Dreamboats and Dreamcoat at Lyceum this autumn
DRAMA, dance and Disney are to the fore in the Lyceum's autumn season announced by Sheffield Theatres this week.
Top of the drama quotient is The Pitmen Painters (November 3-7) inspired by the story of a group of Northumberland miners in the 1930s who became celebrated artists. The award-winning play by Billy Elliot creator Lee Hall tours after sell-out seasons at Live Theatre, Newcastle and the National Theatre in London.
The Pitmen Painters is a humorous, moving and timely look at art, class and politics which tells of how the Ashington Group of miners hired a professor to teach an art appreciation evening class but rapidly abandoned theory in favour of practice. Their work was acquired by prestigious collections and they were courted by avant-garde artists but still they worked down the pit.
The stage version of Rain Man (September 7-12) seen in the West End last year comes out on tour with Men Behaving Badly and Waterloo Road star Neil Morrissey in the role of the autistic savant memorably played on screen by Dustin Hoffman. Oliver Chris from Green Wing and The Office follows Tom Cruise (and another Hollywood star Josh Hartnett in the West End) as the money-obsessed Charlie Babbit who discovers an older brother he never knew he had standing in the way of his inheritance.
It is among several shows which originated on screen such as Victoria Wood's Dinnerladies (October 13-17) featuring Andrew Dunn (Tony) and Shobna Gulati (Anita) from the cast of the TV sitcom.
To the list you can add the two Disney contributions, the return of musical Beauty and the Beast (October 27-31) and High School Musical 2 (September 14-19).
But literature is the source for some other eye-catching productions.
Oscar Wilde's gothic fable Dorian Gray (September 22-26) has been turned into a darkly seductive piece of dance theatre by Matthew Bourne, already a hit in London and at the Edinburgh Festival.
Charles Dickens' festive tale has provided Northern Ballet Theatre with one of their hits, A Christmas Carol (November 10-14) – or you could opt for the Chuckle Brothers' version, A Christmas Chuckle (November 22).
Skellig (October 20-24), the children's book by David Almond, is the latest family show from The Birmingham Stage Company, regular Lyceum visitors with such favourites as Horrible Histories and The Jungle Book.
Former children's laureate Michael Rosen's picture book We're Going on a Bear Hunt (September 9-12) has also been adapted for the stage.
Ken Kesey's One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest is behind Bounce Street Dance Company's Insane in the Brain (October 9-10), another piece of contemporary dance presented by Sheffield's Danceworks.
Making a song and a dance, Chicago the Musical is back (September 28-October 3) with Gary Wilmot as Billy Flynn and Emma Barton from EastEnders as Roxie Hart, as is the evergreen Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat featuring Craig Chalmers from Any Dream Will Do (November 24-29).
New to Sheffield is Dreamboats and Petticoats The Musical, created by Marks and Gran, TV writers of Goodnight Sweetheart, Birds Of A Feather, and Shine On Harvey Moon. A homage to the hits of the early Sixties, it stars Scott Bruton from X Factor.
There are one-off appearances during the Grin Up North comedy festival by Rhod Gilbert, Marcus Brigstoke, Andy Parsons and Alistair McGowan (October 4-7). Then there is Clive James in the Evening in which the Australian cultural commentator holds court (September 5).
The Soweto Gospel Choir will play a concert the following night.
The autumn season is followed by the already-announced panto, Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs (December 11-January 10).
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Weather for Sheffield
Wednesday 23 May 2012
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