Jenny Ell - Page 12

John Partridge first came to my attention in the wonderful Drowsy Chaperone back in 2007 although he had had a great two decades previous to this working in musical theatre. Since then his career has rocketed and he is now most commonly and fondly known as Christian Clarke from Eastenders. John has most recently been seen in the BBC's gymnastics reality show Tumble until he sadly bowed out last weekend. His next venture is the release of his debut album 'Dames, Dudes and Cowboys too' under the name of Johnny Partridge and I have had the pleasure of previewing it for BWW:UK.

Grounded had its UK premiere at the Gate Theatre Notting Hill last year to critical acclaim, following achieving the 2012 Smith Prize from the National New Play Network in America and a 2013 Fringe First award. George Brant's play is a fast paced monologue delivered by a female F16 fighter pilot who is juggling her military life and her family life.

Black Coffee is the first play that Agatha Christie wrote for the stage back in 1929, when the show is set. Sir Claud Amory summons the famous Belgian detective, Hercule Poirot, and his trusted friend Captain Hastings to his London house to investigate who has stolen a formula from his safe. Upon arriving, Sir Claud is found dead in his library so the enquiry turns to into a murder investigation as well.

This production of Entertaining Mr Sloane is the latest submission from London Classic Theatre. Joe Orton wrote the play in 1963 and the show had its first performance the following year at the New Arts Theatre in London, followed by an opening in New York in 1965. His writing has both comedic and psychological elements to it and the written text is constructed very well. Mr Sloane is renting a room in Kath's home on the edge of a rubbish dump. She lives with her visually impaired father who instantly takes a dislike to the lodger, thinking he murdered his employer years before. Kath seduces Mr Sloane and her brother soon also latches onto her lover and both embark on an interesting relationship with the title character.

Annie Get Your Gun premiered on Broadway nearly 70 years ago and many productions have graced stages across the world ever since then, plus a major MGM film in 1950 starring Betty Hutton. There has been a wide array of leading ladies who have played Annie Oakley including Ethel Merman, Dolores Gray, Suzi Quatro, Bernadette Peters, Jane Horrocks to name but a few and the show has been a huge international hit.

I was fortunate enough to see 20th Century Boy on its debut outing at the Belgrade Theatre, Coventry back in September 2012 and it was probably the best show I had seen that year. The production is the perfect balance between a jukebox musical and a biography detailing Marc Bolan's rise to fame until the tragic car accident that killed him in 1977. Peter Rowe's writing is superb and brings in the added element of Marc's son Rolan trying to find out about his father who died when he was only two.

Woman In Mind is thought of as one of Alan Ayckbourn's best works. It is the English playwright's 32nd play and his earliest using a first-person narrative. The plot centres around Susan who, having hit herself in the head with a garden rake, is found at the start of the play concussed on her garden lawn. Following this she is surrounded by her idyllic family whom we soon realise are merely a figment of her imagination and her real family situation is far from picturesque! For most of the show's duration it is apparent what is fantasy and what is reality but towards the end of Act Two, the two scenarios begin to overlap and eventually collide in what can only be described as an epic meltdown.

Happy Days - the Musical is set in a colourful 1959 on a backdrop of Milwaukee, Wisconsin. Based on the popular US sitcom which ran for ten years from 1974-1984, the TV show still harbours a mass number of fans on a worldwide scale. Garry Marshall, the creator of Happy Days, decided to write a book for stage some twenty years after the sitcom ended and since has played to vast audiences across the States and Canada. Amy Anzel, who played one of the Pinkettes in an early US production, wanted to bring the production to British audiences and with the help of Channel 4's The Sound of Musicals got the exposure she needed.

Catch 22 by Joseph Heller has been dubbed one of the greatest literary works of the 20th Century. The book was published in 1961 followed by a feature film in 1970 directed by Mike Nichols. The story is set in World War II and focuses on a group of US Army Air Force men - one in particular called Captain John Yossarian. The men do what they can in order to survive so they can go home to their families but their rank superiors keep throwing obstacles in their paths to try and keep them longer.

Buddy - The Buddy Holly Story - has been seen by over 22 million people worldwide and has since been dubbed 'the world's most successful rock'n'roll musical'. Within his short two year career, he wrote some supremely iconic music and influenced successive artists who wished to follow in Buddy's footsteps.

Circles is the new play written by Rachel De-lahay; her third piece of writing following massive success with The Westbridge and Routes. Circles has two interweaving stories within it; two teenagers striking up an unlikely friendship on the number 11 bus and a mother watching over her daughter's attempts to leave a violent relationship. The story is set with a Birmingham backdrop so many locals in the audience can have an added relation to the plot.

Award-winning children's author Michael Morpurgo has been pushed into the forefront since 2007 since his stage adaptation of War Horse was produced by the National Theatre to worldwide success. It is easy to forget that Morpurgo has written over 100 books for children since 1976; one of which is Private Peaceful, winner of the Blue Peter Book of the Year, showing at the Birmingham Rep Theatre this week.

Featuring as part of the International Dance Festival Birmingham programme, Les 7 Doigts de la Main are currently playing at Birmingham Repertory Theatre with their show, Sequence 8.

New musical theatre is often showcased in fringe venues to test the water and see if the show could have success on a larger platform. Water Babies, however, has its first outing on the stage of one of the largest producing houses in the country, the Curve in Leicester. The production values are extremely high and it is evident that there is a lot of belief in this project. Judging by what I witnessed last night, this production absolutely needs and deserves a future.

A play within a play is already a difficult concept - but a play within a play that goes wrong (in this case catastrophically so!) is ridiculously difficult to get your head around - but only from massive admiration for the actors who have to deliver such material.

The Birmingham Stage Company is held in fond regard by families across the country for their high standard of productions suitable for all ages. Their latest show, nearing the conclusion of its national tour, is Tom's Midnight Garden which I had the pleasure of seeing at the Belgrade Theatre in Coventry last night.

Words Shared With Friends is an album featuring some of the best West End vocalists that we have to offer. The CD consists of a heterogeneous mix of music styles with something to appeal to everyone. Lyricist Robert Gould, whose credits include 'The Land's Shore', 'After The Turn' and 'Grace Notes', works alongside a variety of composers on this album including Christopher J.Orton, Tristan Bons and Ty Kroll.

The 1982 musical 'Andy Capp' is the most recent release from Stage Door Records who have digitally remastered the show from original master tapes. The production opened to critical acclaim and was even nominated for Best Musical at the Oliviers in the same year. This recording features the Original London Cast which transferred from Manchester's Royal Exchange Theatre and starred Tom Courtenay, Val McLane, John Bardon and Alan Price.

A month into their UK tour, Birdsong, produced by the Original Theatre Company and Birdsong Productions, is playing at the Birmingham Rep this week. This show is one of many on the road this year that marks the centenary of World War I and is based on the world famous novel by Sebastian Faulks.

Following its continued run at the Southwark Playhouse, Simon Greiff and SimG Records is releasing the Original London Cast Recording of The A-Z of Mrs P on Monday 24 March. The show catalogues the emotive story of Phyllis Pearsall, the British writer/painter who founded the Geographers' A-Z Map Company. The production has a stellar creative team including Gwyneth Herbert as Composer, playwright Diane Samuels and Tony/Olivier award nominee Sam Bruntrock directing.