Sitting In The Cheap Seats

It’s amazing how a show as ubiquitous as Les Miserables can at once be utterly recognisable and thoroughly fresh. This tour, currentlyspending some time in Southampton at the Mayflower Theatre feels morealive than any of the half a dozen or more previous visits I’ve made to revolutionaryFrance. Laurence Connor and James Powell ‘s (relatively) new production may not have the cosy familiarity of the original Trevor Nunn (I still miss the revolve) but it makes up for that with a relentless energy. No production holds together without strong central castingthough and most especially the twin pillars of Valjean and Javert who hold somuch of the plot together. Killian Donnelly unsurprisingly sings Valjean’spart beautifully but he also brings a tenderness underpinned by steely resolveto the role. Opposite him Nic Greenshields is a formidable officer ofthe law, but he too shows the characters humanity, particularly in a lovelymoment when he searches the barricades for the body of Valj...

There is little in life that is quite as entertaining as utter chaos. When everything seems to happen completely at random and nothing ever stays still you just can’t stop watching. It’s why people still tune into clip shows on TV or binge bizarre Youtube videos… It’s also the spirit that Rock of Ages so perfectly captures. At any moment it feels like anarchy could break out, yet this cast know exactly what they’re doing!

Swan Lake is probably the first thing that will come to mind when you mention ballet to most people… rows of perfectly synchronised corps de ballet dancing to instantly recognisable Tchaikovsky orchestrations in graceful harmony. Anyone who has ever been face to face with an angry swan will recognise that they’re actually powerful, aggressive beasts and Matthew Bourne ’s reimagining captures that perfectly.

When, way back in 2004, Green Day released American Idiot it was a clarion call forthe disaffected youth of the US. It leapt up the charts on a wave of criticalacclaim and commercial success and was much beloved of a certain callow youngmusic blogger in provincial Portsmouth. Fast forward 15 years and I don’tperhaps listen to the album very often now but it still holds significance asit’s first theatrical incarnation was one of the first theatre pieces Ireviewed and quite probably the point that convinced me to start this site.Now, a good few years later here I am again in Southampton for the launch of anew national tour.

“ I am big! It’s the pictures that got small ” With those words we learn everything we need to know about Norma Desmond in Andrew Lloyd Webber ’s stage adaptation of the classic Billy Wilder movie. Ostensibly an ode to the glory days of Hollywood and its first stars, this is really the story of a woman stuck in the trappings of her former life and unable to escape that she is growing old.

Here in the Cheap Seats we never used to be big fans of Titanic, but when we saw Danielle Tarento and  Thom Southerland ‘s sublime production last year our minds were totally changed (you can read our rave review  here ). Now we’re thrilled that this glorious production is coming back and will set sail from it’s spiritual home in Southampton! Read on for the full lowdown.

Southampton’s  Mayflower Theatre has been a top destination for touring musicals for longer than we can remember and in recent years they’ve added top class drama to their repertoire. We sent  Emma van Kooperen to check out  Curious Incident as it arrived on the south coast!

THE RED SHOES by Bourne, , Choreographer and Director – Mathew Bourne, Designer – Lez Brotherstoni, Lighting – Paule Constable, Plymouth, 2016, Credit: Johan Persson/ It’s a rare thing, when you’re a regular theatregoer, to see something that is truly fresh and wonderfully new! Matthew Bourne seems to have knack for it though and his adaptation of The Red Shoes , based on the 1948 movie, is the sort of production that stays in the mind for weeks and that you’ll talk about for years!

Billy Elliott is a musical steeped in the eighties, from Thatcher to Miners strikes by way of some very bright leg warmers it drips with the trappings of the decade… and yet, with a story about standing up for what you believe in and seizing the opportunity to escape from a life with no future it feels worryingly apt for the current political climate!

I’ve had a tough week, the day job has been grinding me down and I haven’t seen the sun in days. Frankly, when I left the office yesterday I was thoroughly fed up and downbeat… but a short trip to the river bank had me practically skipping out of the Mayflower with a grin so wide I could feel it in my ears!

It’s one of Hollywood’s great anachronisms, a movie that underwhelmed at the box office but came to define the burgeoning home video market, and all from a throwaway short story by an author better known for horror than drama. Can this new touring production from  Bill Kenwright live up to the version we all know and love?  Emma van Kooperen finds out…

FUNNY GIRL by Styne, , Music – Jule Styne, Lyrics – Bob Merril, Director – Michael Mayer, Choreographer – Lynne Page, Set Michael Pavelka, Costumes – Matthew Wright, Lighting – Mark Henderson, Savoy Theatre, London, 2016, Credit: Johan Persson/ We didn’t get to see  Funny Girl at the Menier and somehow missed it when it transferred too, so we were glad to hear the production would be heading out on tour. Imagine our delight when we heard  Sheridan Smith would be appearing when it stops off down the road at the  Mayflower too!

I’m a bit of an Avenue Q fan, I think we can admit that. In fact, every time this production has appeared anywhere near home I’ve made a point to go see it, you can read my thoughts on this production in Winchester and Portsmouth to find out just how much I loved it the last time it toured the UK.

We’ve always been intrigued by Stephen Daldry ’s highly revered production of this classic play but it has somehow consistently eluded us. Determined to cover it when the next chance came we dispatched Emma van Kooperen   to report in for us!

Revisiting a show you know and love can be like seeing an old friend after some time apart. There’s a reassuring familiarity but you can’t help noticing a few things are different since you last met. So it was when I revisited Chicago at the  Mayflower Theatre last night.

Dirty Rotten Scoundrels was last year’s must-see musical in the West End, with audiences and critics lapping up the jokes and raving about Robert Lindsay’s performance. Predictably I didn’t see it, but when it closed I felt pretty sure it would be out on tour before too long so I made a point to catch it at The Mayflower and see what all the fuss was about.

Romeo and Juliet is, of course, one of (probably the) most famous love stories ever told. It seems then a fitting subject for a ballet and I was excited to see how  English National Ballet would handle it as they’ve yet to disappoint.

I was hugely impressed by the Regent’s Park Theatre production of To Kill A Mockingbird when it toured earlier this year, so I was eager to see how they’d approach another modern literary classic. William Golding’s story of children who turn feral when left to govern themselves is a very different beast from Harper Lee’s coming of age tale though…

Take a blockbuster movie, add a bunch of songs and some sparkly costumes and stick it on a stage… A tried and tested recipe for success and one that seems to be a guarantee of success. It certainly didn’t hurt Shrek when that landed in the West End and tickets flew out of the box office. Now the show is heading out on tour around the UK and we made our way to the Mayflower to check it out.

REBECCA is timeless; the book beloved by generations and the iconic Alfred Hitchcock Oscar winning film a classic. Now REBECCA arrives on the stage! Emma Rice, the award winning director, has created a spellbinding new production of Daphne du Maurier’s masterpiece which conjures Cornish romance and theatrical magic. REBECCA is at Mayflower Theatre from 30 November – 5 December 2015.