Onegin

Tonight marked the start of several weeks of ballet and opera at the Royal Opera House. Onegin was good, but not great. Its been a while since my last trip to the ballet and I enjoyed it, but I don’t think I’d see it again anytime soon.

To begin, I should probably state a few facts that played an inevitable part in me not loving it. First off we had rather rubbish seats – row W of the amphitheatre, which I think is technically the furthest one can get from the stage while still remaining in the auditorium. And they’re restricted view. I’m also rather tired thanks to Steelicious and co. (I spent half the weekend working on a 100x70cm ‘Hair’ collage made up of photos with the cast, a couple of pink neon be-in flyers, one of which is autographed on the back, my ticket from the 30th August (Steel Saga Day) and cuttings from the souvenir brochure, all surrounding an advertising poster from the tube featuring Gavin and Will. Unsuprisingly it took a while to arrange everything and I still couldn’t quite get everything in. Anyways, I refused to give up until it was done and therefore didn’t make it to bed until LATE last night, hence, tired). Anyway, these two factors meant it was a little hard to focus and it felt a little like watching a screen or even one of those puppet theatres with sheets of scenery.

But I digress a tad. The ballet was nice, the dancers talented and I thought some of the scenery was beautiful. I also enjoyed the transitions between scenes. Wasn’t too keen on the music though. To me it didn’t seem to fit the story very well.

Also, Onegin doesn’t have all that much of a plot. Basically country girl (Tatiana) meets city boy (Onegin) and falls in love. City boy is a prat and breaks her little heart. City boy is also a prat to best mate which results in a duel. Country girl marries prince and city boy suddenly realises what he’s missing. Potential to expand into something epic, perhaps, but its a ballet, so there isn’t much more added, yet it’s stretched out over six scenes and three acts.

To be honest, the entire first scene seemed pretty much pointless. Though the end of the ensemble routine was rather pretty. The second scene of the first act was much better, but then I always like a romantic pas de deux. And this one was a dream sequence, which is even better. It was rather beautiful, really and perked me up a fair bit.

The second act included the party at which Onegin annoys the hell out of everyone and the duel. I have to admit, Onegin in a cloak looked a bit like a death eater, but that’s entirely besides the point. The third act occurs later, after Tatiana’s marriage and again I thought there was some lovely ensemble choreography in the first scene. The second scene, another pas de deux between Onegin and Tatiana, was also very good and left me happy that I saw the ballet, but also happy I only spent £9 on the ticket.

In other news:

Love Never Dies was fab and I’ll review it eventually. For now I’ll just state that Ramin was damn good, as always, and I will miss him greatly when he leaves in March. I’m also pretty much decided on going to see the Hadley Fraser gig at Waterloo East, even if I go on my own. I’d very much like to see their band, The Sheytoons, which, from what I’ve heard so far (though it’s not much – just an audio clip of ‘Broken’ on youtube from Sunday’s gig, which I missed in favour of Departure Lounge) suggests awesome things.

So, yeah, saw Departure Lounge again on Sunday and if anything it was even better the second time round. Going to see it one more time next Sunday, which is, unfortunately, the last show. The cast has improved too, I think they’ve settled into it more and they’re maybe having a little more fun with it now. Met them all after, got another set of pics with the boys and got them all to sign my CD. Was rather chuffed to see the lovely Liam Tamne (his voice still blows me totally away. He is so damn awesome. And pretty. Mustn’t forget pretty. Love his hair at the moment, though he didn’t seem too happy with it! And those arms, I never got the arms thing before, but have you seen those biceps? And his hands… *ahem* anyway…) and I asked him what he’s in next and apparently he’s doing panto in Birmingham. I’m considering going, but it depends who he’s playing. I didn’t think to ask for details, but my research shows that Dick Whittington is playing at the Hippodrome with a whole host of stars, none of whom I have any interest in seeing. I don’t think they’ve announced the rest of the cast yet, so if Liam has the lead I’ll go, but I’m not schlepping all that way just to see him in the chorus! Might ask him on Sunday if I have the guts to hang around after to talk to them again.

And finally, big Take That announcement tomorrow, apparently. All rumours point to tour dates, with tickets on sale Friday, but I shall find out at 10am tomorrow when they’ll be live on the website. G-d help anyone who interrupts me at 10, I don’t care if I am at work! I’m super excited but to be honest, only part of it has anything to do with my beloved boys. I’ve started seriously looking into my America trip and I’m hoping I can start booking next week. Gonna go for nine days and split it between New York and Boston. Watch this space!

Anyways, I’ve nattered long enough. Sweet Charity is the plan for Wednesday, hopefully, but I’ll try and get that Love Never Dies review out before then. If nothing else, I’m sure I’ll be back to either cheer or curse tomorrow’s hotly anticipated announcement.

Til then,

K xx

Traces

So, 7 Finger’s Traces (at Sadler’s Wells Peacock Theatre until the 30^th) was good, and on any other night it probably would have been downright amazing. It was a fantastic mix of dance and acrobatics combined with both humour and more sober moments. However, right near the start of the show, at the culmination of a beautiful pas de deux with a sort of modern dance theme, the only female member of the company (Genevieve Morin) fell during would looked like a truly spectacular stunt. She landed at the wrong angle and the guys who were there to catch her didn’t quite catch her right. I couldn’t tell how bad it was, but in any case, given that she hit her head on the floor, she would have needed to get checked out for concussion anyway. I’m hoping that’s all it is, and I’m keeping an eye out for news. Although I didn’t see her for long, she was a very talented performer and I pray that she’s ok and will be back on stage tonight, no worse for wear.

They had to pause the show briefly and then the remaining members (Antoine Auger, Antoine Carabinier-Lepine, Jonathan Casaubon and Philip Rosenberg) continued the rest of the show without her. It was good, but everyone, including the company, was clearly on edge. One of the reasons I tend to avoid watching shows of this nature is the fear that something will go wrong and someone will get injured. Of course, I never expected it to happen though. I saw the show with my sister who saw it on a previous occasion, though she thinks it was a different cast. From what she said, there was a lot missing. I think as the only female member there should have been a lot of throwing her around which they simply couldn’t do. There was apparently also an aerial bit that was just her on her own.

The fact that they managed to pull together a good show with a member missing – one who was obviously involved in a lot of it – was remarkable in itself. For the most part, you couldn’t even tell that there should have been another person there. I mean, I’m sure they’ve got a back up plan for performing with one member short, it’s a rather high risk sort of show, but even so… To have to re-choreograph everything – including routines with throwing things (basketball/chairs) around and weaving in and out between each other – it was very impressive.

Anyhoo, I shall attempt to review the rest of the show as it was, and believe me, it was still a good’un, despite the setbacks. As I mentioned before, there was a fair bit of humour, including a great routine where they  played piano, switching between members and music. They used technology brilliantly – using cameras and lighting to fantastic effect. I’ve forgotten for the most part, which member performed which stunts, but Philip Rosenberg performed a magnificent solo routine on a platform of mannequins. It was both beautiful and a breathtakingly impressive display of skill and strength. One of the other guys did the trick with the giant hoop – standing inside it and spinning etc. which I’ve seen several times before in different circusy type shows, but it’s one of my favourite circus tricks, so I rather enjoyed that.

