Emma Cann - Page 4

The Olivier Award winning musical Sunny Afternoon swung into Birmingham's New Alexandra Theatre with a burst of sixties excess, rockstar brawls and real rock 'n' roll.  Based on the true story of The Kinks, their early days as a struggling rock band, their huge success and the tumultuous story of their front man, Ray Davies, Sunny Afternoon is a jukebox musical with real grit and heart. The story zips along at a healthy pace, with snapshots and vignettes of the band's life deftly strung together with songs from their back catalogue. The musical opens with one of The Kinks' very first gigs - a hilarious debacle where the London boys rock up at a very conservative Home Counties dance - and progresses to show their first number one 'You Really Got Me', on-stage fights, a tour of America which results in their eventual ban from the country, contractual difficulties, and a their enduring triumphs with songs such as 'Sunny Afternoon' and 'Waterloo Sunset.' 

The celebrated St Petersburg Ballet Theatre returns to the London Coliseum to present the world premiere of Her Name Was Carmen starring Irina Kolesnikova 23 – 28 August 2016. I caught up with Irina weeks before the production begins to talk about this brand new ballet, which has been created for her.  You enjoyed a glittering London season in 2015. How do you feel to be returning to the UK? For me it is a special season. There is a difference between coming to London with ballets you have already danced many times such as Swan Lake or La Bayadere and dancing at a premiere. At the moment I spend a few hours at a time in a studio. The process of creating new choreography requires that. I am really looking forward to the premiere, although, of course, I am really nervous.

The Australian Ballet return to the London Coliseum this summer with the UK debut of Alexei Ratmansky's Cinderella, created on the company in 2013. Sleek, surreal and contemporary, there is no trace of a pumpkin or any talking mice in this new adaptation of the classic fairy tale.

In the mid-west American town of Bomont, a small tight knit community are suspicious of any new-comer, and especially streetwise Chicago teenager Ren McCormack. Ren has moved from Chicago with his mother Ethel after the sudden departure of his dad. Eager to move on from his recent loss and keen to spread his wings in a new town, Ren's dreams of a new start are dashed when he discovers one curious fact about Bomont County; rock music and dancing are illegal.

Every year, the Birmingham Hippodrome bring a blockbuster West End musical to the UK's second city; a brilliant tradition eclipsed only in size and scale by their annual pantomime. Their 2016 offering is Mamma Mia, bringing the azure blue skies of Greece to the typically grey British summer in Birmingham.

The Birmingham Royal Ballet's Shakespeare celebrations continue this week as they conclude their Birmingham season with a Shakespeare Triple Bill, consisting of Jessica Lang's new Wink, José Limon's The Moor's Pavane and David Bintley's The Shakespeare Suite. Three contrasting dance styles and very different interpretations of Shakespeare's work combine to emphasise his enduring broad appeal, as well as the versatility of the Birmingham Royal Ballet dancers.

Ahead of The Australian Ballet's visit to the London Coliseum this July, Emma Cann chats to corps de ballet dancer Shaun Andrews about his life in ballet and the prospect of the UK tour.

In a landmark year packed with Shakespearean productions to celebrate the 400th birthday of the Bard, the Birmingham Royal Ballet perform John Cranko's The Taming of the Shrew for the very first time. This adaptation is faithful to Shakespeare's source material; three suitors to the beautiful Bianca (Hortensio, Lucentio and Gremio) bribe Petruchio to woo and wed her elder sister, the shrew Katherina. Independent and tempestuous, Katherina finds her match in Petruchio and begrudgingly agrees to marry him.

The Northern Ballet's latest production is Jane Eyre, directed and choreographed by Cathy Marston. Celebrating Charlotte Brontë's 200th birthday, Jane Eyre brings together a ground-breaking female author, choreographer, composer and, of course, the central character of Jane. 

To celebrate their 70th anniversary, Welsh National Opera returns to the Birmingham Hippodrome to perform Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci; the same operas the company performed for their debut performance. A novice opera-goer, I was intrigued to experience the opulence and spectacle of the WNO

The Birmingham Rep present another exciting Shakespearean production to celebrate 400 years since the great writers' death; this time it was King Lear. Directed by Michael Buffong, this production has the audience gripped from the start.

The Birmingham Repertory Theatre is transported back to Oxford in the 1950s for Birdsong Productions' new adaptation of Shadowlands. Written by William Nicholson, Shadowlands is based on the unlikely romance between C.S. Lewis and Joy Gresham, and follows their first meeting, developing relationship and the untimely end of their marriage.

We took a trip back to Planet Seventies at the New Alexandra Theatre as Jackie the Musical swept into town. Based on the book by Mike James, Jackie the Musical follows a forty-something divorcee as she stumbles across her old collection of Jackie magazines and once more seeks their advice about fashion, boys and love.

International Dance Festival Birmingham has always strived to open up the world of dance to new and diverse audiences, and no show tackles this mission more directly than Dance: Sampled. Curated by Sadler's Wells, Dance: Sampled is designed to introduce different audiences to dance styles they might not usually have the chance to see, with a high quality mixed bill featuring artists from all over the world.

One of the most intriguing items on the programme of the International Dance Festival Birmingham 2016 is the Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan with Songs of the Wanderers. Founded in 1973 by choreographer Lin Hwai-Win, Cloud Gate was the very first contemporary dance company in the greater Chinese-speaking community. Trained in meditation, ancient breathing exercises, internal martial arts, modern dance, ballet and calligraphy, Cloud Gate has created a discipline that is entirely their own; far removed from the classical traditions of Western dance.

The International Dance Festival Birmingham (IDFB) 2016 at the Hippodrome opened with a progressive programme of works from NDT2 – the junior division of Netherlands Dans Theater which focuses specifically on talent development for dancers aged 18-23. The IDFB puts Birmingham in the unique position of being the only city in the UK to have a dance festival as its biggest festival. It seems fitting therefore that, rather than opening with a more commercial piece, the Birmingham Hippodrome would begin their IDFB celebrations with the progressive NDT2.

Devised at breakneck speed in just ten days by a company renowned for anarchic, divisive work, Filter's Twelfth Night was always destined to be a curious beast. Indeed, from the second the audience steps into the Birmingham Rep, it is clear this is going to be no ordinary Shakespeare. We appear to have arrived at the early stages of a rock gig; the stage is littered with cables, amps, and instruments, the stage manager's desk lies in plain sight of the audience, and the cast test microphones, check lines and chat casually to their spectators.

Wolves Are People Too is an exciting new collaboration between the jazz group Hansu-Tori, Birmingham Royal Ballet choreographer Kit Holder and artist-illustrator Trou. Based on the 2012 cult anime film Wolf Children, the production follows two part human, part wolf children as they mature into society.

Everyone's favourite magical nanny, Mary Poppins, is back in this award-winning musical adaptation of the P.L.Travers novel and beloved Disney film. Featuring many of the most popular songs composed by the Sherman brothers, this blockbuster musical is, for many, a wonderfully nostalgic trip down memory to see a favourite childhood movie in the flesh.

This season, the Royal Shakespeare Company celebrates not only the 400th anniversary of the death of their namesake, but also that of Miguel de Cervantes, with a brand new adaptation of Don Quixote. After a lifetime of reading books on chivalry, Don Quixote decides to embark on a quest of his own. Taking up a lance and sword, he sets out to become a wandering knight, defending the helpless and vanquishing the wicked. Hopelessly unprepared and increasingly losing his grip on reality, he travels across Spain accompanied by his faithful and equally ill-suited squire. With each calamitous adventure they experience, the romantic ideal of Quixote's books seems further away than ever.