"The Wind In The Willows - The Musical" by Blind Eye.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

This story takes me right back to when I was a kid, watching "Tales Of The Riverbank" on black and white TV; the TV programme was originally filmed in black and white, just in case you thought my childhood started when TV was only in black and white!

This is the first time that I have seen the musical version of this delightful play, so although knowing the basic story, I was more than excited to see the musical version. 

"Wind In The Willows" is written by Julian Fellowes, whose name may ring a bell as he also was responsible for writing "Downton Abbey". The music and lyrics are by George Stiles and Anthony Drewe, who have been responsible for several of the more recent revivalist musicals around at the moment like "Kipps" and "Mary Poppins" plus the wonderful new musical "Becoming Nancy". The musical is based on the 1908 novel of the same name, written by Kenneth Grahame. 

Listen carefully and you might also spot some other musical theatre influences in their work. I am sure I heard echoes of "Hamilton" as well as "Les Miserables" in a couple of the songs.

This comedy musical follows Mole, Ratty, Badger, and the impulsive and amazing Mr. Toad, whose insatiable need for speed lands him in serious trouble. With his beloved home under threat from the notorious Chief Weasel and his gang of sinister Wild Wooders, Toad must attempt a daring escape leading to a series of misadventures and a heroic battle to recapture Toad Hall.

Ratty is kind, sociable, and accommodating, much like the actor who plays him,  JJ McCormack. Brilliant fun character and very different to his last role as Stanley Kowalski in "A Streetcar Named Desire". Playing Ratty, the water rat, brings out the fun, playful side of JJ, and if you look closely, you can see his eyes twinkling with joy.

Mr Toad is played by Bertie Black, an inspired piece of casting. Toad is the flightiest and pettiest character in this musical, due to a combination of immaturity and unrestrained wealth. He represents the British upper class, as he is an aristocrat living in his large inherited estate, Toad Hall, and has a snooty attitude towards those of lower class. The "youngest" of the animals, he is quick to pick up and then dismiss expensive hobbies, most notably with motorcars. Bertie has the unrivalled energy for this role as well as the excitable singing style needed for this eccentric, but lovable character.

Max Wilmott plays Mole, who serves as our first lens into the story, as Mole slowly matures from a frightened animal into a self-reliant, brave and clever companion. Max played a couple of minor roles in "Streetcar" for Blind Eye, but what a discovery this young man is. He has a wonderful voice for musical theatre and gets to sing one of my favourite songs from the soundtrack, "A Place To Come Back To". Max is a very expressive actor, and combined with his vocal ability, he is going to be in demand for many various theatre roles. I can see his theatrical CV being filled to the max in the next twelve months and beyond.

Badger, the "oldest" of the animals, Badger is a stoic and solitary character who lives in the Wild Wood, is played by Kevin Jones. Now, here is another discovery that made me sit up! I've seen Kevin in several shows in the past few years, so his acting talents come as no surprise, but what does is that singing voice. This production really highlights some real hidden talents from actors and performers who have been seen on local stages, but spotlights talents we may not have seen before. A great authoritive performance, while still showing that caring side of the character.

Mrs Otter, is quick and bright, and gains the respect of other animals by always being on hand to help when needed. Mrs Otter is played by Andrea Caulfield-Smith.

Mrs Otter's daughter Portia, is played by Gabriella Tilley. Portia always seems to be disappearing, worrying her mother, but she causes much more worry later on in the story. A nice fun role for Gabriella.

Chief Weasel is played by Alex Sjoberg- Weeks, who stepped into the role with just ten days' notice. Not that you would have noticed because her performance was smooth and faultless. The nasty characters are always more fun to play and Alexandra looked as if she was having a great time being evil. The audience even saved some panto style baddie boos for her at the final bows, showing that she hit all the right notes with them.

Lesser Weasel and  Sheryl Stoat is played by Emme Gunn. Another pair of roles deserving panto style boos, but so much fun in the nasty department.

Mr and Mrs Hedgehog are played by James and Danielle Rodgers, who with the cutest of baby hedgehogs gave us a highway code lesson we could all take note of where the safety of hedgehogs is concerned on the open road, in the song "The Hedgehog's Nightmare". A quality comedy quartet.

The trio of swallows are played by Ashleigh Wilkinson, Emily Hudson and Gill Cook. Their spotlight song, "A Swallow Does Not A Summer Make" provided a lovely operatic style section.

