Birmingham Hippodrome

Good to be back, Toby, and nice to be talking with you and listeners.

Well, this week we have Birmingham Royal Ballet's revival of Sir Peter Wright's production of a true classical ballet with Swan Lake at the Birmingham Hippodrome.

So how was this, I suppose, glorious journey into Swan Lake with the Royal Ballet Sinfonia playing Tchaikovsky's music live alongside the wonderful Birmingham Royal Ballet dancers for you, Vidar?

It's a beautiful piece.

Obviously, it's been around for a long time.

But a very clever film and looking forward to sharing the stage dramatization of this particular well-known play, well-known dramatization when we next speak, Toby.

Well, as always, thank you very much indeed, Vidar, for sharing your audio described review of Birmingham Royal Ballet's production of Swan Lake at the Birmingham Hippodrome with me here on RNIB Connect Radio.

It's always a great pleasure, Toby.

And, but then there was that kind of, "You need to go and get a job." Um, so I don't know how I found a job.

I ended up working front of house at the Birmingham Hippodrome, where we were living at the time.

Right.

Um, so I was selling ice creams over that summer, not really knowing what I was gonna do, and then realized very quickly I got into working backstage there.

Everything about that job was like, wow, this is, this is a cool job.

Um, so I kind of had my heart set on doing that.

I also realized that as a casual at the Birmingham Hippodrome, none of the l- in-house crew wanted to do the sound loading.

It was always they wanna be a lighting or that.

Performing up to 13 shows a week, they appeared in cities including Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham.

In his weekly report, the theatre manager of Birmingham Hippodrome, Bertie Adams, wrote that Laurel and Hardy received a very excellent reception.

During their visit, Lancashire-born Laurel saw his sister, Olga Beatrice, and her family in Nottingham as often as their schedule would allow, and this meant he could enjoy the pleasures of her wholesome home cooking.

After the indifferent food they were used to in the second-rate British hotels and digs they were forced to stay in while touring, this must have been a real treat.

So you're performing one night there.

You'll walk somewhere and it'll take you two paces, and then you go to the Birmingham Hippodrome.

Yeah.

Yeah.

So, yes, we've got Swan Lake coming up in September.

We actually open with the show next week at Birmingham Hippodrome.

And yes, as you've alluded to, the story of Swan Lake is Prince Siegfried's search to find a wife, I guess.

And Baron von Rothbard has put Odette under a spell in Swan Lake.

Hotbed for a hot mess.

It was then workshopped and put together by the new musicals department at Birmingham Hippodrome.

And they kind of saw it through its fringe run in 2025.

Yeah.

Performing up to 13 shows a week, they appeared in cities including Liverpool, Manchester and Birmingham.

In his weekly report, the theatre manager of Birmingham Hippodrome, Bertie Adams, wrote that Laurel and Hardy received a very excellent reception.

During their visit, Lancashire-born Laurel saw his sister, Olga Beatrice, and her family in Nottingham as often as their schedule would allow, and this meant he could enjoy the pleasures of her wholesome home cooking.

After the indifferent food they were used to in the second-rate British hotels and digs they were forced to stay in while touring, this must have been a real treat.