Great Productions
Coming To
The Theatre Royal
in 2015
Newcastle
Theatre Royal has today unveiled a host of new shows for spring / summer ‘15,
reinforcing its reputation for bringing the world’s very finest theatre to the
heart of the North East.
Last night I dreamt I
went to Manderley again….One of the world’s most celebrated Theatre companies, Kneehigh, is
bringing a spellbinding new production of Daphne Du Maurier’s absorbing
masterpiece Rebecca in May (11 – 16 May). The
multi-award winning producers of Brief Encounter have taken the book
beloved of generations, which so powerfully conjures romance and intrigue on
the Cornish coastline, and turned it into a piece of pure theatrical magic.
From one nail biter to another,
and following its record breaking West End run, a powerful new production of
Reginald Rose’s gripping courtroom thriller Twelve Angry Men (15 – 20 June) hits in June. Hailed as the “classiest, most
intelligent drama in the West
End”, it brings to the
stage the taut brilliance of the 1957 three-time Academy Award nominated film
which was produced by and starred Henry Fonda, and is considered to be one of
the great ‘must-see’ movies of all time.
Following a phenomenal Autumn ‘14 season, the
legendary Royal Shakespeare Company is back in June with its First Encounters -
Shakespeare for Younger Audiences production of The Famous Victories
of Henry V (30 June). The show
invites young people to get involved in the
exhilarating adventure of bad boy Prince Hal as he swaps his rebellious life in
London for the battlefields of France and brings together all the exciting
moments from three great plays – Henry IV Parts I & II and Henry
V. Featuring Shakespeare’s original language, it makes for the perfect
first encounter with Shakespeare.
Next year, another famous theatrical
institution – the Agatha Christie Theatre Company, celebrates its 10th
anniversary. To mark the event, it’s bringing
the best-selling mystery of all time And Then There Were None (27 July – 1 Aug) to the Theatre
Royal. Widely considered Christie’s
masterpiece, it tells the dark tale of ten strangers lured to a remote island
off the coast of Devon under false pretexts. Stranded by a torrential storm and haunted by
an ancient nursery rhyme, one by one the guests begin to die, but why are they
there and who amongst them is the killer?
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| Photo: Brinkhoff-Moegenburg |
Several of the season’s new shows
have been released for sale early due to anticipated high demand. Drama already
on sale at the Theatre includes the National
Theatre’s multi award-winning production of The
Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, set to visit (27 Jan – 7 Feb)
on its first UK tour. Simon
Stephens’ adaptation of Mark Haddon’s best-selling novel received seven Olivier
Awards in 2013 including Best New Play, Best Director, Best Lighting Design and
Best Sound Design. It also won the South
Bank Sky Arts Award for Theatre and has been seen by over 200,000 people during
its run in the West End.
Four more major new dramas, also
already onsale, will visit in the Spring. Direct from the West End
comes a critically acclaimed new stage adaptation of Harper Lee’s Pulitzer
Prize-winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird
(20 - 25 April). An utterly enchanting and enthralling production from the
award-winning Regent’s Park Theatre, it captures all the warmth and poignancy
of this best-loved classic.
The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas (19 - 23 May) is a world premiere stage adaptation
of the best-selling novel by John Boyne.
Set during World War II it is the heart-wrenching tale of an unlikely
friendship between two innocent boys, and promises a deeply moving and thought
provoking production. It is brought by
The Children’s Touring Partnership, acclaimed producers of Swallows and Amazons and Goodnight
Mister Tom.
Also
adapted from a bestselling book comes Dead Simple (26 - 30 May), based on the work of International
bestselling crime thriller novelist Peter
James. Directed by Olivier award-winner
Ian Talbot and adapted by award-winning writer Shaun McKenna, this gripping,
chilling, thriller is full of James’ trademark suspense, twists and turns. An all-star cast includes Jamie Lomas (Eastenders, Hollyoaks), Rik
Makarem (Emmerdale,Torchwood), Michael
McKell (Doctors,
Emmerdale) and Gray O’Brien (award-winning
star of Coronation Street, Titanic, Peak Practice, Casualty).
In
addition, before it heads to the West End, Theatre Royal is honoured to host
Oscar Wilde’s much loved masterpiece The Importance of Being Earnest (8
– 13 June) starring none other than Emmy-award winning David Suchet as
Lady Bracknell. One of the funniest
plays in the English language, Wilde’s superb satire on Victorian manners is
full of delightful repartee and hilarious pomposity.
