Tuesday 31 December 2013

2013 Round Up

Last summer I was lucky enough to be chosen as one of the Birmingham Hippodrome's First Night Bloggers. So far it has been such privilege to be able to spend many happy nights at the theatre, glass of wine in one hand and my ticket in the other. What do I have to do in return? Review the shows. Sounds like I win on both ends here! 

Our first experience of press life was at the Dance Consortium's Sutra, a dance show that combined contemporary dance and kung fu. With that in mind I entered the auditorium for the first time as a First Night blogger and sat through the most incredibly bizarre performance I'd ever seen. It was absolutely sensational! 

Next we were invited along to the Welsh National Opera where I saw Wagner's Dream. This was my first experience of the WNO and I had only ever seen one opera before. It was clearly for quite a niche audience but unfortunately I was not part of that niche. Thinking back to the plot now, it actually left me with a lot to think about and even inspired one of my dissertation ideas.

Over the summer we attended the Youth Arts Summit. The event opened by showcasing some of the talent that resides among Birmingham's youth and was then followed by a debate. Although I felt that the adults dominated most of the discussions, I hope to see some changes come about from what the younger attendees had to say.

My first day back at university had the most perfect start at the Snow White panto press event. It was a sparkling morning where the press had the opportunity to meet the cast and meet the Hippodrome's latest Snow White, Danielle Hope. 

Illuminate lit up Birmingham for a wonderful weekend, providing all sorts of thrills for audiences of all kinds. Just knowing that I attended two out of the three days should tell you just how much I enjoyed it. 

War Horse galloped into our hearts in October with a series of related events. We had the opportunity to speak to some of the cast of the show as well as the acclaimed writer Michael Morpurgo. We returned to the Hippodrome again later to hear the man himself read extracts from his book as part of Remembrance day. Such a beautiful book and every event that trotted into the Hippodrome did it complete justice. 

Finally to top off a fabulous experience - so far - I embarked on the world of panto. Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs definitely held up the shimmering reputation of panto at the Hippodrome  and was a perfect way to end 2013 at the theatre. 

I think it is obvious that I have enjoyed every second of this experience so far and I cannot wait for another fun filled year at the Birmingham Hippodrome in 2014!

Here is what to expect:

                       










Monday 23 December 2013

Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs was #fabulous!


I cannot even remember last time I saw a pantomime but I wasn't looking particularly looking forward to being faced with over dramatic acting, ridiculously cheesy scripts and jokes well past their sell by date. 

By the end of the show I was on my feet with the rest of the audience, I'm not sure what panto memories I was drawing on but clearly they had all been wrong.  

In true style Gok Wan flew onto stage in his panto debut as the magic mirror in a costume so glitzy that he could probably see his own reflection in it. As expected he was a complete natural and had the audience in fits of laughter. His take on the sister act song, Fabulous was well... fabulous! You can catch Gok Wan on channel 4 Monday 30th December at 19:05  for Gok does Panto 




The handsome prince John, played by John Partridge was indeed everything you would expect in your panto prince! Dashingly handsome - not afraid to show some muscle and able to belt out some show stopping tunes such as One Direction's 'Live While We're Young' and Bruno Mars' 'Runaway Baby'. Leading lady Danielle Hope played the sweet-natured Snow White. She remained calm and collected despite the chaos that inevitably comes along with pantomime. Her voice is as breathtaking as ever demonstrated through her taken on 'The Voice Within' by Christina Aguilera. 





Screen and stage star Stephanie Beacham played the evil queen Sadista. Her evilness was only matched by her glamour making her perfect for the the fairest villain in all the land. 





Gary Wilmot got all 'dressed' up for his role as Nora Crumble, the cook at the palace. He proved that even though there isn't normally a dame in Snow White, no pantomime is complete without one. 


Matt Slack and Paul Zerdin - along with his puppet pal, Sam - played brothers Oddjob and Muddles and were the stars of the show (for me at least). Although I couldn't quite bring myself to join in, they were absolutely fantastic in getting the audience involved and providing the physical comedy that pantomime is so well known for. I didn't imagine I would find this so funny but I found myself putting my hand over my mouth to stifle the sheer volume of my laughter. Both were quick on their feet and their wit made the audience very forgiving of some clear technical issues and several moments of corpsing. One of the highlights was when Oddjob and Muddles join Nora and the Man in the mirror to dream about what they would do if they weren't working for the queen. The choreography was sensational and the song - completely hysterical. 



The seven dwarfs, much like Snow White, didn't seem very central for a show called Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs but despite being 'short' for stage time they delivered a big performance. The chorus was highly energetic and emerged in a variety of overblown glittery costumes. 

As expected from any pantomime the set was full of whizzes and bangs and plenty of special effects. The dragon seemed to be a favourite of the younger audiences. 

Not being from Birmingham I had only heard via word of mouth just how spectacular pantomime at the Birmingham Hippodrome is every year. Take it from someone who was apprehensive at first. Go buy your ticket now!









Don't forget the relaxed performance on Thursday 30th January. Read More...