A Spotlight On Stevie Webb

The last thing I was expecting when I walked into the Landor was to nearly bump into Stephen Fry, though admittedly I probably should have anticipated his presence. It was still kinda cool though. Anyhoo, as I believe I already mentioned, I was kinda kicking myself for booking the ticket to see Stevie Webb in the ‘A Spotlight On…’ series given that the Landor is so damn far away, but I’m glad I made it in the end. It was a fun night, the music was great and I do love intimate cabaret shows. He interspersed his numbers with titbits of information about his life and his career (spanning twenty years! I know he started young (age 8), but he only looks about 16!) as well as answering some audience questions which was surprisingly entertaining. Over the course of the evening I discovered that he’s planning an album, which is quite exciting and that he’s in another new musical starting at the end of the month called After The Turn. Assuming its not too far away (since I promised myself I need to lessen the number of people I’ll go off the beaten track to stalk) I really must add it to my ‘to see’ list.

Anyhoo, he was joined by a few special guests, the first of which was Sarah Lark with whom he performed a version of Music Of The Night. I have the feeling I’ve heard of her before, but she’s now earned a well deserved place on my ‘wow’ list. She was absolutely fantastic and has a stunning voice. I also think she’d make a wonderful Christine. She performed again later, singing Suddenly Seymour (or Suddenly Stevie!) which just cemented my opinion of her brilliance. Another guest, who acted as MD, was Chris Passey. He sang a little at the end, but mostly contributed music. One track in particular was about Stevie’s mum and he got rather emotional about it. It was really rather sweet. The third guest was Dougal Irvine with whom he performed Do You Know What I Think Of You from Departure Lounge. I was actually surprised by quite how much I enjoyed the performance and how much it made me miss that show. It wasn’t even about Liam, really, I just think it’s one of the best shows I’ve ever seen. Incidentally, it also made me want to go back to the Edinburgh Fringe even more.

Other than all that, he did a song called Home that I’m sure I’ve heard at least once before, but I can’t for the life of me work out where from. It was nice though. He also performed Jesus Is A Jew which I’ve heard Scott Garnham perform twice in the past month or so and which STILL makes me laugh. He mentioned Les Mis a few times as a powerful show for him personally and eventually he performed Empty Chairs At Empty Tables (I still smile whenever it gets to the bit where Liam and co. appear during the real show). He told is that he almost performed it with Alfie Boe this evening but it didn’t work out which is a shame as it would have been epic. (He also mentioned that he nearly sang it at Alfie’s show, so I wonder if that means I wouldn’t have seen Tom from McFly if he had? Not that it makes a difference as I’m off to see McFly on tour in Manchester in March! Woot! I’m not really that much of a fan, but I’ve got a few weeks to learn their songs and I couldn’t resist the temptation to book while they’re performing in such small venues. Now I just need to bring my opera glasses so I can spend the whole show ogling Harry Judd ).

Anyway, back to Stevie! I haven’t listed everything that he sang, but I’ve mentioned a fair few. The encore was Dougal Irvine’s We Rule The World which is apparently the original final track from Departure Lounge. Stevie mentioned that they’d planned to perform it on the final night of DL but it never quite happened. I have to admit, I’m rather sorry about that. Anyhoo, it was actually rather interesting hearing more about his life and career, particularly as he only made it onto my radar when he did Departure Lounge. He’s also quite a charismatic guy and seems to be genuinely lovely.

I couldn’t decide about stage dooring at first since there was no programme to sign, but decided to see what time it finished. In the end, the show ended a little before 9:30 so I figured I may as well stick around since I still wanted to go home via the Shaftesbury, which wouldn’t kick out for another hour. I grabbed a flyer for Stevie to autograph and he was more than happy to sign and pose for a picture. Still don’t think he recognises me, but I’ve given up on that. Liam and Jack do and I shall have to content myself with that. I also got a picture with Dougal Irvine, though he seemed a little startled by the request. Incidentally, I’ve been meaning to buy Chris Passey’s album for months, ever since I found out that Liam Tamne sang on one of the tracks. They were selling them at the box office this evening so not only did I buy one, I also got Chris to sign it, though I missed out on a photo because I was too busy with Stevie Webb.