They did a routine with two poles which was amazing and had everyone gasping in awe. They hurtled through the air around them as if they were on wires, making it look almost effortlessly easy. Another routine involved a seesaw type contraption. Two of them jumped from a high platform onto one end, sending the man stood at the other end flying into the air to perform a series of flips or rolls before landing on the crash mat behind. It was breathtaking. They also did the jumping through hoops routine which I loved (see the video below if you want to see an example – it’s a bit dark, but it’s the official 7 fingers one. It’s also a bit different to what I saw, not least because there are five of them! But you get the idea). The skill involved was incredible, but the choreography and how they used each other’s bodies to help them was magnificent. The music during certain sections was also designed to increase the tension – they even had a heart monitor going at the very end – which made my own heart pound with a combination of nerves and excitement. It was a fantastic performance and a very, very good show with some seriously talented dancers/gymnasts/acrobats/whatever yo want to call them.

So, I’m considering going to see it again next week in the hope that I’ll be able to see the full show before it closes, but I’m not certain. I also fancy seeing Sweet Charity before it shuts and due to time constraints and what my sister wants to see, it may become an either/or.

Other than that, I’m sorta still buzzing from Gavin – it really was an incredible night and I do wish I’d have been able to see him in Manchester, England. But I’m sure he’ll be back performing in London before long, as he does seem to like it here. And who knows, maybe I’ll even get a chance to see him in NY next year (though given that I’m only likely to be there for a couple of days and plan to have shows booked for every spare minute, I admit that’s somewhat unlikely). (I’ve also been trying to discover the names of the band. Seems it was Mark Pusey on drums, but I’ve, as yet, been unsuccessful tracking down the guitarist. His last name was Goldberg, first name was something like Lyle, but I couldn’t quite catch it when Gavin said it and looks like no one else managed to either!)

Love Never Dies for the… erm… something-th time (5^th maybe?) on Saturday night. Apparently its closing for a few days in November prior to a big change, so I might just have to go again in a few months time (and then again before Ramin leaves…)! And they’ve already made a few big changes, so I do wonder how much of a shake up is involved now. Last time I saw the show they had changed a lot. They cut a large chunk of the beginning (‘Heaven by the Sea’ and ‘Only for Him’ – which I liked so was rather sad to see it gone. I thought it made quite a difference to the way Meg is viewed to have a bit more of an insight into her thoughts and feelings). They also stuck the Phantom into an earlier scene, though very briefly. Other than the beginning, I don’t think much has changed (though I know they changed the choreography of ‘Beneath a Moonless Sky’ at some point, but more on that in a future post). It was weird though; a few changes at the beginning and I spent the whole show wondering what else they may have changed. Right up until the end, I wasn’t certain it was going to be the same. It was actually rather nice, almost like watching the show for the first time again.

Anyhoo, that’s enough from me for now,

Genevieve – I wish you better,

K xx

Gavin Creel = LoVe

‘Favourite Chapter’ was my favourite chapter of a damn good book (gig). Gavin Creel was… a-ma-zing! Totally awesome. He’s so talented and so full of energy, he makes the whole room light up. By the end I was genuinely wishing that I could go see him in Manchester tomorrow night. To be honest, it’s probably a good thing I’ve already booked to go see Traces tomorrow with my sister. It stopped me from seriously considering attempting it. As if the fact that I’m planning my New York/Boston trip almost solely to see a herd of hippiis wasn’t ridiculous enough!

Anyway, I digress. Tonight was fabulous. I enjoyed the support act, Thea Ford, enough that I’ll look her up when I get a spare minute and possibly even download a track or two. She reminded me of a few people, most of whom I couldn’t put my finger on, but there was a resemblance in style to Michelle Branch, I thought. And she had an awesome golden butterfly ring and bracelet set, which has nothing to do with anything, but I thought I’d throw it out there anyway.

As for Gavin, it was awesome to be so close! I went straight from work, but was rather lucky that my friend got there a little earlier and joined the queue. It meant that we made it to the front, if not quite in the centre. For most of his set, Gavin was less than ten feet away from me. And then, for his encore, he played a couple of songs on the grand piano, which just so happened to be right in front of me. He was close enough that I could’ve just reached out and touched him. And he bowed RIGHT in front of me… And for a brief second I felt like a thirteen year old at a pop concert. Or like my current self at a Take That concert! I don’t even know why I was so excited! I’ve met him before – multiple times. I’ve had front row Hair tickets twice and one time he even gave me a be-in flower himself. But hey, I was happy and that’s what counts!

And I have to say, Gavin surpassed even my, very high, expectations. He sang a lot of new material, all of which I highly enjoyed and will purchase if/when they become available. There were also a few tracks from Quiet and Goodtimenation. I stole (read: my friend stole for me) the set list, and I could post it up, but I’m not sure it’s needed. I took it more for memrobilia’s sake. Though if anyone reading this would like me to post it, just comment and I shall do as you command! Anyhoo, Gavin sang ‘Might Still Happen’, which made my night (no ‘These Four Walls’, but I knew that would be a long shot) and a few covers, two of which were particularly awesome. ‘Halleluya’ was beautiful and ‘I Kissed a Girl’ was just plain hilarious, if a little disappointing, given that it won’t actually happen!

The band were straight, at least. And they were made up of two very fine looking, talented young men. Not as fine as Steel of course, but since he’s somewhere in Connecticut as I type, I shall be forced to make do with the talent (and very fine talent it is, don’t get me wrong) here in this city. For now at least ! *ahem* I’m being a bit silly now and I apologise. The band were fantastic, to the extent that if I can manage to recall/locate their names, I will add them to my follow (in a twitter/fb sense rather than stalker sense) list. (And not just because the (cute, straight, SINGLE) guitarist was involved with Hair.)

So, as I’m sure you can probably tell, I’m still buzzing and I can’t believe there was ever a point when I didn’t know who he was or how damn wonderful he is. I cannot WAIT for the new album he’s promised, featuring some of the new stuff he played tonight (here’s hoping, futily I’m sure, for ‘Real Life’), and I wish he wasn’t gonna be heading back to NYC before long.

I’ve been so obsessed with British (or at least, British based) artists for so long (Take That, Robbie, Ramin etc.) that I’ve gotten used to having access to these people. I live in London – chances are, if something is happening, it’s gonna happen here.

Anyhoo, I’ve whittered on for long enough already and so I shall be off, with ‘Love Fell Down’ still playing in my head, a smile on my face and the memory of a great night to keep me going until the next time I get to see the gorgeous Gav live on stage.

Peace, loVe, happiness, equality,

K xx

PS. Traces tomorrow, so a review will be forthcoming. I’m also off to see Onegin at the Royal Opera House next week and I’ve booked to see Departure Lounge again (speaking of which, the CD is now available and I shall be popping into the Dress Circle tomorrow evening to purchase a copy).

EDIT: Gavin’s drummer was Mark Pusey and the guitarist was called L(-something) Goldberg.

