SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (Birmingham Hippodrome) Interview with Gok Wan

Adding a little bit of sartorial chic to Britain's biggest pantomime this year is everyone's favourite fashion guru GOK WAN who makes his pantomime debut at Birmingham Hippodrome this year. Leicester-born Gok achieved huge success with his Channel 4 series How To Look Good Naked and has since enjoyed many appearances on TV screens up and down the country - but now Gok's hitting the stage! Listen to the full interview in the podcast below.

What can you expect from Gok this pantomime season? If his tweet about the launch was anything to go by - it's going to be one camp Christmas in Birmingham!

That was one high octane camp day! #panto

— Gok Wan (@therealgokwan) September 23, 2013

You can book tickets for Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs which also stars John Partridge, Danielle Hope, Stephanie Beacham, Gary Wilmot, Paul Zerdin and Matt Slack at Birmingham Hippodrome by clicking here.  The pantomime runs from Thursday 19th December 2013 - Sunday 2nd February 2014! 

MOONLIGHT SINATRA (Gig Caritas)

‘Moonlight Sinatra’

Saturday 12 th October, 7:30pm

St Johns Church, Stourbridge

After a an acclaimed concert in 2012, a live 20-piece big band returns with the Midland's own vocalist Chris Passey and special guests to celebrate the music of Frank Sinatra, The Rat Pack and Michael Bublé in MOONLIGHT SINATRA in conjunction with 102.5 The Bridge Radio and sponsored by The Duke William, Stourbridge.

Gig Caritas was formed in December 2011. They create and produce highly professional cultural events including live music concerts to raise money for local charities. Their last concert ‘Do You Hear The People Sing?’ was met by a full house at Dudley Town Hall in July 2013 and raised £1500 for Cruse Bereavement Care, Dudley. This concert featured West End stars including Kieran Brown, Andy Coxon and Tim Prottey-Jones with a community chorus including In Sound Company, Key Theatre Academy and a full orchestra. The catch? No one takes a fee. Not even the professional performers.

Tables for Moonlight Sinatra seat 8 people and tickets are £10 each with the proceeds going to Chatback – a charity that focuses on providing creative opportunities to looked-after young people in the Dudley borough.

Tickets for MOONLIGHT SINATRA at St John's Church in Stourbridge can be booked via the website, here. 

SNOW WHITE AND THE SEVEN DWARFS (Birmingham Hippodrome) Pantomime Press Launch

In spectacular style Qdos Pantomimes and Birmingham Hippodrome launch a brand new pantomime Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs with an all-star line up that rivals any West End production. The show, which received its press launch on 23 September opens on Thursday 19th December 2013 for a six and a half week run with 77 performances until Sunday 2 February 2014. 

The cast features a dashing prince in the shape of John Partridge (Christian in Eastenders) whose theatrical roles until now have included Rum Tum Tugger in Cats and Electra in Starlight Express. John has recently finished a run as Zach in A Chorus Line at the London Palladium and said: "The Birmingham Hippodrome really is the London Palladium of pantomimes, it's the one to do!" The Birmingham Hippodrome has a long standing reputation as the venue for the UK's premiere pantomime and attracts the largest audience of any other in the world.

Making his panto debut in Birmingham is TV fashion guru Gok Wan as the Man In The Mirror: "This is the first pantomime I've ever performed in and what a touch to be able to get the biggest in the world! I must have done something right.... but we won't go into that!"

Another debut being made in Birmingham this Christmas is Gary Wilmot's Dame. Gary appeared in Cinderella at the Hippodrome in 1995, playing Buttons and has previously played Birmingham as Caractacus Potts in the touring production of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang. "Pantomime is quite often people's first experience of theatre and in my first time playing Dame I've got to make sure I get it right and make it a great experience for everyone watching."

BBC Over The Rainbow's search for Dorothy winner Danielle Hope was announced at the launch in the title role of Snow White. Danielle shot to fame after winning the Andrew Lloyd Webber reality series and playing Dorothy in The Wizard Of Oz at the London Palladium. Danielle has since appeared as Fantine in the West End production of Les Misérables. "This is my first time in pantomime and my first time in Birmingham! From what I've seen of the town it's huge and the high street looks fab for shopping! It's great for me because it's equidistant from London where I live and Urmston in Manchester where I'm from and my family are!" 

Also featuring in the cast is Dynasty legend Stephanie Beacham as the Wicked Queen who realises panto can have a longer lasting effect than just a few hours entertainment: "Pantomime is family time, bring the children along and get them in young and they'll always be theatre-goers." Ventriloquist Paul Zerdin and puppet friend Sam also star in the show alongside Matt Slack as a new character Oddjob.

