A month ago while Jessica Lang was in Utah working with Ballet West, I rang her to interview her about her incredible year of ongoing success. Years ago I took class with Robert Battle and struck up a dance friendship with his company dancers including Jessica's husband Kanji Segawa. But I have never met Jessica herself. Of course she is the 'It Woman' of dance so I know a bit about her. With her embarrassment of accolades one would have to have their head buried in the sand not to. Besides the rapturous praise she has received for her work, she has also secured numerous commissions (American Ballet Theatre, Birmingham Royal Ballet, The National Ballet of Japan at the New National Theatre Tokyo, Joffrey Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Ballet San Jose, Richmond Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Ailey II, ABT II, Hubbard Street 2, and New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute, among many others), received many high profile awards (New York City Center Fellow for 2015, 2014 Bessie Award, 2013 Manchester Theatre Award, grants from Jerome Robbins Foundation, the NEA, the Choo San Goh Foundation, and a 2010 Joyce Theater Artist Residency supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation), is opening her own dance center in Long Island City, and is celebrating her company's 5th Anniversary Season at the Joyce. But how did she come to all of this?
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
?Agatha Christie's beloved murder mystery The Mousetrap will begin the final leg of its record-breaking, and first ever, UK tour at Glasgow Theatre Royal on Monday 12 September.
Agatha Christie's beloved murder mystery THE MOUSETRAP will begin the final leg of its record-breaking, and first ever, UK tour at Glasgow Theatre Royal on 12th September. The tour will then visit Swindon, Cardiff, Wakefield, Perth, Ayr, Edinburgh, Guildford, Birmingham, Tunbridge Wells, Isle of Wight, Derry, Oxford, Carlisle and Aberystwyth.
Audiences of over 52,000 enjoyed an impressive range of world-class dance performances and events at International Dance Festival Birmingham 2016 (IDFB 2016), up by over 50% in comparison to the previous festival in 2014. One of Europe's biggest and most diverse dance festivals, the fifth edition from 1-22 May, produced by DanceXchange in partnership with Birmingham Hippodrome, was a considerable success.
On Saturday 14 May, Birmingham Hippodrome held its sixth successful Gala Dinner on its famous stage for nearly 300 guests. Over £50,000 was raised for the theatre's award-winning Hippodrome CREATIVE programme of learning, access and free community performance.
Initial casting is announced today (26 May 2016) for Qdos Entertainment's London Palladium production of Cinderella. The 32 strong cast will be led byPaul O'Grady as The Wicked Stepmother, Julian Clary as Dandini, Lee Mead as Prince Charming, Paul Zerdin as Buttons, Nigel Havers as Lord Chamberlain and Count Arthur Strong as Baron Hardup. The roles of Cinderella, the Fairy Godmother and the Ugly Sisters will be announced soon.
Birmingham Royal Ballet announces the 2016/2017 Birmingham Hippodrome season, the 27th season at its home theatre in the Midlands. The season will celebrate the Company's varied repertory, from the spectacular new The Tempest in the autumn through to the return of The Nutcracker for Christmas and Coppelia in the summer of 2017. Over the course of the season, the Company will perform four full-length classic ballets and a programme of shorter works to include the return of Michael Corder's Le Baiser de la fee, John Cranko's Pineapple Poll and a brand new ballet from Company member Ruth Brill called Arcadia.
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.
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET - the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and West End smash hit embarks on its first ever UK Tour, and reveals casting for the red-hot rock 'n' roll extravaganza.
BBC1's The Voice star Lucy O'Byrne to play Maria and Coronation Street's Andrew Lancel to play Captain Von Trapp in 'The Sound of Music' at Birmingham Hippodrome this May.
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.
?MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET - the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and West End smash hit embarks on its first ever UK Tour, and today reveals casting for the red-hot rock 'n' roll extravaganza.
FURIOUS FOLLY, created by Mark Anderson, takes place as night falls in a no-man's land on the battle front. Audiences of up to 2,000 people per night find themselves immersed within an open-air collage of sound, light, pyrotechnics and performance. Commissioned by 14-18 NOW, the UK's arts programme for the First World War centenary, FURIOUS FOLLY is one of 27 new commissions exploring how the Great War has impacted on the society we live in now.
The 2016/17 UK Tour of Simon Beaufoy's THE FULL MONTY, which won the UK Theatre Award for Best Touring Production, will begin in Bournemouth on 21 September 2016, finishing at the Sheffield Lyceum on 15 April 2017.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, one of the world's most popular dance companies, will return to Birmingham Hippodrome for the first time in six years and present two exhilarating programmes on 23 & 24 September during its autumn tour 2016.
?Bill Kenwright's production of one of the greatest family musicals of all time, The Sound of Music, is delighted to announce that the tour has been extended into autumn 2016. The tour recommences on Tuesday 18 May at the Aylesbury Waterside Theatre.
MILLION DOLLAR QUARTET - the Tony Award-winning Broadway musical and West End smash hit - is to embark on its first ever UK Tour, opening at Leicester Curve on 14th September 2016.
