Review: Saturday Night Fever

This week, seventies disco in all its hip-popping, strutting, grooving glory is in town at Milton Keynes Theatre. Based on the 1977 movie starring John Travolta. This story follows Tony Manalo, a 19 year old Italian American from Brooklyn who escapes the harsh reality of his bleak family life by dominating the dance floor at the local disco and dreams of making it big at Studio 54, New York. The show is filled with hits including Night Fever, Stayin’ Alive, More Than A Woman and Disco Inferno.

It is a fairly simple plot of boy meets girl, girl isn’t interested, boy keeps trying anyway but it is a likable story and has so much good music and dancing. It does cover a lot of serious themes, including religion, women’s rights, abuse, abortion and suicide. Disco dominated the latter half of the seventies and found its place amongst the other strong music genres of the time such as rock, heavy metal and punk. This show is all about the music, having a little dance in your seat and singing along to some banging tunes! The “Bee Gees” are on stage throughout the show, the three brothers are played by Jake Byrom, James Kenneth Haughan and Danny Knott and they were amazing, sounding just like the original music.

Tony is played by Richard Winsor – he’s one of the few actors that completely convinced me with his American accent, in this case Italian-American Brooklyn New York, and is a fabulous dancer. Richard is supported by a talented and energetic cast including Olivia Fines as Stephanie Mangano and Natasha Firth as Annette.

The staging was a good mix of bleak and harsh for the scenes outside and on the bridge and then bright and colourful for the disco scenes complete with disco dancefloor, giant mirror to reflect it back out to the audience and disco balls which really brought the audience to life. Look out for DJ Monty up on the podium dancing, he was strutting his stuff and we couldn’t stop watching him – having so much fun up there!

Saturday Night Fever is well worth a watch and I promise you’ll be singing the music and trying to do the Night Fever dance routine when you get home! Running until 19th October, for tickets, head to www.atgtickets.com

Ice skating in MK

Ice skating in Milton Keynes is usually a big thing over the Christmas period when places like Frosts Garden Centre bring in a temporary ice rink for Christmas. However, MK Lightning now has a new home, at the permanent ice skating rink, Planet ice. It's now a great ice skating rink with various events, from parent and toddler ice skating, to ice skating disco nights, as well as being able to learn to speed skate.

On top of that, there's the option to watch MK Lightning play ice hockey, a great game and another thing to add to the list of what makes Milton Keynes a different and interesting place to be! If you haven't yet seen it, why not give it a visit, either to skate or watch!

Last minute plans for NYE?

With Christmas having been and gone, the next big social event on the calendar is New Year's Eve. If you got a bit carried away with Christmas preparations and haven't made any New Year's Eve plans, we've got a few ideas for a last minute New Year!

1. Tag along to someone else's plans: Your first stop when looking for a last minute New Year's eve arrangement, see what family and friends have planned and see if you can tag along!
2. Hotel party: There are numerous hotel New Year parties across Milton Keynes, and they're always sure to provide great food and entertainment, but usually at a pretty hefty cost. There may still be some tickets about, a simple google search should sort you out if you want to chance it!
3. Find a local 'do': Churches, village halls and community groups often hold New Year's eve parties which are open to the local community. Again, a google search should find you some. In Olney there's a party at Lavendon Village hall with a 7.30pm for 8pm start, with music and a two-course meal for £14. Bring your own drinks and glasses. Also, the Bull Inn Olney are having a New Year's party at £20 a ticket with a buffet, disco and some great drinks prices on the night.
4. House party: Why not invite some friends and family round and have whatever type of party you want! Whether it be a fancy dress party, come dine with me night, games night etc., there's no reason why you can't have a great night in and avoid some of the high drinks prices that are typically enforced on New Year's eve.
5. If all else fails and you're stuck for ideas, head over to any bar or pub and you're sure to find a buzzing atmosphere to see in the New Year! 

The biggest thing about New Year's eve is who you spend it with, so don't get too worried about trying to find that "big event". If you're not the partying type and like to get your beauty sleep, it probably won't be too different to any other day for you, but if you are, with the right people you're sure to have a great night no matter what you do! Whether it's been a good year or you're glad to see the back of it, let's welcome in 2015 and make it a good one from the start! Happy New Year! 

Oktoberfest- kicking off tomorrow night in Sherington

The White Hart in Sherington is hosting the traditional German beer festival, Oktoberfest, all this weekend. There's a great selection of food and drink on offer over the weekend; German beers, including fruit beers (something different to try!), ciders and German foods, including sausages and pretzels.

The event begins tomorrow night from 5pm, with food on offer up until 10pm and the bar open till midnight. 8.30pm sees music from London based singer Billy Keane Music until late. You're encouraged to come dressed in German traditional themed fancy dress, and there will be a prize for the best dressed male and female so get down to the closest fancy dress shop! (see the image below for some inspiration!)

Saturday kicks off at midday, and there will again be all the great food and drink on offer. The evening will feature a classic disco with DJ from 7.30-11pm, so don't forget your dancing shoes!

Sunday is the finale, with a family fun day from midday featuring more live music from 2pm, candy floss, popcorn, face painting, more German beer and more German sausages! There'll also be a bouncy castle for the kids and, wait for it, a bouncy castle for the adults too! Food is served until 5pm and the bar will close at 7pm.

It's set to be a great weekend, don't miss out!