Warning: Contains spoilers.
So I was not supposed to be here tonight, but to be fair I was also not supposed to be blogging any more and yet, here we are because Alex! I mean, unplanned cover shows are always a bit of a nightmare, but unplanned cover shows on tour are often simply impossible. I missed that week near the start of the tour when Ryan was on for a different track nearly every night, I missed two weeks of Adam’s Hertz in Scotland and his mid-week Lonny run in Grimsby and then I missed Alex’s Franz on Tuesday. All of those were horribly frustrating, but Tuesday was by far the worst because I could have been there. The trouble is I was rushing off to see Kinky in Oxford and I tend not to check instastories during the day anyway (which is where the news first broke). By the time the WestEndCovers twitter notification popped up, I was already on the train and it was too late to change my plans. Needless to say, I was gutted. He was on again yesterday, but I knew I wouldn’t be able to make it, regardless of who was on, because I had plans with a friend and much as I hate to admit it, some things are more important than theatre. I did however, beg Alex to let me know if he was on again tonight, so at 4 o’clock I found myself booking a ticket, putting my opera ticket up for re-sale and trying desperately to contain my giddiness until I could escape the office!
Of course, this is hardly the first cover show I’ve seen, but it still felt like a special one. It was a boy show, so I got Ryan on stage and in a new track, plus I always knew I’d get to see Josh’s Drew because he has planned ones. And, ya know, I’ve also got a colossal soft spot for Alex, so…! Needless to say, I was beyond delighted that I actually managed to make it down to see him and it was everything I could do not to squee out loud when they announced him before the show. Although I will say I was rather miffed not to find a cover notice anywhere.
In the end, I think I was too busy beaming like a madwoman to take in much beyond ‘aaaaah he’s so f***ing cute!’, but I had the best time and of course I’ve still got a fair few things to say. Of course Alex played Franz completely differently to Andy, which I obviously loved because it was new and exciting (and I hate it when actors don’t have the freedom to put their own interpretation on a role). I think he was more shy and naive, plus he was generally less overtly comedic, although of course he still had his moments. I think the comedy came from a very different place though. One thing I particularly loved was the way he sort of looked out towards the audience during the not-quite-kissing scene, as if he was too shy to look directly at her. It was so adorable. Ack, who am I kidding, every thing he did was adorable and I spent a good proportion of the show with my hands clasped together below my chin, trying not to audibly squeak.
I also hadn’t considered the fact that prior to tonight I’d never actually heard him sing and that’s sort of important. Especially when one has already become emotionally committed to chasing said performer across the country in any future roles…! Fortunately it turns out that he’s good. Really good. He’s got a gorgeous voice and now I just need a crazy second cover Stacee show to hear him show it off even more! I mean, Franz is a significant improvement on a solo-less ensemble track, but he still doesn’t get to do that much vocally. Although I did enjoy his little ‘la la la’ after the Easter morning line. Also on a sort of related note, I thought his German accent was really good. I mean, sure I have no real frame of reference, but it sounded good to me and I thought he kept it up really well when he started singing too!
So Alex was on stage at the start of act two, wrapped around the pole with his armful of poster rolls and I reckon Franz’s late entrance at the last few venues must have been because there was no sheer curtain. What with the lights and all, the curtain does obscure the stage enough for him to get into position without it being visible to the audience. Needless to say, I was rather chuffed that I didn’t have to wait for Alex to pop up :P. There was still a delayed entrance later on, though I’m not sure that was entirely intentional…! After Alex assured Dennis and Lonny that he hadn’t called them, Vas took an awfully long time to emerge, to the point that I was beginning to wonder if he was going to turn up at all! I’d certainly have been intrigued to see what they’d have done if he hadn’t, since he is rather instrumental to that whole scene, but then he declared ‘I called you’ from the wings and belatedly strolled on to the stage. I’ll confess it still took me a moment to pick up on it, but I then realised he was missing his briefcase of cash for Franz, so I wonder if that’s what caused the delay.
