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NEW
THEATRE ROYAL SEASON GOES OFF WITH A CHITTY CHITTY BANG BANG!
HIGHLIGHTS INCLUDE:
The Father 18-23 April
‘16
Tom 3 – 7 May ‘16
Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour 12-16
July ‘16
The Commitments 6-11
Feb ‘17
Fresh
from winning the ‘Most Welcoming Theatre in the UK’ award in October, Newcastle
Theatre Royal has announced a sizzling new season for Spring/Summer 2016, full
of delights for all tastes and ages.
The season features musical film classic, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1 - 12 Jun
‘16) which will have audiences of all ages
flying high with its mixture of madness, intrigue and exuberance, but this
isn’t the only musical extravaganza instore…
A
brand new musical TOM. A Story of Tom Jones, The Musical is set to make its North East debut 3-7 May. An
inspirational show full of Tom’s greatest hits, it takes audiences back in time
to the working men’s clubs of the ‘60s where the legend of Tom Jones was born:
a Valleys boy with a heart-stopping voice. Welsh West End star Kit Orton appears
in the title role.
In July, the producers of the
sell-out smash hit Puttin’ on the Ritz
return with the
dazzling song and dance extravaganza That’s
Entertainment (5-9
July) celebrating the biggest hits of the ‘30s, ‘40s and ‘50s. The show includes sumptuous music by Lerner
and Loewe, Rodgers and Hammerstein, Irving Berlin and Cole Porter and features
glorious costumes and an award-winning cast of singers and dancers.
Back
again in August due to popular demand is the international multi-award winning
musical, Chicago (1-13 August). Based on real life events back in
the roaring 1920s this world-famous show tells the sordid tale of a nightclub
singer, a double-murderess, a smooth-talking lawyer and a cell block of sin,
and features one of the sexiest, sassiest scores ever written.
February
2017 brings soul-celebration The
Commitments (6-11 Feb 2017) to the Theatre Royal, direct from a phenomenally successful, record
breaking two year run in London’s West End. The musical
has been adapted from the novel by Booker prize winning author Roddy Doyle
himself and is directed by the award-winning Jamie Lloyd. Like the novel and
the film, this tale of a talented group of working class Dubliners is full of
heart and features over 20 soul classics performed live on stage including: Night
Train, Try A Little Tenderness, River Deep, Mountain High, In
The Midnight Hour and many more.
Another hit from the West End,
this time for drama lovers, is The Father (18-23 April 2016), the
winner of France’s highest theatrical honour - the 2014 Moliere Award -and the
most acclaimed new play of the decade. It
tells the tragic tale of eighty year old Andre who has Alzheimer’s disease and
whose life is starting to spiral out of control. In Christopher Hampton’s crisp and witty
translation it has dazzled audiences across the country and received an
unprecedented ten five star reviews from major national critics. Tony Award nominee
Kenneth Cranham reprises his indelible performance for this tour direct from
the West Award.
A wonderfully uplifting family
drama for May is the Olivier award-winning Goodnight
Mister Tom (17-21 May)
starring David Troughton (The Archers). A magical stage adaptation of Michelle
Magorian’s heart-warming tale, set during the dangerous build up to the Second
World War, the story follows young William Beech who is evacuated to the
idyllic English countryside and forges a remarkable friendship with the elderly
recluse, Tom Oakley. Winner of the Guardian Children’s Fiction Prize and
commended for the Carnegie Medal, Goodnight Mister Tom is now also a
world-wide literary favourite and a BAFTA award-winning TV film.
From one country idyll to another,
and the first ever stage adaptation of ITV’s popular Sunday evening 60s police
drama, Heartbeat visits in late May (23 – 28 May).
Heartbeat ran for 18 years from 1992 to 2010 with audiences
regularly exceeding 10 million viewers and constantly being in the top five TV
programmes across all channels. This new stage production features all the
show’s favourite characters, video footage,
an original script and even members
of the original TV cast, and perfectly recreates the show live on stage.
June sees the return of an old
favourite - the Olivier Award winning comedy adaptation of Alfred Hitchcock’s
classic spy thriller, The 39 Steps
(27 June – 2 July), this
time on its 10th Anniversary Tour. Featuring only four actors playing a
staggering 130 characters in 100 minutes, the show follows handsome hero Richard Hannay on his incredible
adventures as he encounters dastardly murders, double-crossing secret agents,
and, of course, devastatingly beautiful women! This wonderfully inventive and
gripping comedy thriller is set to be as fast-paced and thrilling as ever.
