The Fate of the Tameside Hippodrome from a Yankee's Point of View

Being a lover of the arts and feeling connected to Tameside by my little ten minute spot each week on Tameside Radio, I felt the need to put in my two pence about the impending closing of the Tameside Hippodrome. I always think it sad to destroy antiquity to make room for state-of-the-art, but I decided it only fair to do some research before I gave my opinion. I first looked up the history of the Hippodrome, then checked out the Council's website and their side of the story, and then went to the Save The Tameside Hippodrome website. I read the comments of some of the petitioners and it just made me angry and sad. Apparently, although the Council said it was closing the building to refurbish it, the petitioners are afraid of it being permanently closed and possibly demolished. To think a beautiful structure which admittedly might need some renovation could possibly be destroyed is hard to fathom. To me it is akin to closing Radio City Music Hall, New York's premiere art deco theatre. It would be devastating not only to New Yorkers but to tourists from all over the world to lose this magnificent landmark. Granted the Hippodrome is not of the scope of Radio City but to the Tameside community I'm sure it is just as important. What really upset me was that of the eight theatres built by the architectural firm of Drury and Gomersall, only three remain, the Tameside Hippodrome, the Odeon Guide Bridge and the Odeon Sale. The other five have been demolished. Tameside Hippodrome is the only one that still functions as a theatre. The Odeon Guide Bridge is now a Roman Catholic Church and the Odeon Sale is a gym. How sad. The Hippodrome, originally The Empire Theatre, was gutted in the 1930's and the interior renovated in that era's modern art deco architecture . The others were all built in the '30's in either art deco or moderne style architecture. With most of them already gone, demolishing the Hippodrome would be a travesty. I can tell you the first time I drove into New York City after 9/11 and looked at the skyline without the Twin Towers I was heartbroken, and it still looks like a piece of a puzzle is missing each time I look at the skyline.

The Council claims that the building needs to be surveyed for structural soundness and refurbished before a replacement for Live Nation which has been running it for the past 15 years can be found. Live Nation apparently are the leaders in live theatre in England and are no longer interested in running the Hippodrome. Since the Tameside Council owns the building, one can only wonder what their agenda really is. Could there be some big financial deal being made for the property? Does Tameside need another shopping mall, housing complex or bank? Or is it just too rundown or simply not cost-effective to run? Could the community keep it alive with building funds and some sweat equity? I say, keep fighting guys. I'm with you. In fact, although the petition said eligibility to sign was limited to residents of England, I was able to sign it. KEEP THE LANDMARK TAMESIDE HIPPODROME ALIVE!!!!!!

Life after the street

If anyone doughted that John Savident would be able to carry the role of Henry Hobson then folly to them. A triumph without dought. With comic timing second to none, he has made the part his own.

The sets,costumes and music were fantastic, creating a definate atmosphere and feel for the late Victorian period.Brilliantly supported by a fine cast, we were treated to a first class evening. If you get the chance go and see this play you will not be disapointed.

"Sunday in the Park with George" Comes to the Roundabout Theatre/The Importance of Non-Profit Theatres

With London's Menier Chocolate Factory's production of Stephen Sondheim's Sunday in the Park with George previewing this week at the non-profit Roundabout Theatre's Studio 54, I thought I'd write a little something about the importance of The Roundabout and other non-profit theatres. The Roundabout is the largest non-profit theatre in New York. Founded in 1965, it was developed "to support its artistic mission of fostering emerging talent in play writing, performance, and stagecraft". The Roundabout was founded to offer alternatives to Broadway fare and to revive the classics which might appeal to a large audience but not to a mass audience. These theatres are an important part of the cultural fabric of the city but have met with much criticism in the past few years because it is felt that their productions are vying with Broadway and blurring the edges of non-profit and commercial theatre.

The non-profits have tax-free status and critics feel that if they are non-profit they should not receive government aid. The truth of the matter is that less than 1% comes from government funding. They subsist on subscriptions and private funding and all the proceeds go back into the productions enabling them to present theatre pieces that probably would not have a chance on Broadway. The theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres. Broadway investors will only invest in theatre that will attract large audiences to large theatres for large profits making it close to impossible for a newcomer to get their show biz break. Because of the private funding and the loyal support of subscribers, they can take more chances and do more cutting edge type of productions allowing newcomers a chance to debut their work in small venues with low overhead allowing for cheap ticket prices, some as low as $20. Broadway and even off-Broadway ticket prices are a barrier to younger audiences thus the often heard expression "the graying of audiences".

