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 Butlins is quickly becoming famous for offering music festivals and family holidays such as the upcoming All Tomorrow’s Parties and the Street Dance Festival both of which will take place at the Minehead Resort.
However, now another event is joining the line-up as the Skegness beachside Resort is horning in by holding the Great British Folk Festival. This event will be quite the competitor given that it features many notable live performances from the Gathering, Linddisfarne, Jethro Tull, Magna Carta, Steeleye Span, and Fairport Convention.
Also due to the stage alongside many others are the Dave Cousins led Acoustic Stawbs, Kate Rusby, Sandi Thom, and Richard Digance.
The tradition of Folk music in Skegness goes back a lengthy ways with Steeleye Span taking their name from the traditional song ‘Horkstow Grange’ that is popular in the area. They were one of the first bands to offer folk music to the general masses outside of folk clubs and helped encourage its growth up the album and singles charts.
Even though the sixties and seventies helped open people’s ears to the sounds of folk music, many of the artists from that time have continued to experiment with infusing music on through today.
The aim of the Great British Folk Festival is to explore this experimentation by offering the familiar artists of the past and today as well as a few who may not be so familiar in an effort to spawn a little research into the matter.
For more information on the Great British Folk Festival or to book a break in Butlins the official website is www.bigweekends.com/folk and the phone number is 0845 070 4730.
Popularity: 1% [?]
 Tom Jones seemed as if he had a point to prove at the Latitude Festival given he arrived at the Suffolk four day event preaching about his new gospel album Praise & Blame. The record made headlines a few days before when Vice-President of Island Records asked if the gospel album was a joke in an email that was leaked.
Jones was apparently maddened by the comment using his appearance on the Latitude stage to perform like he has never done before putting his heart into every note.
Although he was a last minute addition to the event, he kicked off the festival planned to play on a smaller stage but within three days it was revealed that he would in fact be on the main Obelisk arena stage. Word of mouth around the music fest travelled quickly and the impromptu performance drew one of the largest crowds of the entire weekend.
In a bold step, Jones chose only to perform the gospel tracks from his new album but it seemed to work out just fine with his vocal matching each selection perfectly.
Even though most of the crowd did not recognize the set list, for the most part the crowd stayed steady throughout with little thinning with each song receiving enthusiastic praise of its own.
All in all, Jones proved that even though he took a risky move at the age of seventy, he is still able to captivate a modern audience.
Popularity: 3% [?]
 Although Take That fans have had to be patient, 15 years after Robbie Williams quit the boy band he has announced that he will be back in the group for a reunion. In 1995 Williams left plenty of young teenage girls crying when he departed the group at the top of their fame after a fight with the other band members.
Last night a statement was released by Take That announcing that the rumours are true and Robbie Williams has rejoined the band, which have the written and recorded a new album that will be released later on in the year sometime in November.
The summer after its release it is expected that Williams will hit the stage again with his fellow old bandmates, Howard Donald, Gary Barlow, Mark Owen, and Jason Orange for a large scale stadium tour.
It is estimated that each of the members will earn about £10m for the reunion.
Williams stated last night that it is now very exciting to work with the entire band again and that it feels a bit like going home.
Owen, who was William’s closest friend in Take That, stated that getting all five members together in a room was always a dream that he never thought would become a reality. However, now he says that the actual reality of creating a new record together feels like the dream.
Last September the five Take That stars met in New York after Owen’s stag party and afterwards started to secretly record six songs which formed the foundation for the coming album.
The new record will be released exactly two decades after the band first appeared on television in 1990. The band broke up over an argument about Williams’ drug habits and an inner conflict over the musical direction from Barlow.
Popularity: 4% [?]
 Whoopi Goldberg will soon debut on the West End stage in the musical version of Sister Act. She will be replacing Sheila Hancock who played the role since the show opened in May of 2009.
In the film that inspired the film, Goldberg played the role of a singer that is looking for refuge in a convent after she witnessed a murder that involved the mafia. She is the co-producer of musical worth £7m and joins the cast officially on August 10th for a short run.
The show closes at the London Palladium near the end of October in order to make way for The Wizard of Oz by Andrew Lloyd Webber to open.
Sister Act stage producer Bill Taylor, stated that the journey of Sister Act in the West End has been great so far and input from Goldberg from development on out has been great. Now that she is back on the stage at the Palladium theatregoers will get a special treat.
