Theatre Review: Ghost The Musical

Posted on March 5, 2012 by sohail

From its initiation ‘Ghost the Musical‘ has London Theatre West End under its ghostly spell. It made its twisty way into West End theatres’ tough competitive tunnels in June 2011 and now has penetrated under the very skin of the London hit musicals and has bookings till October 2012. Ghost Musical is again amongst those hit musicals who have adopted their sparkling ideas from Hollywood hit films and have done justice to their foster fathers.

Ghost Musical is a smooth slickly piece of stagecraft engulfing the whole West End with its haunting charm! Matthew Warchus’ the producer along with his talented creative vast production team adapted the 1990 Academy award winning Hollywood hit, Ghost into a very fascinating stage show. The musical has amazingly captivating music and lyrics by Grammy® award winning Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard. Oscar® winning Bruce Joel Rubin will familiarize you with his original screen play for the stage and lyrics. Set and costumes designs are by Rob Howell, musical supervision and arrangements by Christopher Nightingale, the unbelievable illusions, the real treat of the musical, are by the ingenious imaginative mind of Paul Kieve, with lighting by Hugh Vanstone and sound by Bobby Aitken. Continue reading →

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Singin In The Rain Clap, clout and dance!

Posted on February 28, 2012 by sohail

It is an accepted veracity that Singin In the Rain with a few additions or subtractions has emerged as the greatest musical ever made out of a movie. Singin in the Rain is a musical based on a classical book and 1950s MGM hit movie of the same name. The Book is the conception of Betty Comden and Adolph Green whereas the movie is the American legendary comedy musical hit. This theatrical version of Singin In the Rain conjures up its own charm and fantasies on the stage of the Palace Theatre. Singin In The Rain has recently been transferred to the Palace Theatre West End with an awful lot of squelchy gear after a sellout run at the Chichester Festival Theatre. Continue reading →

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A TRIBUTE TO THE QUEEN

Posted on February 23, 2012 by sohail

For all you Queen’s fans out there, West End brings to you and for you a unique assortment of Queen’s all-time-favorite hits stringed together into a captivating story and performed by lively characters. The music of the 70’s and 80’s is back with a bang. And this time the bang is even louder…

In the underworld of music, it’s a battle over the life of rock music. A worldwide parasitic phenomenon has enslaved the free minds of music lovers and has threatened the very survival of music. Musical instruments have been virtually chained and youngsters all over the world have been sentenced to a lifetime of listening to lifeless, monotonous, software-generated tunes. In this darkest age of music era, a young enthusiast appears and takes on the duty of reviving Queen’s old rock music and spreading the melody of their prized, hidden instruments. But the music giant ‘Global Soft’ eyes even the tinniest bit of creativity as an effective threat to their iron-hold over world’s pop music and will do everything in its power to crush the efforts of the rock music lovers. Who survives this battle? Only time will tell…or well seeing a performance of We Will Rock You will… Continue reading →

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The French Revolition and the London Theatre

Posted on February 13, 2012 by sohail

Do theatres shape revolutions? Do theatres portray revolutions? Do they bring about revolutions? Annals of history show that theatres and more particularly modern theatre have played each and every one of this role and continues to do so…

West End has set standards and followed traditions; as had most of London’s other theatres. Take the example of French Revolution. By enacting “Les Mis”, West End played as important a role in spreading the cause of French revolt as did any other ‘French loyal’ organ. Victor Hugo’s masterpiece “Les Miserable” covers a large portion of Revolutionary French history. Though it was merely Hugo’s story which the theatre staged but the cast, crew and performances were no less than the actual, bitter reality. The French Revolution brought about great changes in the society and government of France and also had extensive effects on the rest of Europe just like the staging of Les Miserable – the musical transformed the West End playlist. A quarter of a century has passed since this play was premiered and it continues to make the audience laugh, cry, tremble, and applaud, all at the same time. It concocts a simmering cauldron of emotion and leaves its viewers in awe. Continue reading →

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Wicked Rejoice the evil!

Posted on February 6, 2012 by sohail

Are people born Wicked? Or do they have Wickedness thrust upon them?

(Glinda)

‘No one mourns the wicked’, this track serves as the background soundtrack for the whole length of Wicked musical and questions your presumptions about the evilness. Wicked is a musical based on the Gregory Maguire novel Wicked: “The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West”, a similar novel of the renowned classic story of “Wizard Of Oz” by L. Frank Baum’s. Composed by Stephen Schwartz, Wicked introduced the concept of whether witches are born evil or not to the musical. Another significant one of the Wicked the musical songs is ‘The wizard and I’, by Carole Shelley and Idina Menzel. This song brings some irony to the stage early on in that it features Elphaba singing that she is so happy that she feels like she is melting not knowing that her fate would take her towards a melt-down death near the end of the musical. Continue reading →