Following its sell-out success at
Live Theatre, Lee Hall’s hit play Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour (12-16
July) makes its Theatre Royal debut in the summer. Adapted from Alan Warner's
brilliant novel about six girls on the cusp of change, the play tells a tale of
love, lust, pregnancy and death – which all spiral out of control in a single
day. Warner's blisteringly funny dialogue - a tribute to being young, lost and
out of control, ends in fireworks (literally).
Comedy fans will delight in two
hit shows arriving in the Summer – national trinket, author, TV and Radio star Julian
Clary is bringing ‘The Joy of Mincing’ on Sunday 15 May, a celebration
of 30 years as a camp comedian and Julian at his filthy best, live and
unplugged.
A rare treat for North East
audiences, one of the world’s most
celebrated dance companies Nederlands Dans Theater (NDT2) will visit in the Spring (26-27
April). Featuring a corps of 18 young
international dancers aged 18-23, the company offers a unique blend of breathtaking
dance, awe-inspiring skill and unparalleled creativity and promises to thrill
and entertain with its sheer exuberance and astonishing athleticism.
A perennial favourite with Theatre
Royal audiences - Scottish Ballet follows hot on NDT2’s heels, bringing its World
Premiere of Swan Lake from 11-14 May. Set to enchant a whole new generation with an
imaginative re-telling of the timeless tale, this new production is
choreographed by the award-winning British
dance maker David Dawson - one of
the most innovative choreographers in classical ballet today. This will be the
company’s first tour of the ballet in over 20 years and is set to once again
astonish with ethereal sets and costumes, and Tchaikovsky’s iconic score
performed live by the Scottish Ballet Orchestra.
Another favourite, this time with
our younger audiences, Peppa Pig is back in Newcastle in July with her brand new live stage show, Peppa Pig’s Surprise (27-28
July)! Peppa is playing outside with her friends on a sunny day, and Mummy Pig
and Daddy Pig have got a surprise for her and George! A charming, colourful new
show with new songs and new life size puppets, perfect for pre-schoolers.
He’s impossible to categorise, and
equally impossible to forget, the multi-award winning acknowledged ‘master of
psychological illusion’ Derren Brown is back in the summer with his most
provocative show yet, Derren Brown:
Miracle (20-25 June).
Derren is one of the world’s most
renowned live performers; a dark manipulator of magic and mind control, a
miracle man of our modern times. This
new show delivers an evening of mind-altering genius full of extraordinary and
unbelievable events – showmanship at its very best.
And there are plenty of great shows to suit all
tastes already on sale in our current season with family-favourite musicals Hairspray (19 - 30 Jan ‘16),
Guys & Dolls
(22 Mar - 2 Apr), The Mikado (15 - 18
June) and Disney and Cameron Mackintosh’s multi award-winning musical Mary
Poppins (8 Sept – 29 Oct).
Lovers
of mystery and intrigue will revel in Stephen Daldry’s multi award-winning West
End production of J.B. Priestley’s classic thriller, An Inspector Calls (9-13 Feb) and No.1 best-selling
author Peter
James’ critically acclaimed stage hit – The Perfect Murder (22-27 Feb).
For dance fans, Rambert (2-4 Feb), Stomp (15-20 Feb) and the return of Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty (5-16 April) will offer
a feast for the senses, while drama enthusiasts can delight in Regent’s Park
Theatre’s adaptation of William Goulding’s cut-throat tale of young society run
wild Lord of the Flies (8-12 March
2016) and Alan Bennett’s Olivier-award winning comedy Single Spies (15-19 March).
The Opera North Spring season features three hit productions: Mozart’s
romantic Cosi Fan Tutte (2 & 4
March), Donizetti’s sunny L’Elisir
D’amore (3 March) and Girodano’s tragic Andrea
Chenier (5 March).
The Theatre Royal’s annual pantomime still reigns
as the region’s favourite and with over 90,000 tickets sold for this year’s
extravaganza Dick Whittington (running
until 17 Jan ‘16) it’s breaking all
records once again.
Tickets:
Tickets for all new shows in the Spring
/ Summer ‘16 season can be purchased online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk or from the
Theatre Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 (Calls cost 7p per minute plus your
phone company’s access charge).
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