"Evita" by Erewash Musical Society.

Duchess Theatre, Long Eaton.

Everyone should now know the story of “Evita”, the musical with music by Andrew Lloyd Webber and lyrics and book by Tim Rice. It concentrates on the life of Argentine political leader Eva Perón, the second wife of Argentine president Juan Perón. The story follows Evita's early life, rise to power, charity work, and eventual death.

We start with Eva's body lying in state and you can really get a feel of the grief, not least through the music.

Time rolls back and we are introduced to the actress whose bedroom door is more like a turnstile who then sets her eyes on Juan Peron and what Eva wants, Eva gets, at any cost.

The cast sang "you let down your people Evita" in one of the songs. This show itself let down no one as we all fell under Eva Peron's magical spell as we all became her loyal followers for two and a half hours.

Eva Peron is played by Emma Barnes-Marriott. A powerful performance in her rise, and then the change in the way she treated some of the staff who worked for her shown subtly. Peron's big musical piece is of course "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" which she performs perfectly and easily. I don't like making comparisons but Emma's voice reminds me slightly of a young Elaine Paige, who played the first stage Eva back in 1978. 

At the end of the show there were pictures of Eva Peron projected onto the back wall of the stage and it's then that you notice how closely Emma resembles Eva Peron. 

Young Eva is played by Louise Howard.

Che Guevera, the voice of the people, is played by Martin Lewis. Cynically giving his view of the grief of Peron's death, comparing the grief as a circus in "Oh What A Circus". Great sarcasm shown in many of the scenes, and there aren't that many scenes that James isn't in. There were just a couple of times that I thought the key of the odd song may be just a little high for Martin, but I am sure that if this had been the case, it would have been rectified, so maybe it was just my ears. There's not many scenes that Che is not in, so Martin is a very busy performer with this show.

Agustin Magaldi, the Latin night club tango singer, is Eva's first affair, and is played by Jonny Cox. The song "On A Night Of A Thousand Stars" is Magaldi's song. Magaldi is the equivalent of Harry Styles when it comes to sex appeal and popularity stakes, and Jonny plays that part to show that appeal well. You also get to hear Jonny's strong vocals with this role.

Eva, after several suitors, one of whom is played by Richard Dawson, finally meets up with Juan Peron played by Martin Briggs and insists that "I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You". She is then taken in by Juan and Eva quickly dismisses Juan's mistress, played by Emma Kerrison.                   .

Two more excellent and seasoned voices with Martin and Emma; the latter sings one of my favourite songs from the show "Another Suitcase In Another Hall" with great feeling and sadness, backed by four of the male cast which just added that special something to the melancholy feel.

Martin's vocals are very operatic at times and shows great strength, as well as emotion in his vocals, and together Martin and Emma make a well matched pair of vocalists with these roles.

The Aristocrats of Evita are played by Christine Oakden, Gill Cooke and Sue Hagan.

Anna Fitzpatrick, Karen Robbins and Laura Dawson play the Reporters.

Hannah Gorton plays The President as well as The Pope.

Jack Tuxford plays The Guard.

Laurie Fitch is The Radio Producer.

Louisa Ward plays the Italian Diplomat.

Nicola Tuxford plays the Spanish Diplomat.

Ruth Walker-Lee plays the French Diplomat.

The Admiral is played by Evan Hagan.

The Commanding Officers of Evita are played by Richard Dawson, James Christian, John Fletcher and Laurie Fitch

Barbara Cole, Hannah Gorton, Jack Tuxford and Laura Dawson play the roles of The Miners.

Hayley Wood and Megan O' Sullivan play The Descamisado workers.

The Uniformed Workers are played by Christine Oakden and Ruth Walker-Lee.

The Dance Ensemble are made up by Vicky Byrne, Louise Howard, Andrea Kemish, Sophie Lewis, Kathi Ludlow and Hayley Wood.

The Santa Evita Kids are played by Betsy Stevens, Cara Crawley, Everley Meadows and Blake Hagen.

