A fortnight of puppet mania at The Lowry
A fortnight of puppet mania at The Lowry
A cast of puppets in Avenue Q followed by a mechanical doll who comes to life
In Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Coppélia
- Avenue Q Tues 31 May - Sat 4 June 2011
- BRB’s Coppelia Wed 8 - Sat 11 June 2011
For the first time ever, puppets will play important roles among the cast in two consecutive and contrasting productions on The Lowry’s Lyric theatre stage.
Of puppets, Oscar Wilde wrote, "There are many advantages in puppets. They never argue. They have no crude views about art. They have no private lives". This may or may not be the case in these two productions…..
Tony Award-winning musical comedyAvenue Q ingeniously combines a cast of humans and puppetswhen it makes its northwest debut at The Lowry from Tues 31 May until Sat 4 June. All the cast have worked with puppet coach Nigel Plaskitt, one of the principal performers on Spitting Image for 13 years,whose numerous credits include feature film The Muppet Christmas Carol and UK tours ofPeppa Pig’s Party and Spongebob Squarepants.
Birmingham Royal Ballet, one of the world’s leading classical ballet companies present magic, mayhem and the original living doll in Peter Wright’s enchanting production of Coppélia. With a sparkling score and breathtaking choreography, this enchanting ballet tells the story of eccentric toymaker Dr Coppélius. He wants to know what’s at the heart of a woman and plans to bring his mechanical doll, Coppélia, to life. With a wild mix of abracadabra and some mischievous maidens, comic chaos is riotously unleashed when humans and automatons collide in Dr Coppélius’ spooky toyshop.
Avenue Q
After nearly five years of mischief, bad behaviour and political incorrectness in the West End, the Tony Award-winning musical comedy, Avenue Q, visits The Lowry in Salford as part of its first ever UK tour.
Hilarious and uproariously entertaining with songs performed by a cast of hugely talented performers and puppets, Avenue Q is a musical like no other. The show has enjoyed enormous success, both on Broadway and in London, proving to be the perfect, contemporary musical. Witty, rude and extremely funny, Avenue Qtackles subjects such as dating, racism, being gay and finding your purpose in life.
The story follows Princeton, a bright-eyed college graduate new to the area, as he desperately tries to follow his dreams and discover his ever-elusive purpose in life. A tiny bank balance, the distraction of a busty blonde, and a variety of weird and wonderful friends and neighbours lead Princeton on a story of self-discovery.
Avenue Qis a musical about the lively and off-the-wall characters on a downtown New York street trying to make sense of life’s burning issues: love, work, relationships, and, above all, just how are you supposed to pay the bills with a BA in English?
The national tour is being staged by Associate Director Evan Ensign, who has worked on Avenue Q previously on Broadway. The cast for the UK tour features Adam Pettigrew as Princeton and Rod; Rachel Jerram as Kate and Lucy, following West End appearances in Avenue Q; and Jacqueline Tate as Christmas Eve, who reprises her West End role in Avenue Q seen at both the Wyndham’s and Gielgud Theatres in London. Chris Thatcher plays the roles of Nicky, Trekkie and Bear, following West End appearances in Avenue Q; Katharine Moraz appears as Mrs T and Bear; Matt Henry appears as Gary, a role he played in the original West End production; and Edward Judge plays the role of Brian. The company is completed by Luke Kempner, Aveta Chen and Arina ii.
Avenue Qhas music and lyrics by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, book by Jeff Whitty, based on an original concept by Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx; and directed by Jason Moore. The puppets are conceived and designed by Rick Lyon. Music arrangement and orchestrations are by Stephen Oremus with musical supervision by Nick Finlow and incidental music by Gary Adler. Choreography is by Ken Roberson. Avenue Q's scenic design is by Anna Louizos, costume design by Mirena Rada, lighting design by Howell Binkley and Associate Lighting Designer Ryan O’Gara, with sound design by Terry Jardine for Autograph.
Listings Information for Avenue Q:
The Lowry: Thurs 31 May – Sat 4 June 2011
Times: 7.30pm everyday apart from Friday. Other performances - Wed 2pm, Fri 5.30pm & 8.30pm, Sat 4pm
Tickets £13 - £30. Family Ticket Up to 2 children go half-price if accompanied by a full-paying adult (available Mon – Thu 7.30pm & Fri 5.30pm)
Box Office: www.thelowry.comor0843 208 6010
Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Coppélia
The internationally acclaimed and award-winning Birmingham Royal Ballet is thrilled to return to The Lowry, its home in the North West, from Wednesday 8 to Saturday 11 June with Peter Wright’s enchanting production ofCoppélia.
Coppélia,a firm favourite for all the family, ballet aficionados and first-time attendees to a ballet, promises to delight audiences in Salford when it is performed by Birmingham Royal Ballet for the first time in four years at The Lowry in June.
This production ofCoppélia, one of the most popular classical ballets in Birmingham Royal Ballet’s repertoire, was first performed by Birmingham Royal Ballet on 3 March 1995 at its home theatre, Birmingham Hippodrome. Coppélia, originally created by Marius Petipa, one of the greatest nineteenth century classical choreographers, enjoyed its world premiere in 1870 at the Paris Opera House performed by The Paris Opera Ballet. Birmingham Royal Ballet’s production is by Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Director Laureate Sir Peter Wright.
Coppéliatells the story of Dr Coppélius, a toymaker who creates the life-like Coppélia doll and wishes for nothing more than to bring her to life. He imagines that his dream has finally come true, but he has merely been caught up in a tiff between red-blooded young lover Franz and his jealous fiancée Swanilda. However, love triumphs over all in this comedy of mistaken identity, with a wild mix of abracadabra, mischievous maidens and a spooky toy shop.