Take the recent Roundabout Theatre's Underground initiative which presented a play by a 27 year old playwright in this 62 seat, state-of-the-art theatre. Speech & Debate has been critically acclaimed and has just been extended for a second time and will play to sold-out audiences until February 24th. And who knows after that? It could be extended again or might even move to a larger off-Broadway or even a Broadway theatre. This could not have happened if it weren't for the non-profit's ability to take a risk.

In the case of Sunday in the Park with George, Stephen Sondheim and James Lapine (librettist) wanted to do the Chocolate Factory's production of it at the Roundabout and approached Todd Haimes, the Artistic Director. They thought it would be better in a smaller "protected environment". Of course Roundabout was criticized for this and accused of going to London "to shop" for theatre to import. They were also criticized when their revival of Cabaret won the Tony Award in 1998 for Best Revival of a Musical stating that the Tony Awards should be a tool to promote commercial theatre and if Roundabout wants to vie for Tonys they should lose their tax-free status. Golly, and all this time I thought the Tony Awards were for excellence in theatre.

The wonderful thing about New York theatre is diversity. There's something for everyone's taste. New York needs the non-profits to showcase new artists, to make theatre affordable thus making it more accessible and then there's also educational functions. There's also something to be said for an intimate setting. Who knows, Stephen Karam who wrote Speech & Debate could be the next Neil Simon or Noel Coward.

A poster on a sign in my daughter's art classroom says, "All artists were first amateurs" - Ralph Waldo Emerson, American Essayist/Poet. Isn't it wonderful that there are organizations with vision, determination and courage to turn an amateur into a pro.

Shakespeare and beyond

Well as I said in my last blog,The Lowry seems to be where it's all going on at the moment.Monday past The Dean and I saw The Reduced Shakespeare Company, now don't go "ugh Shakespeare". Even if you hated doing it at school,if you get the chance go see this highly entertaining show, well worth the effort.Fun and funny all the plays in 97 minutes,madcap and taken at breakneck speed. Well I enjoyed it. Now on Wednesday "The Mikado" took over the Quay's theatre.A modern slant on the traditional Gilbert & Sulivan Operretta,entertaining without taxing the little gray cells. Hampered only by the fact that Yum Yum had a very nasty throught infection. Next up at the Lowry John Savient in Hobsons Choice .Thats Next week from Wednesday,so if you fancy a bit of northern grit then we may well see you there.

Hairspray - A Must See

Lucky me. For my birthday, my husband took my daughter and me to see Hairspray. If he had asked me what I wanted to see I would have said Young Frankenstein. But am I glad he did the choosing. My daughter has wanted to see Hairspray for a long time. She has the original Broadway cast album and the movie on DVD. She knows every song and was even more excited to be seeing it than I. I have to admit, this is the best musical of it's kind that I've seen. I would compare it with Mama Mia which is incredibly entertaining and fun but Hairspray tops it with the most clever sets and effects that I've seen. It won eight out of the thirteen Tony awards it was nominated for.

As you probably know, Hairspray is the musical adaptation of the 1988 John Waters film, who by the way gets Consultant billing in the playbill. (John Waters had a cameo in the recent "Hairspray The Musical" movie as a flasher. And yes, there is a flasher in the stage show.)

The story is about racism in Baltimore (John Waters' home town) in 1962, but it is also a story of accepting people for who they are, no matter what color they are or what they look like. It focuses specifically on the integration of a teenage dance program called "The Corny Collins Show"*. Tracy Turnblad loves the show and her dream is to be a dancer on the show. However, she is faced with discrimination because she is overweight. Her mother, Edna Turnblad, is not only overweight but extremely unattractive. But her husband worships the ground she walks on. After all these years, despite the weight gain and aging, he is still madly in love with her and the number they do together "You're Timeless to Me" is so endearing and moving while also being hilariously funny. Tracy, unlike her mother, has enough self-confidence, personality and charisma to not only be instrumental in racially integrating the show (her favorite day is the once monthly "Negro Day" on the Corny Collins Show) but to attract the hottest, most popular guy on the show. So while the main plot of the musical is racism, size acceptance is the secondary plot.

Newcomer to Broadway, Shannon Durig, did a superb job as the bubbly Tracy. She played the part with great enthusiasm and her voice was great. Her dancing was limited but high-spirited. She was good at spinning and did a lot of it. I found her very appealing.