Anyhoo, I headed into town after that, but I was so early that I went for a bit of a walk through the West End. I know I say this a lot, but DAMN I love my city. I wandered along the strand, then up through Covent Garden, listened to a couple of buskers and drooled over some shiny shoes in the window of Kurt Geiger. I then headed to the Shaftesbury via Seven Dials and the rather swanky shops along the way. It was cold, but dry and it was a really lovely way to kill half an hour. I love London, I really do. The stage door at the Shaftebury was rather less successful than I’d hoped. Justin Lee Collins apparently always sneaks out the side door and Oliver Tompsett was off sick. I did get a photo with Rohan Tickell (who played Hertz) as well as another, admittedly rather lovely, picture with Dylan Turner (who I’d actually really like to see as Stacee Jaxx now. I know he was on this evening and I was kinda sorry to have missed it, but I really can’t justify another trip any time soon, even if I had the time, which I don’t. It’s all so very complicated!) and an unfortunately somewhat blurred one with Simon Lipkin, but I’m not sure it was really worth getting home over an hour later than I could have and standing out in the cold for forty five minutes.

Still, it was a good day and I did enjoy my walk, so no huge loss.

Peace, loVe loVe and seriously numb fingers,

K xx

PPS. I will get better with posting blogs again, I promise! I’ve got a few almost ready to go, so I’ll be adding some back-dated ones over the next week or so. The America Trip blogs are… still coming .

PPS. I now have two more potential readers. Well I suspect they won’t actually read it, but two more people I actually know now have the URL for this place. I didn’t really mean for it to happen, but I talk about it a fair bit and it was mostly just funny watching one of them try and find it. Unfortunately the other one knows me a bit better and once I mentioned Liam by name (though I didn’t actually specify what his surname is) he found it in seconds! I’d say that I’m more predictable than I thought, but I know exactly how predictable I am! Oh well, the more the merrier!

Britain’s Got Bhangra

I went to see Britain’s Got Bhangra The Musical at the Watford Palace Theatre because i knew Dougal Irvine was the English lyricist and I’ve very much enjoyed his previous work, most notably Departure Lounge.

To be fair, I don’t think I was really the target audience for this one and I was one of the very few audience members who didn’t appear to have any sort of Asian background. I was at the back of the stalls in the restricted view section, though that wasn’t really a problem. The theatre was half empty as well so I could have moved forward but I didn’t really see the need. That said there was someone on their own in the middle of the row in front who appeared to be using their iPhone as a torch in order to make notes throughout the entire performance and was driving me absolutely insane by the end. If the light wasn’t bad enough, the fact that it was constantly flickering on and off was absolutely maddening.

Anyway, now I’ve got all that out the way, here is the actual review. The fact that Dougal was listed as the ‘English’ lyricist was enough to warn me that I wouldn’t be understanding at least some of the songs and it was certainly a warning to be headed. A lot of the music in the show is in Punjabi, which is fair but rather unintelligible for those of us who only speak English. Still, for the most part I was able to get the gist of what was going on and the music was still enjoyable to listen to.

My friend commented during the interval that it seemed rather amateurish for an off-West End show but I kinda disagree with him. For one, I consider Watford under the umbrella of Regional theatre rather than off-West End, more in line with Hornchurch. I also didn’t think it was particularly amateurish. Of course it lacked some of the polish I’m used to, but I thought it was well executed and given that it was the very beginning of the run, I suspect that the cast will become tighter as the tour continues.

As a show it was fun, cheesy and predictable. There was a hero and a bad guy (well, woman), a romance of sorts and a lesson to be learned. It told the history of British Bhangra music and was actually rather fascinating in that respect. I loved all the brightly coloured costumes and the dancing (I keep thinking I should give Bollywood a try but I wouldn’t even know where to start. I loved Bride and Prejudice though!) as well.

The cast were good and certainly gave it their all. Shin (a well known Bhangra singer, I believe) played the lead, Twinkle, and I thought he had a lovely voice. His dancing perhaps wasn’t quite up to the level of some of the rest of the cast, but I thought he was strong in his role. Natasha Jayetileke was the conniving Shinde and I thought she was very good. I though Michael Taibi as Rocky was also brilliant. My favourite cast member was probably Jason Dento who played Jason. I thought his voice was gorgeous, but whether it was him or bad acoustics or what, I felt that for the most part he was far too quiet. Definitely a shame as I genuinely thought he was wonderful. I thought Rakesh Boury was great as DJ Lovely. His ‘I Dreamed A Dream’ moment properly cracked me up (he wants to sing live on Britains’ Got Bhangra but Shinde won’t let him. When the power suddenly dies he launches into the Les Mis song, though he’s quickly stopped).

Overall, I’m glad I went, but I suspect it would be far more enjoyable for those who are familiar with the Bhangra genre, or at the very least, Asian culture.

