Category: Nights Out

Neighbours: The Celebration Tour

After Neighbours ended in 2022 I was devastated. I know that people think that watching Neighbours is sad and something you did when you were a kid. But I was someone who loved the show and its characters and watched it every day. One comfort was knowing that I had managed to book tickets for the Farewell Tour in March 2023.

Fast foward a few months later and the news broke that Neighbours would be returning and the Farewell Tour would be revamped as the Celebration Tour! Absolutely amazing!

We watched the live show in Manchester at the Bridgewater Hall. The show was presented by Leah Boleto who was a brilliant host – she came over as a genuine fan as well as a competent presenter.

During the show we met each star in turn – Ryan Maloney (Toadie) then Alan Fletcher (Karl Kennedy) and then Jackie Woodburne (Susan Kennedy). They were then replaced by Annie Jones (Jane Harris), then April Rose Pengilly (Chloe Brennan) and finally Stefan Dennis (Paul Robinson). They each shared some great memories from the show and shared insight into the characters they played.

After the interval all of the actors returned to the stage whilst they played some clips and discussed moments in the show. Of course, they discussed how they found about about the news of the cancellation and then the excitement of the show returning!

Alan Fletcher and Stefan Dennis were always going to be my favourites on the stage and they were really funny. But all of the actors were fun, insightful and really interesting to listen to.

The tour has made me really excited for the show’s return – which they will apprently start to film three weeks after the tour ends.

Back To The Future: The Musical

Back To The Future has always been one of my favourite films! Of course, it’s full of pot holes and strange quirks, but it’s a classic! Over the years there has been talk of a reboot and I’ve not been sure about this. So when it was announced back in May 2019 that they were going to reboot it in the form of a musical, I was really excited. This would be something different!

It was either going to be incredibly brilliant, or incredibly bad. So when I managed to find bargain tickets for just £13 each it was worth a shot.

BTTF: The Musical opened at the Opera House in Manchester about a week ago. We went to watch it last night (what a way to remember the bonus day of 29th Feb!) and I am pleased to say that, not only was it incredibly brilliant, but it exceeded all of my expectations.

The show is more than just a musical. It’s an education in special effects. The things they managed to do with the Delorean were magical.

The show starred Olly Dobson as Marty McFly. He was so believable as the main character that you didn’t notice it was Michael J. Fox. He had the same voice traits as the actor! He was superb!

Roger Bart, who we recognised from loads of different things, was Doc Brown. He was hilarious! A knowing performance, he paid homage to the original performance whilst bringing something new to the character. He managed to include all of the silliness of the movie performance with great singing. He was sensational!

Hugh Coles as George McFly was phenomenal, as was Rosanna Hyland as Lorraine Baines. Aidan Cutler was great as the bully Biff Tannen. The character of Goldie Wilson was expanded for the musical and Cedric Neal was show stealing in the role!

The music was refreshing – funny, sentimental and catchy. But, for me, the best songs came at the end and were the classic songs from the movie – Earth Angel, Johnny B. Goode, The Power Of Love and Back In Time.

I don’t want to spoil the show by telling you what they manage to do with the time travelling car, but it is worth going to watch it just for the last twenty minutes alone!

There are some pictures and a review of the show here.

I sneaked a photo of the cast at the end!
Woah, this is heavy.
  • At half-ttime
  • The programme
Of course, we couldn’t take photos during the show.