THOMAS & FRIENDS
LIVE! On STAGE
Wednesday 19 – Saturday 22 March
Tickets: £12.50, £13.50, £14.50, £15.50, £16.50, £17.50, £18.00, £19.50, £22.50
Perf times: Wed & Thurs mat 2pm & 5pm; Fri & Sat 11am, 2pm & 5pm
Audio described performance: Thurs 20 Mar 5pm
Signed performance: Thurs 20 Mar 2pm (Makaton) & 5pm (BSL)
Thomas & Friends Live! On Stage in Thomas Saves the Day is an all new 90 minute musical adventure that tells the story of Thomas and his engine friends as they work together to get the railroad ready for Sodor’s Magic Lantern Festival. With brand new rail-road themed songs, Thomas, Percy and Diesel encounter lots of adventures in a story that helps encourage life lessons such as discovery, friendship and co-operation.
MATTHEW BOURNE’S NUTCRACKER!
Tuesday 25 – Saturday 29 March
Tickets: £14.50, £16.50, £18.50, £20.50, £22.50, £24.50, £26.50, £28.50, £30.00, £30.50 £33.00, £35.00
Perf times: Eves 7.30pm; Wed mat 2pm; Sat mat 2.30pm
New Adventures’ much loved production of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker! makes a welcome return to Birmingham Hippodrome. This delicious theatrical feast has family sized helpings of Matthew Bourne’s trademark wit, pathos and magical fantasy. Nutcracker! follows Clara’s bittersweet journey from a hilariously bleak night at Dr Dross’ Orphanage for waifs and strays, a shimmering ice-skating, winter wonderland to the scrumptious candy kingdom of Sweetieland. New Adventures is now internationally recognised as one of the UK’s leading dance companies and boasts several of the most successful dance/theatre productions of the last two decades in its repertoire. 2008 marks Matthew Bourne’s 21 years as Director of his own independent company.
Dodgy Clutch in association with The Market Theatre of Johannesburg & Newcastle Theatre Royal present
ELEPHANT
Thursday 3 – Saturday 5 April
Tickets: £10.00, £12.50, £14.50, £16.00, £16.50,
£19.00
Family ticket deals for Easter
Perf times: Thurs 7pm; Fri & Sat 2pm & 7.30pm
Performers from the UK and South Africa come together in a multi-talented company of actors, dancers, puppeteers, storytellers and musicians to perform the visual feast ELEPHANT. Launched at the Edinburgh Festival in 2006, ELEPHANT has achieved acclaimed reviews and has gone on to capture the imagination of theatre audiences both in the UK and South Africa.
Chief Zanenvula, a good man and respected by his tribe, has just died and has been forbidden entry to heaven. Distraught he calls on his ancestors to find the answer. As we join the Chief
in looking back over his life he meets the people he knew and sees the choices he made. Eventually he comprehends how he has offended the spirit of Africa and how he may be able to redeem himself.
ELEPHANT celebrates the universal themes of forgiveness and humanity or “Ubuntu”.
The Dance Consortium presents
NEDERLANDS DANS THEATER (NDT1)
Tuesday 8 & Wednesday 9 April
Tickets: £12.50, £18.50, £22.50, £25.50, £29.00
Perf times: Eves 7.30pm
Birmingham Hippodrome is particulary delighted to welcome NDT1 for the very first time. Nederlands Dans Theater has been one of the leading dance companies world-wide since it began in 1959. Artistic Director Anders Hellström compiles programmes combining the gems of the company’s own repertoire to works by in-house choreographers. The company will perform a triple bill full of the fabled technique, dramatic visuals and choreographic invention that make NDT1 a world leader on the contemporary dance scene:
Wings of Wax (1997) has a magical, mercurial quality as eight black-clad dancers dart in and out of a mysterious darkness, their fanciful forays witnessed by a tree growing downwards from the heavens.
Tar and Feathers (2006) sees a live pianist perched metres above the stage, playing fragments of Mozart while down below three men and three women deliver super-fast gestures, frozen poses, silent screams and sudden outburst as they strive after an elusive stage of harmony and pure beauty.
Signing Off (2003) is an intense expression of a heart felt ‘goodbye’ as dancers move through and beyond veils or are swallowed up by billowing black sheets. Achingly poignant and exquisitely choreographed sequences make this a profoundly moving piece of NDT1’s history.
THE HARDER THEY COME
Friday 11 – Sunday 13 April
Tickets: £10.00, £14.50, £18.50 £22.50; £25.00
Perf times; Eves 7.30pm; Sat mat 2.30pm
Following two sell-out runs at Theatre Royal Stratford East, the feel good smash hit musical THE HARDER THEY COME hits Birmingham Hippodrome’s stage for the only dates outside London. Based on the Jamaican cult film of the same name which starred Jimmy Cliff and launched reggae onto a world stage. THE HARDER THEY COME tells the story of young singer Ivan Martin who heads to Kingston with dreams of becoming a reggae star. With a live reggae band the cast tell a powerful story and perform songs from the film soundtrack including You Can Get It If You Really Want and By The Rivers of Babylon. Only performances outside London.
