THEATRE

THEATRE

FOR ALL INFORMATION PRE-2015 VISIT:

THEATRE VISITS 2015

I made fewer visits to the theatre in 2015 than in recent years but the productions I saw were  generally of a very high standard.

During a week's visit to London in February I saw six shows, the most enjoyable of which was Sunny Afternoon - the Kinks musical. We sat at a table at the foot of the stage with  a free bottle of wine thrown in! Beautiful was  also excellent  - Katie Brayben's performance as Carole King was amazing.  Made in Dagenham didn't live up to my expectations and I wasn't surprised when it closed not long after. At the Landor I  thoroughly enjoyed She Loves Me which I hadn't seen since the original London production in 1964.

In the summer I fulfilled a long  held ambition to spend a week in Pitcochry for the Theatre Festival. It is a wonderful theatre in an idylic setting and to see the same highly talented actors perform in six very different shows was a delight. The highlight was A Little Night Music in which  some of the company played instruments and also sang - sometimes at the same time.

My favourite performance was Michael Ball's portrayal of Mack Sennett in Mack & Mabel at Manchester Opera House. In 1985  I saw him there in his first  principal role  in  The Pirates of Penzance  and knew then he was destined for stardom.

I have again enjoyed going to  live relays at the cinema and was particularly impressed by Man and Superman from the National Theatre.

I visited two theatres for the first time: Pitlochry Festival Theatre and Leys Great Hall in Cambridge (where my granddaughter, Sissy, brought the house down with her rendition of Bang Bang). Also, it was my first visit to the Noel Coward and the Harold Pinter theatres since their names changed from Albery and Comedy.


           

THEATRE VISITS 2016

I only had one visit to London this year and that was to see my granddaughter, Sissy, in a National Youth Music Theatre  production of a new musical  entitled Battle of   Boat - very well produced and acted by the young cast.

A highlight for me was going over to Scarborough in the summer to see a brilliant production of   The World Goes Round  which I last saw about 20 years ago.

For the second successive year I went to Pitlochry for a week and saw seven shows at the Festival Theatre. The Ayckbourn trilogy was very well done, especially Game Plan. Carousel was very innovative and superbly performed.The weakest was Thark    which  has not stood the test of time  .

My favourite performances of the year were by  Michael Xavier and Gina Beck in Showboat at Sheffield Crucible. The show has some great numbers and the staging on the thrust stage worked very well.

Five  productions seen at Manchester's  Royal Exchange were a bit of a mixed bunch, the best of which was Into the Woods and the weirdest (in a nice way), All I  Want is One Night. Sweet Charity got rave reviews but not from me!

Also varied were the live relays at the cinema. From NTLive, No Man's Land was terrific but As You Like It was a weak production.

On the amateur front, Blackburn Drama Club's The Graduate was a wonderful production with an outstanding cast. Sister Act was the musical choice of another local society and although it was well performed I was not impressed with the show itself.

I loved An Audience with Lesley Garrett, not least because we went to the same school and I was able to talk to her about it.

Two small scale touring productions put on very entertaining evenings here in Blackburn. They were Broadway and Beyond and The Simon and Garfunkel Story.

It is many years since I last went to a circus but  I took my granddaughter, Dixie, to Blackpool Tower Circus in the summer and thoroughly enjoyed some thrilling acts.


 

THEATRE VISITS 2017

Another year with no visit to the West End meant that the live relays at  Vue were  very welcome. Follies was a tremendous production from NTL in every respect except lighting - perhaps it didn't show up to best effect in the cinema. In Hedda Gabler, Ruth Wilson's acting was  superb but  the production was bizarre.

From the ROH La Boheme was very enjoyable but The Nutcracker had barely changed since I saw it at Covent Garden nearly 20 years ago. It really is time for a new production.

My favourite performance this year was in an amateur production of Goodnight Mr Tom by Southwick Players - Harry Atkinson as Mr Tom  was perfect. In fact the whole production - which had my granddaughter, Dixie, in it - was excellent (not that I'm biased  or anything!). My granddaughter, Sissy, was in the premier production of A Teenage Opera  by the Youth Music Theatre UK. Sadly some great talent was wasted on a musical that was below par in every respect.

We had a wonderful time on our annual visit to Pitlochry seeing 5 plays and a musical   in the week.   Outstanding were Mary Rose and The Ruling Class.

A promenade performance  in the derelict Blackburn Exchange of Finding Mr Hart was an unexpected delight. It told the story of  the local collector and benefactor, Edward Hart.

Teechers is the third Godber play I have seen and it will be the last. I just don't find them funny.

