2018 …and all that jazz
418 posts so far this year…making the North East Theatre
Guide the busiest forum solely dedicated to theatre just in our region. It has
been a fun year. Some of the best shows we have seen have literally involved
one person in a small room, others have been massive spectacular events. We are
lucky to have such a wide range of venues capable of handling very small fringe
events up to full scale productions direct from the West End. In the background,
funding/income continues to be a major issue for everyone: venues, production
companies and the audience. Having said that, the people of the North East love
the escapism of a good show.
January…
We started the year whilst completing our panto marathon. We
still had shows to see as some opened in January. This also gave us a chance to
pay our first visit to the
Boulevard in Newcastle to see an adults-only reboot of the Tom Whalley’s Aladdin.
Funnily enough we also
saw the normal version at the Westovians too. It was strange seeing a panto,
that we’d seen in Gateshead the previous year, softened up for a younger
audience at one venue and made as you as you can go at the other on 2
consecutive days.
We love our comedy and January was our first review of Lee
Kyle’s tour. You’d imagine that comics are all living the lifestyle of a
Peter Kay or a Michael McIntyre – the truth is far removed from that as people
like Lee work extremely hard to earn a living. Lee would set up the Working
Class Fringe website for the Edinburgh Festival in order to highlight the many
shows that are not created thanks to the deep pockets of rich sponsors or
parents.
The month finished with opera in the form of Ellen
Kent’s La Traviata. We had the opportunity to discuss the issues of
creating large scale shows with Ellen on the evening. Memorably the
conversation turned to difficult shows to produce in the politically correct
2018. King and I was mentioned and, that too will be appearing in the region in 2019 when it comes to
the Sunderland Empire.
February…
The North East Theatre Guide has covered lots of children’s
shows this year. Puddle’s
Adventure featured one of our panto heroes, David Jon Hopper. He does a brilliant job keeping the kids
entertained and the reaction from the audience is a delight to watch.
Showstopper
is an improvised musical that has no script or music before the suggestions fly
in from the audience. It is returning
to the Northern Stage in 2019 and even if you saw it in 2018, you’re guaranteed
a different show next time you see it. Comedy also continued in February with
the huge Sunday
For Sammy event at the Arena. A cacophony of talent from the region put on
the stage for a good cause. The charity helps fund a number of projects that we
have seen during the year.
2018 was a great year for Northern Stage. A steady flow of wonderful
shows ensured the venue was punching above its weight. Hamlet,
from the Royal Shakespeare Company was the first of the big productions that we
saw there. The use of one of the medium sized venues in the city may have
raised a few eyebrows but the venue showed it can be as a great place for
theatre as some of its more historic neighbours.
March…
Another show we saw for a second time was Pete Peverley’s Bobby
Thompson Story at the Theatre Royal. A one man show that kept the audience
in the palm of his hand. It is one of a number of shows that keeps the memory
of North East legends going.
The Northern Stage had another big blockbuster when Sting’s
The Last
Ship sailed in. The venue is not known for its musicals but this production
showed how adaptable the space can be. In the same way The Bobby Thompson Story
recognised an individual from our region, the Last Ship celebrated both an
industry long gone and the spirit of the North East. I will remember the press
night as we literally bumped into Sting.
We got to see Suggs
twice this year. In December, he appeared with Madness at the Arena, but in
March he appeared in a solo
show at the Tyne Theatre. A show telling his own story with a few songs
chucked in for good measure, it was one of the many one night shows at the
Tyne. They attract a strong line up of comics, and March included Dave
Spikey. There is always a rich variety at the venue and 2019 is already
shaping up to be another successful year.
April…
I have to confess…we didn’t see as much dance as we had in
previous years. Nothing deliberate on our part, it was just the way the diary
filled up. Having said that, we still got a chance to see some ballet. Coppélia
filled the Sunderland Empire with its large orchestra and the talented ensemble
from the Birmingham Royal Ballet.
Another form of culture that we normally see much more of
are spoken word shows. For some reason it has been a funny old year. April did
see us head to Stockton to see the door-to-door
poet Rowan McCabe’s show about creating poetry for random strangers around
the region. Joanne was so motivated by the show that she wrote the review in
verse.