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War Horse – A Heart Touching Theatre Masterpiece

Posted on January 30, 2012 by sohail

War Horse London TheatreSet during World War I, War Horse is a play based on the story of children’s book “War Horse”, written by much venerated children’s writer Michael Morpurgo. The story follows the adventures of a boy, Albert, and the farm horse he raises from a colt, his “Joey”. The story was then adopted for theatrical show and Nick Stafford did the job of bringing it out of the book-form into a real show, out in front of the stage audiences. Book and play in a similar way trail the incidental tracks of the two (Albert and Joey), from the pastoral English countryside to the blood-spattered battlefields of France, through the tragic events of the Great War. The play proved its appeal through instantaneous triumph and is eulogized and acclaimed by audiences worldwide. The play’s West End production is directed by Marianne Elliott and Toby Sedgwick put up the real charisma of show with his brilliance and mastermind choreography. Continue reading →

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The Blissful Musical ever existed Crazy for You

Posted on January 23, 2012 by sohail

Crazy for You The MusicalWith revival of the original script, dramatizing and exaggerating the plot, adding chilies to the suspense and sugar to the light-hearted humor and incorporating laugh out loud stage comedy… you truly get to experience the embellishment of a new dish out of an older recipe. CRAZY FOR YOU, it is, with book by Ken Ludwig, lyrics by Ira Gershwin, and music by George Gershwin, is one of the most blissful musicals ever existed. Ken Ludwig has actually rewritten the book of a 1930 Gershwin musical, Girl Crazy, but maintained and kept five of the original 19 numbers and mixed them up with the George and Ira Gershwin back-catalogue to come up with his own symphony of Crazy For You. The much rejoiced and enjoyed Gershwin score contains some of the brothers’ most beautiful and memorable songs, including I Got Rhythm, Someone to Watch Over Me, Embraceable You, They Can’t Take That Away From Me, Shall We Dance, But Not For Me, and Nice Work If You Can Get It. Continue reading →

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Million Dollar Quartet A spectacular true story- Four rock stars and dozen hit songs in just 90 minutes!

Posted on January 13, 2012 by sohail

Its December 4th, 1956 Carl Perkins is at the Sun Records in Memphis (Tennessee US) recording a song called “Matchbox”.  Little does he know that he is going to be interrupted by three other rock stars of his time Jerry Lee Lewis, Johnny Cash and Elvis Presley. It is Christmas Eve and they came to wish Merry Christmas to Sam Phillips owner of the Sun Records studio. The legendary quartet of Elvis, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins and Jerry Lee Lewis, was originally discovered by this genius mind, Sam Phillips and they were signed to his Sun label. On this Eve, Elvis, who had already left the label and was on his way to becoming an international star, came home for Christmas and popped in to Sun studios to see his old friends.  So fate had stored a real twist in their lives and what was supposedly a recording session for Carl, turned into a 4-hour jam session between the guys. They all enjoyed jamming up and singing some of their hits as well as a mess of spiritual numbers.  Sam Phillips rolled tape and dubbed the foursome, “The Million Dollar Quartet“. Continue reading →

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Andrew Lloyd – Wizard of Oz The Musical

Posted on January 11, 2012 by sohail

Any production by Andrew Lloyd Webber is, without any shred of doubt, always MAJOR! But it isn’t wrong to say that WIZARD OF OZ is one of the biggest. Starring big names like Starring Danielle Hope and Michael Crawford, this creation has enjoyed nothing but soaring success right from its inception days. Be it the novel or the movie of the same name or the stage adaptation of a classical best-seller; The Wizard of OZ’s fate has been nothing but triumph and rightfully so…

This West End musical enjoys a strong cast led by theatre veteran Michael Crawford as The Wizard of Oz, Marianne Benedict as the Wicked Witch of the West, Paul Keating as Scarecrow, Edward Baker Duly as Tin Man, David Ganly as Cowardly Lion and Emily Tierney as Glinda, a multi-million pound production, Oscar-winning songs from the movie in addition to especially written new songs by Lloyd -Webber and Tim Rice. Continue reading →

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Ghost the musical Enchanting the West End!

Posted on January 9, 2012 by sohail

‘Ghost the Musical’ is a glossy piece of stagecraft engulfing the whole West End with its haunting charm! Matthew Warchus’ the producer along with his vast production team adapted the 1990 Academy award winning Hollywood hit, Ghost into a very captivating stage show. The musical has music and lyrics by Grammy® award winning Dave Stewart and Glen Ballard. Oscar® winning Bruce Joel Rubin will familiarize you with his original screen play for the stage and lyrics. Set and costumes designs are by Rob Howell, musical supervision and arrangements by Christopher Nightingale, the unbelievable illusions are by the ingenious mind of Paul Kieve, with lighting by Hugh Vanstone and sound by Bobby Aitken. Continue reading →

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