The adult ensemble consist of Beth Duffy, Paul Marples, Paul Duffy (why have we not heard Paul singing on stage before?), Lindsey Hemingway (go on, see if you can count how many different characters she plays here), Ann Colgan, Steve Webb, Adam Chapman, Emily Hudson, James Rodgers, Danielle Rodgers, Kay Thomason-Vardy and Gill Cook. All of them don many costumes and hats throughout. 

  

The children's ensemble are played by Evan Thomason-Vardy, Lexie Rodgers, Caitlin Rodgers, Emily Ractliffe, Lily O’Toole and Olivia Thomason-Vardy. These have to be the cutest children's ensemble ever and boy, do they give 110% in everything that they do on stage. Some get to perform small solo sections and is there any sign of nerves? Not one. They all look as if they are loving being on stage, and that comes out in the performances they give.

Directed by Zackary McCormack in his directorial debut. Regular readers of my reviews will know his name because Zack is responsible for all of the set construction, along with Grant Hemingway, but it looks as if his talents are not just resigned to set construction, but also in directing. Zack was assisted in the directing stakes by Kirsty Smith.

Musical Director is Sam Griffiths, who also stepped into the breach at the last minute. Sam is the musical hero you need when you need a stand in MD, and it was good to see him on local soil again. This is a musical which has many earworms; for me "A Friend Is Still A Friend", "Messing About In A Boat", "Hush" and "A Place To Come Back To" are still rattling around my eardrums.

Choreographed by Ashleigh Wilkinson, and if I know anything about Ashleigh, she will have put this cast through their paces. How do I know that? Just take a look at the choreography standard in this musical!

The set design is by Grant Hemingway and Zack Mccormack, and up to their usual high standards.

There's an audio/visual design backdrop that worked well with placing the characters and showing the scenery of the story, i.e. the river, the woods and Toad Hall among the various scenes. This area of production was created by Paul Duffy.

Sound design is by Nick Elliott and Dom Mills. On a personal level, I would have liked the volume of the backing tracks to be just a little lower because at times the music slightly drowned some of the vocals. Apart from that, everything was spot on with everything to do with the sound department.

Lighting design is by Alan Betton and Ben Bradley. There was just one scene where the cast were in shadows, stage left, but, as this is the first time that I have seen this show as a musical, I was in two minds as to whether this was supposed to be how it was supposed to look, and that the animals were supposed to be hiding in the shadows. I'd like to think that this is what was intended.

There are some brilliant costumes in this musical. I loved the way that you could tell who the characters, and the animals were just by the costume design, the make up and addition of wigs etc. Mole could only have been Mole because of the glasses. the Hedgehog family had spines on their shoulders and cute black noses. Ratty had his long rat-like tail. Badger was dressed up to the nines in grey which accentuated his standing in the animal community. Toad had the most layered costume, apart from his striped prison outfit, and his prison escape costume (sorry for any spoilers). 

Blind Eye always seem to work to their members strong points and JJ's costume designs are brilliantly thought out to instantly show who these characters are without a word being said or anything explanatory given.

Apart from panto, there aren't that many all family entertainment plays and musicals going around the circuit at the moment. This is one that every age will love, so grab the kids and their Grandparents and see this show. 

With every show that Blind Eye put on, they always like to give back by holding collections for charities appropriate to the show, and this is no different. Blind Eye are collecting for Nottingham Wildlife Trust as well as a charity called Breakthrough T1D, which supports Type 1 Diabetes.

"The Wind In The Willows - The Musical" is at the Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until Saturday 23 November, but tickets for the rest of the run are limited, speed is of the essence so grab them now and don't be a party poop pooper!!

 "A Midsummer Night's Dream" by Opera North.

Nottingham Theatre Royal.

Who'd have thought 400 years after his death we would still be enjoying the great poetry that Shakespeare wrote for the stage. This is one of his best comedies but in today's terms this could be seen as a fore runner of the "rom-com", After all, this is a love story for three of the couples featured which ends well for all three.

I'm not going to precis the story as you should know the tale of Hermia and her love triangle and the mischievous fairy, Puck who, on orders from the fairy king Oberon, throws the fairy spanner in the works, but then gets it all sorted out just in time for the happy ending.

Mix in the music of Benjamin Britten and could this production get any better?

You certainly get your money's worth with this Opera North production as I left the theatre at around 10.15, over three hours after the production started, which includes two intervals.

