Tag: newcastle theatre royal

Guys & Dolls Announces All Star Lineup For Theatre Royal

By on 26th February 2016in Entertainment

An extra dose of glitz and glamour has been confirmed for the tour of Guys and Dolls to Newcastle Theatre Royal…

It has been announced that the star line-up will include Richard Fleeshman (Coronation Street, Ghost the Musical, Call the Midwife) as Sky Masterson, Maxwell Caulfield (Grease 2, Emmerdale, The Colbys) as Nathan Detroit, Louise Dearman (Wicked, Evita) as Adelaide and Anna O’Byrne (Love Never Dies) as Sarah Brown.

This glittering production of gamblers, gangsters and night-club singers rolls into Newcastle on Tuesday 22nd March, direct from rave reviews in the West End. The Chichester Festival Theatre revival of Guys and Dolls features dazzling choreography by world-renowned Cuban ballet star Carlos Acosta alongside Andrew Wright, whose credits include Chichester Festival Theatre’s Singin’ in the Rain and is directed by New York’s Gordon Greenberg.

Audiences will be transported to the sizzling sidewalks of New York, where they’ll meet Nathan Detroit, who is desperate for money for an illegal dice game… and he needs it fast. Not to mention a 14-year engagement with nightclub singer Miss Adelaide, whose patience is finally running out. Enter notorious gambler Sky Masterson, a guy who can never turn down a bet, and straight-laced missionary Sarah Brown, a doll with a heart of ice. Nathan’s wager is that Sky has to romance Sarah by taking her to Havana for dinner, and in return he’ll provide a dozen ‘sinners’ for Sarah’s mission. Is this one bet Nathan can’t lose?

A joyous and vibrant celebration of Prohibition-era New York, Guys and Dolls first premiered on Broadway in 1950 and captured the optimism and energy of post-World War Two America. This hugely popular and multi award-winning musical, based on the colourful stories by American journalist Damon Runyon (renowned for his vivid fictional depictions of the gamblers, hustlers and nightclub singers of New York) features some of Broadway’s greatest musical numbers, including My Time of Day, Luck be a Lady and the show-stopping Sit Down You’re Rockin’ the Boat.

 

Completing the cast are Jack Edwards as Nicely Nicely Johnson, Peter Harding as Arvide Abernathy, Anthony McGill as Lt Brannigan, Mark Sangster as Benny Southstreet, Melanie Marshall as General Cartwright, Craig Pinder as Harry the Horse/Joey Biltmore, Cameron Johnson as Big Julie, Christopher Howell as Rusty Charlie. The ensemble includes Eamonn Cox, Jamal Crawford, Jonny Godbold, Ross Lee Fowkes, Aron Wild, Kiel Payton, Matthew Whennell-Clark, Ruthie Stephens, Bethany Linsdell, Hannah Cauchi, Chloe Chambers, Danielle Stephen, Abigayle Honeywill and Lucy Ashenden.

Guys and Dolls is directed by Gordon Greenberg, who has directed plays and musicals at major theatres across America and Europe, written for television and stage, and runs the musical theatre program at The New Group in New York, where he is based. He directed the current revival of Guys and Dolls for Chichester Festival Theatre, which is now running in London’s West End. He will direct his adaptation of Irving Berlin’s Holiday Inn on Broadway in October.

 

The music and lyrics for Guys and Dolls are by Frank Loesser, whose credits include How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and the song Baby, It’s Cold Outside. The book is by Jo Swerling and Abe Burrows. Burrows’ credits include How To Succeed In Business Without Really Trying and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Swerling’s credits include the seminal film It’s A Wonderful Life.

Guys and Dolls plays at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Tuesday 22nd March to Saturday 2nd April. Tickets are from £17.50 (pay less online) and can be purchased at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 (calls cost 7ppm plus your phone company’s access charge).

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty Returns To Theatre Royal

By on 18th February 2016in Entertainment

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 5th to Saturday 16th April.

Directed and choreographed by 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 the 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 Aurora in this first revival is rising star Ashley Shaw. Ashley recently played Lana in the triumphant revival of The Car Man, and 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 Lake in 2013, and has since featured in this year’s revival of The Car Man, covering the role of Lana. Cordelia makes her debut as Aurora this season; her first Principal role with New Adventures.

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping 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 UK and 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 Aurora grows 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, Aurora finds herself in the modern day; a world more mysterious than any fairy story!

Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty appears at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Tuesday 5th to Saturday 16th April (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).

Dance Powerhouse Bring Picasso Paintings To The Stage

By on 2nd February 2016in Entertainment

The UK’s longest established contemporary dance powerhouse, Rambert, are back in Newcastle this 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 from 2nd to 4th February.

The tour programme features two new pieces – the Picasso-inspired The 3 Dancers, and Frames, which takes audiences 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. Veldman is an internationally-renowned choreographer, and uses a total of six dancers (three dressed in white, and three as their shadows) 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 24-year-old North East dancer Adam Park, from 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.

Rambert appears at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Tuesday 2nd to Thursday 4th February 2016 (evenings: 7.30pm, matinee: Thursday 2pm). Tickets are from £12 (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).

Opera North Bring Season Of Masterpieces To Newcastle

By on 29th January 2016in Entertainment

Award winning company Opera North are back at Newcastle Theatre Royal in March with a trio of continental masterpieces…

The three pieces are Mozart’s playful Cosi Fan Tutte, Donizetti’s sunny L’Elisir D’Amore and Giordano’s passionate Andrea Chenier. Let your senses be stirred from Wednesday 2nd to Saturday 5th March 2016.