Birmingham Royal Ballet boasts some of the world’s greatest dancers performing the charming, timeless choreography by Marius Petipa, Enrico Cecchetti and Peter Wright. Leo Delibes’ irresistibly melodic and sparkling original score is played by the members of the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, the Orchestra of Birmingham Royal Ballet. Set and costume designs are by Peter Farmer and lighting is by Peter Teigen.
Listings Information for Coppélia
The Lowry:Wed 8 - Sat11 June
Times: 7.30pm everyday. Matinees on Thurs 9 June and Sat 11 June at 2pm
Tickets £15.50 - £37.50
Box Office: www.thelowry.com or 0843 208 6010
Media Enquiries:
For further media information about Birmingham Royal Ballet or Avenue Q, please contact: Michelle Bowey, Head of Media Relations, The Lowry, Tel: 0161 876 2037, email: michelle@thelowry.com
Pictures
For images, please go to The Lowry’s image library www.thelowryimages.com. New users need to register by clicking on ‘register’ on the left hand side of the page, fill in the required information (which includes creating your own password) and click ‘create account’. You will then receive an email from images@thelowry.com stating that a request has been sent for approval. After approval has been granted, you will receive another email confirming activation of your account.
For Avenue Q pictures click on Images Available > Theatres > Musicals > Avenue Q
For BRB pictures click onImages Available > Theatres > Dance > BRB’s Coppelia
NOTES TO EDITORS
Avenue Q
Avenue Q The Musical is the result of a collaboration between Robert Lopez and Jeff Marx, who began writing the show in 1999, originally thinking the idea would make a great TV series. Three years later it opened off-Broadway, and after extending four times at the Vineyard Theatre following rave reviews, it transferred to Broadway. After opening at the Golden Theatre in 2003, Avenue Q scooped the 2003 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding New Musical, and in 2004 the show won three Tony Awards for Best New Musical, Best Book of a Musical and Best Original Score. In 2006, Avenue Q The Musical travelled across the Atlantic, opening in London’s West End atthe Noel Coward Theatre (formerly the Albery Theatre). Whilst in the West End, Avenue Q also enjoyed residencies at the Gielgud Theatre and Wyndham’s Theatre, where it ran until October 2010 ahead of the first UK tour in 2011.
The Avenue QUK Tour is produced by Theatre Royal Bath Productions Ltd, by arrangement with Kevin McCollum, Robin Goodman, Jeffrey Seller, Vineyard Theatre, The New Group and Cameron Mackintosh.
For further details about Avenue Q visit www.avenueqthemusical.co.uk
Avenue Qis not suitable for children under 12.
Age suitability guidelines are available online at: www.avenueqthemusical.co.uk
BirminghamRoyal Ballet
Birmingham Royal Ballet is an international touring ballet company based in the Midlands and housed at Birmingham Hippodrome. The Company has operated under various titles over a number of years, most notably Sadler’s Wells Royal Ballet, named after its previous home in London, where, as was its original purpose, it acted as the touring Company for the Royal Ballet.
Since them, Birmingham Royal Ballet has maintained touring duties, performing both domestically within the UK, as well as internationally. While at its home Birmingham Hippodrome it still hosts the largest number of performances for a single venue; more than double this amount of shows are undertaken by the Company elsewhere in the country.
BirminghamRoyal Ballet is a regular visitor to Plymouth, Sunderland, Manchester (Salford’s The Lowry), London (usually at Sadler’s Wells and Coliseum), Cardiff and Edinburgh. The Company also performs ‘split-tours’ whereby half of the Company performs in venues in the North and East and the other half simultaneously performs in the South West of England. International tours include visits to Germany, South Africa, Hong Kong, New York, Chicago, Virginia as well as tours to Japan in 2008, China in 2009, Virginia Arts Festival in May 2010, Hong Kong 2011 and Japan planned for May 2011.
At present, Birmingham Royal Ballet has over 70 dancers and ballet staff, a full Wardrobe and Technical crew, Learning Department (Education), Finance, Marketing and PR departments, and staff for the Royal Ballet Sinfonia, the orchestra of Birmingham Royal Ballet. In addition to this, the Company employs a Company Manager, a selection of Pianists as well as various administration staff. The Company is headed by the Chief Executive Christopher Barron and the Director, David Bintley. David himself was a dancer previously with the Royal Ballet companies and is responsible for the creation of a range of works in Birmingham Royal Ballet’s current repertory.
Since its arrival in Birmingham, the Company has built up a large and loyal local audience, keen to experience the contemporary new works as well as the more traditional productions.
During 2005 and 2006, Birmingham Royal Ballet joined forces with Channel 4, Youth at Risk, the local authorities of Birmingham, Dudley, Sandwell and Wolverhampton to work with young people from across the West Midlands in order to stage Kenneth MacMillan’s production of Romeo and Juliet. This process was televised as Ballet Changed My Life: Ballet Hoo! during September 2006.
Birmingham Royal Ballet continues to undertake innovative Learning projects such as Dance Track which aims to find and nurture dance potential from amongst its local community. The Company is also responsible for Freefall Dance Company which provides opportunities for dancers of school-leaving age with severe learning disabilities.
A brand new production of Cinderella enjoyed its world premiere at Birmingham Hippodrome on November 24 2010. The production by Company Director David Bintley, with designs by John Macfarlane, was transmitted on BBC 2 on Christmas Day 2010.
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Posted on Wednesday, 04 May 2011 under News Press Theatre Press