We’ve already mentioned that it was financially a tough
year for everyone. This was reflected in the case of Thoroughly
Modern Millie. Whilst it received good
notices, this wasn’t translated into ticket sales. So, whilst we got to enjoy
it at the Sunderland Empire, the tour was cancelled before it rolled into
Darlington. Fortunately, other musicals such as Legally
Blonde had more success.
We are not known for our amateur musical reviews but occasionally
we take a gamble that a show will have professional values. One such company is
the Darlington Operatic Society. Their interpretation of
Priscilla Queen of the Desert was as good as the last professional tour that we saw.
Live Theatre continues to support new writing and one of
their highlights was in April/May with My
Romantic History. It was a well observed adult comedy.
May…
The day job hits its peak, work wise, during May to July.
The Theatre Guide, at times, goes on life support with just the odd excursion
out, as the bills need paying. As I write this on Christmas Eve, a contract for
work next June has literally just landed on the door mat this morning – joy!
May was a historic month for the region’s premiere fringe
venue. Alphabetti hosted its first musical. The
Last Five Years was not your usual sort of musical and it fitted in well
with Alphabetti’s brief for doing things differently. This was an opera for the
Tinder generation.
Lightning would strike a second time at the St James
Boulevard venue as Tom
and Bunny Save The World would be the first time Fat Rascal Theatre swept
us off our feet with their mix of fun and inventive musicals. In August we
would catch Vulvarine
The Musical in Leeds en route to the Edinburgh Fringe. It is probably the
best show to miss the North East and it is a massive shame that the 2019 tour also
misses the region out. If they get around to producing a cast recording then we’d
be buying it too.
Perhaps the close proximity of Alphabetti ensured a number
of visits during this busy time. Suffragette
celebrated the 100th anniversary of some women getting the vote. It
was an interesting mix of new and old writing.
Don’t work with children, they say. Not a problem if you
consider the cast of Matilda
at the Sunderland Empire. It was wonderful to finally catch up with this show
that had done so well in the west end.
Across in Newcastle, one of the press pack witnessing the
latest production of Evita
at the Theatre Royal suggested it was the best one that they’d seen.
Certainly the power and pose of Madalena Alberto during the big hit Don’t Cry For Me Argentina was memorable.
With both the audience and actors on the large main stage,
Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune was classic Northern Stage. This
live production was much better than the Hollywood film.
June…
Two trips to the Tyne Theatre were the highlight of the
busy month of June. Two very different events kept us entertained.
Jason Cook’s Comedy Club included our long time favourite Gavin Webster in
support of Andy Parsons. The evening reinforced our opinion the comedy is much
better in a high quality space like the Tyne Theatre rather than on tv.
A very different event at the Tyne was Cirque
Berserk. The room stank of petrol from the matinee as you entered. The big
question was – how do you do motorcycle stunts on a theatre stage? With skill
was the answer as the audience was encouraged to get their phones out. I can
still smell that petrol.
July…
We love computer games. We love Shakespeare. Obviously Super
Hamlet 64 was written with us in mind. Wee man agreed that it was better
than a night on his games console.
David John Hopper was successfully entertaining the kids
again at the Customs House with Dale Jewitt, in Arbuthnot
and Puddles’ Pirate Adventure. Our
travels took us, as we’ve already mentioned, to Leeds and then to Bolton to see
another South Shields based entertainer Stephen Sullivan playing Fleshcreep
again in another production of Jack
And The Beanstalk. It was a surprise to have our wedding anniversary mentioned
by the dame. You could tell who the “Geordies” were as we left the Albert
Halls: it was raining and whilst everyone else hesitated to step outside – the 3
of us confidently strode out. It was only summer rain after all.
August…
We managed a trip to Edinburgh in August. Lee
Kyle was packing them in at 10:20 am; Simon Jay was causing a riot in Trumpageddon
and Janey
Godley was straight talking in her popular show. You go to Edinburgh for that unexpected
unplanned treat and for us it was Alex McSherry’s one man theatrical
performance in The
Tanner.
