and Saturday 2.30pm. Tickets from £13.00. Tickets can be purchased online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 (Calls cost 7ppm plus your phone company’s access charge.)

Preview: Rambert at Newcastle Theatre Royal

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RAMBERT TO BREW UP A PERFECT STORM OF ART, SCIENCE AND NATURE

Rambert

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Tuesday 2^nd – Thursday 4^th February 2016

The UK’s longest established contemporary dance powerhouse, Rambert are back in Newcastle next year with a brand new show celebrating the dual forces of nature and art.  Thought provoking, visually stunning, and featuring Tyneside-born dancer Adam Park, the new tour is set to blow audiences away at Newcastle Theatre Royal in February 2016.

The tour programme features two new pieces – the Picasso-inspired The 3 Dancers and Frames, which takes us into a choreographer’s world, and a third piece, which was one of the huge successes of 2014 - The Strange Charm of Mother Nature.

The 3 Dancers is inspired by the tragic love triangle behind Picasso’s masterpiece of the same name.  A new work from former Rambert dancer Didy Veldman, it will explore the eternal themes of the painter’s work: love, desire and death. An internationally-renowned choreographer, Veldman uses a total of six dancers, three dressed in white and three as their shadows or darker selves in order to delve into the social, psychological and human elements of Picasso’s work.

Veldman, well known for her theatrical style and earthy choreography, reveals how Cubism can be applied to movement to create the fragmented world which is so characteristic of Picasso’s work. The 3 Dancers features an original score by Australia’s leading composer Elena Kats-Chernin.

Frames is a new work from another Rambert alumni, Alexander Whitley, which lays bare the process of making a dance performance. Twelve performers assemble and dismantle the set, move lighting and change angles, constantly creating new spaces and playing with what’s revealed and what’s hidden in their sequences of highly technical dancing.

This thought-provoking work, which sees dancers create a stage within a stage, is a continuation of Whitley’s collaboration with award-winning visual artists Tuur Van Balen and Revital Cohen and is accompanied by a new score from Icelandic composer Daníel Bjarnason.

The Strange Charm of Mother Nature, which premiered in September 2014, is inspired by particle physics and the recent discovery of the Higgs boson ‘God Particle’. Continuing choreographer Mark Baldwin’s fascination with science which has seen previous pieces inspired by the theories of Einstein and Darwin, the show sees dancers fizz with the energy of the miniscule building blocks that created life, the universe and everything. The work is set to a musical score of Bach’s Brandenburg Concerto No.3, Stravinsky’s Dumbarton Oaks and a new piece by Cheryl Frances-Hoad.

This season, the company once again features north-east born dancer Adam Park, aged 24, of Jesmond who trained at Dame Allan’s and Dance City and has been in the company for four years.  Adam last performed with Rambert at Newcastle Theatre Royal in 2012 as part of the Seven for a Secret tour.

Tickets:

Rambert appears at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Tuesday 2^nd – Thursday 4^th February 2016.

(Evenings: 7.30pm, Matinee: Thursday 2pm). Tickets are from £12.00 (pay less online) and can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 (calls cost 7ppm plus your phone company’s access charge).

News: PANTO BABES SET FOR STARDOM ON THEATRE ROYAL STAGE

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PANTO BABES SET FOR STARDOM ON THEATRE ROYAL STAGE

Dick Whittington

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Until Sunday 17^th January 2016

Read the North East Theatre Guide Review of Dick Whttington here: http://nomorepanicbutton.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/review-dick-whittington-at-newcastle.html

 

Photo: Keith Pattison

Twenty local girls aged 7 to 11 years will be making their mark and setting the blueprint for future stardom this year when they appear on the Theatre Royal stage in the blockbuster panto Dick Whittington, The Magical Pantomime Adventure.

For the last 27 years the Marron Theatre Arts stage school in Blaydon has been supplying young dancers to star as the Panto Babes in the famous Newcastle Theatre Royal panto alongside national celebrities and West End stars.  The talented group of girls will between them perform in 91 shows over the course of the season, and many will go on to pursue professional careers in performing arts.

The twenty young performers selected for this year’s panto Dick Whittington will be intensively rehearsing at their Blaydon studio and the Theatre Royal every night after school right up until panto opening night on 24 November.  From then on, they will split into two groups of ten, each doing two performances a day on alternate days right up until the panto ends on Sunday 17 Jan ‘16.

Vicki Richardson, who runs the school, said: “Performing in the Theatre Royal panto is one of the highlights of the year for our girls – it’s a lot of hard work but they absolutely love it and always have a great time.”

The first ever performance by the Marron Babes at Newcastle Theatre Royal was in 1988, when they performed alongside three other local dance schools and TV star Les Dennis in Babes in the Wood. 