Quiet for Goodtimenation

So this is my review – my rather detailed, track by track, review – of Gavin Creel’s Goodtimenation (with a bit of Quiet at the end). It’s more a collection of notes for my own records than anything else, but if you’re interested, feel free to read on. If nothing else, you can take from this post a high regard of Gavin both as a singer and songwriter (though I believe his album was co-written with Robbie Roth) – and of course actor, but I’m not really covering that here!

If you’ve not bought either Goodtimenation or Quiet yet, I’d strongly advise you to go download it now!

I can’t even describe how much I’m looking forward to seeing him live at the Jazz Café this evening, and I’m very much looking forward to the promised new material as well as hoping for a few performances of certain favourites. Whatever he sings though, I’m sure it’s going to be incredible!

So, to the review(s); Goodtimenation has a fantastic mix of cheesy disco tracks, beautiful ballads, rousing melodies and a few kinda angsty tracks. Its varied, but brilliant. Gavin’s voice shines throughout and some of the themes/lyrics are truly beautiful. I’ve been listening to it on repeat for weeks now and I still love it as much, if not more than I did the first time I heard it.

Goodtimenation:

For Nancy – Short and sweet. Sounds like a sort of coming out of the closet song, but whether it is or not, it’s a lovely sentiment.

Rocket Ride – Fun, cheesy and, let’s face it, a little bit filthy. Which is, of course, a very good reason for liking it! But seriously ‘Feel you shiver when I quiver inside’? And my favourite line ‘Everything hot happens in the dark’ – if it only happens in the dark, you ain’t doing it right .

Don’t Break Your Heart – One of my favourites, though I’m not really sure why. Perhaps because it so often gets stuck in my head but has yet to annoy me when it does so? It’s got a good rhythm and a slightly different feel to a lot of the other stuff on the album

Radio Lover – Another great cheesy track. Love the lyrics and love Gavin’s vocals on this one. The way he says ‘days’ in the line ‘you don’t get paid for another seven days’ gives me shivers. And I always find myself tapping my fingers in time to the chords/bass whatever guitary type noise it is that’s really distinctive throughout the bridge.

Might Still Happen – If not my favourite track on the album, it’s a very close second. (And it was my favourite at first, it just got slightly eclipsed by a track I love even more.) It always makes me smile and I adore the chorus and upbeatness of it. Originally I didn’t quite catch the lyrics and thought it was more of a hopeful ‘you and me might still happen’ as opposed to ‘what’s not for you and me…’ but despite that, I still love it.

Behind Me Day – Not a favourite but don’t dislike it either. Its nice to listen to, somehow peaceful. And the lyrics are quite beautiful.

Art of Heartbreak – Upbeat and cheerful, well, maybe lively is a better word. It cheers me up, but I’ll admit the lyrics could be a tad happier!

Going to DC – Can’t say I’m particularly fond of this one. It’s probably my least favourite track, though I think this is at least in part due to the fact that I was listening to this album a lot when I badly wanted to go to Washington and knew that I couldn’t! But to be honest, it’s also just a little bit annoying.

Fri Sat Sun – Another favourite – particularly when it comes to the vocals. I love the way he says’ I’ll be at the park, meet me after dark’, don’t know why, I just do. Also, it’s fun, it’s cheesy and it’s somehow life affirming. It makes me want to go out dancing and living it up!

Molly’s Song – Another favourite. It’s just lovely to listen to. And also lovely to sing, though I don’t think I do it justice! The whole thing – melody, lyrics, vocals – is just beautiful.

You Pretty Thing – Wasn’t too keen on this one, though it’s grown on me a fair bit since I first heard it. I like the ‘And with this kiss I die/goodbye’ line.

Make You Love Me – A little bit, erm, creepy, yet somehow still brilliant. I must admit when I first heard ‘I’m gonna hold you down’ I sorta recoiled from liking the song, just a bit. But, its SUCH a great track and the general idea is a very ‘me’ sorta theme, so, fact is, I love it.

These Four Walls – Last, but by no means least, is my ultimate favourite track on the album. I love the lyrics, melody, vocals. Its somehow beautifully romantic and always makes me feel like dancing, but in the opposite way to all the disco style tracks above. This is more slow, elegant rumba or contemporary pas de deux.

Quiet, the new EP with six acoustic tracks is also brilliant, though a little different.

Quiet:

Green to Grey – I rather like this one, though I think I’ve over-listened to it a bit. I prefer the verses to the chorus.

Love Fell Down – I rather like this one too. The melody is lovely and I really like the bridge.

Lonesome – I love the waltz timing – again, it makes me want to dance, though in this case its more of a sweeping gracefully around the room thing. Probably my favourite track on this album at the moment.

Anything at All – Another one I get stuck in my head. I like it, but that’s about it.

Small Words – Like this one. Perhaps not as much as when I first heard it (it used to be quite a favourite), but still, it’s a pretty song (if you can use pretty to talk about music).

Hot Ohio – Apparently a fan favourite, but it’s my least favourite on the album. Nothing wrong with it, just not my style, I guess.

Other than that, I just need to add a special mention for ‘Real Life’ which I adore and would very much like to be able to get hold of in mp3 format. I only know about it from searching for Steel on youtube, but he accompanied Gavin at Ronnie Scott’s earlier this year and someone filmed it put the video up. I found it because of Steel, it caught my attention because Gavin dedicated the song to people living in the clouds (in pretend relationships – not that I’d ever do that *cough*Steel*cough*) which I found exceptionally amusing since I only watched the video at first because there are so few Steel vids on youtube that I can’t be choosy (and, ya know, I may, on occasion, live in a bit of a fantasy world where he’s concerned). It kept my attention, however, because its actually a lovely song, both melodically and lyrically. Its definitely a shame that I can’t seem to find any trace of it elsewhere.

Anyhoo, I’d best be off – only a few more hours til I see him! *cartwheels excitedly around the room* (and falls flat on face as I’ve never been able to cartwheel). But I shall leave you with ‘Real Life’:

K xx

PS. I know I said I wouldn’t mention him again, but I had a totally legitimate reason for mentioning Steel in this post. So there.

Unexpected Happenings and Observations

For want of a better title. This post is basically about nothing, but feel free to read it anyway.

First off in the ‘weird happenings’ category (yes I know that’s neither a category, nor part of the title), was something which actually occurred over a week ago now, but I haven’t gotten around to writing about it as of yet. So, I woke up one morning to hear a bird right outside my window making the weirdest and most annoying noises I’ve ever heard from a bird (except maybe once during the summer when a pair of birds in a tree a few gardens over decided to have a very irritating and loud conversation, constantly, for about two hours). I went to the window, thinking maybe I’d be able to scare it off, only to find that instead of a bird perched at the top of the tree just outside my window (on the first floor), there was a full grown tabby cat! It was stalking across the upper branches like a little tiger. After that I decided not to be so hard on the bird, after all.