Taylor added that they are excited and that they still want to take a moment to thank the wonderful, talented, and unspeakably indomitable Hancock.
In 2011 producers hope to take Sister Act to Broadway.
After spending a decade of avoiding planes Goldberg the star of the US The View overcame her fear and stepped on a plane in order to see Sister Act on its opening night.
Apparently she has also gotten over stage fright as well given the fact that when the show first opened she laughed at the idea of taking on a role in it stating its meant for those who can sing. Lucky for her there is only one musical solo in her role as Mother Superior.
Popularity: 5% [?]
 Shrek the Musical will soon make its ogre debut on the West End featuring a full score written by Jenine Tesori. Performances are slated to begin May of 2011 at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane with the official opening date listed as June 7th.
Rob Ashford and Jason Moore will co-direct the musical that re-enacts the storyline of the book by William Steig and the Dreamworks motion picture film Shrek the Musical. The plot features the story of an ogre who sets out on an adventure with his pal the donkey in order to save the Princess and many other fairytale creatures from Lord Farquaad.
Shrek the Musical opened on Broadway in December of 2008 and ran until January 3rd, 2010 at the Broadway Theatre. During its run it was nominated for eight 2009 Tony Awards and won for the Best Costume Design of a Musical.
The production in the West End will feature designs by the same Broadway creative team including Tim Hatley in costume design, Hugh Vanstone in lighting design, choreography by Josh Prince, and Peter Hylenski for sound design.
Shrek the Musical will replace Oliver! At the Theatre Royal Drury Lane which will close January 9, 2011.
Popularity: 4% [?]
 The producer of Glee, the US hit television series, has stated that the cast will not embark on a UK stage tour because he wants the focus of the cast to solely lie on the second season of the Golden Globe winning programme.
Earlier in 2010 the cast took to the stage for seven US dates, after which Dante Di Loreto said they may possibly travel to the UK in the future because the cast would enjoy it, but the television show production always comes first.
Di Loreto explained that they had a great time during the live concerts and would love to do more, but time is the key problem preventing them from hitting the stage any time soon.
Glee has been a huge success across America, earning a Golden Globe and critical acclaim from many which is reflected in its ratings.
Within the UK, Glee has also steadily gained in popularity with many hits on the singles charts and a top selling album.
There are rumours that a movie version of the show is in the works, but cast member Matthew Morrison denied the rumours stating that they are not true.
Morrison said the amount of rumours circulating about the show remind him of high school, although he did confirm that there are two more seasons already under contract.
Popularity: 14% [?]
 The Strokes, the American rock band from the early 2000’s set themselves up to look like nobility from Scotland when making their appearance at RockNess.
The five piece band booked into a 15 bedroom baronial pile found on the loch’s southern banks that came complete with yards thick walls, towers, and turrets.
The band decided to take the luxurious Aldourie castle in order to immerse themselves within the Scottish heritage and culture.
Frontman for the Strokes, Julian Casablancas and his bandmates Albert Hammon Jr, Valenti, Farbrizio Moretti, and Nikolai Fraiture each had their own four poster beds and enjoyed the service of servants and a cook throughout their stay at the castle.
In fact, they even turned the castle into a family event getting fold down beds for Nick and his wife Amanda’s three year old twins.
The Strokes, who are best known for Last Nite and New York City Cops, were allowed to reign over the castle, which conveniently was located only a mile away from the RockNess festivities.
An insider stated that the band is enjoying the hospitality that the Scottish are known for and are enjoying the fact that not only do they have a castle, but they can relax in it between sets.
The same insider noted that the library was stocked with plenty of books, each bedroom had four poster beds, the kitchen was fully staffed, and the band was made to feel as if they were simply relaxing at home.
The Strokes closed the three day RockNess festival, which also featured headline acts such as Fatboy Slim, Leftfield, Blondie, and Vampire Weekend.
Popularity: 6% [?]
 Two decades after Rage Against the Machine first broke out of California they found themselves topping the charts in the UK due to the effects of a Facebook campaign that was aimed at keeping X-Factor winners away from stealing the top spot.
Although Facebook only one of the marketing campaigns they were involved in, Rage was pretty gracious over their win and re-paid fans by playing a free gig in Finsbury park for thousands of eager fans.
