Spooking up a storm
DOUBLE, double toil and trouble, fire burn and cauldron bubble! Swiftly moving from Shakespeare to sequins, there’s a real melting pot of a show awaiting revellers at Boulevard this Halloween.
Their Summer Show ticked all the boxes with the perfect blend of sun drenched standards and musical medleys from the likes of Lady GaGa and Grease.
And while there might be a chill in the air as we creep closer to October 31, the temperature is red hot down on Churchill Street.
Halloween can be a tricky season for a cast to master as there are certain numbers that punters will want to hear year after year, particularly if they’ve dressed for the occasion.
But what Boulevard have managed to do with their latest Spooktacular is include spine-chilling standards like Hocus Pocus and Thriller but given them a fresh and fierce new lease of life.
The Put A Spell on You/ Black Magic combination that merited an applause loud enough to wake the dead last year is back and the Thriller/Uptown Funk mashup is inspired.
The aim for any show is to engage its audience from the get go and Boulevard do that with ease with their finest and most full throttle opening number to date.
The medley of Britney Spears’ Toxic and Nicole Scherzinger’s Poison is everything modern Halloween should be and sees leading lady Danni Dee at her dynamic and divatastic best. Showcasing some superb musicality once again, every one of Danni’s facial expression and movement encapsulated the pull-no-punches aura of both tracks.
The opening routine saw the Broadway dancers bring their A-game too and their own high standard was maintained throughout.
What I love about Boulevard is their grasp of what their audience wants. So it was little surprise to see the Summer Show’s movie musical finale back.
A box office smash a few months ago, the high octane medley of Fame, Flashdance, Grease and Footloose can’t fail to have everyone up off their seats and the well oiled atmosphere at the Saturday late show helped it to have even more of an impact.
The Halloween show features a number from Wicked and of course on hand to deliver some wicked commentary of her own is Miss Rory. With her broomstick firmly parked, the reliable mistress of witch-like wit and devilish dressing-downs is in her usual fierce form.
If you’ve never been to a Boulevard Halloween show before, this is the one to break that trend. A tantalising concoction of top notch cabaret that’s not to be missed.
The show runs until Tuesday, October 31 with shows on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. Get your tickets from www.boulevardnewcastle.co.uk.