Directed  by Kim-Louise Sparks and Beth Yearsley and they have really brought out the drama in this musical and have managed to create just the right atmosphere with that drama. It's not an easy musical to stage for several reasons, and all of this produced in just fifteen weeks. There are a lot of bodies on stage quite a bit of the time and it's a practically non-stop sung through musical which creates a great pace.

Making sure that all the right bodies are on stage at the right time is Stage Manager Mark Robbins and his crew.

Choreographed by Laurie Trott, who was also the Production Assistant. Not only is this musical heavy on the music quantity, it's also heavy on the choreography, and with several changes in music style, the choreography also has to be varied. I loved the Argentine Tango section with the six ladies.

Set and Scenery Designer for this production are Mark Robbins, Bill Robbins and EMS members and friends. It's a simple but effective, and lavish looking set with some impressive props, managed by Tyna Burnett and Jayne Humphrey.

Musical Director is James Bowden. As I have mentioned earlier in the review, the music is practically non-stop so James and the band, who by the way sounded superb with this lush score, were also on the go for the two hours that the musical is performed. The harmonies with the crowd scenes are heavenly.

This rock opera, for me has several under rated songs and the flirty "I'd Be Surprisingly Good For You" simply sizzles when Eva sings this to Juan. You can feel that chemistry exploding from the stage. Another is the rhythmically exciting "Buenos Aires" and the closer for the first act, the rousing "A New Argentina" 

You'll also recognise several other songs from being chart hits - depending on your age - "Oh What A Circus" and "High Flying Adored" was a double "A" side hit for David Essex, Tony Christie recorded "On This Night Of A Thousand Stars", "Another Suitcase In Another Hall" was a big hit for Barbara Dickson, "You Must Love Me", which was especially written for Madonna when she starred as Peron in the 1996 version of the film also took her back into the charts, and of course "Don't Cry For Me Argentina" was a number one hit in 1976 for Julie Covington.

One interesting thing about Lloyd-Webber musicals is that he occasionally borrows chords from his other musicals and you can plainly hear that he has recycled sections from "Joseph" as well as "Superstar" for sections of songs in this one.

The costumes are beautiful, especially some of Eva's costumes and sourced and created by Karen Robbins, Kim Sparks and Philippa Buchanan. 

Sound Design is by Dave Dallard and Jack Clark. With a cast this size I did expect a couple of missed mic cues, and there were a couple, but I've always said that you have to be part octopus with such a large cast. The mix and the quality of the sound was absolutely spot on.

Lighting Design is by Steve Greatorex. This is a vibrant and dramatic show and that is reflected in the lighting, especially with the song "Rainbow High".

In the words of one of Che's songs "Oh What A Show!" Simply stunning.

"Evita" is at The Duchess Theatre in Long Eaton until Saturday 8 March.

 "The Wizard Of Oz" by Mansfield Operatic Society.

Mansfield Palace Theatre.

Dorothy Gale lives on a farm in Kansas with her Aunt Em, Uncle Henry and her little dog, Toto. It tells the story of how a tornado sweeps her, her home and Toto to a magical land called Oz, how she manages to eradicate the Munchkins from the Wicked Witch of The East by flattening her when the house lands on her.

On the way to meeting the Wizard, so she can get back home to Kansas she meets, and helps The Tinman, Scarecrow and The Cowardly Lion while the quartet have a few scary adventures on their way.

I've said it before and I'll keep on saying it, this show always reminds me of when I was a kid, watching the film with Mum and Dad, sitting on one or the other's knees and just having that lovely warm glow and feelings of being safe; after all, it's quite a dark storyline. This production took me back to those days, normally a Sunday afternoon on BBC2, right after a big dinner cooked by Mum.

Dorothy is played by Macey Shaw. I think I last saw Macey playing the role of Cinderella for Masque Productions, and at the time commented on what a gorgeous voice she had back then, and this was 2023. Sixteen months later and Macey is playing another iconic role and her voice is every bit as exquisite as when I last saw her, if not better. She captures that innocence that Judy garland has in her speaking voice, and her singing voice has, at times, a certain fragility, at others such strength, both qualities perfect for this role.

