The Palace Theatre, Manchester enchances its reputation as the premiere touring venue of the North West as the Broadway musical, The Wedding Singer debuts here in February, 2008. 

Adapted from the film of the same name which starred Drew Barrymore and Adam Sandler, the original production played in New York in 2006. The UK tour will open at in Manchester on February 22, running until March 1. It is also scheduled to play Bristol and Edinburgh. Cast details and further touring venues have yet to be confirmed.

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Following in the footsteps of Menopause, The Musical and The Vagina Monologues, Hot Flush  opens at the Palace Theatre on 15 October.  
 
Three Degrees star Sheila Ferguson, ex Celebrity Big Brother housemate Rula Lenska, musical star Marti Webb and soap star Sam Kane star in this brand new musical. 

The show follows four extraordinary women who’ve all got problems – whether it’s with their husbands, their lovers, a lack of sex or, in one case, too much of it! They all have one thing in common – they’re all of a certain age – and fighting the change!

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The Royal Shakespeare Company returns to The Lowry, Salford this October with Shakespeare’s The Comedy of Errors, which runs between Friday 19 – Saturday 27 October.  The Lowry will be the first stop in a seven date UK tour.

A story of mistaken identity and lost family members, The Comedy of Errors is one of Shakespeare’s earliest, most accessible and funniest plays.  It centres on two pairs of twins called Antipholus and Dromio, and the assorted mix ups, romances and farce that come with a classic Shakespeare tale.

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On the main site, there is a news story relating to Stephen Gately‘s sudden departure from the show Godspell. There is much speculation about why he has left the musical revival so quickly. Could it be that Boyzone are getting back together? Did he read the reviews for Godspell? Or, is he just bored with the show already?

Whatever the reason, producers thinking of getting a household name to front a touring production must be sat with their heads in their hands. So, often the star they choose is either below par and inexperienced (see Helena Blackman in South Pacific) or like Gately, they are just not prepared for the demands of a musical. I saw Stephen’s Jesus in Manchester and I could not get over how fed up and under rehearsed he looked.

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Venue: The Lowry
Date Reviewed: 3rd October 2007

A young lad’s journey into a life of crime on the streets of Salford may seem like an odd bedfellow for the musical genre, but this heartfelt show gets it right more times than you may expect. (more…)