This pantomime promises to be highlight of the festive season in Birmingham with an ensemble of physical theatre performers bringing the magnificent seven dwarfs to life as you've never seen in a panto before! Summer may have only just left us but Birmingham Hippodrome is truly in festive fever for the opening of Britain's biggest pantomime. The countdown is on! 

Tickets for Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs are priced between £12 to £39 with discounts and concessions available. Tickets are already selling fast with sales even higher than this time last year for Robinson Crusoe And The Caribbean Pirates. If you haven't already got your tickets click here to book online and select your own seats. Alternatively visit the theatre box office in person or call 0844 338 5000. 

Listen to the pantomime interviews trailer below! 

FULL INTERVIEWS TO FOLLOW SOON!

Photographs by Scott Bird
Group Photograph by Birmingham Hippodrome

GHOST THE MUSICAL (UK Tour) Ghost Is Dancing for Children In Need

Mayflower Theatre -  Southampton

Sunday 3 November 6.00pm

‘when the wig girls learned to Waltz’

For the last 5 months 12 terrified technicians from the Ghost The Musical touring company have been taught to dance by 12 professional dancers from the cast all in aid of the BBC’s Children in Need Appeal.

On Sunday 3^rd November they will demonstrate their skills in front of a panel of Judges as part of a Grand Charity fund raising Gala. With a Star Cabaret, Charity auction and lots of surprises this is the one Charity event of the year that you wouldn’t want to miss.

Neil White, Ghost Company Manager said, “From what started as an idea to raise money mentioned between the cast in crew in the quick change room during the performance one night in Edinburgh, has escalated into Dance fever with the touring company. Apart from raising money for Children in Need it really has made the bond between our touring cast and crew tighter. Everyone has been so committed into giving their all, fitting training whenever they can around the busy schedule of moving such a massive technical show. We just hope that everyone will have as much fun watching the evening as we have had rehearsing it and most importantly we raise money for such an amazing charity”.

Below is a message of support from the movie's original Oda Mae Brown, WHOOPI GOLDBERG who won the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in the role. 

Michael Ockwell, Mayflower Theatre Chief Executive added, “This event is a wonderful idea, I am so pleased that we can help raise money for Children in Need by offering our venue and facilities. It will be a wonderful event for a very worthy cause and our staff are looking forward to uniting with the touring company of Ghost to provide a great nights entertainment.”

Rehearsals for a group performance were well under way in August, fitted in and around the schedule of Ghost performances! Watch a short video below: 

Tickets are priced at £20 and all funds raised from the event will be going to children in Need. BOOK TICKETS for Ghost Is Dancing via the Southampton Mayflower website here. You can also book tickets to see the production in Southampton here. 

The cast are used to dancing, night after night on the spectacular set... 

but how will the technical crew cope!?

Visit the website for GHOST IS DANCING here. With a £15,000 target you can click here to pledge any amount of money to the official Just Giving page. 

FIDDLER ON THE ROOF (UK Tour) Interview with Paul Michael Glaser

Paul Michael Glaser stars as Tevye in Fiddler On The Roof, a brand new touring production directed and choreographed by Strictly Come Dancing's Craig Revel Horwood. With an incredible cast of actor/musicians Paul talks exclusively to us about the show which plays at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre from 15th - 19th October 2013. Listen to the podcast below to hear the interview with Scott Bird and Fran Richards. 

Paul Michael Glaser as Tevye with Steven Bor (Perchik)

Book tickets to Fiddler On The Roof at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre here.

DREAMBOATS AND PETTICOATS (UK Tour) Review September 2013

It's the swinging 60's and at the local youth club there are teenagers aplenty entering song writing competitions and falling in love... and that's about it for your storyline. Nobody comes to these jukebox musicals for a gritty story though because what they are always excellent at is showcasing the finest actor musicianship.

Character names are typical of sixties songs so Bobby (Stephen Rolley) and his girl Laura (Hannah Boyce) take the entire show to flirt, fall out, find other love interests before coming together at the end. You can predict the few twists and turns that the plot takes against the two leads and even most of the songs were being sung by members of the audience before the band began to play! 

(Previous Cast Photography)

Stephen Rolley is a strong lead as Bobby who provides great renditions of Let's Dance, Dream Lover and Runaround Sue (yes, there's also a character called Sue...) Hannah Boyce as Laura is the 'Ugly Betty' of the show - at first a geeky, shy "school-swat" who has a talent for writing music. As Sandy does in Grease she transforms into a more desirable young woman by the end, but keeps her morals! Boyce herself it seems is just as talented as her character with an impressive performance of Dream Baby Dream in particular. 

