Your Midlands and Shropshire am dram guide

One show which made a come back on the great white way recently was Jerry Herman and Michael Stewart’s musical comedy, Hello Dolly! starring none other than the Divine Miss M herself, Bette Midler.

Sadly it has closed now, but there is a rumour that Bette might be making her way across the pond to star in the West End, so I am hopeful of a ticket.

In the meantime though, Walsall Operatic Society will be performing Hello Dolly! at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre from June 19 to 22 with performances at 7.30pm nightly and 2.30pm matinees on Wednesday and Saturday.

Following the story of a strong-willed matchmaker, Dolly Levi, this musical sees this amazing woman travel to Yonkers, a small town just outside New York, to find a match for a miserly ‘well-known, unmarried, half-a-millionaire’, Horace Vandergelder.

However, along the way she manages to match two of his employees, Cornelius and Barnaby with a hatmaker, Irene Molloy and her assistant Minnie Fay, but simply cannot find a bride for Horace. Who could this elusive female be?

This show is the perfect vehicle for an amateur group, as the principal roles are varied in both age and sexes, the score is wonderfully rousing, feisty and fun and there is plenty of opportunity for the ensemble members to show off their talents too.

Popular tunes from the show include Put on Your Sunday Clothes, It Takes a Woman, Ribbons Down My Back, Before the Parade Passes By, Elegance and of course the title song made so famous by Louis Armstrong in the 1969 movie version starring Barbara Streisand as Dolly.

In this production, Vicki Hardy will appear as Dolly, with Craig Smith as Horace, Adam Gregory as Cornelius and Alex Woolliscroft as Barnaby.

Watch out for dancing waiters and the whole cast in their Sunday Clothes. It is pure entertainment.

For tickets from £10 each, visit www.grandtheatre.co.uk or call the box office on 01902 429212.

The ever-popular Side by Side Theatre Company will be presenting their annual show on June 20 at Stourbridge Town Hall.

This year, this very special group of actors with learning and physical disabilities, under the superb direction of Susan Wallin, is bringing a new dimension to one of the best loved tales from English folklore, Robin Hood.

Entitled Robin Hood and the Timestone, this show tells the tale of Robin, who aided by Maid Marian and his Merry Men, sets out to protect the local people from the wicked Sherriff of Nottingham. But our hero is troubled by frightening dreams about the future of his beloved forest.

With the power of a timestone, Robin is transported to the 21st century, where he comes face to face with a modern dilemma that threatens the future by destroying the past.

Full of music, dance, fun and adventure, Robin Hood and the Timestone is a truly unique piece of theatre, presented by talented performers who have overcome so much.

For tickets, call 07880437117 or call into the French Deli in Stourbridge to book.

Pershore Operatic Society, who I saw perform at the recent NODA awards, is all set to present Mel Brookes madcap musical comedy, The Producers from June 10 to 15 at Number 8 Arts Centre.

Although this is out of our area really, I thought it might be interesting for other groups from nearer to home who are also going to do the show. Pershore are a talented group and so it is definitely worth the trip.

For tickets visit www.number8.org or call 01386 555488.

On June 15, you can catch a new production, Seven Wonders which has been written, produced and directed by local playwright and performer, Laura Liptrot.

Seven Wonders centres around a young woman telling her life story through school, college, university and finally striving to find work as an artist. She overcomes the pressures that today’s society puts on women to be strong and stereotypical beautiful.

Her struggle is paralleled to the lives of the six wives of Henry VIII, explain how they have inspired her, why they deserve to be remembered and questioning whether their experiences and attitudes were all that different from woman can relate to today.

This play is feisty, comedic, energetic and at times touching.

For tickets visit www.ticketsource.co.uk/thefriendsofthemanorhousemuseum or call 0121 588 2985.

Over in Shropshire, Telford dance groups are taking part in Telford’s Gotta Dance on June 17, in the auditorium in the Oakengates Theatre.

A variety of school and community dance groups from across the county will be performing their respective dances, together with talented local singers. You are promised a highly entertaining evening.

For more information and to book tickets, visit www.theplacetelford.com or call 01952 382382.

Finally this week, The Moat Players from Solihull are celebrating their 60th anniversary and plan to do so in style!

They are staging a celebration show on June 6-8, so there is just time to book. The show will look back over some of the highlights of the players’ 60-year history, from murder mysteries to pantomimes, to old time music hall songs, so there is something for everyone.

If you are a past member of this group, they would love to hear from you too, so message them via their website, www.moatplayers.co.uk or call 07760 306605 or visit the group’s Facebook page.

That’s all for this week. Please send all your news and good quality colour photos to me at a.norton@expressandstar.co.uk, call me on 01902 319662 or follow me on Twitter @AlisonNorton

Break a leg!