Imperial Ice Stars - Sleeping Beauty on Ice at Milton Keynes Theatre

The world famous Imperial Ice Stars, who have won international acclaim and five-star reviews with their stunning productions, bring Sleeping Beauty to MK Theatre as part of their national tour.

The Imperial Ice Stars specialise in performing theatrical ice skating in the intimacy of the theatre and are renowned for their daring and amazing ice feats, some only seen in the Olympic area - all performed within the confines of a frozen theatre stage! Using 14 tonnes of ice and taking over 140 man hours to build, this production needs to be seen to be believed.

The twenty-five strong cast of Olympic, World, European and National Championship skaters comprise the cream of Russian skating talent, and between them have won over 200 competition medals.

The production boasts one of the most expensive sets ever created for a theatrical ice show by Australia's top scenic designers - Eamon D'Arcy.  It incorporates stunning three dimensional scenery, magical special effects, high wire flying and wonderfully opulent costumes by Natella Abdulaeva and Svetlana Murzak.

This interpretation of the classic tale set to the music of Tchaikovsky, The Imperial Ice Stars tell the story of Sleeping Beauty.  The superb choreography by the truly talented Tony Mercer, who is widely regarded as the world's leading creator of theatre on ice.

Putting the story aside, you will be able to sit back and enjoy some of the finest ice skaters strut their stuff on stage - this show will appeal to every age group.  You will be treated to amazing feats of bravery and strength by the cast, the ice dance is super slick and silky smooth.  One thing, don't leave before the encore or you will miss out on being dazzled by the brilliance of the whole cast who literally go mad by performing some of the most daring skating you will see.  I guarantee it will make you sit up and gasp in total amazement!

The Imperial Ice Stars - Sleeping Beauty, is an unforgettable experience and will take your breath away!

Lily B xx

Visit  www.imperialicestars.com/tour-info for future dates

Abigail's Party by Mike Leigh on tour

MK Theatre 

Take a step back in time to the 70's in Mike Leigh's classic play - Abigail's Party now on tour.

This quick, witty and brilliantly written, Abigail's Party is a story of bored house wife Beverly, played by the totally fantastic Hannah Waterman - who throws a party for her newly moved in neighbours Angela (Katie Lightfoot) and her husband Tony (Samuel James).

Add a newly divorced Sue (Emily Raymond) from across the road who's escaping her house which has been taken over by her teenage daughter, Abigail.  Sue sits uncomfortably while Beverly plays the "hostess with the mostess", plying Sue with copious amounts of gin and tonic and the 70's favorite cheese and pineapple chunks on little sticks stuck in a tin foil covered melon!

Waterman is amazing on stage, she plays the part to a T! Busty, bubbly and feisty - the party really gets going when her totally stressed husband Laurence (Martin Marquez) returns from work, Beverly puts on a Demis Roussos record and gets everyone to dance..."you can't beat a bit of Demis, you know what I mean?" - what unfolds is so funny, it will make you cry with laughter and then stops you dead in your tracks...this comedy has some really intense moments.

Abigail's Party portrays that not all that glitters is gold - and you can't judge a book by its pristine cover.  It reveals bored marriages, sexually frustrated wives and over stretched relationships.  Leigh shows that no relationship is perfect but that when push comes to shove and something drastic happens, you realise just what your partner means to you.

The set is authentic, the cast is brilliant and the story very strong - Abigail's Party is a great night's entertainment!

Enjoy...

Lily B x

Starlight Express - Milton Keynes Theatre

Review date 25th April 2013

Starlight Express started life in 1975 as a story that Andrew Lloyd Webber had high hopes of being a animated movie.  It never got off the ground in that format so he re-wrote it for his children Imogen and Nicholas.  It was that very version that opened in March 1984 at the Apollo Victoria Theatre in London.

Nine years later the show was revised an re-vamped with new music, which was dedicated to Lloyd Webber's son Alistair.  Starlight has run for over eighteen years and transfixed audiences with such punch and precision, I couldn't wait to see it at MK Theatre.

The story is Cinderella-esque - but with trains.  It is so different, and so clever - the whole show is a wow!  A race is on to find the best between the long running champ diesel train "Greaseball "(Jamie Capewell) and the new comer with his electrifying speed "Electra" (Mykal Rand)...but have they forgotten about the good old steam trains? In steps "Rusty" (Kristopher Harding) to do his best to beat the rest!

The dancers are uber talented, they sing and dance with such flair and fluidity, it's amazing how they do it so well...AND on skates!?

The choreography is super slick and seriously intricate, and why wouldn't it be with Arlene Phillips directing and providing the fantastic choreography- it's roller skate dancing at its very best! Add to that music by Lloyd Webber and lyrics by Richard Stilgoe, it's a recipe for a fantastic show.

