Express & Star

Midland am dram guide

You can't beat a rootin' tootin' Western-style piece of musical theatre can you?

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Phoenix Theatre Company, who perform at the Mill Theatre in Sedgley, is presenting the best of these musical comedies; Annie Get Your Gun; from February 28 to March 4, with evening performances at 7.30pm and a 2.30pm Saturday matinee.

Backwoods tomboy Annie Oakley is the best shot around and uses her skills to earn a living by selling the game she hunts.

When she is discovered by the infamous Buffalo Bill and asked to join his Wild West show, it isn't long before she becomes the toast of Europe and falls head over heels in love with another star performer, Frank Butler.

The score of this show holds a host of musical theatre favourites including I've Got The Sun in The Mornin, They Say It's Wonderful, and Doin' What Comes Naturally.

First time principal performer, Vicky Bull, takes the role of Annie, while in contrast and helping her along the way is musical theatre stalwart Richard Probert, who plays Frank.

It's a good one! For tickets visit www.phoenixtheatreco.co.uk or call 01902 897520.

And another group intent on a whip-cracking musical is Starcross Youth Theatre, who are presenting Calamity Jane at the Arena Theatre in Wolverhampton from February 24 to 26.

Started in 2013, this group meet to rehearse at the Chart Centre in Willenhall and is run by volunteers Phil and Belinda Cross, together with their musical director, Mike Klymko.

The score includes The Deadwood Stage, Windy City, The Black Hills of Dakota and, of course, the soaring ballad, Secret Love.

For tickets visit www.ticketsolve.com or call the Arena Theatre box office on 01902 321321. For more information on the group, visit www.starcrossyouththeatre.co.uk

A musical now, which is always surrounded by controversy and deemed to be the blackest of black comedy; The Producers. This show is without doubt one of the funniest ones around, but because of the Nazi Germany connection, people shy away from it.

Comic Theatre Company from Clent is presenting The Producers from February 23 to 25 at Sunfield Community Centre, with 7.30pm performances nightly. It's one for the adults really, although some of the more saucy lines might make teenagers laugh out loud too!

There is no other show quite like this one. Everything about it should be offensive and yet it is just funny, funny, funny! The score is uplifting and has some great production numbers including I Want To Be A Producer, The King Of Broadway, We Can Do It and Along Came Bialy.

For tickets priced at £13 each, call James on 01562 730381 or visit www.commictheatrecompany.org

Quarry Bank Musical Theatre Youth Society is the latest group to take on the mighty Les Miserables School Edition, and has their launch of the show at 11am on February 25 at St Michael's Church in Brierley Hill.

Are you aged seven-to-18 years old and in full-time education? If so, you are eligible to join. For more information, email secretary@qbmts.org.uk

Finally this week, two short Harold Pinter plays, The Lover and The Dumb Waiter, presented by Studio 61, the Wolverhampton-based drama group who perform at The Victory Hall in Lower Penn, from February 23 to 26.

In the first play, two workers wait and listen to the unusual sounds and extraordinary demands for dishes from a Dumb Waiter. In The Lover, married couple Richard and Sarah are both having affairs in order to keep their marriage alive. Call 01902 651828 or visit www.studio61.org

Well that's all for this week.

Please keep those emails and good quality photographs coming to a.norton@expressandstar.co.uk, call me on 01902 319662 or follow me on Twitter @AlisonNorton

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