The gentleman behind me said that there was nothing catchy in the music and there were no memorable arias. I do not agree with this because just having an orchestra playing live feet away from you and playing Britten's music is memorable enough for me. Live orchestras in the theatre may soon be a thing of the past, replaced by a backing track, and no one wants that, especially for productions like this or ballet.

"A Midsummer Night's Dream" is one of my Top Five Shakespearian works, and this production was a dream to watch, and this cast. along with the large, and young cast of fairies, was superb.

Anyone who is part of Opera North guarantees you a great vocal experience, in the same way as any dancer from the Northern Ballet are at the top of their class, so I don't need to tell you how good the vocals in this production are. If the performers weren't the best, they wouldn't be there.

James Laing is Oberon, King of the Fairies. The first thing you notice about James is his very distinctive voice, again the same person behind me asked his theatre buddy if he was playing a female version of Oberon due to his singing voice - the charlatan! James has a distinctive counter tenor voice that grabs your attention as soon as he opens his mouth. 

Daisy Brown is Tytania, Queen Of The Fairies. This Tytania is possibly one of the sexiest Fairy Queens that I've seen in any production, but also one of the most playful. Her scenes with Nick Bottom, as the ass, are saucy but full of fun.

Costumes for Oberon and Tytania look like something from a stylish Sci Fi show, as you can see in the photos.

Daniel Abelson is Puck, aka Robin Goodfellow steals practically every scene he is in. Brilliant comedy scenes every time he appears, especially when he is hurrying the young cast of fairies off stage with another round of breaking the fourth wall. This is a really physical role which shows off his flexibility and dance skills.

The four lovers are Siân Griffiths (Hermia), Peter Kirk (Lysander), Camilla Harris (Helena) and  James Newby (Demetrius). Theses characters shine a light on the wit of Shakespeare, and in this production the action with this quartet is set in the Swinging Sixties with the costumes reflecting Carnaby Street style. Ladies you also get to see Lysander and Demetrius wrestling in their underwear! Hermia and Helena also get to show off some saucy silky slips as well.

The Mechanicals, the acting group who perform for Shakespearian royalty, prior to the wedding, consist of Henry Waddington (Nick Bottom), Dean Robinson (Peter Quince), Nicholas Watts (Francis Flute), Frazer Scott (Snug), Colin Judson (Tom Snout) and Nicholas Butterfield (Robin Starveling). 

The wonderful thing about Shakespeare's plays is that they can be set in any era, and with this particular area of this play, the staging and costumes for The Mechanicals can be given free will for the Director to have fun with. Once more, this section comes across as different to any other that I've seen in the past and the costumes are simply superb, especially Tom Snout's "The Wall".

Molly Barker is Hippolyta, The Queen of The Amazons, and another incredible costume.  Andri Björn Róbertsson is Theseus, Duke of Athens, whose costume is just as stylish and eye catching.

The four fairies employed for serving Tytania are Kitty Moore (Peaseblossom), Dougie Sadgrove (Moth), Lucy Eatock (Mustardseed) and Jessie Thomas (Cobweb).

I mentioned the young fairy cast and the others are Willow Bell, Reggie Blood, Sienna Christou, Hope Day, Bethany Doy, Toby Dray, Olivia Dunning, Joseph Hall, Neil Hargreaves, Aurora Harris, Lars Hunter, Evie Marsden, Felicity Moore and Lyra Schofield. What a treat it must be for such a young group to sing and perform with such an incredible company as Opera North.

Conductor Garry Walker, headed up a wonderful sounding orchestra.

Director Martin Duncan and Revival Director Matthew Eberhardt.

Set Designer Johan Engels, has created a wonderful set with columns of what looks like perspex, meaning that you could see misty images of the characters behind them. In the air were giant clear balloons, almost in a crown formation. Apart from these main features, the rest was left to the performers. What brought the above features to life was a lovely lighting design by Bruno Poet with Revival Lighting by Richard Moore.

Costume Designer is Ashley Martin-Davis. I loved the costumes for this show, especially the Sixties suits for Lysander and Demetrius and Theseus' flashy threads. The silver Sci Fi costumes for Oberon and Tytania were also pretty groovy also. Puck's satiny shorts and "hairy" tights were perfect for this playful pixie, and the simple fairy costumes for the young group of fairies made them all look as angelic as their singing. Costume wise this has to be one of the best designs for "Dream".

Completing the whole image for this cast are the wonderful wigs and marvellous make up, supervised by Jo Charlton-Wright.

Choreographed by Ben Wright. It all added to the fun of this production.

