Midlands Cover - November_24-7 Cover 29/10/2012 17:43 Page 1 MIDLANDS WHAT’S MIDLANDS ON WHAT’S THE MIDLANDS ESSENTIAL ENTERTAINMENT GUIDE ISSUE 323 NOVEMBER 2012 www.whatsonlive.co.uk £1.80 ISSUE 323 NOVEMBER 2012 EMELI SANDE BRIT AWARD-WINNER BACK IN THE REGION INSIDE Ben Richards working 9 To 5 in the Midlands interview inside Dan Ryan Skins actor clocks on for his latest role interview inside Neal Foster Birmingham Stage Company celebrates twenty years... interview inside THE DEFINITIVE LISTINGS GUIDE PART OF MIDLANDS WHAT’S ON MAGAZINE GROUP PUBLICATIONS GROUP MAGAZINE ON WHAT’S MIDLANDS OF PART What’sOn MAGAZINE GROUP ISSN 1462-7035 gets ready to rock and shock.... grand_whatson FP nov_Layout 1 29/10/2012 14:30 Page 1 Great Theatre at the Grand! TUES 6 - SAT 10 NOV TUES 20 - WED 21 NOV THURS 22 - SAT 24 NOV Bilston Operatic SADLER’S WELLS PRESENTS Company presents... MUSIC AND LYRICS BY JERRY HERMAN AN AMATEUR PRODUCTION “ZANY AND ZIPPY, HILARIOUS AND HEARTWARMING. A WINNER” Ballet Girls & THE TIMES Hip Hop Boys! MON 26 NOV - SAT 1 DEC SAT 8 DEC - SUN 20 JAN MON 28 JAN - SAT 2 FEB TUES 12 - SAT 16 FEB ALSO BOOKING TUES 19 - SAT 30 MARCH ‘BRILLIANT! ITEXPLODESLIKEGLITTERINGFIREWORKS’ BILL KENWRIGHT TUES 22 JANUARY BY ARRANGEMENT WITH THE REALLY USEFUL GROUP PRESENTS SHAKESPEARE 4 KIDZ: THE TEMPEST THURS 24 JANUARY REAL DIAMOND A BIRTHDAY CONCERT FRI 25 JANUARY JACKSON LIVE IN CONCERT SUN 27 JANUARY THE GLENN MILLER ORCHESTRA MON 4 - SAT 9 FEBRUARY AGATHA CHRISTIES LYRICS BY MUSIC BY GO BACK FOR MURDER TIM RICE ANDREW LLOYD WEBBER SUN 17 - TUE 19 FEBRUARY THE RUSSIAN STATE BALLET OF SIBERIA SAT 23 FEBRUARY BILLY FURY YEARS SUN 24 FEBRUARY CIRCUS HILARIOUS Follow us on @WolvesGrand Like us on Facebook: Wolverhampton Grand Box Office 01902 42 92 12 BOOK ONLINE AT www.grandtheatre.co.uk Contents November_Layout 1 29/10/2012 16:41 Page 1 November 2012 Editor: INSIDE: Davina Evans [email protected] 01743 281708 The Ladykillers Editorial Assistants: Brian O’Faolain West End show arrives [email protected] in the Midlands p29 01743 281707 Adrian Parker [email protected] 01743 281714 Sales & Marketing: Jon Cartwright [email protected] 01743 281703 Chris Horton [email protected] 01743 281704 Subscriptions: Adrian Parker [email protected] 01743 281714 Dan Ryan Managing Director: interview inside p8 Paul Oliver [email protected] 01743 281711 Publisher and CEO: Martin Monahan [email protected] 01743 281710 Graphic Designers: Lisa Wassell Chris Atherton 9 To 5 The Musical - read the interview with Ben Richards on page 6 Accounts Administrator Julia Perry [email protected] 01743 281717 Website Development: TO GET THE VERY Kevin Bridges Jim Pallett p4 LATEST LISTING News Scottish stand-up back in Contributors: the region p26 Graham Bostock, INFORMATION, Alev Dervish, Music p13 James Cameron-Wilson, VISIT: Jessica Matthews, Jack whatsonlive.co.uk Emeli Sande Rolfe, Jan Watts, Anita Comedy p26 Champanari INCLUDING returns to Birmingham p13 Head Office: BOOKING ONLINE 4/5 Dogpole, Shrewsbury, Theatre p29 Shropshire. SY1 1EN The Midlands’ most Tel: 01743 281777 comprehensive Fax: 01743 281744 entertainment website Dance p46 e-mail: [email protected] Film/DVD p49 Visual Arts p57 This publication is Follow What’s On... printed on paper from a sustainable source and is Events p61 produced without the use of elemental chlorine. twitter.com/whatsonlive November 2012 We endorse the recycling Clubbing/Gay p85 of our magazine and MTWTFSS would encourage you to Like us on... 1 2 34 pass it on to others to p86 read when you have Books/TV 5 6 789 10 11 finished with it. 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 facebook.com/whatsonlive Eating Out p87 ’ 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 WhatsOn 26 27 28 29 30 MAGAZINE GROUP All works appearing in this publication are copyright. It is to be assumed that the copyright for material rests with the magazine unless otherwise stated. No part of this publication may be reproduced, or stored in an electronic system, transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopied, recording or otherwise, without the prior knowledge and consent of the publishers. News November_Layout 1 29/10/2012 16:44 Page 1 News A ROUND-UP OF LOCAL AND NATIONAL ENTERTAINMENT NEWS Graduates and guest exhibitors announced for Centrepiece 2012 Organisers of one of the Midlands’ finest showcases of contemporary jewellery have announced that this year’s event is to feature work from six new graduates and five guest exhibitors. Centrepiece 2012 brings together the collective talents of thirty designer-mak- ers. Designers Andrea Korsgen and Isabella Hart will be returning to the Midlands just in time for the event following