WICKED | The Lowry | Until 25 July
Award-winning theatre production, Wicked, is the musical prologue to the immensely popular fantasy story, The Wizard Of Oz, detailing the lives and experiences of good friends Elphaba and Glinda. In a beguiling and an extravagant stage setting, the audience is witness to their adventures before the turn from their natural selves into the Wicked Witch of the West and the Good Witch of the South.
WickedNEPAL FUNDRAISER | STATIC MANCHESTER | Fri 17 July | 10pm - 4am
All profits from this club event goes to helping those devastated by the recent Nepal earthquake (tickets cost £7). Static in Manchester City Centre will include some top current DJ’s playing a genre mix of Classic House, Old Skool and Anthems. The DJ line-up includes big names such as Rob Tissera, Pianoman, Dave Booth and others.
UMBRELLIUM'S MINI-BURBLE | Salford Quays | Fri 17 - Sat 18 July
Mysterious artists Umbrellium will be bringing the magical Mini Burble sculpture to Salford Quays on Friday 17 July. The 100 ft floating spectacle, constructed with 300 LED lit balloons, will be accompanied by a 100 strong street dance performance choreographed by the London 2012 Olympic Opening Ceremony team and the Honour Choir.
MiniBurble Preview from Viva La Zoom on Vimeo.
ALLIGATOR GUMBO | Matt and Phreds | Fri 17 July
Alligator Gumbo is a chilled and cool music performance using a Creole-swing genre of music to create a calm but joyful atmosphere. These pieces will be performed by the Six-piece Band based in Leeds. The Six-piece Band are a band which do gigs across England and focus on music types such as Swing, Jazz and Blues. This event will take place 9.30pm on Friday night 17 July and will conclude at 1am and will be hosted at Matt and Phreds in the Northern Quarter.
ROSEACRE | Waterside Arts Centre | Fri 17 - Sat 18 July
Roseacre is a new and thrilling play inspired by Nordic Noir thrillers such as The Killing and The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo. Roseacre blends together magnificently choreographed physical theatre with a creative and powerful character-driven story to create a brilliant and exciting performance.
Roseacre
THE TALE OF MR TUMBLE | Opera House | Sat 18 July
Mr Tumble is the rockstar of children's television - ask any young'un. Manchester International Festival has invited Justin Fletcher, known to millions of kiddywinks through the CBeebies show Something Special, for a special new show for children and their families in the intimate surroundings of Manchester’s Opera House. Expect a funny, engaging and visually exciting show which will give children the chance to see Mr Tumble live and up close as he and his family share some of their fondest memories.
FLARE INTERNATIONAL FESTIVAL | Various locations | Until Sat 18 July
Showing around 23 international theatre performances, Flare15 festival (no, not that other festival) continues its six-day run in Manchester this weekend. Flare15, also dubbed ‘The Socio-Cultural Festival’, is opportunity for new and studying artists to debut their talents in interactive theatre displays. This weekend sees the 'Extraordinary Flare Party' takeover the Z-Arts centre for an evening live performances, music and dancing (see full performance line-up here). Other highlights includes challenging performance Body On'- two performers in an empty space, in search for each other.
'Body On at Flare15
FLEXN | Old Granada Studios | Sat 18 July | £12
Described as 'virtuosic' and 'visually arresting', FlexN introduces talented dancers from Brooklyn-based collective The D.R.E.A.M Ring in a series of performance at Old Granada Studios. Manchester International Festival has given the dancers their first set of European performances, with support from Manchester-based dance talent. The high-energy, high-impact display of bone-breaking, connecting and waving continues this weekend. You can also follow their live diary here.
FlexN
