Ian Waite And Oti Mabuse, Dreams of Lily Kwok, Streetcar, Dancing On Ice, Thoroughly Modern Millie
An Audience With Ian Waite And Oti Mabuse – Rhythm of the Night – tour starts 20 March
Strictly Come Dancing's dance professionals Ian Waite and Oti Mabuse take to the road with a new stage show.
An Audience With Ian Waite & Oti Mabuse – Rhythm Of The Night is "an extravaganza of high intensity Latin and Ballroom favourites, with some autobiography".
Waite and Mabuse tango to Mercury Theatre, Grove Theatre Dunstable, Hawth Theatre Crawley, Guild Hall Portsmouth, Connaught Theatre Worthing, Princes Hall Aldershot, Assembly Hall Tunbridge Wells, Towngate Theatre Basildon, Playhouse Harlow, Civic Hall Chelmsford, Palace Theatre Mansfield, The Baths Hall Scunthorpe, The Lighthouse Theatre Kettering, The Corn Exchange Cambridge, Corn Exchange Ipswich, Gordon Craig Theatre Stevenage, Stag Theatre Sevenoaks, Camberley Theatre, The Beck Theatre Hayes, The Apex Bury St Edmunds, The Corn Exchange Kings Lynn, Cresset Theatre Peterborough, The Stables Milton Keynes, Alban Arena St Albans, Shanklin Theatre Isle Of Wight, Weymouth Pavilion, Octagon Theatre Yeovil, Queens Theatre Barnstaple, The Playhouse Weston-Super-Mare, McMillan Theatre Bridgwater, Wyvern Theatre Swindon, Hexagon Theatre Reading, The Civic Centre Leamington Spa, Marine Hall Fleetwood, Guild Hall Preston, Theatre Royal St Helens, Regent Theatre Stoke On Trent, Theatre Royal Norwich, Ulster Hall Belfast, Pavilion Theatre Rhyl, The Riverfront Newport, Grand Pavilion Theatre Porthcawl, Town Hall Cheltenham, Merlin Theatre Redruth, Pavilion Theatre Exmouth, Salisbury City Hall, The Anvil Basingstoke, Eden Court Theatre Inverness, Concert Hall Perth, Albert Halls Stirling, Forum Theatre Billingham, Grimsby Auditorium Grimsby, The Barbican York, Whitley Playhouse and Gala Theatre Durham.
Mountains: The Dreams of Lily Kwok – tour starts 22 March
Mountains: The Dreams of Lily Kwok is based on the true story of the women behind Manchester’s Sweet Mandarin restaurant and the book Sweet Mandarin by Helen Tse.
Written by In-Sook Chappell, the play is directed by Jennifer Tang with a cast made up of Siu-See Hung, Tina Chiang, Ruth Gibson, Andy Kettu, Matthew Leonhart, Rina Takasaki and Minhee Yeo.
Mountains: The Dreams of Lily Kwok is produced by Black Theatre Live, Yellow Earth Theatre and Manchester Royal Exchange and sponsored by the Hong Kong Economic & Trade Office, London. It is the first major mid-scale tour of a British East Asian play and the show is led by an all-female creative team.
The story charts Lily Kwok's life from a childhood working in a silk factory in Hong Kong, to the murder of her father, her escape to the UK to the now well-known restaurant in Manchester.
Helen Tse and her twin sister Lisa have run the Sweet Mandarin restaurant since 2004; they were awarded an MBE for Services to Food and Drink in 2014. During the play the restaurant’s famous Mabel’s Chicken Pot will be cooked live onstage.
Mountains: The Dreams of Lily Kwok visits Royal Exchange Theatre Manchester, Stratford Circus Arts Centre, Theatre Royal Bury St Edmunds, Lighthouse Poole, Key Theatre Peterborough, Theatre Royal Margate, Derby Theatre, Watford Palace Theatre, Sheffield Crucible Theatre, Beaumont Street Hexham and Belgrade Square Coventry. At some venues there will be a pre-show cooking demo by Helen and Lisa.
A Streetcar Named Desire – tour starts 23 March
Kelly Gough plays Blanche, Amber James plays Stella and Patrick Knowles plays Stanley in Tennessee Williams's A Streetcar Named Desire when it tours in March.
Completing the cast are Nicole Agada, Will Bliss, Dexter Flanders, Marai Louis and Joe Manjón.
Chelsea Walker directs.
A Streetcar Named Desire is a Nuffield Southampton Theatres, Theatr Clwyd and English Touring Theatre co-production.
A Streetcar Named Desire opens at NST City then visits Theatre By the Lake Keswick, Malvern Theatre, Bristol Old Vic, New Wolsley Theatre Ipswich, Cambridge Arts Theatre, Oxford Playhouse and Theatr Clwyd Mold, returning to NST City in June.
Dancing On Ice Live – tour starts 23 March
Following a four-year break, Dancing on Ice Live is back on tour.
Jayne Torvill and Christopher Dean will host the show with a cast of celebrities and professional skaters from the new Dancing on Ice television series which started earlier this year.
X Factor star Jake Quickenden, Bucks Fizz's Cheryl Baker, Kem Cetinay, Alex Beresford, two-time Dancing on Ice champion Ray Quinn and rugby player Max Evans will be amongst those taking part.
Torvill and Dean will be head judges for the show, Denise Van Outen will be a guest judge, and arena audiences' text votes will be added to the judges' scores to decide the celebrity winning couple.
Dancing on Ice Live skates to SSE Arena Wembley, FlyDSA Arena Sheffield, Metro Radio Arena Newcastle, Manchester Arena, SSE Hydro Glasgow, Motorpoint Arena Nottingham and Birmingham Arena.
Thoroughly Modern Millie – tour starts 27 March
Hayley Tamaddon, who will be known to television viewers for Coronation Street, Emmerdale and Dancing On Ice, is to play Millie in a further tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie, following its successful outing in the spring of last year.
This popular musical is based on an original story and screenplay by Richard Morris for the Universal Pictures film of the same name and has a book by Richard Morris and Dick Scanlan with new music by Jeanine Tesori and new lyrics by Dick Scanlan.
Set in the 1920s Jazz Age, the story concerns country girl Millie Dillmount arriving in swinging New York City.
The director and choreographer is Racky Plews and the musical director is Rob Wicks.
The tour of Thoroughly Modern Millie opens at Richmond Theatre then visits Devonshire Park Theatre, Eastbourne, Sunderland Empire, Oxford New Theatre, The Princess Theatre, Torquay, Poole Lighthouse, Regent Theatre Stoke on Trent, Bord Gáis Energy Theatre, Dublin, Bradford Alhambra, Darlington Hippodrome, Cliffs Pavilion Southend, Grand Theatre Wolverhampton, Regent Theatre Ipswich and Jersey Opera House with further dates to be announced.