For lovers of all things musical, a new production
of classic show Putting on the Ritz (2 – 6 June) will bring some glittering
summer delight. Recreating live on stage the most famous song and
dance moments of the last 50 years from the golden age of Hollywood, the show takes the audience on a wonderfully
nostalgic journey full of glamour and pizazz.
It features music from George Gershwin, Irving Berlin, Cole Porter and
more with a cast of award-winning singers and dancers.
Already on sale is Dreamboats and Miniskirts (20 – 24 Jan)
- the sequel to the hugely successful musical Dreamboats and Petticoats, brought by the same team. Set this
time in 1963, we meet up again with Norman and Sue and Bobby and Laura and see
how their lives are developing against the swinging backdrop of the Beatles and
Merseyside sound. Like its predecessor,
the show is packed with the biggest hits of the era including A Picture of
You, It’s In His Kiss, and
Hippy Hippy Shake. Jowheretogo
reviewed the production earlier in the tour : http://nomorepanicbutton.blogspot.co.uk/2014/09/review-dreamboats-and-miniskirts-at.html
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| Photo: Johan Persson |
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| Photo: Paul Coltas |
One of the year’s most hotly anticipated shows, the
multi award winning West End musical The
Bodyguard (1 – 18 April) will visit in the Spring on its first ever UK
tour. Booking opened in April ‘14 in
order to accommodate heavy early demand.
Produced by Michael Harrison and David Ian and based on Lawrence
Kasdan’s 1992 Oscar nominated Warner Bros. film, it opened to rave reviews in London’s West
End in December 2012,
where it continues to play to packed houses and standing ovations. It has since
been nominated for four Laurence Olivier Awards including Best New Musical and
Best Set Design, and is 2015’s ‘Must See’.
Just announced - three-time Brit nominee and X Factor winner, Alexandra
Burke, will star in the leading role of Rachel Marron, and Consett-born Zoe
Birkett (probably best known as the highest placing female contestant in ITV’s
Pop Idol, 2002) will play the role during matinee performances.
Musical
lovers will also delight in the return of a true classic – Rodgers &
Hammerstein’s Oklahoma! (23 - 27 June).
As refreshing and thrilling as the day it was
written, this sunny show celebrates the vigour of America’s pioneering spirit and overflows with well-known
songs and boot-stomping dances. A brand
new production from Music & Lyrics, the award-winning producers of The
King & I and Fiddler on the Roof, the show stars Belinda Lang (School for
Scandal, Ladies in Lavender) as Aunt Eller with Gary Wilmot (Dirty Rotten
Scoundrels) as Ali Hakim.
In
July Theatre Royal will open a major new tour of the world’s favourite family
musical Annie (11-18 July) – our third show from Newcastle-born producer
Michael Harrison and starring Craig Revel Horwood, the BBC’s Strictly
Come Dancing judge, as the tyrannical Miss Hannigan! Set in 1930s New York during The Great Depression, brave young Annie is
forced to live a life of misery and torment at Miss Hannigan’s orphanage.
Determined to find her real parents, her luck changes when she is chosen to
spend Christmas at the residence of famous billionaire, Oliver Warbucks. With
its award-winning book and score, this new production includes the
unforgettable songs ‘Hard Knock Life’,
‘Easy Street’, ‘I Don’t Need Anything But You’ and ‘Tomorrow’. Booking has opened early due to anticipated high
demand.
For our younger audiences, the delightful The
Tiger Who Came To Tea (3-4 July) is back following
a smash-hit West End season.
Based on the favourite children’s book by Judith Kerr, this musical play
tells the story of Sophie and her mummy who are just sitting down to tea when
the doorbell rings. Who could it possibly be? What they certainly don’t expect
to see is a big, stripy tiger! Packed with oodles of magic, sing-a-long songs
and clumsy chaos this is a stunning stage adaptation of the classic tale of
teatime mayhem.
Already
onsale, with a second day of shows added due to popular demand, is Sing-a-long-a Frozen (Sun 1 March &
Sun 10 May). A box office sell-out across the country, the show features a
special screening of Disney’s Frozen
with lyrics to help the audience sing along with the characters. There is a live host and individual pack of
props so that each person can interact with the movie. A must for all little Elsas, Annas and Olafs
everywhere!!