Next up is the ballet at the ROH (a little different, I’ll grant you) followed by South Pacific and Betty Blue Eyes. If I’m still awake by the end of the week I’ll be very impressed!

Peace, loVe loVe and happiness,

K xx

Dress Circle

The Dress Circle Benefit Gala at Her Majesty’s Theatre was a rather spectacular night of beautiful music and breathtaking performances. Presented by the surprisingly amusing Aled Jones and supported by a wonderful orchestra conducted by Simon Lee, it was a joy to watch from start to finish.

Unsurprisingly, the show became yet another reminder of how little I’ve seen of the world of musical theatre despite my very best attempts. Of course, many of the showcased productions closed well before I got into the genre properly, but still, by now I should have at least seen the film versions of musicals such as ‘Rent’ (my sister will be delighted, she’s been trying to get me to watch it for years).

Some of the highlights for me were performances by people I know and love such as Stuart Matthew Price singing ‘The Old Red Hills Of Home’ and Daniel Boys performing ‘Different’ [EDIT: He actually sang 'They Don’t Make Glass Slippers' - oops. It was a gorgeous performance though and a beautiful song]. The Avenue Q gang (Julie Atherton, Simon Lipkin and Jon Robyns) performed ‘I Wish I Could Go Back To College’ with the puppets, which I’ve always loved (and it was nice to see Kate Monster again!). Aled Jones performed ‘Choir Boy’ which was hilarious and I also enjoyed Dougal Irvine and Laurence Mark Wythe performing a song composed specially for the occasion entitled ‘The World Of The Show’.

Then there were the performances from shows I didn’t know. ‘Someone Else’s Story’ performed by Dianne Pilkington was beautiful and I adored the music from Miss Saigon, which I think is one of the shows I’d most like to see live should I ever have the opportunity. ‘I Still Believe’ sang by the incredible Samantha Barks and Claire Moore was followed by ‘Bui Doi’ performed by Peter Polycarpou and a male chorus. I was blown away by both. And speaking of being blown away… Landi Oshinowo’s rendition of ‘And I’m Telling You I’m Not Going’ was one of the best of the night, as well as Ashleigh Gray’s ‘Defying Gravity’ which was just phenomenal. The minuscule stage of Trafalgar Studios 2 is nowhere near big enough to cope with such awesome talent.

Then there was my personal favourite of the night, Ramin Karimloo’s ‘Music Of The Night’. A gorgeous man (always lovely to see him perform out of the mask) singing a gorgeous song… He gives me tingles and I cannot wait to see him back in Phantom for the anniversary performance.

There were a handful of changes to the printed bill, various performers who were ill and unable to perform, but there was one special surprise… Ellen Greene sang ‘Somewhere That’s Green’. Now I’m not much of a ‘Little Shop…’ fan, but it was obvious even if you didn’t know much about it that this was a BIG moment. It was a pleasure to watch and I’m exceptionally glad that I was there to witness it.

So there you have it. I could list every performance, really, it was all spectacular, but from what I can recall, I think that covers everything that had me sitting forward in my chair and taking note. Speaking of my chair, I was in the Royal Circle, which was previously the only level at the theatre that I hadn’t sat in. It was really rather nice too, especially the bar area. I had a restricted view seat, behind one of the multitude of irritatingly placed columns, but no one turned up to sit next to me, so I moved across one and had a much better view. I don’t think I’d choose to sit there for Phantom though, at least, not so far back. The gap between the front of the Royal Circle and the bottom of the Upper Circle seemed a little small and slightly claustrophobic, somehow. You’d also miss a little of the show with the chandelier shaking and such.

Slightly off subject, I had another one of those ‘I think I recognise him but I can’t be sure where from’ moments. It was the guy sat in the row in front, though his friends also seemed slightly familiar and I wondered if I’d seen them in ‘The History Boys’ in Edinburgh last years. It was bugging me enough that in the interval I ended up asking him and it turned out that it was ‘Spring Awakening’ I’d seen them in. I think I also saw a lot of them in Dougal Irvine’s ‘In Touch’, but I didn’t like to be too nosy, so I didn’t mention it.

