In just a few short weeks Our House the Madness Musical will finally arrive in Birmingham ahead of a national tour.

Originally played in West London’s Cambridge Theatre to rapturous applause and standing ovations each night. Winning several awards during it’s initial run, and for the fans of the musical it will return beginning in Birmingham this May and June, then continuing on for a full national tour!

This really is fantastic news as Our House is possibly one of the best comedy-musicals ever written; excellently penned by Tim Firth to the music of Madness it has to be a sure fire winner as a national touring production.

Our House follows the fate of Camden-lad Joe Casey as he grows having to choose the path of good versus bad featuring hard choices surrounding his family, love and honor.

The part of Joe was originally played by Micheal Jibson who gained the Guinness world record for the most amount of costume changes at twenty-nine, no mean feat as he played two characters following two plots.

Sarah – Joe’s one true love in the show was played exceptionally by Julia Gay, a stunning actress and excellent dancer.

It’s just a shame that the original cast can’t be resumed but suffice to say most them have moved onto bigger and better things.

Our House; The Madness Musical opens at the Birmingham Rep on 29th May 2008 and runs until 21st June 2008.

So get your tickets soon as this production will surely sell out!

Well it’s been a few hectic days in the world of local governance, what with the arduous local elections and the work that sits deeply behind them to make it all happen.

I must admit that this years elections have been at time both surprising and dramatic. I think, until you’ve seen the inside of the election and canvassing process you can’t fully understand the amount of work which goes into becoming an elected councilor. I fully believe that everyone should understand and be part of the council election process; it’s not only a vital part of living in a modern democratic city but also its vital to making life for us common folk better. You can moan all you want, but until you get up and make a stand nothing is going to change and its only going to get worse.

This years local elections have seemingly summoned the death of Labour’s election campaign, in Birmingham alone the loss of six key seats has shown the party to be somewhat weaker and disliked than originally thought. Don’t get me wrong I’m not a Labour supporter, I’m Conservative through and through and for a fact I’m certainly not middle class, but the Conservative ethos is the one for me.

Until the emergence of David Cameron I don’t many of the younger Conservative supporters would have chosen the Tories as the party of choice, but seemingly and heartedly Cameron has changed the party for the better making the Tory-middle-class-blue-blood a thing of the past.

Let’s be honest and frank we all know and can see that Cameron is not your average working class chap, we can see that he has heritage and is blue to the core, but his appeal is now widespread, a similar popularity as Good Ole Tony Blair when he took over the Labour Party way back in ’97; additionally we all know that times change and that you can be the toast of the town one minute and the leper the next.

So now we arrive at the new that Boris is now the Mayor of London, to be honest I’m not entirely decided over whether is will turn out to be a good thing, after all Boris is goof. Even today in the press conference he was bumbling and chattering to others during the media questioning.

Indeed we shall see what happens.

Hello!

Welcome to the Election night in Birmingham 2008!

WE already have one result in:

Sheldon – LIB DEM GAIN… Only 33.48% of votes in Sheldon.

Update: 23.43

SHARD END – LAB GAIN 23.28% and

HODGE HILL – LAB GAIN 33.67%

Obviously its looking like there will be a few changes in the council this time around.

Catch Live online coverage online at: www.birminghamelections.org.uk Presented by Adrian Goldberg.

Update: 23.50

Bartley Green: CON GAIN – 30.02%

STECHFORD AND YARDLEY NORTH - LIB DEM GAIN 29.34%

Update: 23.55

KINGS NORTON CON HOLD – 29.59%

EDGBASTON CON HOLD – 26.12%

SUTTON NEW HALL CON HOLD – 31.59%

SUTTON TRINITY CON GAIN/HOLD 28.67%

SUTTON VESEY CON GAIN/HOLD 32.94%

WEOLEY CON GAIN/HOLD 29.94%

The results are coming in quick and fast now, and we’re just hearing that Longbridge has been declared a con gain.

UPDATE: 00.03

ERDINGTON CON/HOLD 29.20%

LONGBRIDGE CON GAIN 27.77%

NORTHFIELD CON GAIN/HOLD 31.64%

It’s interesting to see that the turnout seems to be fairly low.

UPDATE: 00.13

Mike Whitby has confirmed that this is looking like a good night for the Conservatives.

ACOCKS GREEN – LIB DEM HOLD 27.42%

LADYWOOD – LAB HOLD 16.68%

KINGSTANDING LAB HOLD 21.93%

SELLY OAK LIB DEM HOLD 24.99%

NECHELLS LAB HOLD 22.60%

SOHO LAB HOLD 29.09%

SUTTON FOUR OAKS CON HOLD 33.67%

STOCKLAND GREEN CON GAIN 27.83%

QUINTON CON GAIN 37.52

BILLESLEY CON HOLD 30.89%

BRANDWOOD CON HOLD 34.74%

As much as I enjoy seeing new places, and as much as I enjoy trains and indeed journeys I can take within them, it can be rather mind-numbing when you have to catch six in one day, this was what happened when I travelled to Manchester. I have and remain a fan of the marvellous Gunther Van Hagens, since he officiated the first live autopsy for over three-hundred years screened on Channel 4 in 2002, and when I discovered that Body Worlds (his infamous exhibition of Human “Plastinates”) was coming back the UK, I knew that this would mean a trip to wherever it was being exhibited.

I found that the exhibition would be held at MOSI; Manchester’s Museum of Science and Industry, I live and work in Birmingham and even as non-geographical I am, I knew that this would mean some form of travel, something which I am not one-hundred percent keen on, but as the saying goes; when needs must. Getting to Manchester is no more difficult that catching TB although it is certainly more irritating.

Now, I must clarify that; the main reason for my dislike of travel is that it makes me credibly tired, even the merest few miles can make me exhausted this is not due to an underlying condition it is to be frank simply that I am the categorisation of a lazy bastard. So this twinned my morbid dislike of not having a plan can often be very difficult. You see when I’m going any long distance to place I don’t know i like to have a plan to which I can work to, its vital, and its justified in my mind anyway.

Once you get there Manchester isn’t that bad a place, Manchester Piccadilly is certainly an impressive structure, late victorian I would imagine but also twinned with a modern exterior its ultimately very pleasing both to the eye and indeed to the traveller. To find your way to MOSI is easy, simplicity itself, or at least it was for me, I had planned the entire journey down to the nearest metre, thank God for Google Maps.

Upon arrival into Machester I must admit that I was somewhat shocked at the magnitude of Manchester’s Piccadilly Station, and I mean magnitube of. It is a stunning piece of Victorian arcitecture, and has been lovingly updated to meet the modern demands of today’s traveller. It is worrying to think that Birmingham; Englands Second City has a 60′s reject as its international rail exchange, something which hopefully soon will be rectified. I really think that Birmingham is lagging behind Manchester and more so Liverpool, something which I am insense about, I mean to say, I love the City I was born and raised in but it is worrying that Birmingham is lagging so much behind.

To Be Continued…