Edna Turnblad was played by George Wendt of tv's "Cheers" fame (he played Norm). Physically, he was perfect for the role of the overweight, unattractive, cariature of a woman which is what the role calls for. The fact that her husband Wilbur, played brilliantly by Tom Rooney, adores her for the lovable, wonderful person she is, is conveyed by and is the reason why a male actor in drag always plays the character. Everytime Wendt was on stage I roared with laughter and I must admit it wasn't long before I forgot it was a man playing the part.

In the role of Link, the teen idol of the "Corny Collins Show" who is trying to get his show business break, was Ashley Parker Angel. He was wonderful in the role, gorgeous, great singer, great dancer, great appeal. My daughter was gushing because we had watched him on a reality show called "Making the Band" which eventually evolved into the boy band "O-Town". I have to admit I was doing my share of gushing as well.

Of special note was a character actress named Susan Mosher who played multiple parts and was a standout in every scene she was in.

Another standout was Darlene Love as Motormouth Maybelle. Yes, THE Darlene Love, the rock and roll legend (she also played Danny Glover's wife in all four "Lethal Weapon" movies). Her voice could knock your socks off. She sang "Big, Blonde and Beautiful" a song about being happy with the way you are, and "I Know Where I've Been". She was outstanding and still quite a beautiful woman after 40 years in the business.

Also of note were Ashley Spencer, a finalist in America's "Grease, You're the One That I Want" playing Amber, Niki Scalera as Tracy's doddy best friend, Penny Pingleton, Naturi Naughton as Little Inez and Tevin Campbell as Seaweed. Spencer was quite good as Amber, Scalera played the ditzy friend to perfection and Naughton and Campbell were both fabulous dancers.

The show opened with an overhead of Tracy (Busby Berkley-style) in bed singing "Good Morning Baltimore" with ovals of dancers in silhouette behind her. And of course the ending was a happy, uplifting one, girl gets boy, everyone gets along, peace on earth with the entire cast and audience celebrating to "You Can't Stop the Beat". A fabulous evening, one I'll never forget.

*There was actually a dance show called "The Buddy Dean Show" on the air in Baltimore in the 60's which Hairspray is loosely based on. However, the producers of the show chose to cancel the show rather than integrate it.

The Snowman

Well January has got off to a rare old canter. Thursday saw the "Dean" and myself touring The Bridgewater Hall, Although only built eleven years ago It has fast built a reputation for quality entertainment.
The home of The Halle Orchestra And the BBC Radio Orchestra to name but two, Over the past eleven years the hall has seen quite a variety of entertainment pass through its doors. Forthcoming events include Concert Appearances by John Barrowman, Liza Minnelli,Barbara Dickson & Alison Moyet. Alongside The Russian State Ballet Company, the Glen Miller Orchestra and the Vienna Tonkunster Symphony Orchestra the early Part of the year is set to be quite a time musically.
Friday night was The Manchester debut of the Snowman at the Lyric Theatre in the Lowry following on from the very successful pantomime Dick Whittington.
Based on the award winning animated feature its transfer to the stage as a modern dance piece has proven to be a big hit. That is if the clapping and cheering of the audience tonight was any kind of marker.

The Wedding Singer - It's Jersey Again

I talked about The Wedding Singer which will be playing at the Palace Theatre in Manchester from February 22 to March 1 on last Sunday's Matinee. Because of time constraints I was unable to tell you about my friend Lana's take on the show. First of all, for the few of you who read the blog and don't listen to the show (who am I kidding?) I'll go over the synopsis again. The Wedding Singer is another Hollywood movie adapted into a musical for theatre. It takes place in 1985, give or take a few years, in New Jersey. New Jersey, for your information, is located south and southeast of New York and is part of the tri-state area of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut. Many residents of New Jersey work in New York City and many are former residents of New York. The stereotypical New Jerseyan is brash and has a "Joisey" accent. The stereotype is someone who will curse you out one minute and give you the shirt off his back the next. To be honest, New Jerseyans are very similar to New Yorkers and, in fact, just as sophisticated (unless of course they're from the Joisey shore. Just kidding. I love the Jersey shore and spend a week with my friends Joan and Mike Duffy every summer at their beach house in Sea Isle City.) And no, not every resident of New Jersey is connected to the mob. Well, back to The Wedding Singer. Rock star wannabe, Robbie Hart (originally played by Stephen Lynch a musician and stand-up comedian), is a popular New Jersey wedding singer. He's the life of the party kinda guy until his fiance leaves him at the altar. He can't hide the fact that his heart is broken and makes every wedding he plays as disasterous as his own. His loyal band members and his grandma, Rosie, do all they can to help him out of his despair but to no avail. Enter Julia, a waitress, who is about to be married to a Wall Street (NY financial district) up and comer. Robbie falls hook, line and sinker for her and spends the rest of the show trying to win her over and persuade her that she is engaged to the wrong guy. The show garnered the gamut of reviews. Most loved it although felt it lacked the quirkiness of the 1998 movie starring Adam Sandler and Drew Barrymore. Common to many of the reviews I read was the feeling that much of the music in the play which takes place in the '80's sounds more like '50's music except for a few dance numbers which evoke era-defining songs such as Thriller, Material Girl, and Flashdance. Of course, a wedding singer will sing an eclectic array of music so I don't think this criticism is valid.