On a totally different, but no less random note, I recently polished off the last of my rich tea biscuits, purchased due to being in a state of near starvation (I may be exaggerating about this) somewhere between Manchester and London. I have since discovered that I am incapable of eating said biscuits in tea without thinking about Peter Kay and this (possibly, my favourite) routine: 

Also, popped into Hamley’s last week for the first time (in my memory at least, mum tells me she took me there when I was a tot) and was instantly transported into child-mode. I wanted everything (well maybe not everything, but all the Thomas the Tank Engine train set stuff, the Lego (I avoided looking at this for the most part as I didn’t think my self-restraint was good enough to handle the awesomeness of some of the Lego stuff they sell these days), the Playmobil (they have so much stuff now! Like the whole medieval castle set with knights and dragons and catapults and fair maidens! And they even had life size Playmobil people by the display! *ahem* – I got a little excited at the time as well) and the Sylvanian Families (I loved these so much when I was a kid. They were always so expensive though. I think I had a mummy and a baby chipmunk and a child something else. My sister had an grey adult rabbit in a pink n white check dress, although why I remember that I have no idea!)! And don’t even get me started on the expensive collectors stuff they had for Harry Potter! I had a weird urge to phone home to ask mummy to ‘buy me, buy me’. However, contrary to what I’m sure you’re all thinking by now, I in fact bought nothing. I restrained myself admirably, I thought, and after wandering around for a bit with a big smile on my face, I departed with my purse still as heavy as it was when I entered.

Sticking to the toy theme, my new toy (the Nokia E61) is working out very well and I’m still rather excited about him. (Yes he’s a him. I always personify my technology (if I get on with it, that is. My Vista laptop is only personified when I’m shouting at it), for example my beloved netbook is called ‘Draco’. So, my E61 is called ‘Steel’ – not a word, he’s metallic and silver coloured, it’s a perfectly logical name.) Though I’ve not been as inspired as I could’ve been, it’s still been going quite well, and I’m sure if I wasn’t so busy doing other things (sewing a third pair of hippie flared jeans, for example) I’d be getting more writing done. To be fair, I can’t really complain about that. Last week I was so into my writing I missed my tube stop on the way to work. And when I say I missed my stop… I missed my stop, the one after (which is a little bit further to walk from but not really an issue) and the one after that. I had to get off and switch platforms to come back again! Felt like a right wally, but at least I wasn’t as late to work as I could’ve been!

So, last Thursday night had be out on the town and it must be said, it was a fabulous night (thanks in part to a charming Australian guy named Baranby ). It was a lovely little bar/club on Greek Street and I’d be tempted to return at some point. Though they did have weird colour changing lights in the toilets. After a few (too many) I found this ridiculously fascinating – the red was too dark to see anything, the yellow and green made my rainbow bracelets go all neon. The other colours were pretty, but less interesting. However, there was evidently a point during the evening when I wasn’t having such a fabulous time. The following day when checking my phone for damage (drunken texts are bad, drunken facebook status updates have the potential to be worse) I noticed a little gem tucked away in the ‘drafts’ folder. Now whether this was meant to be sent somewhere, whether it was intended as a brief but to the point IDP, or if in fact it was just a note to myself, I’ll never know, but it went like this (exact text): “I need someuhing ì cant have n i+s ki^ling me. Fvck men. When am i ever going to get what ì need from sowfone speähal”. Pathetic, of course, but damned funny nonetheless.

Anyways, was also rather excited over the weekend, somewhat pathetically, when watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (the new one with Johnny Depp) and noticed a reference to ‘Hair’. When Wonka welcomes them to his factory he says ‘Good morning starshine, the earth says hello’! I love getting pop culture references in films etc., esp when they’re references I haven’t understood/notice in the past. When the ref is to things I have a soft spot for, its even more exciting, if in a rather geeky way.

And finally, I’ve just finished the last of my minstrels *sob*. This is sad for two reasons. The first (less important, but also less pathetic) reason is that I’m not replacing them with chocolate, oh no. I’m replacing them with ‘Essential Seeds – Omega Mix’ (which sorta sounds like it should be a band and song name rather than a health food). Not that I’m not enjoying the seeds, they’re actually quite tasty, if a little difficult to eat politely (either I have to eat them one measly seed at a time, or I end up stuffing handfuls into my mouth). The second reason is that these minstrels were at one point destined to be given to a certain someone who’s name I have promised not to mention and having them sitting on my desk brought back a few memories. If you’re not following me, you can find out what I’m talking about here.

So, random? Yes. Fun to write? Yes. Necessary? Um, no. But if you made it this far, congratulations to you.

Gavin Creel tomorrow! SO excited, its unreal. Will try and get a Goodtimenation review up tomorrow, but no promises.

So until then,

K xx

PS. I have newly dyed bright pink hair, which runs, a lot, and its raining. Marvelous.

 

Sister Act

This will neither be one of my infamous rave reviews, nor a critique. Sister Act (at the London Palladium until the end of the month prior to opening on Broadway) was good. I enjoyed it. I didn’t love it and I’m glad I didn’t spend a lot on tickets, but it was nevertheless a fun night out. Some of the songs were good, some not so good. One or two I actually thought were pretty great.

As I said in my previous post, I haven’t seen the film properly, nor can I recall much beyond the bare bones of the plot. In that respect, I therefore cannot fully judge what the differences were between the two. I’m not sure if that’s a good thing or a bad thing, but at least it allows me to judge the musical pretty much as a freestanding entity.

The cast was good. I enjoyed Patina Miller (and think she must’ve made a great Dionne!) and thought she was good both vocally and as an actress. I also thought that the male characters were all well played. Particularly Chris Jarman as Shank (‘When I Find My Baby’ was fabulous) and Ako Mitchell as Eddie. Shank’s three stooges (for want of a better word) – Nicolas Colicos, Ivan De Freitas (he was in Never Forget apparently, but I have to admit I don’t really remember him) and Thomas Goodrige (he could be a brilliant Frank N Furter – the facial expressions were spot on!) – were also good.

Katie Rowley Jones (Sister Mary Robert), I thought, was brilliant, one of my favourites, in fact, especially vocally. I’m not sure if I’ve seen her in anything before, but she did look vaguely familiar (though I think she has one of those faces!). There are a couple of things I could have seen her in, but if I did, I don’t remember! If I have seen her before, she definitely didn’t shine as brightly as I thought she did last night.

To be honest, there’s not really all that much else to say. The show was fun and enjoyable. There were a lot of funny scenes and one liners that kept me smiling throughout, if not rolling about in the aisles in hysterics. As I said before, I thought some of the music was great – I particularly enjoyed ‘Take Me to Heaven’ (though actually I think I liked the reprise better) and ‘Raise Your Voice’. ‘The Life I Never Led’ was spectacular, though I think I enjoyed that mostly because Katie Rowley Jones has such an awesome voice!

It was also interesting to be sat almost behind the conductor (Select text to view spoiler: a great moment in the show was when he rose up at the end dressed as the pope!), out of the way enough for him not to block my view, but near enough to see a little of what he was doing without removing my gaze from the general direction of the stage. On that topic, the seat (A10) was good, particularly for this show. It is lower than the stage, however, and means you can’t see their feet. I can imagine that a show that uses the full depth of the stage more and/or involves a lot of dancing or floor work could cause a few problems, particularly for shorter audience members.