Toto is played by Max Brough-Savage, and who could not fail to fall in love with this four legged chihuahua/terrier mix cutie. I know just how lovable these mixes are as I've also got a chihuahua/terrier cross, and they are so loving and playful. Max was incredibly well trained and stole the hearts of the whole audience.

Uncle Henry is played by Graham Berridge, after playing another gentleman character last year as Mr Price the elder in "Kinky Boots". What Graham brings to this role is a feeling that Henry has worked all his life on the farm and has that certain steadfast and hard working aura of the character. 

Aunt Em is played by the lovely Ann Colgan, who just seems to get younger and ever more sprightly every time that I see her, on and off stage.

Glinda The Good Witch of The North is played by Helen Savage. This production has no stops left because Mansfield Operatic Society have pulled them all out, and in this we see Glinda flying in on a halo of colour - there was one tiny wobble on the part of the operator just before Helen took off again into the rafters, but this did not phase Helen one bit, and off she ascended into the air.

Scarecrow/Hunk is played by Jamie Savage. who you may remember playing Charlie Price in "Kinky Boots" last year. Jamie has a great voice for musical theatre and is a very good character actor who is also a very flexible dancer. What more could you ask for in an actor playing a Scarecrow, Great fun.

Tinman/Hickory is played by Oliver Ward. Now, Oliver's costume is something that I must mention from the start. Whoever created this costume deserves a medal because it is fantastic. You actually can believe that this character is made of tin, also in no small way a credit to Oliver's physicality of the role. Another massive plus for me is that Oliver is a very capable tap dancer, showing his skills in this field, belying the supposed weight of being made of tin with some very light on his feet choreography. Brilliant vocals, although I felt that they could have been turned up more in the mix by the sound operator, but it's first night and I know that sound operation and mixing gets better as the week progresses; never the less a brilliant performance in all areas from Oliver.

Cowardly Lion/Zeke is played by Wayne Shutt. OK, everybody knows that this is one of my favourite characters in musical theatre because it is the perfect role for a comedy actor who can bring out every ounce of comedy from a character role. Well, my friends, that role was perfectly cast with Wayne. If Bert Lahr was alive today, he would be jealous of this characterisation. It's almost as if the film role was transposed on stage, some kind of avatar, but there was always that lovely warmth that Wayne always seems to inject in all of his roles, making every character a Wayne Shutt special.

The Wicked Witch of The West/Miss Gulch is played by Carolyn Firth. Being an evil character who wants to drown dogs and kill little girls is SO far away from Carolyn's persona, but I think that Carolyn absolutely adored being the nasty one if this performance was anything to go by. Well, they always say the bad characters are the most meatiest and fun to play, don't they? What must also have been fun to do was to fly around the stage each night of the run, on a broomstick through clouds of smoke. Plus due to the wonders of cinematography we also get to see Miss Gulch riding her bike through the twister and transform into The Wicked Witch, right before your very eyes! 

The Gatekeeper to Oz is played by Garry Richardson. This is another role that I feel is a perfect casting. Garry has such personality and comic ability, and this role is packed with personality and comedy. The Gatekeeper is a very important person, well that is what he has us believe, and Garry just exudes fun playing this role, and I also love the green costume that reminded me of a leprechaun, straightaway putting a smile on my face. 

The Wizard/Professor Marvel is played by Matthew Bird. Every "Wizard" I see always seems to be just a little bit different to any other, and Matthew stamps his personality and style on this one. The contrast between the video Wizard and the physical Wizard is quite vast. The video version is really quite scary and looks like it should be doing battle with Dr Who, but the physical one is, although very matter of fact and shows everyone that he is in charge, is really quite a friendly pussy cat. No wonder Matthew was cast in this role!

A large ensemble, as you would expect in this musical, consisting of the following....

Grace Bowskill, Amy Shaw, Rebecca Wigman and Ashleigh Wilkinson (Ozettes).

