One of those cinema is the Odeon, Silverlink but at the Saturday showing there were only 16 people and last night (August 25th Bank Holiday) 21. Our party made up 8 of the audience and varied in ages from two seven year olds to someone the rightside of 50!  But despite the lack of an audience, we all clapped, sang along and waved our arms in the air. At the closing “Waterloo” number we stood up and danced, soon followed by the six people was behind us.  No one left until they had clapped and sang through the closing credits and then one female voice rang out from the darkness at the back of the cinema thanked everyone for joining in and making her night.

This is a great night out and as the stage show has bypassed our area  (nearest theatre the tour played was the Edinburgh Playhouse) it is possibly the only chance to catch this feel good show in the North East for some time.

Having seen the movie in both “straight” and now singalong versions, I can recommend either as a great night out. I would really like to witness this singalong with a packed cinema as I am sure the place would be electric. The Odeon had only one showing per day at 21.20 , so maybe audiences were going elsewhere in the region as coming out at 11.30 p.m. is a bit late. 

Despite the fact it was only released last month (10 July), Mamma Mia! has already become the biggest selling musical in UK cinema history, and recently surpassed Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull as this year’s highest grossing film. It features a stellar cast including Meryl Streep, Pierce Brosnan, Colin Firth and Julie Walters, and is adapted from the hit stage musical which premiered in 1999.

Date : August 18th 2008

The latest Disney picture WALL-E is introducing Hello Dolly to a whole new audience as it’s the one musical the lovable robot wants to see over and over again. So the timing of this revival could not be better placed.

When you think of this show, you cannot help immediately think of Barbra Streisand and Michael Crawford in the film version or one of the many female leads who have played the role ranging from Ethel Merman to our own Dora Bryan, with Danny La Rue even having a successful run in the role in London’s West End (more…)

Lifting a TV from the screen and placing it on stage without the orginal actors is tricky at the best of times but here it works a treat.

Lazy Town Live is the story of Lazy Town and its problem of only being able to have one Superhero. Lazy Town’s current favourite superhero is Sportacus, but if the nasty Robbie Rotten gets his way, he will be replaced with Roboticus. This upsets the people of Lazy Town as Roboticus does everything Sportacus can, only better. (more…)

It’s been 10 years – or a dickade – since audiences were first wowed by the genital origami extravaganza that is PUPPETRY OF THE PENIS.  Since then it has played to over 10 million people, been performed in 5 different languages, 28 countries and in temperatures ranging from 52 degrees to –38!  Such is its popularity that Simon & Friendy are still taking the penis to the people with performances this year in all Australian States & Territories, Canada, USA, the UK and South Africa.

PUPPETRY OF THE PENIS is a mind-blowing show featuring two strapping Australian men who manipulate their genitalia into various shapes, objects and landmarks.  With worrying ease and an unbelievable stretch factor the Puppeteers demonstrate installations such as The Eiffel Tower, The Windsurfer and even edible delights likes their signature dish, The Hamburger.  A video camera projects intimate detail of the installation onto a large screen ensuring little can be missed – even from the very back row!

This show includes male nudity

A young Geordie shoe salesman discovers that he’s the descendant of a legendary Samurai warrior, reasulting in an inevitable and affectionate clash of cultures, attitudes and swords.

Tour Details

September 3rd to 5th Customs House South Shields (Box Office 0191 454 1234)

September 18th to 20th The Arc Stockton (Box Office 01642 525199)

September 25th to 27th Theatre Royal Newcastle (Box Office 0844 8112121)

Can’t Smile Without You revolves around an aspiring young band who, on a visit to New York, come across an opportunity not to be missed - auditions for the latest reality TV show to find the next pop sensation. When the TV company offers lead singer Tony (Hawkes) a chance to appear on the show, the other band members give him their blessing. But before Tony can realise his dream, he’s caught up in a tragic sequence of events which leaves him fighting for his life. Left with no memory, his dreams are all but shattered. His only hope lies in the power of the music he loves and his feelings for a girl he once knew called Mandy (Dillon).

