(If interested in any of the following shows or need more information then please contact Theatre Group Contact via this link.) For previous trips/reviews please scroll down.
7th May 2020 – Prince of Egypt – Dominion Theatre London.
A new stage musical based on the DreamWorks animated motion picture The Prince of Egypt is set to open in the West End at the Dominion Theatre.
The Prince of Egypt is based on the book of Exodus and tells the story of Moses, who was born a child of Israel, and brought up in Egypt after he was found by Pharoah’s wife in a wicker basket floating on the Nile. Two young men raised as brothers in a kingdom of privilege suddenly find themselves divided by a secret past. One must rule as pharaoh, the other must rise up to free his people.
We are aiming to get a large 50 seater coach to take members to a showing of & Juliet in mid May 2020 – the show is a modern take on Juliet’s life as she re writes the famous story , after Romeo takes his life and Juliet moves on . Some great reviews on BBC Radio 4. If interested or need more information please contact Trevor; also tell your friends in your other U3a groups and we can ensure we fill the coach and get the best prices – we can do it. Ticket and coach expected to be £52
July – The Mikado at Palace Theatre, Westcliff.
It is the most loved Gilbert & Sullivan opera, and its topsy-turvy story delights audiences the world over.Gilbert & Sullivan is a truly British phenomenon and certainly much of its absurdity and eccentricity appears in this exciting new production.
The glorious music of Sullivan performed by the Ploverleigh Savoy Orchestra, under the baton of Musical Director Alison McFadyen, and Gilbert’s wonderful, witty dialogue and outstanding political satire, is crafted to perfection by award winning Artistic Director Shane Collins.
There is simply nothing else quite like it, G & S is special, and it has that rare quality of lifting the spirits, putting a skip in the step, and making life just feel better.Tickets just £21 for front stalls – contact Trevor to book or for more details
Past Shows:
19th January 2020 – The Red Shoes
A recent Sunday saw members of the theatre visiting group joining together for another visit to Sadlers Wells for a performance of The Red Shoes. Once again we did this in style, our comfortable mini coach collecting from various points and driving us to the door of the theatre. No hassle with trains and tubes so a good start.
The area around the theatre offers many opportunities for food and drink and we took full advantage of this. Matthew Bourne is an icon to those who enjoy dance always guaranteeing something out of the ordinary in fact extraordinary. To a packed theatre the curtain opened and we were immediately transported into another world. Our excellent seats allowed full view of the complete stage so we could also appreciate the very clever set changes as well as all the dance.
Based loosely on the Hans Christian Anderson story and the later film starring Moira Shearer, this was a fast moving ballet with many changes in the tempo of music and styles of dance. As we moved through settings from early London to the 1940’s French Riviera, we experienced beautiful classic ballet with wonderful pas de deux swiftly changing through a series of different beautifully executed dance routines culminating in a lively dance routine owing more to hip hop than what we might consider ballet. Truly wonderful dancing. Costumes were colourful and the whole atmosphere was lively with a love story at the heart of it, then all change!
A setting depicting run down digs and a fourth rate music hall with acts as far removed from what our main characters, Victoria and Harrison had so far experienced, brought real pathos to this wonderful ballet. True to form Matthew Bourne delivered the unexpected in the grand finale in such spectacular fashion that our breath was taken away and no I won’t tell you what happened instead join our Theatre group and experience it for yourself.
As always with this lovely friendly group our journey home was full of discussion about the performance and suggestions for our next one! Why not join us!
Regards
Victoria
On a dank grey November morning 24 gallant theatre lovers stood in the cold at their respective bus stops , out of the mist came their white bus, once on board the party begun, for we were off to see Dan Burton, Danny Mac & Brenda Edwards in White Christmas at the Dominion Theatre. A classic film now put on the stage by Curve Productions who brought us Sunset Boulevard on tour to the Cliffs Pavilion. The inspiring music of Irvine Berlin with such memorable tunes like ”When your Dancing“, “Sisters” and the famous “Blue Skies” with an amazing tap routine for the whole cast – the choreography by Stephen Mears just fantastic and a very joyous, toe tapping number. In Irvine’s own words “I’ve just wrote the best song I’ve ever written, no the best song anybody’s ever written”. Having never seen the film at Christmas time, I found the plot unusual with no snow in a ski resort in Vermont but a well executed production.
TOAST – 6th September 2019
A group of 21 theatre lovers went along to our local Palace Theatre to see “Toast“.
ROMEO & JULIET BALLET – 29th August 2019
A group of us left Leigh at 10:00am to see Matthew Bourne’s ballet version of Romeo & Juliet at Saddlers Wells London. If you have ever seen anything by Matthew, you will know to expect the unexpected and in this regard we were not disappointed. We were treated to his version of Shakespeare’s story all taking place within an asylum (but at least the asylum was in Verona). It was beautifully performed by some wonderfully talented young dancers to the live Prokofiev music. The story no longer involves warring families but brutal guards, oppressive rules and a system that is just bad. The two lead dancers manage to perform several minutes of ballet with lips locked in a lengthy snog whilst twisting, turning and rolling around the stage – incredible skill and agility. And again a Matthew Bourne twist in as much as it finishes exactly as it starts.