Of course, I also got to see Ryan back on stage, which is always a pleasure. I love watching him dance and I got to see his Dennis cameo for the first time too, so that was fun. I also really liked his expression before he climbed up on the flight cases next to Stacee in Wanted. He seemed to dither for a moment before working up the courage to get up there, then had this rather cheeky expression on his face after he’d committed to it. He looked thrilled with himself once he was up there too… until he ended up rolling around on the floor clutching his nose!
On the other hand, I thought his producer from Orion Pictures was a lot more aggressive than Alex usually is, plus one of the notes fell on the floor when he tried to tuck them into Jodie’s coat, so she had to bend down to retrieve it. Of course, Jodie then responded different to him and she actually looked kinda scared after he walked away, rather than just fed up. I think she was then more aggressive when Drew bumped her (before she recognised him), as if she already had her back up before he came along, but I might be reading too much into that. I do love the way Jodie does that whole scene though. I’m not sure if I’ve mentioned it before, but it always makes me grin when she mouths ‘s***’ after lying to Drew about her career, as if she didn’t mean to go that far. Then after she throws her hand up and admits she’s a stripper, she looks up at it hanging in the air like its betrayed her in some way. Given how generally confident Jodie’s Sherrie is, I think it’s particularly cute when we see the slightly less self-assured side to her character.
Speaking of cute, Vas wailed ‘I’m not a fascist’ at Rhiannon and it was bizarrely adorable. It’s no wonder Regina took pity on him after that! Continuing on the theme, when Drew interrupts Stacee & Sherrie after Wanted, Clifton steps off the flight case before abruptly turning and ‘shooting’ Drew with his finger gun. In response, Luke clutches his shoulder as if he’s been hit and laughs in a really dorky way and it’s so cute! He’s such an adorable little fanboy… Until he fully realises what’s going on, at least. Also, I love the way Josh looks around when Stacee says ‘it’s kinda noisy’ and often gets this adorably puzzled look on his face, cos it’s really not that noisy… Until he realises what’s going on and then he nods knowingly. Cute, cute, cute! Also Luke and Lucas were using the broom and the plunger to have a little sword fight in Nothin’ But A Good Time and that was rather sweet too. And another thing…! When they came on for the curtain call, Jodie sort of launched herself into Luke’s arms, wrapping her legs around his waist, and I’m not entirely sure he was expecting it! Bless.
Moving away from cute however, far far away, when Stacee came over to Sinead in Wanted, she clutched both her hands between her legs, before reacting (in)appropriately when he touched her face. She took a moment to recover as he walked away, then wiped her hands on Adam’s leg and I’ll confess it made me giggle. Although speaking of Adam, his vocal unexpectedly caught my attention in Noize and rather blew me away. I’m not sure why I never really clocked it before (I guess cos there’s a lot going on generally and it’s a Stacee scene, so I don’t often watch him & Luke, so the vocal normally just washes over me), but he’s really f***ing good. I want to see him in one of his cover tracks even more now and it’s so frustrating that I missed so many of them.
So I didn’t have the best view of the front row, but I guess none of them looked up for it, because Lucas went for the woman in the middle of the row behind. There was a large box in front of the stage that he could step down on to and he then propped one foot on one of the chair arms in the front row. From where I was sitting, it looked rather like he had his crotch in someone’s face, but he did apologise! Her name was Catrin, which I imagine could have all sorts of spellings and I’ve never seen them do this before, but when Rhiannon was handing out her flyers, she checked if it was with a C or a K. I wonder what Catrin thought that would be for! I did have a pretty damn good view though, especially for a seat a fair bit further back (F) than I would have chosen given the choice of something closer. It was a really good rake though, so I had a completely clear view and I was around stage height so it was really good for taking in the whole show. It also meant I could see Luke riding his motorbike on to the stage, which doesn’t really have anything to do with my seat and was really just a weak segue to record the fact that they’ve apparently fixed the bike since Grimsby. Although I will say I kinda missed seeing Lucas come back on to remove it at the end of the scene!
Aside from all of that however, there was another fairly major change this evening… You see, there’s a new drummer on the Strip! I didn’t even realise Amanda was leaving until I saw her tweeting her farewells last week and I’m rather sad I didn’t get a chance to say goodbye. Although I did an equally poor job of welcoming the new guy (Vito Guerrieri), since I didn’t cheer for the band… I mean I’d sort of half decided not to anyway, because I always feel like such a prat and then I was so giddy over Alex, I wasn’t in any shape to be giddy about anything else, but I still felt horrible! Admittedly they still got their cheer, because after Dennis’ line, Drew & Marc raised there arms and the audience took the hint and cheered for them, but I still feel like I let them down…! At least I know I don’t have to worry about it on Saturdays!
Finally, before I get to stage door, I’m going to talk about costumes again [Edit: I realise I never actually finished the Grimsby posts in which I first started on this topic so ‘again’ doesn’t really make sense, but you’ll just have to go with it] because I find the whole thing inexplicably fascinating. So Alex wore his usual biker shirt and double denim in the opening number (before he became Franz), then the rest of his costume was much the same as Andy’s, although he had a different t-shirt (white with an anchor on it) for his casual look at the end. As for Ryan, he was in his usual costume until his Primo bit, when he had a similar outfit to Alex, but again, a different shirt (I think it was a Sex Pistols one). Although I did belatedly realise that I forgot to look up at the screen and see what footage they had for Beaver Hunt…
Kevin had a new shirt this evening too, only I’m sure I’ve seen it before and have a feeling it might be the same as the one Cameron had in Berlin? Although whether he actually has a new shirt or if it was just that Ryan doesn’t have the old one, I don’t know. I’ll get back to you on that when Andy returns. I’m also not sure why I only picked up on this today, but Bobby has a completely different costume just for the sandwich scene. I wonder if it’s to protect his normal clothes from spillages?! I feel like he’s on his second hat too, only I can’t remember what I think it used to look like…? I’m not sure if I’m just being weird(er than usual), but I don’t remember it being such a light colour before this year? One thing I am sure of however, is that Josh has his old vest back! Still, when he popped up with the new one in Grimsby, I was no longer quite certain what the original looked like so I went hunting. After digging through some production photos of him and Bobby, my suspicions that they were both in Black Sabbath shirts originally were confirmed and because I’m like that, I even managed to find them online (although Josh’s appears to have been acid washed at some point). I also accidentally stumbled across Bobby’s new skull & roses shirt, but I don’t know how I found that one, because I really wasn’t looking for it.
So as you’ve probably gathered by now, I’ve been on a weird costume kick for the last couple of weeks. I’m not even sure why, since I have no idea what I want to do with the information once I have it, but nonetheless I keep finding myself scrolling through pages of google image search results. Of course it started reasonably enough (doesn’t it always?), back when I was making Staceebear and needed the artwork for his t-shirt, but I certainly can’t use that excuse any more because I am definitely not making any more bears. Still, it was incredibly satisfying when I finally tracked down the original shirt and then I found the bandana (which I’ve taken to wearing as a scarf to justify buying it) so… Basically now I can’t seem to stop. I mean I really like Alex’s shirt, so I was kinda curious if that was attainable, but after far too much research on the subject, I reckon they made it based on a vintage Harley shirt (well either that or someone else did, but it’s definitely a rip off of an old design). On the one hand, it means it’s not technically available, but on the other, I know I could make a pretty decent replica if I so wished… only that seems excessive and I’m never excessive… right?! Incidentally, I’m also rather fond of Josh’s denim vest/jacket thing, because sparkles, but I can’t work out what it says on the back, so it’s nigh on impossible to track down and in conclusion… I think I need help (of the mental variety, not assistance with searching for costumes). Why am I like this?! Although on the plus, my ‘research’ did result in me looking more closely at this photo and Alex’s hair made me happy. I miss when it used to do that!
And moving on…! Stage door was brilliant, not least because I’ve been worrying about how busy it will be now and if I’d be able to see anyone at all. Admittedly this was a very small theatre, but even so there was hardly anyone there. Of course I still missed a whole bunch of them because they left together while I was otherwise occupied, but I saw a lot of them and it was wonderful and I was giddy and yay!
