Birmingham prepares for first charity Zombie Ball at new city club venue...

A few days ago I was sent a press release for Birmingham's first Zombie Ball, and let me tell you, it's set to be a big event in the Birmingham calander. Read on for more details...

A Zombie Ball, in aid of one of Birmingham’s major charities helping young people, is to take place at the city’s newly revamped Birmingham Ballroom venue this month.

Sarmad Qusai as a ‘Zombie’ outside the Birmingham Ballroom venue


Being launched by the organisers of the annual Birmingham Zombie Walk, the ‘Dance of the Dead’ ball aims to raise money for St. Basils, which works with homeless youngsters in the city.

The event is the Birmingham Ballroom’s premiere Halloween event since it’s reopening in September and is hoped to be as successful as recent Zombie Walks, which have so far raised over £3,000 for charity.

Event organiser Jamie Chapman, 21, feels the Zombie Ball is a unique way of engaging young people with important causes whilst ensuring they enjoy themselves.

“After the success of the third annual Zombie Walk this year, we decided to do a zombie themed club night at the most memorable venue in the city in aid of raising money for St Basils,” he explained.

“I really enjoy voluntarily organising charity events despite it being hard work and quite stressful at times. It’s all worth it to bring everyone together whilst supporting great local causes.”

Previous events have regularly supported Birmingham Children’s Hospital so Jamie felt his fundraising formula could be expanded to assist other organisations.

“We chose St Basils as they don’t get as much support as larger charities and with the winter nights drawing closer, we felt that the homeless were most vulnerable at this time of year. So we hope our money will have a positive impact on the lives of the less fortunate.”

Based in Digbeth and founded in 1972 with just one night shelter, St Basils has grown to have 26 accommodation projects and 367 bed spaces across the West Midlands.

A St Basils spokesperson added: “We are very grateful to the Birmingham Zombies for organising this Ball to support St Basils and young homeless people in Birmingham. The Zombie Ball is a great idea and sounds like a lot of fun. We really hope as many people as possible join in!”

Primarily sponsoring the Zombie Ball is the Oasis Alternative Fashion Store, situated in The Square in Dale End. A short promotional video showcasing the forthcoming Zombie Ball was also filmed on the streets of Birmingham city centre last week with the assistance of the Birmingham Hippodrome.


Tickets for the event are priced only £3 advance and available from www.birminghamzombies.com/zombieball and from Ticketsellers at www.theticketsellers.co.uk, or by calling 0844 870 0000.
• Jamie Chapman is the founder of the Birmingham Zombie Walk and the Birmingham Zombie Ball. He is 21 and from Sutton Coldfield, Birmingham. He began hosting charity ‘Zombie’ events in 2009, aged 19.
• The Birmingham Ballroom has a capacity of approximately 3,000 people in the venue’s main building. It is located at: 52-54 Dale End, Birmingham, B4 7LS.
• St Basils works across Birmingham, Solihull and North Worcestershire to prevent youth homelessness by providing a range of support services and supported accommodation. They work with young people aged 16 – 25 including some young mums and dads, so at anytime housed within our projects there may be babies, toddlers and young children as well.

      

Tracie Bennett's End of the Rainbow on Tour

Judy Garland once graced the stage of the Birmingham Hippodrome and now over 40 years after her death Tracie Bennett brings "End of the Rainbow" to the theatre giving audiences a dramatic insight into the final events of her life.

Judy starts off as a camp diva, refusing to go on stage and ends up flailing around her London hotel as she is forced into drink and drugs by the life she's led. The emotional ending really hits home. And a few references to The Wizard of Oz are sure to keep the audience chuckling.

Bennett gives a truly magnificent performance as Judy. One moment I found myself chuckling away at her over the top camp performance and the next I was taken aback as she wobbles around stage drunk and dosed up on drugs. It's not surprising that London audiences loved her, and it's not at all a surprise that Bennett will be reprising her role on Broadway. From Judy's voice to her dramatic personality, Tracie Bennett embodies the character.

The show features many of Garland's much loved songs including "The Man That Got Away", "The Trolley Song" and "Over the Rainbow"... Not only are these songs orchestrated beautifully by a small band, but the likeness in the leading lady to Garland's voice is uncanny. Bennet really does capture that deep husky tone that Judy was famous for.

Hilton McRae, Norman Bowman and Robert Maskell give excellent performances to as Anthony (Judy's pianist) Mickey (her fiancée)  and various other roles. The relationship between the men in her life and Garland was portrayed beautifully by these fine actors.

I couldn't help but feel emotional as we see the events leading up to the star's tragic overdose after which Bennet performs "Over the Rainbow" to a standing ovation. The shows leading lady definitely gave it her all and fully embodied the Hollywood star.

Finally, a piece of pure class entertainment is getting the recognition it should! This show deserves every success it gets and it's easy to tell that Broadway will lap this production up. 

See this show on the rest of the UK tour... It's one not to miss.

For tickets and information visit http://www.birminghamhippodrome.com 

My First Night at the Dance Xchange

Last night I was invited to attend Hofesh Shechter’s "Uprising and The Art Of Not Looking Back". Having never attended a legit dance production before I wasn’t too enthralled about the whole idea... My initial ideas could not have been more wrong. From the moment I entered the auditorium with usher’s offering me earplugs I knew that I was in for an evening of something interesting.

Act 1 consisted of a company of male contemporary dancers in an act entitled “Uprising”. I was amazed at their core strength and ability to mould themselves into all directions... Being a dance student (I know, a dance student who doesn't like watch dance shows seems crazy) I can only imagine the years of practise gone into being able to have such control over their movements. It’s also important to note their selling of the performance: the dancers fully committed to the performance and conveyed strong emotions to the audience of dance students, dance enthusiasts and general public. After some amazing flooreography (dancing on the floor... that’s not a technical term) Act 1 ended with a man being suspended by the other dancers waving a red flag (a nice homage to Les Mis in my opinion).

Act 2’s “The Art of Not Looking Back” was presented by a female company. The juxtaposition of men beating each other up in Act 1 to the female dancers performing jaunty ballet positions whilst shaking their stomachs violently at the sky tells us a lot about the artistic choices behind Hofesh’s idea. My highlight of the show was when the men joined the women and the whole company performed a spookily sped up version of the whole show in dimly lit shadows. I believe the lighting plot played a huge part in the success of this show... Without it the dance effects wouldn’t work.

Not being a huge fan of watching dance performances beforehand this show has definitely opened up my mind to a new branch of theatre... I was always under the impression that dance was supposed to tell a story and even though I could not for the life of me decipher a story from the whole piece it was thought provoking and extremely clever. In my reviewing notes I wrote “something from a Saw movie” which I pretty much sum up the whole concept of this piece. I would urge anyone to check out Hofesh’s or the Dance Xchange’s work.

Style Birmingham Live

Style Birmingham Live is back for another year.

Join host George Lamb as he presents the three day event taking place all over the city. Take your seat at the catwalk show where Birmingham's biggest and best retailers will showcase their Autumn 2011 collections with stores from Selfridges to Harvey Nichols offering instore events with the Bullring offering it's own catwalk: The Show. My favourite coffee shop Cafe Blend will also be in on the action as they hunt for the city's chicest shoppers.

Visit Style Birmingham for more information and ticket details.

Evita Returns to the Hippodrome

The Bill Kenwright tour of “Evita” returns to the Birmingham Hippodrome this week to delight audiences with a sweet production.

Abigail Jaye delights as Evita.


Abigail Jaye gives a stunning and sassy performance in the iconic role of Eva Peron. With vocals that melt your ears she overpowers the orchestra and gives a memorable performance of the show tune anthem “Don’t Cry For Me Argentina”. Jaye laps up the audience’s applause and it’s easy to see she’s in her element in the title role. Co-stars Mark Powell and Mark Heenehan (as Che and Peron respectively) support their leading lady well and offer good vocals and steady performances throughout. My highlight performance goes to Sasha Ransley in her role as the Mistress as she melts audience’s hearts with her rendition of “Another Suitcase in Another Hall”. Reuben Kaye as Eva’s lover Magaldi provides a strong character and luscious vocals. The show’s ensemble support the leading players and deliver strong harmonies (and lots of costume changes). The quirky ensemble number “Peron’s Latest Flame” offers a good build up to the act one finale of “A New Argentina”.

The ensemble in the showstopper "Buenos Aires"

Conductor David Steadman has a great Andrew Lloyd Webber score to work with and the musical arrangements are a feast for the ears as audiences are delivered some of their most memorable musical theatre songs ever written. With music ranging from tango to rock, the score helps to develop the story along nicely and allows for some great vocals from the ensemble with haunting harmonies. Matthew Wright’s design stole the show, with a set composing of moving staircases, sliding balconies and shadowing Argentinean pillars, the visual aspect for audiences is delightful.

The production is a nice show, it has all the right elements – good leads, good score, good set but I can’t help but think something is lacking. Maybe it’s the overload of slow ballads, or the lack of “wow factor” effects; I don’t know. Whatever I think, it’s clear to see that audiences love the show from its great success: it’s been playing the UK for a good few years and has even had an international leg on its tour.

Finally a big shout out and round of applause for some of my buddies who are appearing in the show in the Birmingham stop of the tour... I was like a proud father watching you.