Afterwards, I went to the stage door, which was rather hellishly chaotic. I got a handful of autographs and pictures, but no where near as many as I’d hoped. I also missed a lot of people I’d have liked to nab. Still, I thought I’d missed Ramin as he rushed off in the other direction, but he ended up being one of the last to leave, hanging around chatting to people for ages, so I managed to get a picture ‘n’ all. I was also rather delighted to find that Stevie Webb recognised me. Whether from the Departure Lounge days or just from Betwixt! on Wednesday, I’m not sure (I suspect the latter), but it was still lovely. He made a point of adding ‘With love’ to my autograph and he also chatted to me briefly, asking if I’ll be back to see Betwixt! again. I told him I’d try, but I have far too many other shows I need to see in the near future. Tis a shame, really, as I love supporting the more fringey shows, but I really don’t see how I’ll be able to find time.

Unfortunately, I made the mistake of hanging around waiting for the producers, Stuart Matthew Price and James Yeoburn. I was glad to meet them, but it cost me the chance to get the last tube home and I ended up hanging around a bus stop at King’s Cross until twenty to one in the morning. Needless to say I’m a little bit exhausted today. Worth it? Of course. But I’d have been happier getting home at a reasonable time and grabbing Stuart at Shrek whenever I get around to seeing that.

So, more this week, I hope, but nothing booked yet, so we’ll have to see what happens. I have my cousin’s wedding on Thursday, though, so sleep at some point might be advisable.

Peace, loVe loVe and happiness,

K xx

What’s On Stage Awards 2011 (Part 1)

My weekend in the middle of nowhere (on a farm somewhere in Herefordshire) was actually rather enjoyable, despite the hour and a half train delay on the way up. It was nice to catch up properly with my friends and we had a fabulous time playing ‘Taboo’ over cheese and wine on Saturday night. I felt rather bad heading out early to get back to London in time for the What’s On Stage awards ceremony, but I’m so glad that I did.

The event, at the Prince of Wales Theatre, home of Mamma Mia (which I still have yet to see) was hosted by Christopher Biggins, Miranda Hart and the fabulous Sheridan Smith who well deserved her award for Best Actress in a Musical. It was a light hearted evening of entertaining presentations, amusing acceptance speeches and wonderful performances.

The first highlight of the night, for me at least, was Michael Xavier and Simon Thomas singing ‘Agony’ from Into the Woods. I didn’t know anything about the musical before I saw this and I now wish that I’d known a bit more a bit earlier so I could have seen it. If it comes around again, I will definitely have to make sure I catch it. The costumes alone had me excited, never mind the song itself.

Then of course there was Dougal Irvine’s Departure Lounge. I spent most of last week wondering which song they were going to sing and decided it was probably a toss up between ‘Brits on Tour’, ‘Why Do We Say Gay?’ and ‘Spanish Hospitality’. They went with the latter and it was an absolute pleasure to watch. Chris Fountain wasn’t there and Jack Shalloo took over the role of JB, while Luke Kempner played Pete in his place. Of course, I was delighted to see Liam singing again, but I hadn’t expected to enjoy the whole performance so much. I was almost as happy about seeing Stevie Webb back in the role of Ross as I was about seeing Liam. Silly as it may sound, it was like seeing an old friend again after far too long. If there is one show that deserves a run on a West End stage, it’s that one.

In terms of other performances, there was a number from Rock of Ages, which, though enjoyable, didn’t exactly blow me away. At the moment it’s the only show that I’m not 100% certain about seeing on Broadway, particularly as I can’t find a special offer for it.

The Umbrellas of Cherbourg was fabulous and is definitely a must see. Which is extra special as I’ve been hoping for an opportunity to go back to the Gielgud. Plus, as if that wasn’t enough, Aki Omoshaybi is in the cast as well (another ex-Hair cast member).

Speaking of Hair, Caissie Levy performed a song called ‘With You’ from the hotly anticipated ‘Ghost’. She was spellbinding as always and the song was poignantly beautiful, both musically and in terms of the lyrics. It was one of the best performances of the night.

Alfie Boe closed the show with ‘Bring Him Home’ from Les Miserables and apparently (according to Cameron Mackintosh, so I think he can probably be trusted to have his facts straight) Alfie will be joining the cast at the Queen’s Theatre in the summer, so it may finally be time for me to revisit Les Mis in the West End. His voice really is something special, it’s just so smooth and crystaline. It’s an absolute pleasure to listen to him and I think I may have to purchase his album in the near future.

Anyways, I have plenty more to say, including some star spotting and a bit of raving about Ramin Karimloo (plus some exciting news), but that shall have to wait for part two, which should follow along soon.

So until then,

K xx

PS. Apologies for the over-tagging on this post, I got carried away.