Vicki added: “That show was so successful that we were chosen as the preferred dance school, and went on to make history as the Theatre Royal’s Marron Panto Babes. 

“At Marron we have a proud tradition of helping budding performers from pre-school classes to the professional stage and the panto is a great springboard for them too.  We have many past pupils now gracing stages throughout the world, and famous alumni include Lauren Hall who is currently starring in Gypsy in the West End, Emma Caffrey who is touring with Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, Charlotte Martin who is in Singing in the Rain in Cork and of course Amy Bruce, who is now a regular member of the Panto dance ensemble.”

Photo: Keith Pattison

The current Babes ensemble also features Infant Ballet Champion Freya Burdon-Watson, who at only eight years old recently took gold at the Redcar Ballet Championship.

Read the North East Theatre Guide Review here: http://nomorepanicbutton.blogspot.co.uk/2015/11/review-dick-whittington-at-newcastle.html

Tickets:

Photo: Keith Pattison

The Babes can be seen inDick Whittington at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Tuesday 24 November 2015 until Sunday 17 January 2016. Tickets are available from £12.50 (pay less online) and can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 (all calls are charged at 7p a minute plus your phone company’s access charge, calls from mobiles may vary, please contact your operator for details).

 

Preview: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at Newcastle Theatre Royal

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TV AND THEATRE STARS FLY IN FOR CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

Newcastle Theatre Royal

Wednesday 1^st – Sunday 12^th June 2016.

A stellar line-up of acting talent has been announced for Newcastle Theatre Royal’s upcoming production of one of the world’s favourite musicals Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, which will have audiences of all ages flying high with its mixture of madness, intrigue and exuberancewhen it arrives from Wednesday 1st – Sunday 12^th June 2016.

Lee Mead (Casualty, Legally Blonde, Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat) will play Caractacus Potts and Michelle Collins (EastEnders, Coronation Street) plays Baroness Bomburst with Andy Hockley (The Phantom Of The Opera) as Grandpa Potts.

Lee Mead

Can the loveable but whacky inventor, Potts, along with his two children and the gorgeous Truly Scrumptious outwit the bombastic Baron Bomburst who has decreed that all children be banished from his kingdom? What happens when the children are caught and imprisoned with the other youngsters by the evil Childcatcher? Will it all end happily-ever-after?

Well, of course it will! Having broken all box office records in the West End, this fun-filled production from the team that brought you Fiddler on the Roof and The King and I promises laughs and magic galore – and Chitty herself!

Michelle Collins

Ewen Cummins plays The Toymaker/Mr Coggins, with Sam Harrison as Boris and Scott Paige as Goran and Kathryn Barnes, Rosanna Bates, Alex Louize Bird, Abigail Climer, Jade Davies, Matt Gillett, Ewan Gillies, Joanna Goodwin, Nathan Vaughan Harris, Christopher D Hunt, Paul Iveson, Nia Jermin, Kelsie-Rae Marshall, Mollie Melia-Redgrave, Perry O’Dea, Matt Overfield, Ross Russell, Craig Turner and Robert Wilkes in the ensemble.

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang has music and lyrics by Richard M Sherman and Robert B Sherman, who were also responsible for Mary Poppins, The Slipper and the Rose, The Aristocats and The Jungle Book.  The Sherman Brothers have won two Academy Awards with a further nine nominations, two Grammy Awards and they have received 21 gold and platinum albums.

The film made from Ian Fleming’s classic story has been adapted for the stage by Jeremy Sams, based on the MGM Motion Picture Licensed Script adapted by Ray Roderick.

This new production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang will be directed by West Yorkshire Playhouse Artistic Director James Brining, with new choreography by Stephen Mear. There will be a live orchestra with Musical Supervision by Stephen Ridley. Set and costume design is by Simon Higlett, lighting design is by Tim Mitchell, sound design is by Ben Harrison and video design is by Simon Wainwright.

There will be sensational sets and stunning special effects and, of course, the memorable score by the Sherman Brothers, which includes such standards as Truly Scrumptious, Toot Sweets, Hushabye Mountain and the Oscar-nominated title song Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

This production is presented by permission of Josef Weinberger Limited on behalf of Music Theatre International of New York.

On The Web:

Website: www.chittythemusical.co.uk

Facebook:  www.facebook.com/chittythemusical

Twitter:  https://twitter.com/ChittyMusical  / #chittymusical

Tickets:

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang appears at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Wednesday 1^st – Sunday 12^th June 2016. Tickets from £23 (pay 50p less per ticket when you book online). Tickets can be purchased from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21, (calls cost 7p per minute plus your phone company’s access charge) or select your own seat and book online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk