• Birmingham,  Entertainment,  Lifestyle,  theatre

    Rent at The Old Rep Theatre

    It is the classic musical of modern times, a tour de force that has a back story just as tragic as the one that unfolds on stage, and, last night, Rent, the updated version of La Boheme, opened at the Old Rep Theatre Birmingham with a brilliant ensemble performance. Rent is the story of a group of artistic bohemians living in East Village, New York during the early 1990s. The talented bunch include a dancer (Mimi), a film-maker (Mark), a guitarist and lead singer (Roger), a transsexual woman (Angel) and a teacher turned anarchist (Tom Collins). They live an impoverished existence and, in the case of Mimi, Collins and Roger,…

  • Birmingham,  christmas,  Entertainment

    Ghost floats into the New Alexandra Theatre

    Do a quick straw poll to find the most heartbreaking, most romantic film of all time, and the chances are Ghost will be mentioned. The supernatural romance tugged a million heartstrings, tempted women everywhere to cut their hair a la the achingly gorgeous Demi Moore, and reinforced the fact that Patrick Swayze was the heart-throb of his generation. It also spawned a rather fantastic musical directed by the Tony award winning Matthew Warchus, with music and lyrics by Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics and Glen Ballard.  This December, just in time for Christmas, Ghost The Musical will arrive in Birmingham, at the New Alexandra Theatre, promising to be a wonderful…