"A Midsummer night's dream" was a one off performance, but Opera North are at the Theatre Royal all week with "Ruddigore" by Gilbert & Sullivan on Thursday 21 November, and Mozart's "The Magic Flute" on Friday 22 November and Saturday 23 November.

Photo credits: Richard H Smith.

 "Occult Odyssey" by Niche Artefact.

Revolucion de Cuba, Nottingham.

"Niche" definition - "a specialized segment of the market for a particular kind of product or service" or "products, services, or interests that appeal to a small, specialized section of the population".

"Artefact" definition - "an object made by a human being, typically one of cultural or historical interest".

Niche Artefact are a creative collective, based in Nottingham. They curate bespoke art shows at different venues across Nottingham - featuring creatives of every medium. The previous show being staged at Nottingham's Central library, this one staged at Revolucion de Cuba in the middle of town. Niche Artefact are inclusive to the LGBTQIA+ community and all allies.

I attended the last show and loved the entertainment, as well as the art work unveiled on the evening by local Nottingham artists. Tonight was just as diverse and special as the previous one.

The evening was hosted by the founder of Niche Artefact, Robin da Silva, Master of Ceremonies for the evening was David.

The evening started off with the whole cast kicking off the darkly themed evening with a song called "The Ballad Of The Witches Road" from "Agatha All Along", and from on then it got deliciously darker.

Milady Burlesque had travelled all the way from Germany for her appearance tonight. I was bowled over with Milady's aerial skills at the last Niche Artefact show, and this performance, with a Celtic feel, again highlighted the wonderful flexibility this lady has, combining athleticism with burlesque glamour. 

Not only does Milady Burlesque possess the above skills, but she has a gorgeous voice as well, which she also showcased in a couple of beautifully dramatic vocal performances on "Be Italian", from the film "Nine", and a powerful Disturbed influenced version of Simon and Garfunkel's "The Sound Of Silence".

Niche Artefacts describe Serena Eadon as a "sensational live vocalist", and I would never dispute this description because that is exactly what serena is. She is sensational and a range that is as wide as Nottingham itself. Serena's first solo of the evening was a little French number called "Voila", and then the gorgeous "Moonfall", from the musical "The Mystery Of Edwin Drood". but the highlight of Serena's set for me was the duet with performance artist Ro De La Monja of "Phantom Of the Opera"; well, talk about drama!

Ro de La Monja's voice just seems to have got bigger and better since I last saw him a couple of months ago, and believe me it was good then. He soared in the opening song, "The Ballad Of The Witches Road", and his duet with Serena just made me love his voice even more.

Another fantastic artist I was pleased to see back was Priscilla Shona Krakow (PSK), who started off lip synching to one of my favourite Cher songs "Dark Lady". As part of the trio "The Cultettes", PSK joined forces with Dani Magic and Carrie On Love for a rendition of Olivia Newton-John's "Hopelessly Devoted To You". This was accompanied by a brilliant black and white film showing this naughty trio in action.

Carrie On Love made her Niche Artefact debut this evening, as well as her solo singing debut for Niche.

Dani Magic became the eighth wonder by treating us to Fleetwood Mac's "Seven Wonders".

This was truly a phenomenal evening of drag, burlesque and Queer entertainment. I thought my first taste of Niche was brilliant, but this evening took my Niche experience up another notch!

In between the live entertainment we also got to see the selection of Queer Art by some incredibly talented artists, who also explained the stories and/or inspiration behind their work. I absolutely loved the art work of The Sanderson Sisters, especially being a massive Bette Midler fan. For those not in the know, The Sanderson Sisters were the trio of witches in the film "Hocus Pocus", Winnifred (Bette Midler), Sarah (Sarah Jessica Parker) and Mary (Kathy Najimy).

There were also poetry readings of pieces composed by their creators.

As you can tell, this is a real cultural evening, and something that is not commonplace in Nottingham, and especially from the Queer quarter. If they were commonplace, evenings like these would probably not be as special as they are. A happy, positive and completely inclusive evening of wonderfully talented people.

I really must also mention the lovely Zoe Ellis who kept the performance areas clear of props, among several of her duties on the night.

Segueing everything together was DJ Wilson Shaw, playing some wonderful tunes and ended the night with some boogieliscious beats.

Talking of which, the next Niche Artefact evening is the second week in February, when the theme of the evening is Studio 54, which is right up my boogie boulevard.

And if you can't wait until then, check out the Niche Artefact podcasts.

Thank you Robin and the rest of your fantastically talented and hard working group for another brilliant evening.