Zoe was first out as usual and hurried past with Honi, but she did say hello when she saw me, so maybe she does recognise me after all! Then Ryan also ran as he was getting a lift, but I called out a hello before he vanished. I then missed Paris and Drew because I’d done enough shouting to people for a few minutes and was taking a break from feeling awkward, but to be fair I did see Drew earlier. I was just on my way back from my stage door recce before the show when I bumped into him going the opposite way. We exchanged greetings and he sounded surprisingly happy to see me, so that was nice (until I let him down with the cheer…). He asked if I’m in all weekend, so I admitted that I’m at both on Saturday, but wasn’t meant to be here today and only came to see Alex. I’m not sure he heard the last part, but I said I’d see him after (oops) and we continued on our respective ways.
Adam gave me a hug and commented on my fresh hair colour, then introduced me to the woman he was with who was one of the producers. I got tongue-tied for some reason and didn’t say all that much, but she thanked me for buying all the tickets! Anyway, when Alex came out, I hung back, waiting for him to finish talking to the other people that stopped him, who happened to be the women sat next to me. I wasn’t overly enamoured with them since they spent a significant portion of the evening yabbering, so I was even less impressed when one of the them asked if I was only waiting for the main man. From the way it was said, I can only assume she meant Clifton, so I assured her that I was not, pointed at Alex and stated rather emphatically that I was there for him!
Of course as soon as it was my turn, I gave him a huge hug and told him I was so proud of him. I’m not sure why I said that, because I always think it sounds a bit condescending, even though I never mean it like that, but I really was so f***ing proud and it just slipped out. Anyway, I then carried on flailing at him, telling him how brillant I thought he was and generally fangirling at him. I also pointed out that I’ve never actually heard him sing a solo before, which made tonight even more exciting. He talked about how much fun it’s been and how much he’s enjoyed it, so I reiterated how happy I was that I got to see him. I also told him about the opera ticket I had for tonight, around which point Bobby and then Josh joined us. They both gave me hugs (yay), whilst I continued with my opera tale and explained about how I was already on my way to Oxford on Tuesday or I’d have dropped everything then. We chatted about where I was sitting as a couple of them had spotted me, I think; Josh and maybe Bobby? I admitted that I just booked what I could when I found out Alex was on and it was the closest I could get, but it was actually a really good seat. Plus I assured them all I’ll be in Saturday anyway and it was all just a bit awesome. This might sound kinda silly, but I felt so appreciated and like they were all genuinely happy to see me and just ahhhhh. They never make me feel like they’d rather I wasn’t there or that they’re just putting up with me because they have to, and I know there are plenty of people that genuinely appreciate my support, but when I’m almost surrounded by them and they’re all being so lovely, it gives me all the soft warm fuzzies and I was just so frickin’ happy. Plus Vas popped up next to me at one point and stopped to exchange greetings before vanishing just as suddenly and Luke called out to me as he left too and I hadn’t even seen him emerge, so that was equally lovely.
The chatty girls waited for Lucas too, so when he came out, I hung back slightly to let them speak to him first… and then felt a bit smug when he greeted me like a friend and made a point of giving me a hug :P. I mean I generally try not to be that person, but sometimes you just can’t help yourself! Anyway, he commented on my hair colour and we discussed whether it was purple or pink, so I stated it’s dark pink (it’ll get pinker as the dye washes out, but to be fair there is a layer of aubergine in there), plus of course he chatted to the other fans and signed and whatnot. We then ended up walking down the street together though, so we had a lovely little catch up. Naturally we talked about the show, but we also had a natter about Idiot and I talked about how it feels weird, but [in the end is] right. I gushed about how much I love that he’s still kinda in it too!
So after all of that I really couldn’t stop smiling. My face hurt from nearly three straight hours of beaming and I must have looked like a crazy person walking down the street grinning to myself, but I was just so frickin’ happy! It was a really special night.
Peace, love and happiness,
K xx
PS. Deciding that I wasn’t blogging any more was something of a weight off of my shoulders. So much so that it seemed to ease my writer’s block somewhat, which was a big part of the reason I decided to stop in the first place. That said I have a f*** ton of shows coming up over the next week and there’s no way I could even attempt to keep on top of it all, so it might be best not to even try. In conclusion, I’m not sure if this is a one off or if I’m going to keep trying to get things written up, but for now, I’m not promising anything beyond this.
[Actual publish date: 2/3/19]
So Currently Captivated 