The Customs House prides itself with shows of a local
nature and it created a corker in 2018 with its reboot of When
The Boat Comes In. A cast of local talent was headed by the talented Jamie
Brown as Jack Ford. The plans are to keep going with the tale and do sequels –
lets hope they retain the features that made this show work so well.
You really look forward to some musicals, like Matilda.
Others, especially with new writing, come with no preconceived notion before
attending press nights. Other shows worry the reviewer ahead of press night. A
feeling that they could really mess it up – that a musical may not be the best
format for the story. Anyhow, Madagascar
was a pleasant surprise. It was family entertainment that didn’t disappoint.
September…
The back end of 2018 had a number of great major shows at
the Sunderland Empire. Big productions that took full advantage of the generous
proportions of the Empire stage. The venue lived up to its handle of the “West
End In The North East”. Wicked
is a popular show with younger musical fans. I had previously taken a bus load
of teens to London and they all loved it. The adults in the group had their
reservations. The show that arrived in Sunderland had undergone some revisions
and they made for a much slicker production. Gone were the elements of the
story that had caused issues for me and I really enjoyed this version.
October…
October began with ballet and comedy in the form of The
Trocks at the Theatre Royal. It was a show that shows how precise good
comedy has to be.
Comedy continued at The Tyne Theatre with Sarah
Millican. We have watched her grow into a household name over the years.
This show really worked well. No wonder she sells out multiple nights.
A highlight for the North East Theatre Guide? Probably
getting quoted by Adrian Edmondson on television when he appeared in Vulcan
7 at the Theatre Royal with Nigel Planer. “The funny version of Waiting For Godot for
Generation X” indeed.
Elvis met Evil Dead 2 in The
Elvis Dead at Northern Stage. A
parody about a parody? It worked and did brisk business on Stage 3. In total
contrast, the same venue had a poignant show on about the final evening of
Martin Luther King. The
Mountaintop falls in that category of shows that make you ponder long and
hard on the way home.
October finished on a high with Miss
Saigon. We had said Wicked was the best musical we had seen up to that
point and then Sunderland Empire plays its trump card and puts on a superb show
that is Cameron Mackintosh’s spectacular production.
November…
Before the Panto season started we had a number of notable
shows to enjoy. This included the other notable am-dram musical of note this
year: Chitty
Chitty Bang Bang at the Tyne Theatre. It was really entertaining.
Putting its audience on an emotional rollercoaster was the
powerful Open
Clasp production of don’t forget the birds. Rather than using
actors, the actual people in the story played themselves in the show. Just like
2017’s Rattle
Snake, we were really moved by the performance.
December…
Panto season. Oh yes, it is! Between the pantos, though,
are some straight theatre shows: Christmas
Carol is another classic Northern Stage family show. It may not follow the panto
format but it knows how to entertain the family. As the Muppets proved: Charles
Dickens know how to put together a story that is as relevant today as it was
then.
We also had shows about Christmas. Christmas
Crackers at Live Theatre and Christmas Cabaret at Alphabetti both had an
ability to point the mirror back at the audience and ask what it is all about.
So, which panto floated our boat the best this season? The big shows delivered: Goldilocks
has shown there is life in the Danny and Clive show and Louie Spence is making
Darlington laugh in Aladdin.
The Sunderland Empire has delivered the best panto that has appeared on
Wearside for a number of years with Peter
Pan – it is a real cracker.
The ‘smaller’ shows are just as entertaining and have just
as many laughs. Durham Gala’s Snow
White is very well written. In Westerhope, Aladdin
was making the audiences very happy too.
The Tyne Theatre’s Cinderella
has a great mix of higher production values, plenty of laughs and good value
for money. They’ve really hit the spot this year. Charlie Richmond is one of
our panto heroes.
What will 2019 bring?
Stephen Oliver
I love your highlights of the year posts. Usually reminds of shows I'd forgotten I'd seen - this year it's a reminder of how many I missed! I need more hours in my days, more days in my week... Heres to theatre in 2019. Chhers! 😊
ReplyDeleteI wouldn't mind but you see a lot of shows that we miss...so much choice, so little time! Merry Xmas from the Gateshead Gang
DeleteAck...typos! Sorry! 😂
ReplyDelete