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 | |  | | |  | |  | | | | ManchesterTheatres.com Award for Best Production | | Despite the media doom and gloom about the recession, 2009 was the most succesful year ever for Manchester theatre with the huge West End productions of Mary Poppins and The Sound Of Music hitting town. The biggest show of the year came in the form of Queen, Ben Elton & Robert DeNiro's We Will Rock You, performing for the first ever time in Britain outside of London, with an appearance from Brian May and Roger Taylor surprising an audience that included Robbie Williams. Not to be outspent, the multi-million pound Walking With Dinosaurs amazed a sell-out MEN Arena whilst White Christmas became The Lowry's most successful ever production. Critics raved over Brenda Blethyn's performance in Haunted at The Royal Exchange and Rufus Wainwright's Prima Donna, as part of the Manchester International Festival, and the 24:7 Theatre Festival continued to showcase loads of great new productions. | | | 2,184 members nominated 64 different productions with the final shortlist (in alphabetical order) being... |
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| | | | | | | Our Personal Pick Of 2009 | |
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | ~ We Will Rock You ~ | | When Brian May and Roger Taylor took to the stage at The Palace Theatre, on the opening night of Ben Elton and Robert DeNiro's Queen musical, the packed audience which included Robbie Williams and Ant & Dec went wild. It was a stella moment that will probably never be matched again in Manchester's theatre history. | | Twelve sell-out weeks later, during which ManchesterTheatres.com sold over 30,000 tickets, it will also be remembered as one of the most successful shows ever to visit Manchester. | | With Queen now out-selling any other artist in the UK, it's no surprise that the multi-million pound West End production, set in the future and starring Jonathan Wilkes, Kevin Kennedy, X Factor star Brenda Edwards and Roger Taylor's son Rufus Tiger on drums, was voted into the shortlist as Best Production in Manchester during 2009. | |
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| | | | | | | | | | | | | The following shows just missed out on making the final shortlist.. | | • Blithe Spirit ~ Royal Exchange | | • Chicago ~ Palace Theatre | | • Rocky Horror Show ~ Palace Theatre | | • Sound Of Music ~ Palace Theatre | | • White Christmas ~ The Lowry | |
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