The set was very well designed and they did a couple of particularly clever things, I thought. I enjoyed the rotating stage – especially the way it made the nuns look like they were gliding rather than walking onto the stage. The chase through the convent was also fantastic, incorporating a set change into the movement of all the characters. For me, though, the highlight had to be the costumes for the finale. Fully sequined habits? Pure awesomeness. It’s rare anything fully covered in sequins has such a large surface area (sequins are normally reserved for skimpy dancer costumes with the occasional strapless evening gown) and I’ve always been one to enjoy a bit of sparkle! (And I’m now really tempted to decorate my 3D glasses (the ones for the cinema) with lots of little sparkles like Sister Mary Patrick’s in the final scene! Though if I did do that, I’m not sure I’d have the guts to wear them in public!)

Other than that, the stage door was a little weird – hardly any of them stopped long enough to even be recognised, though they were more than happy to sign things when asked. Claire Greenway (who shone as Sister Mary Patrick) was absolutely lovely. And to be fair to them, yesterday was a two show day and I’m sure they were exhausted!

So that review ended up rather longer than I expected it to! Its amazing how much I can talk (type) even when I don’t have anything much to say! Anyhoo, I may or may not be back before the end of the week. Off out for drinks this evening, so there’s potential for a new IDP (Inevitable Drunken Post), but I doubt it will happen. I still have very little to moan about besides a certain someone who’s name I have promised to avoid mentioning, so I think, given the circumstances, that I shall attempt to refrain from saying anything (though of course, depending on the volume of alcohol I consume, it may end up overriding my current, sober, sensible resolution!).

Upcoming; I have a random collection of observations and unexpected things that have happened to me this week and also,a review of Gavin Creel’s Goodtimenation in mind, which I will hopefully manage to post before I see him live next week (so so so SO excited!), as I’d like to get my thoughts expressed before the live performance changes my opinions, which I’m sure it will.

So until next time,

K xx

Guilty Conscience

Part 1:

So, I have spent some considerable time this morning debating with myself over the selfishness of going to a show tonight without inviting anyone else, or even informing them that I may be seeing the show (and therefore allowing them to give a shout out if they wish to accompany me). The show in question is Sister Act and up until now, I haven’t actually wanted to go that much. Given the cost of tickets, I had pretty much decided not to bother. However, I have nothing else booked for this week and my plan to see Traces fell through (because I actually was being nice n sociable and decided to rearrange my plans so that my sister can come with me next week), so I thought I’d have a look at what else is on that I may enjoy.

Now, I know me and while I have no huge desire to see the show right now, I’m sure I shall change my mind when suddenly I don’t have the opportunity anymore. So, I thought I’d pop down to the theatre at lunch time and see what they have available for this evening at a reasonable price. However, I feel really, really bad. So bad, in fact, that I’m not sure I’ll have the guts to tell anyone if I do, in fact, go.

I’ve always had a bit of a guilty conscience, whether justified or not, and I always feel horrible not asking everyone of my acquaintance whether they would like to come to a show before I book. However, I’m a busy girl and I don’t have all that much flexibility with dates. So suddenly my generous offer to purchase tickets for anyone who may require them gets thrown back in my face when I won’t rearrange my plans around other people’s timetables. (To be fair, this doesn’t happen all that often, but I had a row with my sister over Traces last night and I’m still smarting a little over it.)

Anyways, I shall return with Part 2 after my visit to the box office. On the plus I will either have a ticket for tonight or a clean conscience (which I prefer to look at as win-win, rather than lose-lose, but I’m not quite sure if I’m feeling glass half empty or half full today).

Part 2:

So, I’m back. And with the aforementioned expected guilty conscience. But also, a front row, centre stalls ticket for tonight’s performance of Sister Act. I may feel guilty but it don’t mean I’m not uber chuffed! Who’d have thunk it? The show finishes in a few weeks and they still had day tickets left at lunch time!

So, I’m a little excited now, though I’m not quite sure what to expect. I know it’s different from the film, or at least, the music is, but then I don’t think I’ve actually seen the film the whole way through in one sitting (yet I have seen Sister Act 2 multiple times – go figure). I know the basic idea of it though and hopefully it should be a fun night out. I don’t know much about the cast either (though I’d be lying if I didn’t say that part of the reason I wanted to go was to see Patina Miller, which, of course, is solely down to the fact that she played Dionne in Hair (in Central Park)), but hopefully they should be good. You can expect a review in the next couple of days at any rate.

In other news, erm, there’s not all that much to report. I just bought myself a new toy – a second hand Nokia E61 – which I shall be using, sans SIM card, as a portable word processor. It will likely take me a while to get it set up properly, with all the various required documents, but hopefully I’ll get back to writing properly soon. Until I gave up on the blackberry I borrowed to experiment with (the free trial of the word processing program I used was so ridiculously slow that it was a very short-lived experiment), the writing thing was actually going rather well. Hopefully it won’t take me too long to get back into the mindset. Especially since I’ve actually been doing a little bit of writing recently, its just not been on the most sensible of subjects. (Writing stories based on totally implausible fantasies about his Steeliness (marvellous, I’ve found another nickname for him – as if the other five I already had weren’t quite sufficient (and no I’m not going to list them here)) could not be construed as ‘sensible’ in any way shape or form.)So, I have to admit, I think it might be good for me to turn my attention (and associated daydreaming) in a new, healthier, direction for a while. At least until I start planning my trip to the States in earnest. (The current plan is to hopefully go to Boston, possibly with a long weekend in New York as well so I can catch a couple of Broadway shows – *cough*Will Swenson in Priscilla*cough*).

Anyways, until next time,

K xx

PS. Only one more week til Gavin Creel at the Jazz Café! Woot!

 

Shouting Love at the World

So, it occurred to be me (about thirty seconds ago) that even though my blog seems to have drifted pretty much entirely into musical theatre review territory, that wasn’t initially what it was intended to be. Not that it was really intended to be anything in particular, but if I can refer you to my initial post, you may notice that I have many obsessions far beyond Musical Theatre and Steel Burkhardt. It is to one of these others, then, that I turn to now.

Last Friday marked the first air play of the new Take That single ‘The Flood’. An exciting event in any Thatter’s diary, but made doubly, nay, triply more so by the fact that this was the first single featuring all five members of the original line-up since ‘Never Forget’ in 1995. Of course the huge build up and excitement was slightly dulled by the huge amount of publicity around ‘Shame’.

Now, I love Gary Barlow, Robbie Williams and Take That – both separately and together (in any combination). Seeing Gary and Robbie perform live together for the first time was something truly special (see ‘Help for Heroes concert’) and to be honest, the song they sang was never going to matter as much as the event itself. Over a decade of bad blood and rivalry washed away in a single ‘loving’ glance. It was almost poetic. As a song, ‘Shame’ was, um, reasonably good. I did enjoy it and its grown on me even more over the past weeks. And the video was epic. That said, between the two of them, I have to agree with the general public consensus and say, they should have done better. Much better.

