Saadiqah March 1st, 2024
Standing At The Sky's Edge successfully premiered on February 8th at the Gillian Lynne Theatre, and the reviews have been pouring in, all glowing! Directed by Sheffield Theatres' Robert Hastie, this glorious new musical pays tribute to the power of community as it follows three generations through six decades on one Sheffield housing estate. Let's dive in and see what the critics had to say!
"Provoking fevered reactions many audible gasps or sobs were heard after a variety of plot beats while being resolutely, brazenly assured in its craft, makes Standing at the Sky's Edge a towering feat of contemporary musical theatre. It stands as a shining tribute to the combined power of both popular music and stage storytelling, and subsidised and commercial theatre. Unmissable." WhatsOnStage
"It's that mix of earthy humour and starry-eyed hope, gritty realism and heartfelt empathy which gives Bush and Hawley's homegrown hit its unique and utterly beguiling identity. The sky's the limit for this total triumph of a British musical." London Theatre
"The cast is uniformly strong and their singing outstanding. Faith Omole's voice has the deep, rich timbre of Amy Winehouse's while Maimuna Memon's songs blast with emotion. Ensemble numbers bring shivers. Feet tap, spines tingle. We find ourselves swaying in our seats. Together with its lovely movement, the show becomes unstoppably winning, ineffably exuberant." The Guardian
"I was blown away by the emotional power of this show, about three generations of incomers in Sheffield's iconic and infamous brutalist housing estate, Park Hill. It's a stunning achievement, which takes the popular but very different elements of retro pop music, agitprop and soap opera, melts them in the crucible of 50 years of social trauma and forges something potent, gorgeous and unlike any big-ticket musical I've seen before." TimeOut
"Hawley's folkish rock music is wonderfully unembarrassed about raw emotion his beautiful songs full of melancholy, tenderness, warmth and yearning, hammering at the door of your heart, demanding to be let in." Telegraph
Have you watched Standing At The Sky's Edge or planning to? Don't forget to leave a review on the event homepage here!
a love letter to Sheffield and ode to the iconic Park Hill Estate
