Catherine JonesThe fight that took place in the long hot summer of 1995 wasn’t on the beaches, in the fields or in the streets, but rather on the airwaves, in record shops and across the front pages. Now arguably the biggest showdown in pop history has opened a...
Cathy CrabbGo and see the elegant brutality of Tina Fey’s Mean Girls at The Opera House, beloved musical of the beloved film. Cady Heron (Emily Lane) is the daughter of a zoologist and has lived an unsheltered life on a research station in Kenya. Cady’s...
Leslie James Kerwin“We’re all born naked and the rest is drag” is an immediate thought on the first watch of ‘Priscilla, Queen of the Desert’. RuPaul’s most famous catchphrase comes from the idea that there is more to a person than what is outwardly visible. The story...
Carmel ThomasonWhoever said you can get too much of a good thing never saw Jason Manford in pantomime. The Salford-born comedian takes the lead at Manchester Opera House for the fourth consecutive Christmas alongside his popular panto sidekick and Britain’s Got...
A camp old time was had of it at the Opera House with Top Hat. A flighty on its shoes show with classic Irving Berlin songs and a stellar cast of triple threats. Jerry Travers (Phillip Attmore), a Broadway sensation, helps an old boy out by coming...
Why can’t every show be like Slava’s Snowshow? Creating a childlike sleeping fantasy of elation and melancholy, played out by fools. Lots of people, me included, say they hate or fear clowns. But that’s only when those clowns are hiding behind make...
I think it would be good if one day a pop group musical could make us all believe in ourselves and go out into the ether changing our world for the better. And today, I will carry that through and try and be the best me that I can be. Because Here...
This ghost story, directed by Matthew Dunster and written by Danny Robins, has enjoyed huge audiences and many rave reviews. A leap of faith is necessary to believe what happens, although it is directed and acted the best it could be. Two hapless...
Dave PorterIt turns out that nostalgia is what it used to be. That’s certainly the case with this show which depicts an imaginary meeting between a triumvirate of comedy – Tommy Cooper, Eric Morecambe and Bob Monkhouse – backstage in a dusty dressing room of a...
A new musical is waiting to sweep you off your feet Bollywood style at the Opera House this week as the venue hosts the UK premiere of Come Fall in Love: the DDLJ Musical. For those who don’t know what DDLJ stands for, it is short for the 1995 Hindi...