James and The Giant Peach at Northern Stage

If you want an alternative to the standard 'he's behind you' Christmas offering then James and the Giant Peach  Northern Stage should be your first port of call.

What can I say? Wow ! The show with absolutely amazing we were enthralled from start to finish with scooters and sharks and skipping and dancing and songs and giant jellyfish and bubbles and music and tap dancing!!! It was a feast of sensory delight. There are so many wonderful things about the show that it is hard to convey my excitement in words. It was fantastic and  an absolute joy to see Northern Stage using both stage 1 and Stage 2 spaces to create an enormous set with seating 'in the round'

This show is very immersive, pulling the audience into the performance and including them in activities so I would definitely try to get seats close to the front or in the side stage seating. 

There are giant peaches, like really giant peaches, ones that start of the size of a tennis ball and get bigger and bigger and bigger until you think the cast are going to bring out a hot air balloon! 

There are lovely songs a great musical score and the brilliant choreography makes you want to get up and dance, in fact Peanut did at one point jump up to do a little jig. I felt guilt telling her to sit down!   Th show is filled with fabulous acting to be honest  I could blather on all day about how amazing I thought it was.

The story follows pretty much true Roald Dahl's book and I think Roald Dahl himself would have been up on his feet and would have approved fully of the direction, story telling and clever use of stage and props. The show is directed by Mark Calvert 

Photo credits Topher Mcgrillis

Students from Newcastle University offered a lovely supporting performance  and we each loved different characters, I was fond of Mr Earth Worm and the Aunts, Peanut loved Miss Spider for her brilliant dancing and elegance and The Golden Child liked James, who offered just the right balance of making me want to cry, cheer, and  jump up to hug him but the best bit according to the golden child was the Jelly fish!

This show won't fail to impress anybody who goes to see you it, it's a real foot tapper and I would say on par with any West End musicals that I've seen. The performance is a brilliant the musical score is awesome   the story is a lovely heartwarming tale of making friends and no longer being lonely. With excellent excellent use of props stage set and lighting you should definitely go and see this as soon as possible, get booked up, get tickets close to the front if you can and you can be part of saving  the giant peach , swimming with the jellyfish and the sharks and the Octopus's!

I promise you will not regret buying tickets for this show you can book online or by calling the Box Office on 0191 2305151and you can see more images from the show here 

We were given tickets in exchange for an honest review of the show, all opinions are our own

Santas Naughty Elf and The Christmas Caper

6 years ago with Peanut aged only 1 and The Golden Child just newly annouced and growing strong, we headed of to see Santa's Naughty Elf at The Customs House. Peanut found it all rather hilarious, bright colours, music, dance and funny faces, what was not to love? The adults in the room were laughing just as hard, although possibly not at the same jokes, as the children, and so another Christmas tradition began. We have seen all of the naughty Elf shows since then and each has been just as much fun as the last, and this year apparently has had record sales so the team are obviously doing something right.

Santa's Naughty Elf and The Christmas caper shows Elfluent (Wayne Miller) being surprisingly well behaved, holding interviews with Elfluena (Sarah Boulter) for a new workshop elf. When Elflirty (Lauren Amour) gets the job, fellow candidate Elfranky (Steve Stobbs) decides to wreak havoc by stealing Santa's order book, magic dust and even kidnapping the man himself! Can Elfluent get Christmas back in time?

Theres lots of audience participation, a chance to learn new songs and dance moves and lots of jokes and funny capers too. Naughty Elf is a perfect show for the smaller members of your family as its fun and only an hour long, But its great for older kids to as the jokes are suitable and its a good laugh for everyone. Wayne Miller, who also directs the show, provides lots of laughs with his jokes and capers and this year displays his great vocal talents alongside the equally lovely sounding Lauren Amour.

Children get to meet Santa and Mrs Claus at the end of the show and say hi to the Elfy ones too. Its a lovely festive treat and great value for money The show runs until 24 December and you need to get in quick to get tickets, book online or call the box office 0191 4541234

Posted with Blogsy by The Monkeyfooted Mummy

Get Santa at Northern Stage - Review

Peanut and I popped along to press night for Get Santa at Northern Stage this past Saturday, I know I know check us out attending a press event, we are super powered bloggers now!

 

 

 

 

The show was brilliant, I have to say that first off because right from the very start I kept thinking of things I wanted to say in my review, like how gorgeous the set was, how amazingly funny and narrative Paula Penman's (she's Mum) facial expressions are, I swear she doesnt need to say a single word, although Im pleased she does. How Gran (Jane Holman) epitomises every Nana on christmas day, how far beyond me it is that Evil Ted (Scott Turnbull) manages to perform with such gusto in his costume without flaking out, how Holly Finnigan (Tessa Parr) could have modelled her character on my precious and spirited daughter (and probably yours as well) and how Bernard (Gary Kitching) has won the heart of my girl who keeps alternating between impressions of him and Holly! Honestly there are a hundred more things I'd like to tell you as well, but some of them got muddled in my head, some of the things I want to tell you would spoil the story and I really really don't want to do that! So let me go back to basics (thankyou Mrs Boyle, High School Drama Teacher) and see if I can tell you all the bits you need to know

 

The set is a cross between a house and a giant advent calendar, cleverly used throught the performance for musical interludes. The costumes are beautifully designed and perfectly fitting to the characters. The story follows the tale of ten year old Holly who wants only one thing for Christmas, her real Dad. She has never asked for anything else from Santa not ever, and has always tried to be good. But Santa has not delivered and so Holly is cross and has hatched a plan to "Get Santa"! She will then make him tell her where her father is.

Theres just one tiny hitch in her plan, Santa has sent his son Bumblehole (Tom Walton) instead. Cue some magical mistakes, slapstick scenes, a giant teddy , a determined dog, oh did I mention Holly's stepdad is a Dog? Add a magic beard and you have a recipe for a right raucous Northern Stage Christmas.

There are songs, magic, dancing snow people, an evil teddy, news reporters (rather humuourous cameo appearances by BBC Look North’s Sharuna Sagar and ITV Tyne Tees and Good Morning Britain presenter Rachel Sweeney) and Christmas cheer aplenty.

As you know from previous reviews, we have always loved and stayed loyal to the under 6's show at Northern Stage because of its perfect suitability for my little people. So on Saturday I decided to leave The Golden Child at home in case this show was a little too old for him, this was a mistake! At four and a half I really think he would have loved the show and sat through it no problem there was so much to see and its so fast paced and funny that he would have loved it. So it looks like we will be seeing two Christmas Shows as a family this year!

Tickets are priced from £14.50 to £24 and are availble here or by calling the Box office on 0191 2305151 you can connect with Northern Stage on Facebook or Twitter

 

 

 

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