FRENCH & SAUNDERS
Monday 21 – Saturday 26 April
Tickets: £25.50, £27.50, £29.50,£32.50, £37.50, £42.50
Perf times: Eves 7.30pm
French & Saunders, Britain's most celebrated female comedians return to Birmingham Hippodrome for one week only as part of their nationwide tour in 2008. The show will feature the best of French & Saunders' characters and sketches from the three decades that they have been making people laugh, together with brand new material written by the first ladies of comedy.
Jennifer said, “We’re so excited about going on tour and giving the audience a great night out packed full of laughs. We’ll blend the best of our old material with the new and cram it all into a couple of hours of great fun. It’s going back to basics for us and it’s what we do best." Dawn added, “Can't wait. Bring it on! There's nothing like a live audience to change the colour of your pants!"
Lively, fast, upbeat, celebratory and fun - French & Saunders are back with their best.
CLOUD GATE DANCE THEATRE OF TAIWAN
Opens the Inaugeral International
Dance Festival Birmingham 2008
Monday 28 April & Tuesday 29 April
Tickets: £10.00, £14.50, £18.50, £21.50, £24.50
Perf times: Eves 8pm
According to legend, Cloud Gate is the name of the oldest known dance in China, a ritual dance of some 5,000 years ago. In 1973, choreographer Lin Hwai-min adopted this classical name for the first contemporary dance company in any Chinese speaking community: Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan. Cloud Gate's rich repertoire has its roots in Asian myths, folklore, and aesthetics, but it brings to these age-old beliefs and stories a contemporary and universal perspective. The company is made up of two-dozen dancers whose training includes Tai Chi Tao Yin (an ancient form of Chi Kung), meditation, martial arts, Chinese Opera movement, modern dance, ballet, and calligraphy.
The company will be performing Moon Water a work by choreographer Lin Hwai-Min which was premièred in Taiwan in 1998. A poetic work based on Taoist philosophy involving mirrors, flowing water and Tai Chi based movement. Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan opens the International Dance Festival of Birmingham.
LIVE! On STAGE
Wednesday 19 – Saturday 22 March
Tickets: £12.50, £13.50, £14.50, £15.50, £16.50, £17.50, £18.00, £19.50, £22.50
Perf times: Wed & Thurs mat 2pm & 5pm; Fri & Sat 11am, 2pm & 5pm
Audio described performance: Thurs 20 Mar 5pm
Signed performance: Thurs 20 Mar 2pm (Makaton) & 5pm (BSL)
Thomas & Friends Live! On Stage in Thomas Saves the Day is an all new 90 minute musical adventure that tells the story of Thomas and his engine friends as they work together to get the railroad ready for Sodor’s Magic Lantern Festival. With brand new rail-road themed songs, Thomas, Percy and Diesel encounter lots of adventures in a story that helps encourage life lessons such as discovery, friendship and co-operation.
MATTHEW BOURNE’S NUTCRACKER!
Tuesday 25 – Saturday 29 March
Tickets: £14.50, £16.50, £18.50, £20.50, £22.50, £24.50, £26.50, £28.50, £30.00, £30.50 £33.00, £35.00
Perf times: Eves 7.30pm; Wed mat 2pm; Sat mat 2.30pm
New Adventures’ much loved production of Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker! makes a welcome return to Birmingham Hippodrome. This delicious theatrical feast has family sized helpings of Matthew Bourne’s trademark wit, pathos and magical fantasy. Nutcracker! follows Clara’s bittersweet journey from a hilariously bleak night at Dr Dross’ Orphanage for waifs and strays, a shimmering ice-skating, winter wonderland to the scrumptious candy kingdom of Sweetieland. New Adventures is now internationally recognised as one of the UK’s leading dance companies and boasts several of the most successful dance/theatre productions of the last two decades in its repertoire. 2008 marks Matthew Bourne’s 21 years as Director of his own independent company.
Dodgy Clutch in association with The Market Theatre of Johannesburg & Newcastle Theatre Royal present
ELEPHANT
Thursday 3 – Saturday 5 April
Tickets: £10.00, £12.50, £14.50, £16.00, £16.50,
£19.00
Family ticket deals for Easter
Perf times: Thurs 7pm; Fri & Sat 2pm & 7.30pm
Performers from the UK and South Africa come together in a multi-talented company of actors, dancers, puppeteers, storytellers and musicians to perform the visual feast ELEPHANT. Launched at the Edinburgh Festival in 2006, ELEPHANT has achieved acclaimed reviews and has gone on to capture the imagination of theatre audiences both in the UK and South Africa.