‘The Flood’, however, is in a league of its own. It’s somehow new and exciting, while still feeling very much like classic Take That. And it also wouldn’t be amiss amongst some of Robbie’s solo stuff (particularly Intensive Care – the beginning reminds me a little of ‘Ghosts’). It’s hardly surprising that Robbie was given lead vocals on this one, but it’s nice to hear Gary’s voice on the bridge (well, when isn’t in nice to hear his voice?!). And I can quite distinctly pick out Mark’s, Howard’s and Jason’s voices during the chorus. (In fact my only issue with the song at all was the fact that I was worried about the possible anti-Robbie feeling over on the TT forum when everyone heard he’d been given the lead. Fortunately, it looks like I needn’t have worried. The reaction has been pleasingly positive, even from the critics (by critics I mean the pro-TT/anti-Rob crew, not the music critics who write for newspapers!))

I have to admit, I rarely like songs this much on first listen. I remember hearing ‘Patience’ for the first time and being just a little disappointed and unsure, but man, was that a grower. Its now one of my all time favourite tracks (by any musician/band) and always a highlight of their live shows. ‘The Flood’, by contrast was love at first listen and has continued to grow on me every time I’ve heard it since. The lyrics (the ones I’ve deciphered, at least) are beautiful and I adore the melody. I even like the electro-y aspect of it – somehow takes it up a notch, I think. And I cannot wait for the video premiere on Friday. The teaser clip on the Take That website – with the slow reveal of each member walking out of the boating shed thingemy whatsit, finally ending with Robbie to make the complete set (as it should be *sob*) – is b-e-a-u-tiful (this should be read to sound the same way Steel says it prior to ‘Don’t Put it Down’, just without the American drawl – in case you were wondering).

All in all, I’m now on tenterhooks waiting for the release of ‘Progress’ (the new album with a whole load of new tracks – yay!) and the inevitable announcement of tour dates for next year. (I’m extra excited waiting for the tour announcement as, depending on dates and locations, I’ve decided to just go for it and head off to the States earlyish next year to catch ‘Hair’ on tour (Sorry Steelicious, you’re not quite rid of me yet!). I’m thinking of Boston or Chicago at the moment, but I don’t want to miss opening night of the Take That tour, so I shall have to sit on my hands for a few more weeks and resist booking flights! NB: I’m not going just to see the show. I’m not quite that crazy (yet) and it will be a proper holiday complete with touristy sightseeing etc., hence choosing cities I’d actually like to visit!)

So, still no shows booked for this week (yet) but I’m considering going to see ‘Traces’ on Wednesday. If not, I can just spend longer getting excited for Gavin Creel at the Jazz Café. I’m back to listening to ‘Goodtimenation’ pretty much on repeat at the moment and I’m still loving it. ‘These Four Walls’ still gives me tingles and I really, really hope he sings it when I see him. That and ‘Might Still Happen’ just cos it makes me happy.

And finally, in case you’re interested, the title of this post is a line from ‘The Flood’ but it kinda fits quite nicely with all the ‘Hair’ stuff still whizzing around my head at the moment, so I thought it seemed apt.

Anyways, until next time,

K xx

PS. I’ve been scribbling a fanfiction-y style story based somewhere between reality and fantasy (co-starring Steel, of course) which I may or may not post up somewhere for general reading and ridicule. But we shall see.

PPS. Also, in the notebook that I’ve been scribbling in, there’s also a new ‘Inevitable Drunken Post’ (IDP) which I wrote Thursday night on my way home with a vague intention of typing it up when I had a spare minute. However, this allowed for an earlier than normal ‘Eventual Sober Reflection’ (ESR) and I have since decided it’s far too cringe-worthy to publish. Needless to say, it mostly involved Steel and we shall leave it at that!

PPPS. I just remembered that I’d decided to avoid mentioning Steel again in less absolutely necessary… oops. Oh well, surely it’s always necessary to add a bit of Steeliness to my posts? Maybe I should just stop tagging him in everything and then maybe no one will notice  (If I keep this up much longer I’m going to end up with a metallic theme on here instead of the current pink with purple trim.)

A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To The Forum

So, unfortunately, this isn’t going to be one of my (rather frequent, it has to be said) rave reviews. That’s not to say it wasn’t good – It was and I enjoyed it, but it didn’t quite have the polish I’ve become accustomed to in the West End. And despite my love of both musical theatre and ancient history, the show perhaps wasn’t to my taste.

The Queen’s Theatre, Hornchurch, is actually quite a nice modern venue. It’s relatively small, but reasonably comfortable (tho I was perhaps a tad long-legged for the seat which kept trying to tip me up) and the raking seemed well designed. I was third row, centre and at exactly the right level to see the stage with no restrictions and without having to look up, so I can’t really complain. What the view was like further back, I can’t say. To be honest, my only issue with it is the location. It’s in Zone 6, a long way from work (just off Trafalgar Square – I love working in the West End) and to get home to north London I had to go right back into the centre of town to go out again. Which basically means that I won’t be going back unless they put on something truly spectacular (like a revival of ‘Hair’, for example ). That said, its clearly designed as a local community theatre and I suspect that most of the audience lived nearby. In that respect, it’s great, and it is on the tube (20 min walk from Hornchurch), just not very convenient for most of London!

The audience also annoyed me a little. For one, they didn’t seem to have any problem with talking amongst each other throughout – making comments etc.. And for another, the announcement at the beginning regarding phones etc. included a message about noisy sweet wrappers. The ladies in front of me joked about it and one handed out a load of sweets, one assumes, so as not to take them out of the rustling bag during the show. However, they were individually wrapped boiled sweets. And the lady directly in front of me chose the opening of the show to remove her sweet from said wrapper. I didn’t even know a person could take that long to open one sweet. And yes, it was stupidly noisy. It would’ve been annoying anyway (pet hate: people with noisy or flashy things at the theatre), but given that the guy had JUST asked people not to do it. *ahem* Sorry, rant over!

And so, to the show – Sondheim’s ‘A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum’.

To be honest, it was a little too slapsticky for my taste and the music didn’t exactly hold me captivated (I don’t know much of Sondheim’s work but I thought the Sweeney Todd soundtrack was great). It was very funny, but reminded me a bit too much of a panto. And not just due to the farcical nature of the show. I guess it just felt a little provincial and amateurish!  For example, there was a notable moment where some of the set (which was actually rather impressive) fell over and the cast didn’t quite deal with the hiccup, making it obvious to all that it was not part of the script.

I actually feel awful not giving a rave review and despite what I considered it’s shortcomings, there were a couple of cast members I thought were particularly good (most notably Matthew Quinn as Hysterium). As a production it was also rather good – many of the cast played instruments and I thought the incorporation of the band (so to speak) into the show was very well done.

So, overall, not a highlight of the year, but I think if it hadn’t been such an effort to get there (and perhaps if I’d had company and not gone alone) I would’ve enjoyed it a bit more.

Also, I’m still buzzing from the awesomeness that was Departure Lounge (I’ve been singing (the few lines of the songs that I actually know) constantly since I left the theatre) and I think perhaps the inevitable subconscious comparison between the two left ‘A Funny Thing…’ with little chance of impressing me. (In the same way that I could never have really enjoyed ‘Aspects of Love’ when I was still in deep mourning over the closure of ‘Hair’.)