Stuart Matthew Price

The Battersea Barge is not the most accessible of venues, tucked down at the end of a footpath, a far from insignifigant walk from Vauxhall station. It is, however, rather quaint, particularly with its dusting of fairy lights and the weird feeling of looking out of the windows and seeing that your feet are below water level. There was also rather a lot of rocking at the start of the second half, which was a little discomfitting, but thankfully it eased again as the night progressed and (as far as I know) no one was seasick!

It was, however, an ideal venue for an intimate gig and Stuart Matthew Price did not disappoint. He is one of those magnificently talented singers who sounds even better live than he does on record and I am very much looking forward to seeing him on stage again in the not so distant future.

I discovered Stuart at Hadley Fraser’s Christmas concert at Waterloo East Theatre (which I only went to in the first place to see Ramin Karimloo). He seemed so ordinary when he walked onto the stage, but then he opened his mouth and sang, what is now my favourite song of his, ‘Run Away With Me’ and blew me away completely.

Last night featured a whole host of special guests including Caissie Levy, Hadley Fraser and Dougal Irvine. Unlike Hadley’s gig in December, however, Stuart sang almost every song himself, despite spending most of last week apparently at death’s door!

I only bought Stuart’s album, ‘All Things In Time’, last week and haven’t really had the chance to learn the songs, so I can’t tell you which he sang and which he didn’t but I did recognise a fair few of the tracks. Other than ‘Run Away With Me’, my other instant favourite was ‘Wishing for the Normal’ with Caissie Levy. I had hoped that they would perform it and the fact they didn’t (dueting on ‘Time After Time’ instead) was probably my only disappointment of the night. ‘Midnight Will Happen Without Us’ was also gorgeous as was the album’s title track.

I was also rather impressed with the self-penned tracks that he performed. Unfortunately, I can’t recall the names of them now, but one in particular really stood out for me (though obviously not enough for me to remember its title!).

Aside from the singing he was a highly charismatic performer, chattering happily away between songs and really giving the show an atmosphere. He was also lovely when I hung around afterwards to talk to him and grab a quick photograph. It actually threw me slightly, as even with the friendly ones, I rarely say more than ‘Thanks, it was wonderful’. I wound up telling him how I’d heard of him, briefly discussing future projects (he’s currently working front of house at the Palladium, but has a show lined up which opens later this year) and chatting about how he never knows who people are between meeting them and talking to them on twitter. After that I couldn’t resist tweeting him when I got home and telling him I was the girl with the purple hair.

Funnily enough, or perhaps unsurprisingly given the nature of musical theatre fans and the appearance of Caissie Levy, I recognised a girl from the day-ticket queue for Hair at the table next to us. Weirdly, for me, I got recognised myself by a guy who had seen me at the Gielgud stage door. He asked if I’d had a flower in my hair, which I didn’t think that was a particularly useful question, given the nature of the show. He did then ask if I’d had pink hair back then though, so I figured he probably did see me there!

I also grabbed a quicky picture with the gorgeous and talented Dougal Irvine. He accompanied Stuart on guitar for a song called ‘Touch of Love’ from Dougal’s musical ‘In Touch’. Until last night, I had no idea that it was his musical, despite the fact that I saw and loved it at the Edinburgh fringe last summer. I very much hope it gets another airing in the next year or so, particularly as it was still a work in progress when I saw it and I would love to see it in full. On the same sort of topic, I also didn’t realise that Stuart was in the original production of Departure Lounge in Edinburgh several years ago.

Anyways, I had a lovely time at the gig and am very glad that I went. Next up, well, I’m not quite sure. I’ve got the What’s On Stage Awards on Sunday, which I’m stupidly excited about, but who knows what will happen between now and then. The Brits, hopefully, and perhaps one final GILT show, if there are any tickets left for one that I’d like to see.

So until the next time, whenever and whyever that may be,

K xx

PS. Happy Valentine’s day to those lucky enough to be celebrating it this year. I wasn’t going to mention it, but I have to say, I’ve never seen so many roses in my life (besides at a florist, that is). Every other woman on the tube seemed to be clutching a bouquet. In fact, half the men seemed to be as well, though I suspect they were gifts to be given rather than gifts received. Anyway, despite the cheesy poem competition on the radio this morning AND the crazy amount numbers of flowers, I was doing a pretty good job of pretending it was just another day until one couple felt the need to shove it in my face. Literally.

I was walking down Long Acre (Covent Garden) when a couple walked past all wrapped around each other. I wasn’t really paying attention to them until the red heart-shaped helium balloon she was holding smacked me square in the face. Needless to say, I was not impressed, particularly as I didn’t even catch an apology.

 

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!)