Review | JOSEPH AND THE AMAZING TECHNICOLOR DREAMCOAT (UK Tour) April 2015

Andrew Lloyd Webber's timeless tale of a band of brothers in a biblical bonanza of colour and high energy dance routines bursts onto the Belgrade stage this week.

With a score of well known classics, the show never fails to leave you grinning from ear to ear. In a re-energised 2015 production from Bill Kenwright, X Factor finalists provide a pop injection to bring the show bang up to date. With new orchestrations and moderations to direction, Joseph is back and on better form than before.

Heading up the cast is Lloyd Daniels, as hero Joseph - the twelfth son of Jacob, despised by his brothers and sold into slavery. With a winning smile and overwhelming charm Daniels' has the audience in the palm of his hand - his Welsh tones perfectly suit the score through ballad and the more upbeat. He provides a necessary naivety yet remained a confident frontman and ensure everyone leaves on a high.

Amelia Lily is a strong narrator, creating her own, unique version of the role that draws on her chart-topping vocal skills. Whereas usually the narrator boasts an incredibly high vocal range, lowering the octave occasionally ensures that Lily can instead use her trademark belt to wow the audience. A very impressive theatrical debut.

Matt Lapinskas roused the crowd as the Pharoah and his Elvis turn let the audience know well and truly that he is in the building... they were shouting for more - literally!

As an ensemble show, there is great deal of stage time for an energetic group of brothers who provide excellent backing vocals and constant humour and the female handmaidens prove to be excellent dancers. There is full marks for enthusiasm. 

Even after all these years, the inflatable sheep used still haven't learnt to behave and inflate properly but it's all part of the charm. With delightful costumes and the occasional pair of Ugg boots, the show is as ever the complete visual treat.

Unoffensive, family fun with singing camels for good measure, who could ask for anything more? With every possible musical style imaginable there's something for everyone. It's simple storytelling but incredibly hard to resist coming back again and again. At Belgrade Theatre Coventry until Saturday 25 April. Tickets here. 

Cast List: Lloyd Daniels, Amelia Lily, Henry Metcalfe, Matt Lapinskas, Sam Hallion, Camilla Rowland, Andrew Bateup, Marcus Ayton, Alfred Bache, Joel Burman, Robert Colvin, Matt Brinkler, Jamie Jukes, Craig Golding, Matt Blaker, Samantha Noel, Daisy Steere, Chris Kayson. 

Review | THE PRODUCERS (UK Tour) April 2015

It's the greatest failure in the history of show business.... at least that's what it's supposed to be! 'Springtime For Hitler', the Neo-Nazi musical on the misunderstood Fuhrer is what lame producers Bialystock and Bloom intend to stage in order to rake in the remaining funds of a doomed Broadway musical in the smash hit Broadway musical - The Producers!

It's perhaps as confusing and seemingly irrelevant on paper as it is on stage, but much like the show that features within it, The Producers is a sure fire hit ... at least it is with a string of star names to it. 

Here, the show is cast for entertainment value and it's stars take precedence over anything else. Top of the bill is Stand Up Comedian Jason Manford. Incredibly likeable as accountant-turned-Broadway Producer Leo Bloom, with a cartoony voice like a timid Mickey Mouse, he wins over the audience with what at first is a seemingly subtle performance that explodes in song - a perhaps surprising element to his performance, he wins over any doubters. 

Manford is paired well with Cory English as Max Bialystock who is no stranger to the role. Experience is definitely ripe as he earns some of the biggest cheers of the night. Phil Jupitus is sometimes a little difficult to understand behind all the German but is humorous in his portrayal of pigeon keeper, Playwright, Hitler obsessive Franz Liebkind. 

Stage veteran David Badella brings Broadway charm as only he can. His rich sound and smooth voice is something of his trademark and works particularly well with the role of Roger De Bris, a fabulously flamboyant image of the over theatrical, cross-dressing director. In a later, excellent turn as Hitler, hilarity breaks out in the show's most spectacular dance number - full of glamour, full of glitz and camp as.... well, they rhyme with glitz. 

As if it wasn't already overly theatrical enough, Louie Spence ensures that you don't leave with your cravings for camp unsatisfied. His hilarious Carmen Ghia is something of an upstaging of almost everything but the audience lap up every pirouette, every backbend and bevel. 