In other news, looks like Ramin Karimloo will be supporting Hadley Fraser at a couple of gigs over the next couple of months, one of which is at Waterloo East Theatre. I think I might have to book for that, if only to see Ramin sing as himself for a change and support the theatre while I’m at it.

Wierdly, I don’t have much booked for a while now (well it’s a while for me! A whole week without a show – it’s almost unheard of!). Next up is Gavin Creel at the Jazz Café on the 20^th (I cannot WAIT for this! Been excited since I booked the tickets! *bounces*). Though hopefully I’ll fit ‘Traces’ or another visit to ‘Departure Lounge’ into the gap.

In the meantime I’m off to Birmingham this weekend for a friend’s surprise 30^th birthday party.

So, til next time,

K xx

 

Departure Lounge – The Musical

So, first off: *enters fangirl mode* OMG so so SO good! Go see it. In fact go NOW. Hurry hurry, only open til the end of the month!

*ahem*

So, Departure Lounge – The Musical by Dougal Irvine (linky here) was fantastic. The plot is pretty straight forward but its hella funny, held up by a great selection of songs and a truly magnificent cast.

As I’m sure we all know by now, the main reason for my little excursion to Waterloo was essentially clinging onto the hippies via one of the (rather beautiful, it must be said) members of the cast, in this case Liam Tamne (more on that later). But, wow am I glad I made the effort, stupid reason or not.

Waterloo East Theatre is almost cute in its littleness, tucked under a bridge with its curved roofing and occasional sound of trains rushing past. Its a lovely theatre and I’ll definitely be keeping an eye out for future productions. It actually reminded me of many of the venues I visited in Edinburgh during this years Fringe and I have to say, if I’d seen this show during my marathon 32 shows in just over 5 days I still think it would have stood out for me as much as it did seeing it last night.

The show follows four boys (JB, Jordan, Pete and Ross) stuck in the departure lounge at Malaga airport awaiting a severely delayed flight home. The only female cast member (Sophie) pops in and out, mostly in the form of seriously amusing flashbacks.

Its a simple enough premise, but the comic timing is impeccable and the slightly deeper aspects to the story – dealing with the inevitable changes to long term friendships, whilst stuck in the ‘deparure lounge’ between being boys and men, between school and life. And there’s an extra quality of real emotional attachment between cast and audience, not just down to the enforced intimacy of the theatre.

And so to the cast:

Ladies first – Verity Rushworth was great as Sophie. She was totally believable in the role – and given that I’ve seen her before, playing Penny in Hairspray (alongside Liam Tamne), I was super impressed with her versatility.

Chris Fountain played JB, the leader of the pack. I vaguely recall him from Hollyoaks (my housemate watched it and I followed the occasional storyline) and I have to admit, since Justin was such a prat (I have a soft spot for Ali Bastian who played Becca) I wondered how well I’d take to him in something else. I needn’t have worried. Chris was great throughout and by the time he got to ‘Do You Know What I Think Of You’, I was totally sold. He’s a great actor and a great singer to boot.

Steven Webb (Ross) was the only member of the cast I hadn’t previously heard of, so I had no idea what to expect. Turns out he’s a talented performer who played the shy Ross wonderfully. He comes across as shy and nervous, almost to the point that you think he really is. That is, until he gets to a bit where he’s not required to be so much in character. He plays ‘confident’ just as well.

Jack Shalloo (Pete) I saw in the title role of ‘Hamlet – The Musical’ in Edinburgh. He was fab then and fab in this. He was also lovely and friendly when I hung about after to meet the cast (I was the only one to do this and felt a tad ridiculous, but still glad I did it!). Apparently the Hamlet Soundtrack is going to be recorded  next month and will be available later this year – good news indeed .

And finally, to the lovely Liam Tamne. Now, I had a soft spot for him anyway (he was a great Link in Hairspray and as I said, rather delicious to look at), but this was greatly increased when I finally worked out that Liam had the role in Hair previously played by Steel, prior to his Berger promotion. So, I have to admit that I didn’t much notice him in Hair since, lets face it, I only had eyes for Steelicious, but that’s no excuse. Turns out, Liam is unbelievably awesome! His acting is fabulous but his voice is simply spectacular – his range alone totally blew me away. In fact, I could wax lyrical about him for the rest of the post, but I shall refrain, for the most part. I will simply leave you with: keep an eye on this one, he’s going places.

Overall – awesome show, awesome cast. Cannot recommend it enough.

Other than that, ‘stage door’ experience was interesting, to say the least. For one, there is no stage door. The cast come out into the little bar/foyer area along with the rest of the audience.  Of course, they come out after the audience has departed, but still. I felt totally ridiculous standing there programme in one hand, sharpie in the other while the friends and/or family of the cast stuck around to wait for them, but I wanted to see Liam and I though it might be nice to show my appreciation. I wouldn’t have thought twice about it if the venue had been larger, so why not wait for them here? So I waited, got a pic and autograph with all five cast members, and even had a chat with Jack and sorta Liam. I’m sure I came across as my usual crazy tongue-tied self, especially in front of Liam (I don’t really remember what I said other than mumbling something about loving Hair, seeing it five times and missing the show! He did say he missed it too though!), but evidently there’s nowt I can do about that – I’m doomed to forever embarrass myself at stage doors.

So, in other news, saw a video the other day of Will Swenson talking about Priscilla. Was totally gutted to see that he’s cut off all his lovely long locks and is now sporting an (admittedly smarter) shorter do. Anthony Hollock is another of the hippies to turn to the scissors post-Hair and though he still looks adorable, I do miss the long hair.

I’m not entirely sure what’s come over me of late, to be totally honest with you. I’ve never been into guys with long hair. In fact I actually quite strongly disliked guys with long hair, apart from some notable exceptions (Johnny Depp and Orlando Bloom in Pirates, Jon Bon Jovi etc.). Yet now I find myself looking twice at any reasonably attractive guy with a pony tail. It’s a weird turn of events, I have to say.

At least I can pretty much guarantee that Steel won’t be chopping his luscious locks off any time soon. Not that I’d love him any less with short hair, but I do rather like the dream of running my fingers through that mane of his, and can you blame me for not wanting to let go of that particular fantasy quite yet?!

So, um, moving on.

Next up: A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.

Stay tuned for yet more reviews (I’m thinking of booking to see Traces at Saddler’s Wells. And Maybe Departure Lounge again, if I have time. Not that it will need a second review. But I’m sure I’ll end up raving about it again anyway!)

So, til next time,

K xx

PS. The Departure Lounge soundtrack is available to order now from The Dress Circle (and no I’m not on commission!)

The Eventual Sober Reflection

So, I finally worked up the courage to read the IDP (linky) from a few weeks ago and despite the lack of coherency in parts and somewhat crazy ramblings throughout, I’ll admit it’s not quite as bad as I expected it to be. I’m not sure I cleared things up in quite the way I intended, but then, I was drunk. And one rarely does what one intends when one is intoxicated (unless what one intends is a really stupid thing to do, in which case it often goes swimmingly well).

