Evita runs at the Hippodrome from Tuesday 20th to Saturday 24th March – as produced by Bill Kenwright, with special arrangement from The Really Useful Group.
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long established musical comes to Birmingham following ‘smash hit runs’ in London and beyond. Evening performances will be held at 7:30pm every night from Tues 20th to Sat 24th. Matinee performances will be held at 2pm on Weds 21st and Thurs 22nd, with a further matinee scheduled at 2:30pm on Sat 24th.
Reflecting the Hippodrome’s wider programme, provisions have been made of those who are hearing or sight impaired at the following Evita performances: Weds 21st at 7:30pm (captioned), Thurs 22nd at 7:30pm (BSL interpreted), Sat 24th at 2:30pm (audio described).
One of the century’s most recognised female public and political figures, Eva María Duarte de Perón climbed her way from a socially and fiscally forgotten childhood to become the First Lady of Argentina.
On the way up the ladder, she was also a revered actress, model and radio star – eventually becoming co-owner Argentina’s most prominent broadcaster, Radio El Mundo. And if cancer hadn’t taken Eva Perón at the young age of 33, she may well have become Vice President of Argentina – sitting in office alongside her husband and el predidente, Juan Perón.
Wildly popular with the working classes of Argentina, Eva Perón became to stand as a beacon of hope for the proletariat – having risen up the ranks herself, yet still mistrusted by the country’s political elite and social bourgeoisie. Many argue that it was Eva Perón, standing beside her husband at many a rally and public appearance, that cemented the political progress of Juan Perón from Minister to President.
But many also argue to the contrary, claiming the often contradictory administration – that would spawn the continuously contradictory political movement known as Perónism – was a merely a disguised dictatorship that only played ‘the people card’ for political gain and even personal glory. It is this dichotomy that Rice and Webber brought to the stage with their musical Evita, when they turned their rock opera album into a West End production in 1978. Forty years later and Evita is still touring the world, with its name sake still considered a ‘Spiritual Leader of the Nation’ after being officially awarded the title in 1952.
This current production of Evita sees Madalena Alberto return to the title role, after playing Eva Perón in the 2004 West End revival. The role of Che, who acts as the story’s narrator and filters into many supporting and ancillary roles, will be played by Gian Marco Schiaretti.
Evita @ Birmingham Hippodrome 20-24.03.18 (featured cast members may vary)
Evita runs at the Birmingham Hippodrome from Tuesday 20th to Saturday 24th March. For direct show information, including a full breakdown of dates, times and online ticket purchasing, visit www.birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/evita
For more on the Birmingham Hippodrome, including venue details and further event listings, visit www.birminghamhippodrome.com
The shortest month of the year is here. Luckily it’s also the turning point, as life starts to push up through the thaw and Percy Thrower can start planning his planters. OK, bad example, but there’s a joke about daisies in the somewhere.
But luckily for us mortal coilers, the venues and promoters of this city are still packing a pretty heavy punch with February’s event calendar. If there truly is no rest for the wicked, then it seem incongruous that anyone got Christmas presents this year.
So, enough to keep you lovebirds busy this month – or to distract the kings and queens of singledom on that depressing light letter box day. But whether you face this world alone or together there’s always Fight Club for £1 at The Mockingbird Kitchen & Cinema (12th Feb). Cheaper than a card, at least.
For more on any of the events listed here, click on the highlighted hyperlink.Ed King is Editor-in-Chief of Review Publishing, which issues both the Birmingham Review and Birmingham Preview.
January 1st… no finer day to cross off the calendar. But as the world crawls out of bed with hangovers and resolutions, Birmingham’s events diary looks forward to a pretty vibrant January. It seems the ‘quiet month’ is not so dormant this year. Which is a good thing, right? I mean, who needs to stay in and save money? Food and heating are for quitters.
January also sees a strong line up of comedy in the city, kicking off with Tina T’urner Tea Lady Steamy Bingo at The Old Joint Stock on 5th Jan. Tracey Collins will be bringing her ‘camp alter ego’ back to The Old Joint Stock in March, so if you miss your numbers this time around you can always try again in spring.
For more film, mac hosts Playback from 7th to 24th Jan – a touring and ‘interactive exhibition’ of over 200 short films from ‘krumping and parkour dance shorts, to an animated tale of teenage love that unearths our desire to be as cool as the zines we read’. Held in the arts centre’s First Floor Gallery, with free admission, Playback carries a Tubbs and Edward local angle too, as ‘some of the films were originally made in and around Birmingham, where young people based in the Midlands were given the support and funding to create a short film.’
Then rounding off Birmingham’s cultural cache for the New Year, The Chefs’ Forum present their ‘Pay What You Can’ lunch at University College Birmingham on 15th Jan – a networking, trade and showcase event with four courses from some of the city’s top restaurants. Having launched its Midlands’ agenda at UCB back in February this… sorry, last year, The Chefs’ Forum is hosting their Jan ‘18 lunch to raise funds and awareness for its Educational Foundation which supports young chefs across the UK.
And with Louisa Ellis (The Wilderness), Mark Walsh (Opus Restaurant), Luke Tipping and Leo Kattou (Simpsons) and Olivier Briault (The Edgbaston Boutique Hotel) all chipping in a course, it should do just that. Although, the non-fixed donation approach is gratefully received in mid January.
Now if I can just find an energy provider with the same approach…
In memoriam of her paternal auntie and namesake, Lady Gaga’s latest song, album and tour appear as personal an affair as you can offer when delivering it to millions of strangers. A curious dichotomy, but one Birmingham will get to see on stage first as the Live Nation machine sets down in our city before anywhere else in the UK. Kudos.