Not to ignore the reason that Rage was performing, the set began with a spoof of an animated Cowell introducing the band as they started to strum the beginning chords of “Testify.” Although most band sets are paced to include up and down tempos, Rage gave it their all on this particular night choosing to keep every song rapid and fast causing the crowd to go virtually wild.
One disappointment may be the fact that even having been reunited for three years, Rage still has not played or released any new material but the show did hold a special surprise cover of “White Riot” by the Clash.
It was hard to miss the possibility of new material however from the crows as Rocha was all over the stage playing passionate music in between lecturing the audience on British music and Gaza.
Noteworthy was a break in the set in which Jon and Tracy Morter, the creators of the Facebook campaign, were brought onto the stage and handed a huge check that they were instructed to offer up to their favourite charity, which shows Rage is still willing to give back in more ways than one.
Popularity: 10% [?]
 The BBC talent show ‘Over The Rainbow’ may have recently finished, but online coach holidays website Door2Tour.com is offering customers the opportunity to see the newly crowned ‘Dorothy’, Danielle Hope, take to the stage with its newly-launched coach packages to see the ‘Wizard Of Oz’.
Door2Tour.com features a wide range of theatre weekend breaks and day trips to see the Wizard of Oz (as well as a variety of other holidays by coach) with over 30 departure dates available between March and August 2011. The addition of Wizard takes the number of shows available to book as part of London theatre weekend packages to 18, which include old favourites from ‘Phantom of the Opera’ and ‘Les Miserables’ to new kids on the block ‘Legally Blonde’ and ‘Hair’. All shows are available to book online 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and have nationwide pick-up points across the UK.
Kate Glanfield, web manager of Door2Tour, said: “Interest in theatre breaks to ‘The Wizard of Oz’ was remarkable even before tickets went on sale and if demand to date is anything to go by, we’ve no doubt that it will follow in the footsteps of its predecessor ‘Oliver!’ in terms of sell-out opening success.”
Thousands of girls auditioned for the leading role and it was down to the judging panel to decide who the final 20 should be. During the two-month TV series, the contestants were whittled down from the initial 20 to the final trio of Sophie Evans, Lauren Samuels and Danielle Hope who were all eager to be Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s next leading lady. Each ‘Dorothy’ had to impress not only the judging panel of John Partridge, Charlotte Church and Sheila Hancock with their singing and stage presence but also win over Lord Lloyd-Webber and the viewing public.
After receiving the highest number of viewers’ votes, Danielle Hope was declared the winner and will be wearing the famous ruby slippers as she takes the leading role in Andrew Lloyd-Webber’s new West End production of ‘The Wizard of Oz’.
Andrew Lloyd Webber will be bringing this classic story to life on the London stage from 1st March 2011. His new production will contain all the much loved songs from the Oscar winning movie score, all the favourite characters (Scarecrow, The Cowardly Lion and The Tin Man) and iconic moments, plus a few surprises along the way.
Kate concluded: “No matter what the season or economic climate, London theatre breaks continue to be one of our most robust products, remaining popular month after month. People are still determined to enjoy themselves and theatre weekends offer the perfect, wallet-friendly form of escapism.”
Packages include tickets to see ‘The Wizard of Oz’ (ticket upgrades available), return coach travel, hotel to theatre transfers and accommodation with continental breakfast.
Popularity: 38% [?]
 Jeff Goldblum is scheduled to be the star of his second West End Play at the Old Vic; it will be The Prisoner of Second Avenue by Neil Simon.
The play is scheduled to open on July 13th at the Vaudeville Theatre with the Old Vic to be put to use in the Sam Mendes’ Bridge Project.
This is Goldblum’s first step onto the London stage since 2008 when he appeared beside Kevin Spacey in an Old Vic production of the play Speed the Plow, which he described at the time as a ‘delicious experience.’
Terry Johnson is slated to direct the play who already has several awards under his belt both as a director and a playwright.
Goldblum will portray the character of Mel on the stage that loses his job and then has a nervous breakdown.
Mendes will return to the Old Vic for his second year in The Bridge Project, which will start on June 12th and run through August 21st. During this time period his theatre group of American and British actors will be directed through two plays by Shakespeare, The Tempest and As You Like It.
Popularity: 42% [?]
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