Chief Zanenvula, a good man and respected by his tribe, has just died and has been forbidden entry to heaven. Distraught he calls on his ancestors to find the answer. As we join the Chief
in looking back over his life he meets the people he knew and sees the choices he made. Eventually he comprehends how he has offended the spirit of Africa and how he may be able to redeem himself.
ELEPHANT celebrates the universal themes of forgiveness and humanity or “Ubuntu”.
The Dance Consortium presents
NEDERLANDS DANS THEATER (NDT1)
Tuesday 8 & Wednesday 9 April
Tickets: £12.50, £18.50, £22.50, £25.50, £29.00
Perf times: Eves 7.30pm
Birmingham Hippodrome is particulary delighted to welcome NDT1 for the very first time. Nederlands Dans Theater has been one of the leading dance companies world-wide since it began in 1959. Artistic Director Anders Hellström compiles programmes combining the gems of the company’s own repertoire to works by in-house choreographers. The company will perform a triple bill full of the fabled technique, dramatic visuals and choreographic invention that make NDT1 a world leader on the contemporary dance scene:
Wings of Wax (1997) has a magical, mercurial quality as eight black-clad dancers dart in and out of a mysterious darkness, their fanciful forays witnessed by a tree growing downwards from the heavens.
Tar and Feathers (2006) sees a live pianist perched metres above the stage, playing fragments of Mozart while down below three men and three women deliver super-fast gestures, frozen poses, silent screams and sudden outburst as they strive after an elusive stage of harmony and pure beauty.
Signing Off (2003) is an intense expression of a heart felt ‘goodbye’ as dancers move through and beyond veils or are swallowed up by billowing black sheets. Achingly poignant and exquisitely choreographed sequences make this a profoundly moving piece of NDT1’s history.
THE HARDER THEY COME
Friday 11 – Sunday 13 April
Tickets: £10.00, £14.50, £18.50 £22.50; £25.00
Perf times; Eves 7.30pm; Sat mat 2.30pm
Following two sell-out runs at Theatre Royal Stratford East, the feel good smash hit musical THE HARDER THEY COME hits Birmingham Hippodrome’s stage for the only dates outside London. Based on the Jamaican cult film of the same name which starred Jimmy Cliff and launched reggae onto a world stage. THE HARDER THEY COME tells the story of young singer Ivan Martin who heads to Kingston with dreams of becoming a reggae star. With a live reggae band the cast tell a powerful story and perform songs from the film soundtrack including You Can Get It If You Really Want and By The Rivers of Babylon. Only performances outside London.
FRENCH & SAUNDERS
Monday 21 – Saturday 26 April
Tickets: £25.50, £27.50, £29.50,£32.50, £37.50, £42.50
Perf times: Eves 7.30pm
French & Saunders, Britain's most celebrated female comedians return to Birmingham Hippodrome for one week only as part of their nationwide tour in 2008. The show will feature the best of French & Saunders' characters and sketches from the three decades that they have been making people laugh, together with brand new material written by the first ladies of comedy.
Jennifer said, “We’re so excited about going on tour and giving the audience a great night out packed full of laughs. We’ll blend the best of our old material with the new and cram it all into a couple of hours of great fun. It’s going back to basics for us and it’s what we do best." Dawn added, “Can't wait. Bring it on! There's nothing like a live audience to change the colour of your pants!"
Lively, fast, upbeat, celebratory and fun - French & Saunders are back with their best.
CLOUD GATE DANCE THEATRE OF TAIWAN
Opens the Inaugeral International
Dance Festival Birmingham 2008
Monday 28 April & Tuesday 29 April
Tickets: £10.00, £14.50, £18.50, £21.50, £24.50
Perf times: Eves 8pm
According to legend, Cloud Gate is the name of the oldest known dance in China, a ritual dance of some 5,000 years ago. In 1973, choreographer Lin Hwai-min adopted this classical name for the first contemporary dance company in any Chinese speaking community: Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan. Cloud Gate's rich repertoire has its roots in Asian myths, folklore, and aesthetics, but it brings to these age-old beliefs and stories a contemporary and universal perspective. The company is made up of two-dozen dancers whose training includes Tai Chi Tao Yin (an ancient form of Chi Kung), meditation, martial arts, Chinese Opera movement, modern dance, ballet, and calligraphy.
The company will be performing Moon Water a work by choreographer Lin Hwai-Min which was premièred in Taiwan in 1998. A poetic work based on Taoist philosophy involving mirrors, flowing water and Tai Chi based movement. Cloud Gate Dance Theatre of Taiwan opens the International Dance Festival of Birmingham.
Online booking: www.birminghamhippodrome.com
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