Kay Thomason-Vardy (The Mayor of Munchkinland), Lauren Taylor (The Coroner), Paul Marples (The Barrister), Harry Bramall, Oscar Jack and Ollie Weaver (The Tough Guys), Joshua Wells (The Fiddler), Christian Bird (Braggart), Grace Bowskill and Rebecca Wigman (The School Teachers), Khaleesi Boreham, Leah Noke and Megan Wells (The Tots) and Lewis Mathias, Harriet Shaw-Browne and Steve Webb (City Fathers).

Tineke Fleet, Amy Shaw and Lauren Taylor played the trees who unwillingly gave up their apples on the Yellow Brick Road.

JJ McCormack - whose voice I recognised but didn't recognise visually until later in the show - Rebecca Wigman and Ashleigh Wilkinson played a wonderfully comical trio of crows.

Claire Barlow, Bex Haddow, Elizabeth Sisson and Fay Walker (Dorothy Beauticians), Rebecca Wigman, Becky Miller, Gemma Strange and Chloe Thistlethwaite (Scarecrow Beauticians), Jonathan Cooper, Thomas Ince, Paul Marples and JJ McCormack (Tinman polishers), Gemma Case, Tineke Fleet, Amy Shaw and Harriet Shaw-Browne (Cowardly Lion Manicurists).

JJ McCormack (Winkie General), Grace Bowskill (Jitterbug Leader), Geraldine Smith (Nikko Commander Flying Monkeys) - who also literally got to fly - and Elsiha Agnew, Adelphie Fleet, Bella Shaw and Emily Shutt (Flying Monkeys).

And that's not all......

Elisha Agnew, Claire Barlow, Graham Berridge, Khaleesi Boreham, Christian Bird, Harry Bramall, Gemma Case, Jonathan Cooper, Pauline Dowdall, Adelphie Fleet, Tineke Fleet, Bex Haddow, Jan Hodgetts, Thomas Ince, JJ McCormack, Angela Lee, Lewis Mathias, Oscar Jack, Paul Marples, Becky Miller, Leah Noke, Garry Richardson, Amy Shaw, Bella Shaw, Harriet Shaw-Browne, Emily Shutt, Elizabeth Sisson, Geraldine Smith, Gemma Strange, Lauren Taylor, Chloe Thistlethwaite, Kay Thomason-Vardy, Fay Walker, Ollie Weaver, Steve Webb, Josua Wells, Megan Wells and Rebecca Wigman all took part in the ensemble and played various characters like Munchkins, Poppies, Snowmen, Winkies and Emerald City Folk.

Khaleesi Boreham, Grace Bowskill, Gemma Case, Ann Colgan, Adelphie Fleet, Bex Haddow, Leah Noke, Amy Shaw, Bella Shaw, Harriet Shaw-Browne, Emily Shutt, Elizabeth Sisson, Geraldine Smith, Gemma Strange, Kay Thomason-Vardy, Chloe Thistlethwaite, Rebecca Wigman and Ashleigh Wilkinson were the dancers in various guises.

Directed  and Choreographed by Cassey Brough-Savage. Cassey has thrown everything at this production; from flying witches on stage to cinematic twisters and green screen visual effects to good witches gliding around in the air on pink and purple halos. You don't see half of these in professional touring productions, never mind local theatre shows. Then there's the various set changes. Some trickier than others which meant just a little longer to place but on the whole didn't slow down the pace by much.

The choreographic side of this show is immense and sometimes I don't think that the audience fully appreciate the work that goes into this area of production. There were two big tap sections as well as all of the other dance heavy scenes, and scenes like "The Jitterbug" is exhausting to watch, so to perform, I can only imagine takes dancers with a lot off stamina, especially when in costume as well.

The make up and prosthetics by Cora Machin, Natalie Midgley and Naomi Shaw are truly fantastic and give another level of professionalism to this production. 