And with tickets being transferred from the previous dates in October 2017, it’s fair to say there may be a bit of a bun fight to get in to these gigs. No doubt it’ll be worth a few scuffed elbows though, but even if ‘I’m never going to know you now, I’m gonna love you any how’. OX Joanne.
Tickets for the originally scheduled Lada Gaga shows at the Genting Arena (12th Oct ’17) at Arena Birmingham (15th Oct ’17) can be transferred to the new dates. According to the venues’ websites, ‘if you cannot make the new date, refunds can be obtained at your point of purchase for a limited period’.**
Playback @ mac 7th to 24th Jan
For more on any of the events listed here, click on the highlighted hyperlink.
Ed King is Editor-in-Chief of Review Publishing, which issues both the Birmingham Review and Birmingham Preview titles.
Doors open at 7pm with tickets priced at £19.50, as presented by Kilimanjaro Live and This Is Tmrw. For direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.
Out on the road with their fifth studio album, Death Song, The Black Angels are in Birmingham as part of only a handful of UK dates on their Death March Tour. Sandwiched in-between a gig in Glasgow and another in Bristol, the O2 Institute in Birmingham is the second date the Texan psych-rockers will be playing in Blighty. Although The Black Angels did play at the Liverpool International Festival of Psychedelia 2017, but who’s going to prove any of that actually happened. Or maybe it never stopped…
Four years since their last LP, Death Song came out on Partisan Records in April this year, with an extensive North American tour introducing the album stateside. A clear hat tip to the Velvet Underground – as in ‘The Black Angel’s Death Song’, from that record they made with that blonde lass – the new album from The Black Angels has been described by Phil Mongredien in The Guardian as a ‘menacing return to form’, further stating the 11 track LP harks back to ‘the threatening drones that made their first two so powerful’.
With a line up that makes the bill sound like a blueprint for Jonestown II, The Black Angels are supported by New York noise-rockers, A Place to Bury Strangers – alongside London’s self described ‘sunshine doom’ four piece, Mass Datura. So a nice quiet night in then… pass the shrooms and absinthe, Franz.
Having munched enough blotter acid to stop a heard of migrating springbok, Google it, I’m not sure another dark spiral is what this piece of psychedelic driftwood needs on a Tuesday.
But with only three dates in the UK, if you want a sneaky quarter of The Black Angels then you’d better get your game face on. Bit of a coup that they’re coming to Birmingham. In the meantime here’s a tiny taste of their new album:
‘Currency’ – The Black Angels
The Black Angels comes to the O2 Institute on 26th September, with support from A Place to Bury Strangers + Mass Datura – as presented by Kilimanjaro Live and This Is Tmrw. For direct gig info, including venue details and online ticket sales, click here.
What do ABBA, The White Stripes, Sonic Youth, Arcade Fire and Moon Duo have in common? Married band members.
It’s understandable that there are so many bands that contain couples really – the sharing of common interests is a solid basis for a relationship. And there’s always going to come that evening when you’ve exhausted all the good stuff on Netflix, one of you turns to the other and says: “Fancy a jam?” I’m sure that’s what happened with ABBA.
Moon Duo began life as a Wooden Shjips side project led by Shjips guitarist and singer Ripley Johnson and his synth-playing wife Sanae Yamada. The early Moon Duo sound is very similar to Wooden Shjips, but the band has progressively moved closer to the pop end of the psych-rock spectrum, replacing the drum machine of their early days with drummer John Jeffrey along the way.
On the record, Jeffrey has made very little impact to the band’s sound – he plays like a drum machine. I was hoping that in this live setting having an actual human drummer would give the band more expression and power, but I’m disappointed. There are no significant changes of tempo, rhythm or dynamics in songs, or even between songs. May as well have kept the drum machine.
This points to the problem with Moon Duo – it’s all rather samey and one note, even when taking into account that psych is inherently repetitive. Songs are given more space live than on the record, which is generally a good thing, and the geometric visuals create the ideal atmosphere for zoning out.
But even with the odd poppier track thrown in from 2015’s Shadow of the Sun, such as early set highlight ‘Free the Skull’, the formula is all too predictable: synth intro, girl/boy vocals, moderately cool guitar solo, more vocals, more synth, end.
And I’m not expecting them to be jumping around the stage but there is an underlying air that they are phoning this performance in. The only audience interaction is when Ridley sounds mildly irked with us that the gig finishes early so that we can have a disco afterwards. He can’t even be bothered to sound properly annoyed.
The audience is energetic and keen to have a good time, but we get very little back in return, apart from a begrudging encore that makes our supposedly beloved disco three minutes late.
It’s not bad. It’s just a bit safe and predictable. Probably a lot like being married.
Tim Rice and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long established musical comes to Birmingham following ‘smash hit runs’ in London and beyond. Evening performances will be held at 7:30pm every night from Tues 20th to Sat 24th. Matinee performances will be held at 2pm on Weds 21st and Thurs 22nd, with a further matinee scheduled at 2:30pm on Sat 24th.
One of the century’s most recognised female public and political figures, Eva María Duarte de Perón climbed her way from a socially and fiscally forgotten childhood to become the First Lady of Argentina.
times and online ticket purchasing, visit www.birminghamhippodrome.com/calendar/evita
Words by 
For more on any of the events listed here, click on the highlighted hyperlink. 
