Blackpool hosting a magic show with a dark twist

Olivier award-winning comedy favourites, Mischief, bring their comedy and conjuring show Magic Goes Wrong to the Opera House in Blackpool this week.
Magic Goes Wrong. Photo: Pamela Raith PhotographMagic Goes Wrong. Photo: Pamela Raith Photograph
Magic Goes Wrong. Photo: Pamela Raith Photograph

It runs from Wednesday to Saturday.

Mischief’s biggest comedy catastrophe to date, it follows a hapless gang of magicians staging an evening of grand illusion to raise cash for charity. As magic becomes mayhem, accidents spiral out of control along with their fundraising target!

The show premiered in the West End in December 2019 and resumed performances in October.

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Created with magic legends Penn & Teller, the touring cast presents Daniel Anthony (Mickey), Valerie Cutko (Eugenia), Sam Hill (Sophisticato), Kiefer Moriarty (The Blade), David Nellist (Mind Mangler), Jocelyn Prah (Spitzmaus), Chloe Tannenbaum (Bar), with understudies Ishbel Cummings, Rory Fairbairn, CJ Field and Jay Olpin.

Mischief’s West End successes include The Play That Goes Wrong, Peter Pan Goes Wrong, The Comedy About A Bank Robbery, Groan Ups and Mischief Movie Night.

Their six-part TV Series, The Goes Wrong Show, aired in the UK and in the US, Canada and Australia.

Details: www.wintergardensblackpool.co.uk.

Manchester’s intimate Hope Mill Theatre stages a radical new version of 70s musical The Wiz: a soul musical based on the Wonderful Wizard of Oz.

It opens next Wednesday and runs until January 16.

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It’s a joyous retelling of L. Frank Baum’s classic novel reflecting contemporary African-American culture. A 1975 Broadway premiere won seven Tony Awards, including Best Musical.

Originally a funk and soul-based analogy it now becomes a contemporary take on Black culture.

The award-winning venue was the dream of Joseph Houston and William Whelton, who, after a career in musical theatre and living in London, were inspired by the off-West End theatres and high-quality work they were producing. With theatre blossoming in Manchester and no medium-sized venues producing musicals, they set up and established the independent venue in November 2015.

Details: https://hopemilltheatre.co.uk/whats-on

A young North West dancer is among the cast of Matthew Bourne’s Nutcracker when it returns to The Lowry in Salford next week.

It opens next Tuesday and runs until December 4.

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Besides a cast of well-loved stars, performing as one of the citizens of Sweetieland is Isaac Peter Bowry from Wythenshawe.

It was when Isaac first saw this show that he knew he needed to become a dancer.

As a teenager he questioned if he could make it as a successful dancer. With an African Caribbean hairstyle and dual heritage he feared rejection from the ballet profession. But after he was awarded a place on The Lowry Centre for Advanced Training in Dance scheme his outlook changed and he now boasts career highlights including Matthew Bourne’s Swan Lake and as a principal dancer for Ballet Theatre UK and Chantry Dance Company.

The sweetest of all Matthew Bourne’s many dance treats returns to The Lowry for the first time in ten years, with family-sized helpings of Bourne’s trademark wit, pathos and magical fantasy. It follows Clara’s bittersweet journey from a darkly comic Christmas Eve at Dr. Dross’s Orphanage, through a winter wonderland to a candy kingdom - all influenced by the lavish Hollywood musicals of the 1930s.

Tchaikovsky’s score and Anthony Ward’s sets and costumes combine with Bourne’s choreography for a fresh interpretation of the classic.

Details: www.thelowry.com

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