The costumes are definitely some of the best that I've seen for this show and are very detailed. I don't know if they have been sourced, bought in or made by the group but Cassey Brough-Savage, Pam Frith, Amanda Brough, Jen Bird, Karen Richards, Edie Hogg, Emily Beet, Pam Thompson and the company need recognition for excelling in this area.

Stage Manager Eddie Ratcliffe also needs a mention for his part in this production. In my opinion, the Stage Manager is a very under rated and vital member of any theatre group.

I mentioned about the scenery and projections and they are down to Scenic Projects and Matthew Bird, Linney Create and Theatre Avenue for the Projections with Blue Chilli Flying for the flying effects.

Musical Director is Roger Holland who gave that wonderful old school sound to the soundtrack. There's not an awful lot of time where there's no music or sound because apart from the twenty five main pieces, there's also several incidental musical pieces to fit in, so Roger doesn't have time to sit back and twiddle his baton at all! 

Performance Track Technician is Emily Beet.

Lighting Design and operation is by Nick Elliott, Amanda Joyce, Alan Betton and associate.

"The Wizard Of Oz" is at Mansfield Palace Theatre until Sunday 9 March.

 "Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons" by Sam Steiner.

Nottingham Lace Market Theatre.

If the title of this play isn't enough to draw your attention to it, the story that the play tells certainly will. And by the way, it's got nothing to do with citrus fruit!

The average person will speak 123,205,750 words in a lifetime. But what if there were a limit? Oliver and Bernadette, the two characters in this play are about to find out as they attempt to build and navigate a new relationship under the threat of the ‘Quietude Bill’, a government ruling that limits words to 140 a day.. The play imagines a world where we're forced to say less. It's about what we say and how we say it.

Oliver (Jake Turner) and Bernadette (Lara Drew), are your typical slightly mismatched couple: They met at a Pet Crematorium at the event of a deceased cat, where Oliver mistook Bernadette for the deceased cat's owner. He’s an idealistic musician, she’s a sensible lawyer; he thinks she’s too careerist, but she reckons he’s just insecure because she earns more than him.

The play raises some fascinating questions about how we communicate with each other and the way we use language.

Given the subject matter, the spaces and silences between the spoken words carry just as much weight as the words themselves, and this comes across very effectively. I am sure that it was Harold Pinter who commented on how gaps and silences in a play can say as much as what words can, and in this production you get what he means.

It's ironic that a piece of theatre, which normally relies on multitudes of words to tell the story, is about a law to limit the words used in everyday life. Each day the couple meet up after work and let the other know how many words they have left for their daily ration. The action flips back and forth between the passed law and prior to the law, as well as recollections from Oliver about the protests against the law being proposed. They relate how their days went, the possible problems of having children brought into such an Orwellian world, families, their bedroom activities as well as creating a language that shortens words which should be able to allow them to get more meaning into their limited conversation brought about by the action of "The Hush".

This production is set in the Studio Theatre, which is the upstairs performance space, and makes for a more intimate  surrounding, creating that "fly on the wall" feeling, and you also get to see the full emotional impact on Oliver and Bernadette.

Both Jake and Lara have wonderful chemistry; all you have to do is watch their eyes as they look at each other, whether that be in the "courting" stages or during their arguments, and what I also liked was the joy they showed after their bows as they hugged each other, knowing that what they had done in the previous ninety minutes or so had been a big success, and appreciated by the packed studio.

Directed by Nicole Driver, the action is set over a given period where each situation and scene is given by a single piano chord; some of the scenes last just a matter of seconds. The spaces don't last that long, but timed perfectly to create anticipation of what comes next verbally. There's a lot of comedy in the play which bounces nicely from actor to actor, giving variety and contrast to the pace of the play.

There is no need for any kind of set, which, when you think about it, is absolutely right because this production is all about words, and by having no set straight away makes you concentrate on the words, and what, and how those words are said.

This is another one of those plays that will give you plenty of food for thought, and conversation and debate time after the play has finished.

"Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons Lemons" runs until Saturday 8 March, but all shows are sold out.