A live West End recording of one of the best-loved musicals of the last decade is to be screened in two of Greater Manchester‘s biggest cinemas.
And you’ll only have one night to catch it.
Theatre lovers and musicals fans will probably want to make their way down to Vue in the Printworks, or Odeon at the Trafford Centre, at the end of this month, as the smash-hit Broadway and West End production, Heathers: The Musical, will be screened for one-night-only as part of a special nationwide cinema event.
You may recognise that Heathers: The Musical is based on the 1989 cult classic film starring Winona Ryder and Christian Slater.
The musical adaptation – which was first staged in LA back in 2010, before moving to Broadway in 2014, and then to the West End in 2018 – follows Westerberg High student Veronica Sawyer, whose dreams of popularity finally start to come true when she’s taken under the wings of the three beautiful, yet impossibly cruel, girls named Heather.
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But when mysterious new kid, teen rebel J.D, arrives in town, Veronica realises that “while it might kill to be a nobody, it’s murder being a somebody.”
Live recording of popular West End musical Heathers to be screened in Manchester cinemas / Credit: Heathers: The Musical
Brought to cinemas by Kaleidoscope Entertainment, the version of the production to be screened across the UK is a live recording of the West End show captured in its original London home, The Other Palace, and features some of the incredible 2022 cast.
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Musical star Ailsa Davidson takes on the role of Veronica Sawyer, while Simon Gordon is J.D., Maddison Firth is Heather Chandler, Vivian Panka is Heather Duke, and Teleri Hughes is Heather McNamara.
The recording also stars Mhairi Angus as Martha Dunnstock and Vicki Lee Taylor as Ms. Fleming / Veronica’s mum.
The cast is completed by Liam Doyle, Rory Phelan, and Andy Brady, as well as Oliver Brooks, Jermaine Woods, Benjamin Karran, Chris Parkinson, Eleanor Morrison-Halliday, Mary-Jean Caldwell, Hannah Lowther, and May Tether.
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The West End production was directed by Andy Fickman, who called the gig a “career high”.
We're thrilled to share the trailer for Heathers: The Musical as we count down to its ONE NIGHT ONLY screening in cinemas on 28 March
“But when we got a chance to film the stage capture at our beloved theatre in London where it all began, that was an even bigger high,” he added.
“And thanks to our partners at Bill Kenwright Studios, Village Roadshow, and now Kaleidoscope, we get a chance to share that the magic at cinemas all across the UK.
“I can’t stop smiling and I hope audiences feel the same way.”
An unmissable Whitney Houston tribute event is returning to Greater Manchester
Thomas Melia
A much-adored and cherished Whitney Houston tribute show is returning to Greater Manchester later this year for not one but two different shows, each channelling the charisma and energy of the pop legend.
To celebrate the 10th anniversary of the phenomenal theatre production, ‘Queen of the Night’, the show is visiting a multitude of stages and venues all across the UK.
0161 had to receive at least one date on this tour, partly due to being the music capital of the North and also due to the fact that this is a city many fans of the 80s diva will forever hold close to their hearts.
Houston played her final ever concert performance of her career here in this very city back in 2010, taking up residence in AO Arena for two nights of world-renowned ballads and mesmerising live vocals.
This tribute show is set to include some of the diva’s biggest and much-loved hits like ‘I Will Always Love You’, ‘How Will I Know’ and ‘The Greatest Love of All’, the audience is sure to be singing along.
Adenike Adewale is taking on the role of the American R’n’B Pop singer and is no stranger to the stage or TV, featuring on The Voice in 2021 where she sang a Whitney classic, making it to the semi-finals.
Fast forward to 1 June and the tour returns to Greater Manchester and legendary city centre space, Bridgewater Hall: an incredible room more than fit for renditions of the powerhouse vocalist.
A pair of stunning venues, two stunning shows and one incomparable voice.
It’s not only our lovely region the Queen of the Night experience will be visiting; our friends over at The Hoot have plenty of nearby opportunities to sing along too, with Yorkshire dates in Hull, Halifax, Harrogate and Bradford to name a few.
I’m definitely saving all my love for when this show visits us later this year in March, and after I buy out the front row for all my friends I’ll certainly relate to the smash 1993 single ‘I Have Nothing’.
Tickets are on sale already now – you can grab yours HERE.
Swan Lake at Opera House, Manchester – the Swan Queen steals the show
Daisy Jackson
Swan Lake is an icon of the ballet world, for good reason – and now this hauntingly beautiful ballet is back in Manchester for one weekend only.
Set to Tchaikovsky’s equally iconic score, Swan Lake tells the love story of Prince Siegfried and Swan Queen Odette, with plenty of magic and sorcery along the way.
There’s a lot of depth and intrigue to this tale, even if it a good half of it is essentially a load of people peacocking around a ballroom trying to prove they’re the most compatible for one another.
Throughout the two hour performance by the Mergaliyev Classical Ballet you’ll be witness to deception, enchantment, love, and plenty more, as evil sorcerer Von Rothbart meddles in Siegfied and Odette’s love and tricks him into falling in love with his daughter, Odile, instead.
The mirroring roles of Odette and Odile are both played by Nilay Tahiroglu, who is possibly the most captivating dancer to have ever graced the stage at the Opera House.
It’s remarkable how she can make the human body so closely resemble a swan – the way the shape of hands can mimic a swan’s long neck, or the avian way her arms rotate in their sockets and gracefully unfurl like wings, or how she literally looks like she’s on water when she glides across the stage balanced en pointe.
When Tahiroglu transforms into Odile she’s still the same captivating dancer but now she’s bolder, braver. There’s a sharpness to her grace that wasn’t there before.
While Odette’s eyes are almost always cast downwards and soft, Odile stares straight at the audience with a glittering secret in her eyes.
She’s the most beautiful, other-worldly dancer I’ve ever seen.
Cristo Civancos Prunes is excellent as Prince Siegfried, a man so classically handsome and sure-footed you could put him on the cover of a romantic novel at the airport and it’d sell a million copies.
And Marek Bobosik shines as the cunning Von Rothbert too, even if his character is let down by an underwhelming costume that’s more ‘onesie at a Halloween party’ than ‘lead villain in a world-class ballet’.
The Dance of the Cygnets fell flat on opening night of Swan Lake in ManchesterVon Ruthbert’s costume
It’s not a perfect performance – during Dance of the Cygnets, possibly the world’s most iconic dance sequence, the four cygnets stumble and lose time. Our glittering principal also loses her footing once, prompting a sharp intake of breath from the audience, but regains it quickly.
And the first act, before we even meet Odette and are instead watching the wealthy types parade in front of one another in a ballroom, drags on – in fact, there are a lot of empty seats after the first of two intermissions, with many calling it a night early.
Compared to the English National Ballet, which brought Swan Lake to Manchester in 2022, this production could do with a little more polish and pizzazz.
But it’s still a truly magical sight to behold – even if you just come for Odette.
Get your tickets for Swan Lake at the Opera House Manchester HERE.
Emily Sergeant -
8th March 2023 