The staging of this show is quite spectacular, the costumes are amazing - but the addition of  the 3D sections takes it to another level.  You have to experience it to fully appreciate it. 

"Starlight Express is a complete theatrical experience.  It is a love story and a story of triumph, involving sportsmanship, rivalry, dander and thrills.  It is a show that truly has something for everyone..."

Catch the Starlight Express if you can!

Lily B xx

Milton Keynes Theatre
The Woman in Black Monday 8th April - Saturday 13th April 2013

Review 8th April 2013

To appreciate this gripping piece of theatre, you must know the background to the story...

Director Robin Herford was the artistic director of The Stephen Joseph Theatre in Scarborough in the late 80's.  He needed a play to run over Christmas with only a small budget to use, so he approached his good friend and playwright Stephen Mallatratt to write a play.  Herford wanted a ghost story and Mallatratt suggested adapting Susan Hill's novel "The Women in Black".

Herford was drawn immediately to the "evocative power" of the book but it had one draw back.. the cast needed was immense and couldn't be afforded on such a low budget.  Mallatratt proceeded to write the Woman in Black in the style of the Shakespearean "play within  a play" - which made it a two man production....plus The Lady in Black...

This cut price production has run for 25 years and still going strong!

"The magic of the theatre, made possible only by the most precious and under used of  them commodities, the audiences imagination.  This piece relies extremely heavily on it, as all good theatre should.  Add to it the skill and proficiency of talented performers and technicians, along with a wonderfully gripping story" 

Gripping story...I would say amazingly gripping!! From the moment you walk into the slightly colder than usual auditorium, there is an air of chilling expectation.

The bare stage (bar a shabby costume basket, clothes rail and drapes...   Just watch what is behind the drapes...)  It's the actors that draw you in to the story...and keep you there on the edge of your seat.  If like me, you are slightly scared of anything ghostly, you will have your coat tucked up around your eyes and ears to shield from from the scary bits!! 

The story centers on a young solicitor, Arthur Kipps, who is summonsed to a small market town on the East Coast of England to attend the funeral of Mrs Alice Drablow, an elderly recluse who lived alone in the desolate Eel Marsh House.  The eerie house is situated on a causeway and at high tide is completely cut off from the mainland, with only the boggy marshland around.

At the funeral, Kipps sees a woman swathed in black from head to toe, with a pale drawn face.  Kipps sets about putting Mrs Drablow's affairs in order at Eel Marsh House, having to stay in the house on his own (as no one else will set foot inside). He endures an increasingly terrifying sequence of unexplained noises, events and  screams in the night....

Julian Forsyth (Arthur Kipps) and Anthony Eden (The Actor) both give an outstanding performance.

The "play" is so that Kipps can have his story told and he can at last rest in peace - and the actor who played his part has a better understanding of his suffering.  What becomes of the man portraying the part of Kipps...What happens to those that see "The Women in Black"??

This is a spine chilling tale and a brilliant piece of theatre.  Book your tickets now...

Lily B x  

MK Theatre - Madam Butterfly 

Review date 28th March 2013

The Welsh National Opera are touring with a trio of operas, one of which is the heart breaking story of Puccini's Madam Butterfly, sung in Italian with English surtitles.

I have been lucky enough to review many operas performed by the WNO, you can feel the passion issuing from the stage with every performance.  The WNO profess this passion and their want to share this by way of accessible fully staged award winning productions - and they deliver time and time again.

Set in Nagasaki, Japan - the story is about Cio-Cio-San (better known as Madam Butterfly) - a marriage broker introduces the burly Lieutenant Pinkerton of the United States Navy to the beautiful young geisha, Madam Butterfly.  He marries her but promptly leaves to return to America after spending a passionate night with Butterfly.

Cio-Cio-San is left to longingly look out to sea day after day and sings for her American Lieutenant to return to her arms. Three years after he left, she still desperately clings on to the hope that she will be with him again and that he will share in the life of their beautiful son. Pinkerton is made aware of his son's existence. Finally, he returns, but with his new American wife Kate, but they have returned for Cio-Cio-San's son to take him back to America.
 

The tragedy that follows is what makes Madam Butterfly's tale the most heart-wrenching in Italian opera. Her aria 'One fine day' shows how Puccini masterfully uses every note to wrap his audience in her tragic story.

Lt.Pinkerton (Gwyn Hughes Jones) is commanding in his role, his depth of vocal and stage presence was very strong.  Cheryl Barker (Madam Butterfly) was sublime in her role, she had passion and intensity in her vocals and really brought a tear to my eye during her aria.

Director Joachim Herz cleverly brings a sepia tinged production to the stage - it can only be described as looking at a beautiful old photograph, which is brought to life.  Madam Butterfly is an extremely moving, stunning production and is a wonderful way to spend an evening at the theatre. 

Look at www.wno.org.uk to follow the WNO Spring 2013 Season tour.

Lily B x