Finally, Tiffany Graves is excellent as Ulla, she's got it and she flaunts it. 

The set is pretty minimal with a lot of moving going on behind a waving back cloth, it is distracting and clunky set pieces prove difficult to manoeuvre sometimes. A lot of this is covered up well with vibrant choreography however. Almost like a Bialystock and Bloom production with creased swastika laden curtains, the production doesn't boast the highest production values, but it doesn't matter. The Producers has been done far more lavishly before but here money has been well spent elsewhere with a well chosen, star cast and enthusiastic ensemble make this something of a sure fire hit!

Highly hilarious, farcical, at most times irrelevant, it shouldn't work but it does - much like the show it's about. An easy, fun and (most importantly) entertaining night at the theatre. At Birmingham New Alexandra Theatre until Saturday 25 April. Tickets here. 

Review | RENT (Hutton Theatre) April 2015

Jonathan Larson's RENT has in recent years grown increasingly popular in the amateur and off-West End theatres. With a great number of productions popping up, you wonder perhaps what is the draw to a musical notorious in its focus on impoverished young artists under the shadow of HIV/AIDS. It is the sense of community that is most endearing and set to a powerful rock score its highly appealing on many levels, despite the ultimate focus on struggle. 

Talking of struggle, to set this in the round has its challenges and here director Alastair Norton takes his focus on community and utilises the non-traditional performance space to emphasise that theme. In South Staffs Musical Theatre Company's latest production, you find yourself surrounded and ultimately part of the Bohemian world. For the duration, you're exposed and involved - the seats aren't the most comfortable, but neither is Bohemian life. It's a 360, immersive experience - a unique way to present a musical that is perhaps otherwise considered overdone. To disregard tradition and present an entirely new format is a brave move... but a risk well taken. 

The space does have limitations and depending on where you're sat, sometimes crucial moments are missed. The only way to overcome this is to keep rotating the action which would eventually become tiresome - the emerging talent helps indefinitely to look past any sightline niggles - as a regular theatregoer you'd come to expect this in any round performance. 

The cast is headed up by Matt Nicholas and Chris Eastup as Mark and Roger - one a documentary maker, the other a guitarist. Nicholas gives a particularly focused, endearing Mark while Eastup with his shadowy eyeliner is more toughened and impresses with a solid vocal performance. Eastup's duet with Lexie Bennett as Mimi is particularly beautiful, a heartbreaking and incredibly raw moment. Nicole Roberts also impresses as Maureen - a comic rendition of Over The Moon conjures laughter from the audience, invited to 'moo' with her. She is paired well with Abbie Rai as Joanne and between them manage to riff some notable lines of Take Me Or Leave Me. 

Andrew Newton manages to keep a cold heart as Benny while at the opposite end, James Thomas is suitably flamboyant with a generous disposition as young drag queen Angel Schunard. Thomas works well with Simon McGee as Tom Collins and the pair deliver some tender and  more lighthearted earlier moments. 

Throughout the evening, vocals are controlled well to tackle the demands of the incredibly complex and rather high rock score - there are moments that don't meet vocal perfection but evidently, a lot of time has gone into solid harmony work from a dedicated ensemble. 

This is a subtle RENT, you won't be overpowered by incredibly loud rock music from this band of five. What is usually loud, trashy and in-your-face is actually stripped back and interestingly, creates a more tender, susceptible production - much like the vulnerable personalities that these characters are trying to hide. It reveals and observes an unseen layer. 

Ultimately, South Staff's RENT has been nurtured by director Norton, to be the best it can with venue and cast. And as the cast sing "Christmas bells are ringing..." for the final time tonight, the company then look forward to their next production, White Christmas at Wolverhampton Grand Theatre from 1 - 5 December. Tickets here. 

Photographs | New Era Photography

Rent Cast List: Chris Eastup, Matt Nicholas, Simon McGee, Andrew Newton, Abbie Rai, James Thomas, Lexie Bennett, Nicole Roberts, Ellie Farmer, Niamh-Margaret McGowan, Kate Pingree-Webber, David Michael Ball, Marcus Perry, Dan Flaherty, Natalie Baggott, James Collins.