Very fittingly, there’s some Great British entertainment on offer around the West Midlands this month, as we celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee
What: The Queen’s Knickers
Where: Tamworth Assembly Rooms
When: June 4
The Queen’s Knickers is a bouncy and colourful musical, based on the classic children’s book that has been a bestseller for over 25 years. Catch it at Tamworth Assembly Rooms as part of the towns’ Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations.
The Queen has lots of important events to attend, but disaster has struck the palace. Her Majesty’s knickers have been nicked – call the royal guard! Meanwhile, a little girl is wondering what knickers Her Majesty will choose to wear on a school visit… Will they be her ‘at home’ knickers – adorned with corgis – or her ‘garden party’ knickers, or perhaps her woolly Balmoral ones?
You’ll find this regal children’s musical is full of songs and silliness – not to mention a corgi or two! TaleGate Theatre Productions, producers of ‘Father Christmas Needs A Wee!’ and ‘The Giant’s Loo Roll’ stop off in Tamworth for two performances over the bank holiday weekend.
Tickets are £12.50 or £13.50 and shows start at 11am and 2pm. For more information visit www.tamworthassemblyrooms.co.uk
What: Diversity – Connected 2022
Where: The Alexandra, Birmingham
When: June 13 and 14
Diversity took the nation by storm when they won the third series of Britain’s Got Talent in 2009. So far, they’ve sold out nine UK and Irish tours and performed countless times on TV and live. The group celebrated their incredible achievements and ten year anniversary with a sell out, critically acclaimed 48 show tour in 2019, Born Ready.
This year they’re back, and the new tour is set to be even bigger. To take them into the next decade of Diversity, troupe leader and choreographer Ashley Banjo has created a new show, Connected, which centres around the world of social media, the internet, and the digital era we’re living in, but more importantly how this connects us all.
Ashley returned as a judge on Dancing on Ice earlier this year. He is also host and creative in The Real Full Monty and The Real Full Monty: Ladies Night, raising awareness of prostate and breast cancer respectively. Tickets for the Connected tour, landing in Birmingham on June 13 and 14, are available from £33.90. To book visit www.atgtickets.com/birmingham
What: Brighouse and Rastrick Band
Where: Lichfield Garrick
When: June 19
The Brighouse and Rastrick Band was formed more than 125 years ago through public donations given by the townsfolk of the adjacent villages of Brighouse and Rastrick that face each other across the River Calder in West Yorkshire, England.
To this day, the band is still supported through public subscriptions alongside its own fundraising efforts. Its amateur members – who practise at their purpose-built hall and music library called West Ridings at Brighouse High School – traditionally pride themselves on being financially independent.
The band – regarded by many as the best and most consistent public subscription band in the world – has a formidable reputation for highly entertaining concerts with both the general public and brass band connoisseurs. Indeed, they’re past winners of the Yorkshire Brass Band Championship and the National Brass Band Championships of Great Britain.
Tickets to see the Brighouse and Rastrick Band at the Lichfield Garrick this June are £20. For more details, go to www.lichfieldgarrick.com
Brighouse and Rastrick Band at the 2019 National Championships
What: Birmingham Royal Ballet – On Your Marks
Where: Birmingham Hippodrome
When: June 23 to 25
All eyes will be on Birmingham this summer as it welcomes the Commonwealth Games. To mark the moment, Birmingham Royal Ballet’s Director Carlos Acosta is bringing together three thrilling works for a triple bill. Presented as part of Birmingham International Dance Festival 2022, On Your Marks is set to celebrate the expressive energy and gravity-defying athleticism of the company’s world-class dancers.
Jorge Crecis created the dazzling 12 for Acosta Danza, Acosta’s company. Dancers from BRB and Acosta Danza will be teaming up for the first time to premiere a new version of this ‘dance-sport’ dive into the power of teamwork, retitled 24.
There’ll be a new work inspired by the Games from brilliant young Brazilian choreographer Juliano Nunes, whose recent pieces include commissions for NDT2 and Marie-Agnès Gillot. And to close, a dynamic, ecstatic ode to the power of nature and the glory of movement: Will Tuckett’s Lazuli Sky, set to John Adams’s irresistible Shaker Loops and premiered by BRB to great acclaim in 2020.
Tickets start from £16. For more information visit www.birminghamhippodrome.com
What: Housewives on Holiday
Where: Lichfield Garrick
When: June 24 and 25
From the writers and producers of Hormonal Housewives and Girls Just Wanna Have Fun, it’s time to get away from it all and join the cast and crew for Housewives on Holiday at the Lichfield Garrick this month.
What’s better than letting your hair down with the girls? Letting your hair down with the girls on holiday, of course! Holidays, like women, come in all shapes and sizes. From wild partying to wild swimming, from Club 18-30 to Club 80-130, join the ladies as they romp through a tapas of holiday heaven, holiday hell, and most of all holiday hilarity.
From the Costa del Sol to the Costa del Clacton, there’s no sucking in your belly on this beach – you’ll be among friends here. So, grab your passport and bikini, slap on the Fun Factor 50 and let it all hang out with the housewives on holiday!
Tickets are priced from £24.50. For more details go to www.lichfieldgarrick.com
What: The Great British Seaside Matinee Show and Lunch
Where: Tamworth Assembly Rooms
When: Various dates, including June 28 and 29
Producers of The D-Day Darlings, Revival Live UK, will present their brand new summer variety extravaganza in Tamworth this June.
Based on the classic end of pier variety show, spend the afternoon on a nostalgic trip down memory lane. The show will take you back to the good old days when summer meant family trips to the seaside, donkey rides, fish and chips, Punch and Judy, fairground rides, and striped deck chairs.
Expect singing, dancing and comedy, as well as a musical tribute to Mr George Formby and Friends. Plus, the show features a feast of toe-tapping music to get you singing along and in the mood for summer with songs like ‘Oh I do like to be beside the seaside’, ‘Summertime blues’, ‘Itsy bitsy teeny weeny yellow polka dot bikini’, ‘In the summertime’, ‘Little stick of Blackpool rock’, ‘We’re all going on a summer holiday’ and many more.
Priced at £23.50, tickets include lunch at 12 noon and the matinee show, which starts at 1.30pm. To book, visit www.tamworthartsandevents.co.uk
