Tag Archives: Alexandra Theatre Birmingham

Press Review: Death Drop: Back in The Habit

Posted on by

0

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Unapologetically and deliciously camp with riotous laughs and razor-sharp wit!

Following three sold-out West End runs and a smash hit UK tour, Death Drop is back in an all new mystery!

The Sound of Music meets Scary Movie in this jam-packed, riotous comedy. Death Drop is the hilarious thriller which pays homage to all your favourite horror films – from IT to Scream and everything in-between.

After the glowing success of the original play (read the full review here), the team behind Death Drop return to Birmingham’s Alexandra Theatre where the audience has been invited to pay a visit to the holy Convent of St. Babs…

Continue reading →

Press Review: The King and I at The Alexandra Theatre

Posted on by

Directed by Bartlett Sher and billed as starring Helen George in the role of Anna, the critically acclaimed Lincoln Center Theatre production of the Rogers and Hammerstein musical arrived on stage at The Alexandra Theatre as part of its major 2023 UK tour. 

Set in 1860’s Bangkok, The King and I tells the story of the rather unconventional and tempestuous relationship between King Mongkut of Siam (now known as Thailand) and Anna, a strong-willed British widowed schoolteacher who is employed by the King to tutor his many children, highlighting the battle between male and female, Western ideals and Eastern traditions. The show features an instantly recognisable score with songs including Getting to Know You, Shall We Dance and Whistle a Happy Tune.

Continue reading →

Press Review: The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel at The Alexandra Theatre

Posted on by

Based on Deborah Moggach’s novel These Foolish Things which inspired the hit 2011 movie, The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel arrived at The Alexandra Theatre this week. 

With an all-star cast including Hayley Mills (yes, THE Hayley Mills), Paul Nicholas, Rula Lenska (I was genuinely star-struck), The Best Exotic Marigold Hotel tells the story of an eclectic group of British retirees who travel to India in an attempt to embark on a new life. Their hotel, owned by the formidable Mrs Kapoor (Reka John-Cheriyan) and her son, Sonny (Nishad More) is far from the opulence that was promised, falling into an ever-increasing state of disrepair as the retirees try to adjust to the cultural differences around them. 

Continue reading →

Press Review: Dreamgirls at The Alexandra Theatre

Posted on by

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️

Finally arriving on stage two years after their 2020 performance was cancelled, Dreamgirls has hit the stage at the Alexandra Theatre for their Christmas run, and it was worth the wait.  

I was lucky enough to experience a press preview of some of the main cast a little while ago and expectations were high, but nothing quite prepared me for the glitz and glamour that unfolded on stage. 

Continue reading →

Christmas at the Alexandra Theatre Press Preview and Interview: Dreamgirls

Posted on by

A little while ago I was given the incredible opportunity to see a preview of the Christmas show at The Alexandra Theatre in Birmingham: Dreamgirls. 

Dreamgirls tells the story of Effie, Lorrell and Deena – three talented young singers in the turbulent 1960s and 1970s, a revolutionary time in American music history. We follow the journey of the three friends as they embark upon a musical rollercoaster ride through a world of fame, fortune and the ruthless realities of show business, testing their friendships to the very limit.

Continue reading →

Press Review: Noughts & Crosses at The Alexandra Theatre

Posted on by

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Gripping and thought-provoking

Sephy and Callum sit together on a beach. They are in love. It is forbidden. Sephy is a Cross and Callum is a Nought. Between Noughts and Crosses there are racial and social divides. A segregated society teeters on a volatile knife edge. As violence breaks out, Sephy and Callum draw closer, but this is a romance that will lead them into terrible danger…

Based on the first book in Malorie Blackman’s Noughts & Crosses series, directed by Esther Richardson and adapted by Sabrina Mahfouz, Noughts & Crosses offers a love story (very loosely based on Romeo & Juliet) set in an reimagined society. The Crosses – all people of colour – hold the power, while the Noughts – the white population – are at the mercy of the discriminatory rules and restrictions placed upon them. Sephy (Effie Ansah), a Cross, is the daughter of the Home Secretary Kamal Hadley (Chris Jack) and lives a life of privilege.  Her childhood friend Callum, a Nought, has won a place at her prestigious school for Crosses, causing a violent series of protests and backlash. Their developing romance is strictly forbidden, and both sides face huge barriers and prejudice while trying to simultaneously be together while finding their own paths. 

Continue reading →

Press Review: The Shawshank Redemption at The Alexandra Theatre

Posted on by

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ A powerful piece of theatre

Based on Stephen King’s 1982 novella Rita Hayworth and The Shawshank Redemption (which was also the inspiration for the smash-hit 1994 movie starring Tim Robbins and Morgan Freeman), The Shawshank Redemption has been adapted for a theatre audience in a 2022 UK tour. 

Presented by Bill Kenwright, directed by David Esbjornson and adapted from the novella by Owen O’Neill and Dave Johns, The Shawshank Redemption tells the story of Andy Dufresne (Joe Absolom), who is wrongfully convicted of the murder of his wife and her lover and is sent to the notorious Shawshank facility to start his double life sentence. As he deals with the harsh brutality and cruelty of prison life, he strikes up an unlikely friendship with the prison fixer Ellis ‘Red’ Redding (Ben Onwukwe). However, when his talents for accountancy are discovered by Warden Stammas (Mark Heenahan), he realises a desperate plan to escape is needed… 

Continue reading →

Press Review: The Mousetrap at The Alexandra Theatre

Posted on by

Continue reading →

As news spreads of a murder in London, a group of seven strangers find themselves snowed in at a remote countryside guesthouse. When a police sergeant arrives, the guests discover – to their horror – that a killer is in their midst! Which one is the murderer? Who will be their next victim? Can you solve this world-famous mystery for yourself?

Agatha Christie’s The Mousetrap at the Alexandra Theatre plays for six nights as part of its 70th anniversary tour and was a fantastic way to spend Tuesday night this week, and a full house no less. Lucky for us, The Mousetrap has continued to delight audiences for much longer than the initial fourteen months that Christie herself said she would “give it,” in the fifties when it debuted.

Continue reading →

Press Review: South Pacific at The Alexandra Theatre

Posted on by

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ “A visually stunning production”

Directed by Daniel Evans, with Music and Lyrics by Rodgers & Hammerstein and Book by Oscar Hammerstein II and Joshua Logan, South Pacific is based on James A. Michener’s Pulitzer Prize-Winning 1947 book Tales of the South Pacific and was an immediate hit following its Broadway premiere in 1949. With a now iconic score including I’m Gonna Wash That Man Right Outa My Hair, Bali Ha’i, There Is Nothing Like a Dame, Some Enchanted Evening and Happy Talk, receiving multiple awards, spawning many successful revivals, tours and a 1958 movie. 

Continue reading →

Press Review: Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical at The Alexandra Theatre

Posted on by

⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ ⭐️ Fun, witty and heart-warming with plenty of sole

From the pier of Port Isaac, Cornwall to the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury, Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical is loosely based around the true story of the surprise chart-topping Cornish singing sensations and their smash-hit 2019 movie.

Directed by James Grieve with the Book by Amanda Whittington, Fisherman’s Friends tells the story of a group of fisherman in a traditional Cornish village who sing folk songs and shanties to raise money for the local lifeboat. They are spotted by passing visitor Danny (Jason Langley), a former A&R Executive from London who is immediately captivated by the music and convinces them to record a demo to send to Island Records. But is the British public ready for an album of sea shanties and traditional Cornish folk songs?

Yes, they were.

And after watching Fisherman’s Friends: The Musical, so am I.

Continue reading →