The best show of the year was Guys and Dolls at Manchester - it was inspirational to set it in Harlem. Ray Fearon, with a great performance as Nathan Detroit , led a very well cast show.

PRODUCTION

THEATRE

PLACE

RATING

She Loves Me

Landor

London

* * * *

Made in Dagenham

Adelphi

London

* * *

Sunny Afternoon

Harold Pinter

London

* * * * *

Woman on the Verge

Playhouse

London

* * * *

Shakespeare in Love

Noel Coward

London

* * * *

Beautiful

Aldwich

London

* * * * *

Love's Labour's Won

RSC via Vue

Stratford-upon-Avon

* * * * *

Humble Boy

Empire

Blackburn

* * *

Behind the Beautiful Forevers

Olivier via Vue

London

* * * * *

Swan Lake

ROH via Vue

London

* * * *

Witches of Eastwick

Charter

Preston

* * *

South Pacific

Empire

Blackburn

* * * * *

Man and Superman

Olivier via Vue

London

* * * * *

Halle Orchestra

King George's

Blackburn

* * * *

Kids at Bodywork

Leys Great Hall

Cambridge

* * * *

Barnum

Lowry Lyric

Salford

* * * * *

Improbable Fiction

Festival

Pitlochry

* * * * *

The Importance of Being Ernest

Festival

Pitlochry

* * * *

The Lady in the Van

Festival

Pitlochry

* * * *

Pyrenees

Festival

Pitlochry

* * * * *

Home and Beauty

Festival

Pitlochry

* * *

A Little Night Music

Festival

Pitlochry

* * * * *

The Beaux' Stratagem

Olivier via Vue

London

* * * *

You're Never Too Old

Empire

Blackburn

* * *

Mack & Mabel

Opera House

Manchester

* * * *

PRODUCTION

THEATRE

PLACE

RATING

Into the Woods

Royal Exchange

Manchester

****

Show Boat

Crucible

Sheffield

*****

Rhapsody/Two Pigeons

ROH via Vue

Blackburn

****

Les Liasons Dangereuses

Donmar via Vue

Blackburn

***

As You Like It

National via Vue

Blackburn

**

If I Were You

Empire

Blackburn

****

Husbands and Sons

Royal Exchange

Manchester

***

Sister Act

Empire

Blackburn

**

The Graduate

Empire

Blackburn

*****

The Night Watch

Royal Exchange

Manchester

***

The Simon and Garfunkel Story

Empire

Blackburn

****

RLPO

King George's Hall

Blackburn

****

All I Want is One Night

Royal Exchange

Manchester

***

Broadway and Beyond

Empire

Blackburn

****

Circus

Tower

Blackpool

****

Battle of Boat

Rose

Kingston

****

The World Goes Round

Stephen Joseph

Scarborough

*****

Thark

Festival

Pitlochry

**

Game Plan

Festival

Pitlochry

*****

Flat Spin

Festival

Pitlochry

****

Role Play

Festival

Pitlochry

****

This Happy Breed

Festival

Pitlochry

***

Carousel

Festival

Pitlochry

*****

Hard Times

Festival

Pitlochry

***

A View from the Bridge

Empire

Blackburn

****

Audience with Lesley Garrett

Coliseum

Oldham

****

Solid Gold Rock'n'Roll Show

Guild Hall

Preston

****

No Mans Land

National via Vue

Blackburn

*****

Sweet Charity

Royal Exchange

Manchester

***

The Beach Boys Story

Empire

Blackburn

**

Iolanthe

Empire

Blackburn

***

Teechers

Empire

Blackburn

*

Hedda Gabler

National via Vue

Blackburn

**

Boeing Boeing

Empire

Blackburn

****

A Teenage Opera

Wilde

Bracknell

*

Goodnight Mr Tom

The Barn

Southwick

*****

Absurd Person Singular

Festival

Pitlochry

****

High Society

Festival

Pitlochry

***

Mary Rose

Festival

Pitlochry

*****

Europe

Festival

Pitlochry

**

The Ruling Class

Festival

Pitlochry

*****

People

Festival

Pitlochry

****

La Boheme

ROH via Vue

Blackburn

****

Hamlet

Barbican via Vue

Blackburn

*****

Our Town

Royal Exchange

Manchester

***

Follies

National via Vue

Blackburn

*****

Spider's Web

Empire

Blackburn

***

Finding Mr Hart

Exchange

Blackburn

****

The Nutcracker

ROH via Vue

Blackburn

***

Cinderella

Empire

Blackburn

**

Guys and Dolls

Royal Exchange

Manchester

*****