Venue: The Lowry
Date Reviewed: 27th May, 2008

After all these years, Paul Merton still remains a comedy force to be reckoned with as a panelist on the hit BBC satirical show, Have I Got News For You. The capacity audience at the Lowry were ready to feel the force of his quick-fire humour which often has intelligence at its heart.

There were some great Merton-isms on display, including some warped and barbed comments aimed at Gordon Brown and many other news-worthy figures. But, overall because of the light approach of the concept, you end up feeling gently stroked by Merton & Co, when in reality, you long to have some real belly laughs.

In the style of Whose Line Is It Anyway, Paul and his guests improvise their way through a series of situations, many of which have been provided by the audience. To begin with, this works a treat, as we end up watching the equivalent of a parlour game, yet we take part also, shouting out suggestions, attempting to out-fox the comedians. (more…)

Venue: The Lowry
Date Reviewed: 26th May, 2008

Closing the Queer Up North Festival 2008 is this, the only UK performance by the internationally acclaimed Stephen Petronio Company. Comprising of three separate pieces, two of which are UK premieres, this is a thought-provoking, but ultimately lacking evening.

Opening the show is the Fischerspooner-scored Beauty and the Brut; a meditative, loosely narrative tale of one French girl’s beach encounter with a series of unlikely strangers. At times engaging, at times just plain pretentious (the score resembles Visage’s “Fade to Grey” more than anything else), the piece never quite finds its fifth gear. The blissed-out stoner narrative needs more kinetic precision to fill this massive blank canvas. (more…)

Following a record-breaking run at London’s Palladium, the £5 million stage spectacular Sinatra finaly arrives at the Palace Theatre in June.

At the heart of the show is Frank Sinatra himself, singing his greatest hit songs direct to the audience. Ground-breaking creative use of cutting-edge technology puts him centre stage, larger than life, on multiple moving screens, and lets him perform with a brilliant company of live dancers, singers and concert orchestra.

The Sinatra Family and the estate were deeply involved creating this special production, and keeping the show true to Sinatra’s life and character. The final result is genuinely a reward for all - a chance to see Frank Sinatra perform once more.The late, great crooner and actor Frank Sinatra will appear at the Palace Theatre due to the wonders of technology in the hit show bearing his iconic surname.

In this unique piece of theatre, Frank can be heard and seen via big screens featuring his image. The legendary singer is accompanied by hoofers and a world class band. (more…)

Venue: The Contact Theatre
Date Reviewed: 24th May, 2008

The audience at the finale of Justin Bond’s May Queen: A Vernal She-Quinox rewarded the performers with standing ovations and whoops of delight. This rapturous reception left me in a state of bewilderment. Maybe I missed something along the way but I don’t feel the show deserves a response even remotely as enthusiastic.

Justin Bond, a Tony Award nominated performance artist, hosts this cabaret show and provides spoken and musical interludes between each guest performer. With outrageous outfits and live musical accompaniment he has the potential to be extremely funny but he makes the fatal error of confusing sophisticated comedy with tastelessness and vulgarity. His act consists of a series of long winded and boring anecdotes and a number of songs with crass lyrics and unmemorable tunes.

His guest performers are a mixed bunch. Musical poet Bitch is the easiest to warm to and endearingly performs two simple but fairly nonsensical songs displaying a lovely singing voice and a talent for adlibbing when things go wrong. She coped remarkably well when the microphone stopped working after also forgetting her words. (more…)

This competition is now closed and the answer is Elena Roger.

Congratulations to Helen Jones, Claire Wods & Jonathan Sterling.

Enjoy Evita!

Following its success as a recent revival in the West End, Evita is coming to Manchester as part of the UK tour. Casting has just been announced and West End star Louise Dearman is stepping into Eva Peron’s high heeled shoes. We have 3 pairs of tix to give away on Tuesday, 24th June.

THE PITCH:
Bill Kenwright presents Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s awarding winning musical masterpiece Evita to the Opera House, Manchester from Monday 23 June – Saturday 5th July.

Featuring some of the most famous and inspiring stage music ever written, including the classic songs “Don’t Cry for Me Argentina”, ‘”On This Night of a Thousand Stars”, “Oh What a Circus”, “You Must Love Me” and “Another Suitcase in Another Hall”, this extraordinary musical brings to life the dynamic, larger-than-life persona of Eva Peron, wife of former Argentine dictator Juan Peron. (more…)