Each cast member is equally impressive with incredible musical talent but those in roles with the chance to shine include Matthew Colthart as Norman. Colthart is commanding, smooth and in fine voice throughout and manages to energise the audience with hits such as The Wanderer and Let's Twist Again. Louise Olley is a great addition to the cast as Sue and despite what they say about Sue's dancing  it's all eyes on Olley in this case. 60's singer Mark Wynter is Phil/Older Bobby and delights fans with his own encore at the end. 

The set, made mostly of backdrops featuring 60's album covers is sometimes distracting from the action. I found myself looking to see which I recognised and then remembered to watch the show again - there is no attempt at a realistic setting. Also, the boys playing ping pong in the corner takes away from the action many times! The fairground bumper cars are a fun addition. 

Jokes and references are clearly aimed at the show's target audience and those of a reminiscent age who do make up a very large percentage of the overall turnout. These musicals wouldn't be much without an incredibly versatile and talented cast that carry it through nearly three hours. It's a pleasant show, simple and easy to watch. Worth going entirely for the talent the young cast ooze. Book to see the show at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre until Saturday 21st September here. 

Cast List: Stephen Rolley, Matthew Colthart, Hannah Boyce, Louise Olley, Will Finlason, Laura Sillett, Mark Wynter, Robert Dalton, David Jay Douglas, Chloe Edwards-Wood, Mike Lloyd, Sheridan Lloyd, David Luke, Michael Park, Charlotte Peak, Josh Tye, Damien Walsh, Victoria Quigley

Tweet

WHAT TO SEE (West Midlands) 2013/2014

The 2013 season is steadily drawing to close and theatres in the West Midlands are beginning to announce spectacular shows that you can look forward to throughout the new year. Here is my round up of the three theatres you're most likely to find me at!

BIRMINGHAM NEW ALEXANDRA THEATRE

RENT IN CONCERT

Seeing 2013 out and 2014 in is the groundbreaking Ghost The Musical - based on the Oscar winning musical, the timeless fantasy about the power of love runs from Tuesday 17th December 2013 - Sunday 5th January 2014 (BOOK GHOST).  Kerry Ellis stars in the hugely popular return of Rent In Concert on Friday 14th February, a perfect Valentines treat? (BOOK RENT) The Rod Stewart musical Tonight's The Night played to sold out audiences on it's previous tour, catch it from Monday 24th February - Saturday 1st March (BOOK TONIGHT'S THE NIGHT). Vincent and Flavia bring their brand new stage show Dance Til Dawn to Birmingham from Monday 21st - Saturday 26th April (BOOK DANCE TIL DAWN). Finally, perhaps the biggest and most anticipated production this year is West Side Story (BOOK WEST SIDE STORY).

Other season highlights include Sleeping Beauty On Ice, Scrooge The Musical, Ha Ha Holmes (starring Joe Pasquale), Peppa Pig's Big Splash, The Vagina Monologues and The Dreamboys.

Full listings of what's on at the New Alexandra in 2014 can be found here. 

BIRMINGHAM HIPPODROME

WICKED

Seeing out 2013 at Birmingham Hippodrome are John Partridge and Gok Wan who star in Snow White And The Seven Dwarfs (BOOK PANTO). The West End hit Singin' In The Rain makes a splash from Tuesday 18th March - Saturday 5th April staring Faye Tozer from Steps as Lina Lamont (BOOK SINGIN IN THE RAIN). Marti Pellow continues to star as Che in Evita as the production tours to Birmingham from Tuesday 8th - Saturday 19th April (BOOK EVITA). The National Theatre's One Man Two Guvnors runs from Monday 26th - Saturday 21st May (BOOK ONE MAN TWO GUVNORS). The previously announced summer smash hit Wicked opens on Wednesday 9th July and plays until Saturday 6th September (BOOK WICKED). Finally, the Andrew Lloyd Webber phenomenon Cats will be bringing the Jellicle Ball in Birmingham from Tuesday 9th - Saturday 27th September. Tickets for Cats are on sale to friends of the Hippodrome from 10am on 7th October, group on 14th October and general, online and phone sales from 16th October (BOOK CATS).

Other season highlights include War Horse, War Horse: Only Remembered, Matthew Bourne's Swan Lake, Birmingham Royal Ballet and Welsh National Opera. 

VIEW THE NEW HIPPODROME 
SEASON TRAILER HERE

Full listings of what's on at the Hippodrome in 2014 can be found here.

