This “monumental musical love letter” to Sheffield’s brutalist housing estate Park Hill is a “remarkable achievement”, Caroline McGinn told Time Out. It was first performed at the Crucible and was also performed at the National Theater last year. And now this singular show – “duly adorned with accolades and awards” – has moved to the West End. With songs by former Pulp guitarist Richard Hawley and written by Chris Busch, Standing at the Sky’s Edge “incorporates retro pop music, agitprop, and melodrama to explore 50 years of social It took a melting pot of trauma and melted it down to create something powerful.” It was gorgeous and unlike any other big-budget musical I’ve ever seen. ”
Can a show dealing with decades-old social issues really succeed in the “brutal West End”? Yes, it is possible, said Dominic Maxwell in the Sunday Times. President Bush’s “proudly theatrical conceit” is to have three different generations of residents “cohabitate across timelines” in the same apartment. In 1960, we meet a young steelworker and his wife who are delighted to become the first residents. A trio of Liberian refugees in 1989. Then, in 2016, she moved into what is now called a “split-level duplex”, a “well-spoken Londoner”. All of this is directed with alacrity by director Robert Hastie, with Hawley’s romantic, realist songs beautifully orchestrated and performed, resulting in a show that casts a “tender magic.”
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