Your Midlands and Shropshire am dram round-up

Not content with tackling junior versions of huge shows such as Les Misérables and Miss Saigon, they also turn their hand to dance projects, drama and mini operas with confident ease.

One group who have taken on such a project is the Lichfield Garrick Youth Theatre, who will be playing air guitar as they present Rock of Ages at the Lichfield Garrick from September 26-30.

It’s the tail end of the big, bad 1980s in Hollywood, and the party has been raging hard. Aqua Net, Lycra, lace and liquor flow freely at one of the Sunset Strip’s last legendary venues, a place where rock god Stacee Jaxx takes the stage and his groupies line up to turn their fantasies into reality.

Amidst the madness, aspiring rock star Drew longs to take the stage as the next big thing, while also longing for small-town girl Sherri, fresh off the bus from Kansas with stars in her eyes. But the rock and roll fairy-tale is about to end when German developers sweep into town with plans to turn the fabled Strip into just another mall.

Can Drew, Sherri, and the gang save the strip, and themselves, before it’s too late? Only the music of hit bands Styx, Journey, Bon Jovi, Whitesnake and more hold the answer.

There is hit after hit in this wild and wonderful score including Don’t Stop Believin’, We Built This City, The Final Countdown, Dead or Alive, Here I Go Again, Can’t Fight This Feeling and I Want to Know What Love Is.

In this production, look out for Dominic Sterland as Drew, Esme Wade as Sherri and Tyler Young as Stacee Jaxx. Classic rock music presented by a high energy, talented cast of young performers who are ready to bring the house down.

l For tickets, book online at www.lichfieldgarrick.com or call 01543 412121.

In complete contrast for the more gentile theatre-goer, there is a radio-style presentation of two BBC scripts of Sherlock Holmes, under the title of A Two Pipe Problem, with on-stage sound effects in aid of the Church Stretton Library Support Group, presented by The Stretton Players (formerly the Dorrington Players) on September 29.

l For more information, please visit www.strettonplayers.wordpress.com

Stourbridge Theatre Company is delighted to welcome visitors to the UK in the form of The Nuworks Theatre Company from Melbourne, Australia, who are here to present their own interpretation of Snow White, followed by Romeo and Juliet on October 4 at Stourbridge Town Hall.

Billed as an evening of entertainment for all the family, they’ve not strayed very far from the original storylines. However, in Snow White, I am led to believe that in addition to the wicked queen, Snow White and the prince, you should look out for some additional unusual characters.

Romeo and Juliet is guaranteed to appeal to young and old alike and is peppered with a number of contemporary pop songs from Pink, Coldplay and Muse. Sounds interesting.

l For tickets priced at just £7 each, call 0333 666 3366 or call into The French Deli in Stourbridge.

An extremely popular comedy among amateur performers is Jeremy Lloyd and David Croft’s ‘Allo, ‘Allo!, based on the hit BBC TV series which starred Gordon Kaye as the hapless French café owner, René and Carmen Silvera as his tone-deaf wife Edith.

The BBC show, which ran in the 1980s, brought together the English, Germans, French and Italians as all four nations laughed out loud at the hilarious war-time script.

René and his wife have stashed a priceless portrait stolen by the Nazis in a sausage in their cellar, where two British airmen are also hiding until the Resistance can repatriate them.

Communications with London using the wireless that is disguised as a cockatoo add to the many embarrassments this intrepid proprietor endures in the company of his patrons.

News that the Fuhrer is scheduled to visit the town inspires tricksters disguised as Hitler to frequent the cafe. Meanwhile René summons all the wit he can muster to save his cafe and his life.

l Catch ‘Allo,’Allo! at Sutton Arts Theatre presented by Trinity Players from September 14-23. For tickets and enquiries call the box office on 07843 928830 or book online at Ticket Source Trinity Players.

Over in Birmingham at the Crescent Theatre, from September 30-October 7, the resident drama group at the Crescent will be presenting David Hare’s witty, but poignant and deeply political play, Skylight.

Kyra Hollis a struggling, but committed schoolteacher is visited unexpectedly in her London East End flat by two figures from her past. The first is Edward Sergeant and the other his father Tom, a widower and highly successful restaurateur who also happens to be Kyra’s former lover. As the evening progresses the two men fight over politics and possessions while attempting to understand the passions that drove them apart.

l It’s well worth a look. For tickets, visit www.crescent-theatre.co.uk or call 0121 643 5858.

Willenhall Musical Theatre Company performs an annual concert on September 21-22 at the New Invention Victory Club.

The cast will be delighting audiences with songs from Mary Poppins, Half a Sixpence, Oliver! and Chess, as well as performing some pop music too.

Look out for comedy sketches by Laurel and Hardy and a special performance by the Rai family who will be presenting a song from a lesser known musical called I Love You Now Change called Highway of Love. It depicts in song a family having an argument while on a long-distance drive, which Abbie Rai assures me has happened to her Mum and Dad, Nikki and Alf and her sister Megan and her in the past.

l For tickets priced at just £10 which includes fish and chip, visit www.seaty.co.uk/wmtc2017