REX Manchester New Season 2021

Bit underwhelming. Seems to be a lot of curated/community things, and I don’t really have any interest in those. The Mountaintop and Glee & Me do sound interesting, but I think I’ll wait to see who’s cast before booking.

A couple of years ago I’d have been disappointed, but I’m actually a bit glad I don’t want to see much, as I’m not in any hurry to hand them more money after the faff of trying to get refunds off them last year.

The choice may be explained by a cast of five actor musicians...which is still four more than the reopening production!

I must have skipped a paragraph, I never saw that. Wow. Sounds a far cry from the sell-out Christmas shows of recent years. 

The people commenting on the REX’s website seem unimpressed as well, but they usually do be fair. They’ve had 39 responses so far on a poll, and 25 of them were “sad” and 1 “angry.” Considering Wuthering Heights had a pretty poor reception when I saw it, including a few walkouts, I don’t think the new regime’s going to go down too well with the regulars.

Sad to see West Side Story’s not mentioned at all, assume it’s a goner now. 

First trip back to the REX today to watch Katori Hall's "The Mountaintop" and a really enjoyable return to this wonderful theatre. During the shutdown, the box office has now been removed and replaced by a small computer desk. Getting there early, it felt a bit weird sitting around as the cafe and bar areas are normally crammed full of patrons, but today it was just so quiet and eerie. Hopefully as more people get back into going to the REX, the place will liven up.

Anyway, as for the show which happened to be a relaxed performance this afternoon. It was my first time at one of these shows and certainly was great fun to be part of. Despite it not being a sell out this afternoon as a SD performance, it was certainly well received by the audience. Katori has certainly written a good play here and giving us a warts and all examination of both Martin Luther King the man and his legacy on the night he was assassinated in Memphis. As a double hander, Adetomiwa Edun as MLK and Ntombizodwa Ndlovu as Camae really worked well together proving both plenty to chew on along with some great humor.

Whilst pre-COVID some of the stuff at the REX didn't really do much for me, this is one play that I got alot of and for £10 was worth enduring the wet weather for. As an aside, I did ask about any plans for the rescheduling WSS and the box office guy said that discussions had taken place but at present it wasn't being programmed into the REX calendar at present as it was too much of a financial risk to stage in the current climate so there is still hope there I suppose in it hasn't been completely shelved.