Cabaret, Disney’s High School Musical on Stage and West Side Story are just three hit musical highlights of the new Summer season at the Salford venue.

Fans of Disney’s HSM will see their favourite film brought to life with added fun in the stage version, boasting all the high-energy routines and characters that have made the movies a world sensation.

Stepping back to an earlier era, The Lowry welcomes a glorious production: the multi-award-winning Cabaret. Show-stopping choreography, dazzling costumes and great songs are the order of the day, starring Wayne Sleep and Samantha Barks (I’d Do Anything).

Breakin’ Convention, a unique festival of Hip Hop Dance Theatre that made its name at Sadler’s Wells, arrives in the North West for the first time. Featuring USA Hip Hop dance pioneer Ken Swift and his crew VII Gems Rock Dance Division; French entertainer Salah, who mixes Hip Hop dance with mime and clowning and is known as the ‘Charlie Chaplin of Hip Hop’; and hailing from South Korea – arguably the best B-Boying nation in the world – MyoSung. Dance favourite Nederlands Dans Theater 2 return with their energetic young dancers, none of them older than 23, who love showing off their incredible technical skills.

The knives are out in dangerous vendettas as rival fractions clash to block the path of true love as the (recent WOS Theatregoer’s Award winner) 50th anniversary version of West Side Story returns to the North West.

Following last year’s sell-out hit The Cripple of Inishmaan, the world renowned Druid return with The Playboy of the Western World – a tale of love, rivalry and betrayal written by one of Ireland’s most beloved dramatists, John Millington Synge. Also making a return visit is Propellor, the all-male Shakespearean company, with two contrasting masterpieces – the bitingly modern The Merchant of Venice and their multi-award-winning A Midsummer Night’s Dream.

Two shows feature remarkable characters from the 21st century. Albert Pierrepoint, the most celebrated British hangman, recounts his grim and singular life in Pierrepoint – The Hangman’s Tale. The true story of the tap-dancing Reverend Harold Davidson, defrocked by the church but hailed a saint by his parishioners, is retold as a Music Hall show, The Missionary’s Position.

Award-winning comedy duo LipService return with Move Over Moriarty as Sherlock Holmes investigates the Garibaldi Biscuit Affair – a mystery as impenetrable as a London peasouper.

A brand new dramatisation of Michael Morpurgo’s The Mozart Question tells the story about the greatest violinist in the world – who refused to play Mozart.

Following devastating performances on Later…with Jools Holland and five star sell-out shows at the Edinburgh Fringe, Camille O’Sullivan and her 5-piece band return to The Lowry with her acclaimed new show, Dark Angel.

The unexpectedly funny, Three Sheets by award-winning writer Christine Marshall is inspired by a true event that took place between Jean and Evie, two NHS student nurses, and Tommy, a dying miner.

Two musical hall comedians performing in the Manchester blitz are the subject of Les Hommes dans Robes de Chambre (The Men in Dressing Gowns), an unlikely beginning for an exploration of the complexities of friendship.

Performance art meets theatre in The Smile Off Your Face, a unique theatrical experience from Belgium. The audience enters individually at ten minute intervals, blindfolded, strapped to a wheelchair and subjected to a series of extraordinary sensory experiences. There is no stage, no public and no fixed spot in the lights where actors perform. Theatre-goers will have their own unique response but leave feeling exhilarated.

Families will enjoy the singing and dancing action of Top of the Tots the new chart-busting show from the Tweenies. For the first time children can also join their favourite TV characters and Milkshake presenters in Milkshake! Live in My First Concert.

For those who prefer not to watch, there is the chance for families to get involved and journey through the world of dance in Express Yourself an interactive exhibition. This is an enjoyable journey through the world of dance from ballet to breakdancing to illustrate the creativity of some of the greatest dancers and choreographers of the last 100 years.

For further details on the new season, please click here.

This entry was posted on Friday, March 6th, 2009 at 8:57 am and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.