Giordano’s Andrea Chénier (Saturday 5th March) is presented by Opera North for the first time. Taking the life of the French poet André Chénier as its inspiration, the opera explores love and the individual at the time of the French Revolution, before charting the rapid descent of hope and optimism into the Terror. Combining a dramatic storyline with compelling music, this new production looks set to become an unforgettable addition to the Company’s repertoire.

Also written at the time of the French Revolution, but with a very different focus, is Mozart’s Così Fan Tutte (Wed 2nd and Fri 4th March). The production captivated audiences at the Theatre Royal back in 2009, and recently wowed at the Glimmerglass Opera Festival in New York. It is once again set to intrigue people with its thoughtful exploration of fidelity, deception, human motivation and the dangers of desire.

It all begins innocently enough when Don Alfonso comes up with a wager: that the fiancées of two young men are far more likely to succumb to another’s amorous advances than they might choose to believe. The ensuing, often disconcerting, consequences are accompanied by some of the most beautiful music Mozart ever wrote.  A vibrant young cast includes Dublin-born soprano Máire Flavin, who represented Ireland at the 2011 BBC Cardiff Singer of the World, making her Opera North debut as Fiordiligi.

A more light-hearted approach to the twists and turns of love is found in a sun drenched 1950s-style production of Donizetti’s comic opera L’elisir d’amore (Thursday 3rd March). Having enjoyed critical acclaim at Spain’s Ópera de Oviedo, it returns to England to charm audiences in the North with its playful tale of the ineffectual but good-hearted Nemorino and his quest to win the hand of the very self-assured Adina. Can Dr Dulcamara’s ‘love potion’ really solve all his problems?

Complete with hot-air balloon and Vespas, this stylish production is a perfect fit for Donizetti’s irrepressibly fresh comedy. Funny and moving, the opera includes one of the best-loved of all tenor arias in Nemorino’s ‘Una furtiva lagrima’ (A furtive tear).

The Spring Opera North season appears at Newcastle Theatre Royal from Wednesday 2nd March until Saturday 5th March 2016, playing evenings at 7.30pm (L’elisir d’amore and Andrea Chenier) and 7pm (Così fan tutte). Tickets from £18.50 (with great offers available for under 18s and school groups). 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).

Panto Stars Lend A Helping Hand To Newcastle Animal Shelter

By on 10th December 2015in Entertainment

Newcastle Theatre Royal’s Dick Whittington has gone in search of his cat…

Danny Adams, who plays Dick Whittington in this year’s Newcastle panto, has spent time volunteering alongside fellow star Steve Arnott, who plays King Rat, helping out the charity with their Christmas Appeal.

The shelter is running a pet toy appeal this Christmas, requesting that members of the public donate toys for animals who stay over the festive period.

Danny said: “Everyone knows Dick Whittington wouldn’t have got anywhere without his trusty cat by his side, so I was delighted to come down to help out with these needy cats in Newcastle. I’ve brought the big bad King Rat with me too, just in case these cats want someone to pounce on!”

Newcastle Dog and Cat Shelter helps thousands of lost, unwanted, neglected, abused and abandoned animals every year. Leyla Rutter, Chief Executive of the Shelter, said: “We try not to re-home our animals over Christmas because it can be a very stressful time for pets, when houses are at their busiest and most chaotic with visitors and presents. That means we have lots of pets at the shelter over the festive period, and so we’re asking the public to help us out with toys to keep the animals entertained, and also help us to continue their development and socialisation as we get them ready to be re-homed in January.”

Danny Adams and Steve Arnott took time out of their busy panto schedule to volunteer feeding, grooming and handling the cats and kittens at the shelter. Steve said: “We do 92 performances of Dick Whittington over 55 days. It’s a very hectic schedule, but we love it, and it is wonderful to be able to come to places like this in our spare time and give a little something back to the community who support us throughout the season. Being from this area, I know what a great job the shelter does re-homing animals, and it’s a pleasure to be able to help with their appeal this year – I just hope the cats haven’t been trained to chase rats!”

Steve is just one of a clutch of Geordie talent gracing the Theatre Royal stage in this year’s panto.

The Whitley Bay baddie is getting his teeth into the grizzly role of King Rat alongside former Emmerdale actress Charlie Hardwick, who brings sparkle and shine as Spirit of the Tyne. Actor and comedian Pete Peverley takes on the lovable role of Bobby the Cat, and fair maiden Alice Fitzwarren is played by Jarrow actress Alice Stokoe.

The team join the fabulous father and son duo of Danny Adams (Dick Whittington) and Clive Webb (Councillor Fitzfenwick), who are firm favourites with Newcastle Theatre Royal audiences as they fill the stage with non-stop laughter, energy, slap-stick humour and of course the odd ‘acciderrrrnt’! Joining them once again is panto’s most dazzling dame, Chris Hayward, who will be entertaining all her ‘bonny bairns’ as Dame Rita Fitzfenwick, while adding a wardrobe full of glitz and glamour to the show.

The Theatre Royal panto is well-known for its spectacular sets, sensational music and dance, and hilarious comedy routines – and this year is no exception. Add to that plenty of local twists and humour, and you’re in for hods of bonny bairns, canny lasses and the odd radgie gadgie gracing the stage!

Audiences can also expect breathtaking special effects, once again provided by The Twins FX (the award-winning company behind previous years’ looping reindeer sleigh, flying helicopter and magic carpet). Plus, returning again due to popular demand, are incredible 3D special effects.

Dick Whittington is proudly supported by local Media Partner Heart North East and plays at Newcastle Theatre Royal until Sunday 17th 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).

ADVERTISERS