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Theatre PREVIEWS
Fame The Musical
Belgrade Theatre, Coventry,
Mon 2 - Sat 7 June
The original mega-hit film and its spin-off TV
series are now both so old that their oncenimble
dancers might soon be reaching for
zimmer frames! By contrast, Fame The Musical
continues to get up a sweat on a regular
basis. And as high-octane, choreographedto-the-rafters
stage musicals go, it hits the
Midlands this month with a reputation second
to none. Set in New York’s legendary High
School For The Performing Arts, the show
focuses on the highs and lows of the students
who’re desperately seeking success,
and offers a dazzling evening of foot-tapping
music and breathtaking dance.
Re-envisioned songs include Let’s Play A
Love Scene and the title track itself.
Annie Get Your Gun
Regent Theatre, Stoke-on-Trent, Tues 10 - Sat 14 June; New Alexandra Theatre, Birmingham,
Tues 1 - Sat 5 July; Malvern Theatre, Mon 28 July - Sat 2 August
Jason Donovan returns to the Midlands this month to star in this major new version of the
Tony Award-winning musical. Donovan, who’s previously appeared in the region in stage productions
of Priscilla Queen Of The Desert, The Rocky Horror Show and Sweeney Todd, plays
the sharpshooting Frank Butler, appearing alongside Emma Williams as Annie Oakley and
Norman Pace as Buffalo Bill. The show was written by Irving Berlin in 1946 and includes such
famous numbers as There’s No Business Like Show Business and Anything You Can Do, I
Can Do Better.
“I've been very lucky in having some great roles to get my teeth into in the past,” says Jason,
“but now having the chance to star in the UK premiere production of this award-winning version
of such a classic musical is very exciting. I'm very much looking forward to performing
such brilliant songs and appearing alongside a truly great cast, as we bring the Wild West to
theatres across the country.”
20th Century Boy:
The Musical
Wolverhampton Grand Theatre,
Mon 30 June - Sat 5 July
Marc Bolan was one of glam rock's most
iconic superstars until his life was tragically
ended in a car crash in the autumn of 1977.
This high-energy musical, exploding onto the
stage to coincide with the thirty-seventh
anniversary of the T-Rex singer's demise, is
impressively packed with the band’s classic
1970s hits, including Ride A White Swan,
Metal Guru, Get It On, I Love To Boogie, Children
Of The Revolution and, of course, 20th
Century Boy.
Fragile
Old Joint Stock Theatre, Birmingham,
Thurs 5 - Sat 7 June
“Fragile is about a man who has an abuse
outed upon him when he’s twelve,” explains
the play’s BAFTA award-winning writer Geoff
Thompson, “and that abuse sends his life at
a right-angle.”
Coventry-born playwright Geoff premiered
Fragile to rave reviews at the city’s Belgrade
Theatre in 2012, and admits that the play is
semi-autobiographical. “Instead of following
the life he thinks he needs to follow,” Geoff
continues, “the man ends up becoming cripplingly
insecure. He would like to talk to the
person who abused him, but he’s too
scared. He’d like to talk to the people who
love him, but he’s too fragile. He’d like to talk
to God, but he’s too
angry. So he talks to a
tape recorder instead, and
professes his shame, his
guilt, his anger and his
rage.”
A one-man performance
starring Nigel Francis,
Fragile has been co-directed
by
Geoff Thompson
Thompson.
Paiseyan Di Hera Pheri
The Drum, Birmingham, Sat 28 June
When the spirit of a dead father takes a trip
around the home in which he’d once lived,
he doesn’t much like what he finds.
Rather than mourning him, his children have
descended into greed and bitterness, and
think only of the money which will soon be
coming their way. Faced with such an upsetting
reality, what’s a ghost to do but take
action to change the content of his Will -
from beyond the grave...
This comic portrayal of the darker side of
humanity is performed in Punjabi.
Blackadder
Artrix, Bromsgrove, Tues 24 - Sat 28 June
South Birmingham-based semi-professional
theatrical group All & Sundry is the company
behind this stage version of the hit Rowan
Atkinson television comedy. The production
reworks three popular episodes from the
Richard Curtis and Ben Elton-penned 1989
series, which was set in the trenches during
the First World War... All & Sundry is this year
also presenting a theatrical version of another
Richard Curtis television hit, The Vicar Of
Dibley, as well as a new production of John
Steinbeck’s Of Mice And Men.
Morecambe
The Roses, Tewkesbury, Fri 13 June
Hailed for lovingly and thoughtfully bringing a
little of Eric and Ernie’s sunshine to the London
West End stage, this is a one-man show
exploring the life and times of John Eric
Bartholomew - better known, of course, as
the comedian Eric Morecambe.
Bob Golding’s the man charged
with the sizable task of portraying
one of Britain’s best-known
and most-loved funnymen,
and it’s a challenge which
he meets head on. Indeed,
there are moments when
he so effectively captures
the spirit of Eric that
audience members of a
certain age may feel like
they’ve actually been
transported back to the
1970s, the decade
most closely associated
with the
legend that is
Morecambe and
Wise.
www.whatsonlive.co.uk 29