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| Photo: Tristram Kenton |
Newcastle will be going green in March (lime green that is!)
when everyone’s favourite fairytale ogre arrives with his friends for the first
time ever in Shrek The Musical (11 –
29 Mar). Based on the award-winning
DreamWorks animation film and coming direct
from the West End this
is a must-see show which brings all the
much-loved characters to life, live on stage, in an all-singing, all-dancing
extravaganza.
A new comedy for 2015 is Peter Pan Goes Wrong (1-4 July) from the award-winning Mischief Theatre
Company, the company behind smash hit success The Play That Goes Wrong. A
riotous new spin on a family favourite, the show introduces us to
The Cornley Polytechnic Drama Society who are setting out to present J.M.
Barrie’s classic tale of Peter Pan. But as the
title suggests, everything that can go wrong…does, as the accident prone thesps
embark on a thrilling adventure to Neverland, with hilariously disastrous
results. Jowheretogo reviewed The Play That Goes Wrong and feel it was the
funniest play we have seen in 2014 so far : http://nomorepanicbutton.blogspot.co.uk/2014/06/review-play-that-goes-wrong-at.html
Already
on sale are two leading lights from the world of stand-up - David
Baddiel (1 Dec ‘14) - back with his first full show for fifteen years, critically
acclaimed on the West End circuit and originator of a social media storm. Al
Murray (8 Feb ‘15), aka ‘The Pub Landlord’ is also celebrating twenty years
as Britain’s favourite publican and bringing his brand new show One Man, One
Guvnor to wow North East
audiences in the new year.
For dance lovers, there are two
big treats in store (and already onsale). Scotland’s national dance company Scottish Ballet are
returning to the Theatre to take audiences on a journey back into Clara’s
magical dream world with Tchaikovsky’s masterpiece The Nutcracker (11-14 Feb).
Originally devised in 1973 by the Company’s founding artistic director, Peter
Darrell, this production presents a sumptuous world of plush Victoriana full of
festive fare and childhood charm.
Bizet’s popular opera Carmen is
the inspiration for Matthew Bourne’s internationally acclaimed dance thriller The Car Man which will visit in the
Spring (28 April – 9 May). First seen in 2000, and winning the Evening Standard
Award for ‘Musical Event of the Year’, the show features Bizet’s powerful and instantly
recognisable score, but transferred to 1960s America where Lez Brotherston’s
epic design, Chris Davey’s evocative lighting and of course Matthew Bourne’s
vivid storytelling make for an incredible production.
Also
already on sale for 2015 is Opera North’s enticing new programme which draws works from each of the last four centuries and
balances the comic with the serious, and the famous with the little-known. Alessandro Talevi directs a youthful international
cast in the company’s first new staging in 15 years of possibly the most
popular opera of all time, Verdi's profoundly moving La Traviata (4 & 6 March). Meanwhile,
Jo Davies brings a fresh approach to Mozart’s effervescent comedy The
Marriage of Figaro (5 & 7 March).
A
revival of Falla’s exuberant La Vida Breve (3 March) offers a wonderful
celebration of folk-inspired melodies and yet is both tragic and moving. It is presented in a double-bill with a new
staging of Gianni Schicchi (3
March), directed by Christopher Alden, and Opera North’s first
production of Puccini's only comic opera in 25 years.
Plus with a staggering 79,000 tickets already sold,
our 14/15 Pantomime Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (25 Nov ’14 -18 Jan ‘15) is set to become our
biggest and fastest selling panto of all time.
Fans better be quick if they want to see Clive, Danny, Chris and the
gang in another spectacular production jam-packed with fun, adventure and
comedy!
Friends of the Theatre Royal can book new season shows on Monday 10 November,
before the general public on Friday 14 November, and receive 20% off tickets,
as well as discounts on drinks at our bars, exclusive ticket exchange, reduced
booking fees and Friends’ prices will never change. To become a Friend and book
early, please contact the Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 or sign up online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk.
Tickets for all new shows
in the spring / summer 15 season go on public sale on Friday 14 November. Tickets can be purchased from the Theatre
Royal Box Office on 08448 11 21 21 or select your own seat and book online at www.theatreroyal.co.uk
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