SIX - and all the big musicals heading to Peterborough

The winner of the 2022 Tony Award for ‘Best Original Score’, the 2022 Whatsonstage Award for ‘Best West End Show’ and a Gold-Disk winning album, this sell-out Tudor take-off becomes the latest box office hit show to head to the city.

From Tudor Queens to Pop Princesses, the six wives of Henry VIII take to the mic to tell their tales, remixing 500 years of historical heartbreak into an 80-minute celebration of 21st century girl power.

These Queens may have green sleeves but their lipstick is rebellious red.

Tickets are on sale with performances June 6-11, 2023.

Tickets from www.newtheatre-peterborough.com

Before then – and following in the footsteps of Rocky Horror, Footloose, Blood Brothers and We Will Rock You at New Theatre in 2022 already – Beautiful, The Carole King Musical, a new production of the Award Winning West End and Broadway show, is coming (October 25-29).

Long before she was Carole King, the chart-topping music legend, she was an ordinary girl with an extraordinary talent. Beautiful tells the inspiring true story of King’s remarkable rise to stardom, from being part of a hit song-writing team with her husband Gerry Goffin, to her relationship with fellow writers and best friends Cynthia Weil and Barry Mann, to becoming one of the most successful solo acts in popular music history.

Along the way, she wrote the soundtrack to a generation, with countless classics such as (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman, Take Good Care of My Baby, You’ve Got a Friend, So Far Away, It Might as Well Rain Until September, Up on the Roof, and The Locomotion.

Taking the lead role is Molly-Grace Cutler, who says of the production: “It’s done by a full company of live musicians, which is very different to the original Broadway and West End productions and previous tours. It’s a really feel-good musical. It’s emotional and very heartwarming, to say the least.”.

As for playing Carole King, she adds: “She’s an incredible music icon. She’s very driven and very determined and you get to see how resilient she is as her story goes on.

“As for feeling the pressure, yes there’s a lot of that – especially given that she’s still to this day, a living legend. But I’m very happy that I’m getting to play her and her music. The big challenge is in playing someone who is still around, so people will inevitably compare you to her as well as other people who have played the role before. It’s about

doing your own thing whilst also paying respect to the people before along with Carole herself.”

Molly Grace says she did her research after being cast, watching as many interviews as she could find, adding: “although there isn’t a lot because she’s notoriously shy but the ones that I did find were very helpful. Then I watched clips of her performing and thankfully there are a lot more of those than there are interviews.”

Then it was a case of nailing the songs during rehearsals.

“She’s a great pop songwriter and that’s similar to what I’m used to performing,” says Molly-Grace.

“She’s very specific in her technique and the way she writes so it was fun to get into her way of playing. And I was already a fan. I had her Tapestry album on vinyl from when I was a kid. My granddad gave it to me when I was seven or eight years old so I’ve been listening to her music for a long time.

“She wrote so much for so many other singers and musicians. A lot of people don’t realise how much music she actually wrote and who she wrote for. That’s a great thing in the show, that you get to see how much she contributed to the music industry.”

And of those songs, does she have a favourite which she likes to perform?

“I’d have to say (You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman because it’s such an honest, emotional song about her relationship with Gerry,” she admits. “We’re very lucky that we have such a talented cast of actors and musicians who create this amazing sound. Being an actor-musician is what I trained to do but I think these kind of productions are still pretty new for the theatre industry, which is why I’m excited to share it with people.”

It is quickly followed by Strictly Ballroom The Musical (November 28-December 3)

Based on Baz Luhrmann’s award-winning worldwide film phenomenon, the shows stars Strictly Come Dancing favourite Kevin Clifton and BBC’s Eastenders’ Maisie Smith.

Directed and co-choreographed by Britain’s best loved TV judge, Craig Revel Horwood, Strictly Ballroom: The Musical follows arrogant, rebellious young ballroom dancer, Scott Hastings (Clifton). When his radical and daring dance style sees him fall out of favour with Australian Federation, he must dance with beginner, Fran (Smith). Together they find the courage to defy tradition and discover that to win, your steps don’t need to be strictly ballroom.

Featuring smash-hit songs Love is in the Air, Perhaps Perhaps Perhaps and Time After Time, and all new music written by internationally acclaimed artists including Sia, David Foster and Eddie Perfect. This feel-good ballroom sensation is sure to make for an unforgettable evening under the glitter ball that will send your heart soaring and toes tapping.

The new tear welcomes Rock Of Ages – the smash-hit musical is back, and the party is going to be bigger than ever.

The former Coronation Street legend Kevin Kennedy returns to the ultimate ‘80s rock ‘n’ roll show in the role of ‘Dennis Dupree’

It is an hilarious musical comedy lavished with more than 25 classic rock anthem, including Don’t Stop Believin’, We Built This City, The Final Countdown, Wanted Dead or Alive, Here I Go Again, Can’t Fight This Feeling and I Want To Know What Love Is, played loud and proud by an awesome live band.

See it from January 31 to February 4.

The Commitments – which opened in the West End to critical acclaim in 2013 – is Peterborough bound in 2023. You can see it at the New Theatre from May 15-20.

The Commitments musical has been adapted from the novel by Booker prize-winning author Roddy Doyle and features an electric playlist, with more than 20 soul classics performed live on stage, including Night Train, Try A Little Tenderness, River Deep, Mountain High, In The Midnight Hour, Papa Was A Rolling Stone, Save Me, Mustang Sally and I Heard It Through The Grapevine.

It tells the story of Jimmy Rabbitte, a young working-class music fan, who transforms an unlikely bunch of amateur musicians into an amazing live act which becomes the finest soul band Dublin has ever produced. Placing a classified advert in a music paper, Jimmy auditions a number of wannabes before finalising the members of his new band, which he names ‘The Commitments’.

Humour kicks in as the band get to know each other and their instruments, grappling with inter-group differences as they muddle their way through early rehearsals for the band’s first gig. Just as they improve and begin to get a name for themselves, they combust. The backing singers are more interested in the middle-aged horn playing legend, the singer has entered Eurovision, the drummer has walked out mid-gig and the saxophone player has dangerous leanings towards a jazz career.

It will feature another former Coronation Street star – Nigel Pivaro, as Da. The actor, who played Terry Duckworth in the soap, said: “I am thrilled to be marking my return to the stage in this production of The Commitments. It’s an iconic story that resonates across the years about people who, though distant from the music’s origins, find communion and expression in the Motown style. A musical genre which was borne out of oppression and which the characters embrace as their own. The Motown Sound is as vibrant today as it was when it first burst through in the Sixties.”

Tickets are on sale at: www.newtheatre-peterborough.com