WOLVERHAMPTON GRAND THEATRE

CABARET

Joe Pasquale headlines this years pantomime, Sleeping Beauty alongside Ceri Dupree and Lucy Evans from Saturday 7th December 2013 until Sunday 19th January 2014 (BOOK PANTO). Before the festivities however, West End heartthrob Oliver Thornton stars as Frank N Furter in the 40th Anniversary Production of The Rocky Horror Show from Monday 28th October - Saturday 2nd November 2013 with Dani Harmer and Ben Forster (BOOK ROCKY HORROR). Pop Idol winner Will Young returns to his award winning role of Emcee in Cabaret which also stars Siobhan Dillon from Tuesday 26th - Saturday 30th November (BOOK CABARET). The new year sees Noel Sullivan starring in Priscilla Queen Of The Desert from Monday 27th January - Saturday 1st February 2014 (BOOK PRISCILLA). The highlight of the 2014 season is Dirty Dancing which runs for three weeks from Tuesday 23rd September through to Saturday 11th October (BOOK DIRTY DANCING).

Other season highlights include The Upbeat Beatles, To Sir With Love, Brendan Cole License To Thrill, The Russian State Ballet of Siberia and Derren Brown Infamous. 

Full listings of what's on at the Grand in 2014 can be found here. 

You can book for any of the listed shows by visiting the theatres websites - click on the theatre to book: Birmingham New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham Hippodrome, Wolverhampton Grand Theatre. 

TO SIR, WITH LOVE (UK Tour) Interview with Matthew Kelly and Ansu Kabia

This is PART TWO of an interview we recorded with Matthew Kelly (Florian) and Ansu Kabia (Braithwaite) about the world premiere production of To Sir, With Love. The interview is partnered with Fran Richards On Theatre blog and part one can be heard by clicking here. Click the play below to listen to the second part.

You can also watch rehearsal footage from the productions opening venue Northampton Theatre Royal & Derngate.

To Sir, With Love plays at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre from 22nd - 26th October 2013. You can book tickets by clicking here. There is a post-show talk after the performance on Thursday 24th October.

THREE PHANTOMS (UK Tour) Review September 2013

Three Phantoms is the concert creation of Earl Carpenter that brings together three previous Phantoms of the Opera. For the second leg of the 2013 tour Matthew Cammelle, Stephen John Davis and Glyn Kerslake take to the stage. Previous Phantoms have included Carpenter himself, John Owen Jones and Simon Bowman. 

The show doesn't take itself too seriously, beginning with a Glee rendition of Don't Stop Believing. A pre-show announcement joking that photography is encouraged as good exposure for the ex-Phantom's careers was immediately followed by ushers dashing around the auditorium telling patrons to put away their cameras... There were stories from each Phantom's time in the production, coupled with jokes that linked the early songs together. 

The first act was an exciting array of show tunes from hit musicals such as Chicago, The Scarlet Pimpernel, Wicked, Miss Saigon, Martin Guerre, The Book Of Mormon and an act 1 finale of Les Misérables. Highlights being One Day More and an a cappella version of I Dreamed A Dream featuring Rebecca Caine - the original Canadian Phantom cast Christine. Also included were three songs from Spamalot - perhaps the audience didn't fully get the humour in the songs out of context but they were a welcome break between some of the more classical musical theatre performances - a perfect mix. 

The second act was largely devoted to the musical of which the performers have in common - The Phantom Of The Opera. Not only the famous Lloyd Webber tunes but a selection from a few of the lesser known productions such as the simply named Phantom - hailed an American masterpiece that premiered in 1991 and received it's British premiere early this year at the Ye Olde Rose and Crown Theatre Pub, Walhamstow. Til I Hear You Sing from Love Never Dies was a highlight as was Rebecca Caine who brought the audience to rapturous applause with her rendition of Think Of Me. 

For this production the previous large orchestras are replaced by a pianist and a solo cellist. It gave for an intimate experience but in some of the larger numbers the lack of orchestra was a little underwhelming. Expertly and beautifully played however by Anthony Gabrielle and Laura Anstee. Three other performers Alistair Barron, Anette Yeo and Mandy Watsham Dunstall were an excellent addition to the cast.

Three Phantoms is stunning, a beautiful, sophisticated set up with a variety of musical styles to keep all theatre fans delighted. Humorous at times and seriously sensational throughout. With only one more chance to see in Wolverhampton on Sunday 15th September click here to book. 

Just had the five minute call before our first performance in Wolverhampton @WolvesGrand. Lovely theatre. pic.twitter.com/vKbHPl0rIw
— Three Phantoms (@Three_Phantoms) September 14, 2013

If you follow my updates from the Wyvern Theatre in Swindon you may be interested in booking to see the show there from 24th - 26th September 2013. Click here for more information and to book. 

Cast List: Matthew Cammelle, Stephen John Davis, Glyn Kerslake, Alistair Barron, Anette Yeo, Mandy Watsham Dunstall, Anthony Gabrielle and Laura Anstee