a visit to Southern India to share their skills - estab- lishing a jewellery partnership with Mercy Mission welfare society in the process. An annual event at Birmingham’s Symphony Hall, Centrepiece offers visitors an opportuni- ty to purchase a range of unique, locally designed items, and this year runs from 14 November to 23 December. Marcus Collins to star in Hairspray X Factor star Marcus Collins is to join the cast of Hairspray when it embarks on a second UK tour next year. Marcus will play Seaweed Stubbs - the son of DJ Motormouth Maybelle and love inter- est of Penny Pingleton - when the production stops off at the Birmingham Hippodrome in May. He will be joined by Waterloo Rd actor Mark Benton, who’ll assume the role of the larger-than-life Edna Turnblad. Ex-EastEnder Lucy Benjamin stars as the scheming Velma Von Tussle, while new- comer Freya Sutton takes the role of big-haired teenager Tracy Turnblad. Of his forthcoming role, Marcus said: “I can’t express how thrilled I am to be joining the tour of Hairspray. It’s been a pretty amazing year for me, and now to be cast in my dream role feels like a new part of the adventure! Having trained in musical theatre since my early teens, I’m really itching to get into rehearsals, and so excited to be working with Mark, Lucy and the rest of the company.” LG Arena scoops top award Birmingham’s LG Arena has added yet another accolade to its collection, scooping Domestic Goddess in Brum Culture and shopping... Live Music Business Awards’ ‘Best Venue Teamwork - Arena’ gong at a recent awards Celebrity chef, journalist and ‘Domestic Visiting Birmingham’s top museums and art ceremony in London. This follows hot on the Goddess’ Nigella Lawson makes an appear- galleries is being made easier early next heels of the venue achieving seventh posi- ance at Waterstones book store in month courtesy of the return of the ever-pop- tion in Pollstars list of the Top 100 arenas Birmingham’s New ular Art Bus. On Saturday 1 December, the worldwide. Guy Dunstan, General Manager Street late this tour bus will once again be visiting six of the of the Arena, said of the Live Music Business month. Nigella’s in city’s galleries - Ikon, the Barber Institute of Awards success: “We’re thrilled with our town on 27 Fine Arts, mac, Birmingham Museum & Art achievement. Just being two out of the three November to pro- Gallery, RBSA Gallery and Eastside Projects. finalists is a massive coup, but actually win- mote her latest cook- Ikon will be offering special discounts for Art ning the award is the icing on the cake. And book, Nigellissima, Bus users and a four-course menu in Cafe what’s more humbling is to know we’ve been which features over Ikon for just £25. voted for by industry peers - so they’re one hundred Italian telling us we’re the best in the UK!” recipes. New director announced Birmingham’s Barber Institute has announced that Nicola Kalinsky has been appointed as the venue’s new director. Nicola, who is currently Deputy Director and Chief Curator at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery, National Galleries of Scotland, will take up her new post on 14 January - just in time to play a major role in the Barber’s eightieth anniversary programme. 4 www.whatsonlive.co.uk News November_Layout 1 29/10/2012 16:44 Page 2 Spoken Word artist to share his near-death experience This month sees West Midlands-born poet and writer Richard Tyrone Jones bring his Big Heart to his home city of Wolverhampton. In 2010, the former Wolverhampton Grammar School pupil received a very unwelcome thirtieth birthday present - heart failure. Having battled back from the brink of death, Richard - armed with a pen and pacemaker - started writing about the experience of living with a condi- tion that will ‘almost certainly kill him’. The resulting work of theatre, Richard Tyrone Jones’s Big Heart, received much critical acclaim when it appeared at the 2012 Edinburgh Fringe, and shows at the Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton, on 28 November as part of a UK-wide tour. Michael Jackson in Birmingham... Cirque du Soleil’s Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour is to visit Birmingham next year following an acclaimed run at the O2 in London. The production, which is primarily aimed at Jackson’s army of long-standing fans, has been described by our What’s On reviewer as ‘a visual delight’, with ‘the troupe stunning the audience with their synchronicity, aerial acrobat- ics, animal impersonations and light fantastic firework display’. Michael Jackson The Immortal World Tour stops off at the National Indoor Arena on Tuesday Staffordshire craft show 26 March, with tickets, starting at £40, now available.