Chesney Hawkes made his stage debut last year in the Dick Whittington pantomime at The Lowry in Salford. Following her own reality TV success on BBC One’s How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?, on which she was a second runner-up, Siobhan Dillon made her West End debut last summer playing Patty Simcox in Grease (See News, 24 May 2007).

Can’t Smile Without You has a book by Tim Prager based on an original idea by Bill Kenwright, who also produces the show and co-directs it with Keith Strachan. The production is designed by Andy Walmsley with lighting by Ben Cracknel, choreography by Carole Todd and musical direction by John Maher. (more…)

Casualty TV star Simon MacCorkindale (pictured) will make his musical debut next month playing Captain Von Trapp in The Sound of Music at the West End’s London Palladium. From 25 August 2008, he takes over from Simon Burke starring opposite current Maria Summer Strallen.

Best known as Harry Harper in three seasons of Casualty, MacCorkindale’s other film and TV credits include Obsessive Love, Falcon’s Gold, Quartermass, Jesus of Nazareth, Dynasty, Juggernaut and Death on the Nile. On stage, credits include his one-man show The Importance of Being Oscar, Macbeth, A Doll’s House, The Unexpected Guest and Sleuth. He has also directed several productions, including The Dark Lady of the Sonnets at the National and Pygmalion in the West End. (more…)

Details for shows and performances are below

 AUGUST

 A Proper Bash

Thursday 14 & Friday 15 August, 7.30pm

From Home to Newcastle

A thought-provoking production about young people’s own experience of life in
Newcastle as told by Geordie’s born and bred as well as refugees and asylum seekers
who now live in Tyneside.

 This is one of 10 pilot projects nationally to be supported by the Young People’s
Participatory Theatre Project at the Arts Council, and was also performed in
Liverpool as part of the European City of Culture celebrations in July.

Friday 15, Saturday 16 & Sunday 17 August, between 11am-3pm

Streets Ahead          

A series of visually exciting open air performances on Newcastle’s quayside created
by member’s of Live’s Youth Theatre.

 Friday 15th August, 4 & 9pm

Solo

Rib tickling stand-up by a new generation of young comedians aged 13 to 23 years
old.  The five minute routines, developed in conjunction with local comic John
Scott, will be performed in Live’s intimate Studio Theatre.

Sunday 17 August, 4 & 7.30pm

Past Forward

A chance to see some of the funniest highlights from a decade of working with local
communities presented by members of Live’s Youth Theatre and the over 50’s writing
and performance group Live Wires.

 Tickets: £8; £5 concessions; £3 youth theatre members; under 5s are free

Streets Ahead is free. (more…)

The Bad Fox Theatre Company presented The Bang Gang for one night in Alnwick, Northumberland prior to a run at the Edinburgh Festival, where it will play at the Zoo Southside.

The Bang Gang is a new play by Lee Mattinson, who won awards for his other short play Me and Cilla, a play he rewrote in to a full length production, which was recently presented at the Live Theatre, Newcastle. (more…)

Once again audiences will get the chance to join celebrities, dance champions and those all important judges for the arena extravaganza . The show will once again see well-known faces from the worlds of entertainment and sport pack up their gowns and dance shoes as they again turn in to celebrity dance contestants, competing for the votes of the thousands in the arena audiences.

The show  will open at the Newcastle Metro Radio Arena on Friday 16 January, featuring all of the audience’s favourite elements from the hit television series.

Strictly Come Dancing has been on the BBC since 2004, with the last series (the fifth) finishing  in December 2007, which attracted an audience of over 12 million viewers, making it one of the highest rating shows of the year. The television format, also known as Dancing With The Stars, has been successful around the world broadcasting in 30 countries, from Australia to the Ukraine, and in America where the latest series is about to kick off on ABC.

The show runs from Friday 16th - Sunday 18th January 2009 tickets from £35