Anyhoo, welcome to the ESR (or, if you prefer, the ‘Eventual Sober Reflection’). I think what I meant to say then was: Apologies for all the ramblings and ravings about Steel. I have a crush, which in this case is a rather bad one, and I’ve already driven all my friends mental talking about it/him. This little blog o’mine was sort of a last resort. One final place in which I could rave as much as I wished without inconveniencing or irritating anyone, (and not quite resorting to doodling little hearts, tacking ‘Burkhardt’ on to the end of my name and writing little fantasy lovey-dovey stories in my journal (yes I still have one) on an almost daily basis).

The issue then, was that it occurred to me that Steel himself (or someone who knows him) may come across this someday – lets face it, at this point there’s not a huge number of hits if one sticks “Steel Burkhardt” into google (including the quotes theres ‘only’ about 2000) and its theoretically possible I may be ‘discovered’ as it were. Suddenly I became aware that I have potentially rather embarrassed myself with the crazy-stalker routine and though it is unlikely ever to matter, I just wanted to clear up a couple of things: I’m not actually a crazy stalker girl, nor am I going to do anything about my ‘crush’. For that matter, half of me doesn’t even consider it a proper crush, since I don’t consider him to be any more ‘real’ than Gary Barlow or Orlando Bloom, or any other ‘celeb’ I’ve had a thing for over the years (that point may actually have been made successfully in the IDP, but i’m not taking any chances!).

So, the point (i’m really not very good at getting to it, am I?) is, if I am ever lucky enough to meet Steel again (most likely at a stage door in the West End or on Broadway – I see great things in his future), I will do my usual ‘wow the show was amazing, can I have an autograph/photo, thanks ever so’ and that will be all. Maybe I’ll go more than once, maybe the photo might even qualify for my facebook profile picture, BUT. That. Will. Be. All. (Unless of course he has an unexpected and overwhelming desire for more – sorry, couldn’t resist!)

So, I make no ridiculous unkeepable promises that I will keep my mouth shut about him in future, but at least (I hope) I’ll come across as a tad less crazy than I have done up until now.

Anyways, moving on, Departure Lounge tonight – woot! And I also hear Gavin Creel is back in London. I shouldn’t be so excited by that (its a rather large city!) but I am, so neh.

K xx

PS. Not sure what this blog really achieves, but hey!

PPS. This is now the 10th post to contain a tag for Steel… out of 16. Perhaps I do talk about him a tad more often than strictly necessary!

PPPS. Also, just want to throw in a shout out to the guys n girls from the various Lee Mead forums who found me yesterday! I was rather chuffed by the unexpected spike in my readership stats! (And I saw Wicked last Tuesday, for those who were wondering.)

Wicked

So, Wicked was wicked, Lee Mead was luscious, Louise Dearman was delightful and Rachel Tucker was ruddy spectacular.

I’ve seen the show on two previous occasions – I just caught Adam Garcia before he left (though Idina had already left and I missed Kerry Ellis as she was off that night) and then saw it again, what must be almost 2 years ago now. Again I saw the understudy for Elphaba.

I was delighted to find that this time, I was third time lucky and managed to catch Rachel Tucker as Elphaba, and believe me, she did not disappoint. Not that the other actresses were in any way lacking, I hasten to add, but its always nice to see the billed cast as opposed to standbys and understudies.

Now, I went to the show to see Lee Mead. And he was good. Really good. His voice is lovely and he’s very pretty (I really need to stop referring to men as pretty, but anyhoo), especially when hanging off a ladder only a few feet away from me whilst wearing deliciously tight trousers (apparently my face at this point was somewhat amusing). However, Fiyero is not a role which demands attention. In fact, in that way, I thought he played the part very well, never attempting to steal the limelight away from the two witches. Unfortunately, I can’t really say much beyond that. I enjoyed his performance immensely and I’m very glad that I went to see him (and also glad I saw him and not Lewis Bradley, the understudy. I’m sure he’s great, but I never took a shine to him), however, it would be nice to see him again in a role a little more central. That said, ‘As Long As You’re Mine’ was beautifully done by both of them and I thought his acting was rather good throughout. In fact, I really enjoyed all the scenes between Elphaba and Fiyero and that was, at least in part, down to the skill and talent of the two actors involved.

And so to the witches. They were indeed marvellous (or should I say wonderful?). Rachel Tucker has a magnificent voice and I enjoyed every minute of her presence on stage. To be honest, the only thing I found lacking was her ‘wicked witch cackle’ which left a fair bit to be desired. Beyond that she was simply breathtaking. Her ‘Defying Gravity’ was epic and I loved her ‘No Good Deed’. I was very, very impressed. Louise Dearman was also fabulous and I thought she played the blonde ditz with a somewhat hidden intelligence very well.

I had rather good seats for this, which was nice after my previous tickets which had been located somewhere towards the back of the circle, miles away from anything (I think I’m beginning to get rather spoiled! Its gonna be rubbish when I’m back up top!). We had ‘Limited View’ tickets in Row B of the stalls (I was seat 12, I think, second from the end), but to be honest there were very, very few scenes in which it was even an issue, and then it was only because the occasional chorus member/flying monkey was stood in the way. It was fantastic being so close, seeing their facial expressions and the magnificent detail of the costumes.

I found myself truly fascinated by the amount of time and effort which must go into the designing and creation of each costume, particularly those worn by the chorus. The detail is exquisite, yet can only really be seen by the first few rows. And even then, for the most part the chorus just add to the atmosphere, the costumes becoming a blur of colour amongst the scenery while the focus is on the deceptively plainly dressed lead characters. I actually found myself thinking about working on costume design as a hobby. Even if I never create them, it might be fun to really let my imagination have its way. (Actually, I like to pretend I’m a writer and the series of novels I have in my head could work quite interestingly on stage – the costumes for that could be great fun to design, though perhaps a little simple.) I might even really go for it with something and create something totally crazy for a costume party. I always want to go all out and never quite manage it. Maybe this year will be different! But I digress.

The seats were fab, especially for the price, and I highly recommend them for those who may be interested.

Now, I’m aware that all my reviews so far have been along the lines of ‘OMG it was awesome, s/he was awesome, everyone was awesome, and so on and so forth. This is mostly because I tend to go and see things I know I will enjoy. Other than that, many are shows I’ve seen before, or involve stars I particularly like. There is also the fact that my attention is easily captivated (though not often for an extended period – with that in mind, I should warn you that another post about ‘Hair’ is likely to be forthcoming, especially now that the touring cast has been officially announced and as of today, rehearsals are under way) and in the immediate aftermath of a show I often find myself totally wrapped up in it all. The point of this blog, for the most part, is to allow me a way of raving about my current captivations without driving my friends and family totally insane (not sure that’s working really – think I’m still driving them mad, but this helps a little!).

So, next up: Departure Lounge tomorrow (cannot WAIT! Hopefully should be good – the cast list sounds impressive, to me at least, and I get to see the lovely Liam Tamne, who I liked anyway (post Hairspray) but since he’s one of the few British links to ‘Hair’ left open to me, well, lets just say I’m clinging and he’s one of the few things/people left for me to cling to – that doesn’t involve £1000 and a solo trip across the Atlantic!).

Til then,

K xx

PS. And yet another long post. I really do try to keep it under 1000 words, honest!