Since I didn't see The Wedding Singer myself, I asked my friend Lana who did see it what she thought about it. Lana said she really enjoyed it. She said it was "a feel-good kind of play with fun, boppy music". Said it was "not great theatre but fun theatre and if you want a fun night out with your friends you'll love it".

Sounds like it's worth a trip down the aisle to see The Wedding Singer. So bring some rice, but leave the toilet paper and newspaper home (reference Rocky Horror Picture Show) and take yourself down to The Palace Theatre. Let me know what you think of it. You can email me at suko@matineeshow.co.uk.

Cheap Seats vs Best Seats/"Wintuk" Cirque du Soleil's Winter Tale

It is my philosophy when it comes to musical theatre, ballet and opera, quantity as well as quality is important. If you can't afford the top tickets or even the medium priced tickets, then by all means purchase the cheapest tickets. It is actually better to sit further back for many shows because you get a broader view of the stage. I often get the $10/5 pound tickets for ballet because to be honest, ballet is better viewed further back. And how many times have I purchased top price tickets only to have to crane my neck and move from side to side to see because the person in front of me is very large. It hurts when you've paid $120/60 pounds for the ticket, but at $10/5 pounds you just make the best of it.

Case in point is "Wintuk" Cirque du Soleil's Winter Tale. My husband surprised me with tickets for it for Christmas. The top tickets were $200/100 pounds which is just too pricey. So he purchased the medium priced tickets and they were just fine but the cheapest tickets would have been okay too. It's such a magical, mystical, wondrous theatre experience that you get lost in it and don't think about where you're sitting.

If you've never seen a Cirque du Soleil production because you were scared away by the prices, reconsider next time you have the opportunity. It is like no other theatre experience you have ever seen. It is a circus in that there is a lot going on at one time and there are performers who can do things the human body was not created to be able to do. To me, they all have the flavor of a 50's/60's Italian movie. Very Fellini-ish. But they are so much more. They all take you on a journey with a story and a message. And each one is different. The last one we saw "Delirium" was more of a concert experience with music the driving force. The story was of a man looking for balance in an out of sync world. It was the first Cirque du Soleil production that added lyrics to the original and remixed music. It was quite wonderful and I must admit sitting in the front row was pretty special. We felt as though they were performing for us. And after the show they did come off the stage and shake our hands. (They must have known I was destined for radio stardom.) But in sitting in the front we were unable to see the two IMAX screens which were an integral part of the show.

Wintuk is very different. It still has the circus acts and the European sensibility but this one, unlike the others, is geared towards families. There is something for everyone. From puppet lampposts who sing, sway and bat their eyelashes, whimsical shaggy dogs the size of small elephants to the astounding acrobats who perform with street performer mentality and the 20 foot ice monsters. The story is simple, a boy in search of snow. The set is a street scene with clothes drying on the line and trash cans abounding with hills and a curved embankment in the background on which skaters and skateboarders slalom, flip and fly back and forth from one to the other. The clothes line is an important part of the scenery. When the snowless blizzard comes the clothes blow in a frenzy, and then there is the man in search of his pants who must walk the slack wire of the line to get to them. With the help of the dogs, a young man afraid of his shadow, the Shadow girl (a sweet ballerina who appears from a shadow) and a homeless female shaman, the boy, Jamie, attempts to bring snow to his wintry home. They are transported to the mystical northern land of Wintuk where the locals are in conflict with the ice monsters for trying to keep the snow from falling. It is the man afraid of his shadow who finds his strength and fends off the monsters. And the snows come. The boy and his entourage are transported home on the back of a giant crane to find the people rejoicing on the snowy street.

I believe the cheapest seats were $30/15 pounds. Definitely worth giving up a couple of double lattes for.