(no subject)
I had another cluster of theatre over the weekend and in between that a wedding, a radio interview (things I will apparently do for my job- wake up at 7am on a Saturday to be interviewed live on the radio /o\) and assorted other important tasks. Also quite a lot of sleep althoug unfortunately not all of it at sensible times (I'm the sort of person that, when I know I have to be awake earlier than usual, just doesn't sleep AT ALL all night out of anxiety & nerves)
The wedding was lovely though and it's been a fascinating mix of theatre! Starting on Thursday with...
Porgy & Bess @ Regents Park Open Air Theatre
I can't believe we didn't get rained on! The weather forecast did NOT look good but other than a few spots of rain as I was eating supper beforehand (they do a very good burger in the theatre BBQ area) it was sunny & the clouds lifted and I only actually put my cardigan on after the interval. Also worth noting is that it's very nice to be in a theatre where not only can you take your glass in with you but the people two rows in front of us had champagne in a proper ice bucket & glasses *g*
But back to the actual musical!
Which was brilliant. I've never seen Porgy & Bess on stage but I've wanted to for a long time and it absolutely didn't disappoint! Every single member of that cast had a stunning voice whether it was the leads, the bit parts or even just the chorus ("just" LOL it's never just is it?)
Jade from the Sugababes, it turns out, has a very sweet soprano and did a great job with Summertime which isn't easy given it's so well known and also one of the very first songs in the score. Then Serena was played by Golda Rosheuvel who I've seen at the Globe before and I knew she had a good voice but Doctor Jesus was a properly showstopping number. And then of course Sharon D. Clarke as Mariah was magnificent.
Phillip Boykin's Crown was truly terrifying and Cedric Neal's Sportin' Life was cynical but oddly charming and so should have been even more terrifying (I was fascinated to note that, from where I was sitting, the Detective & Crown both got booed at the end but Sportin' Life didn't which I guess shows he was doing something right in the terrifying but seducing line... my friend N who was sitting nearer the stage said he did get some boos as well).
And then Rufus Bond Jr. & Nicola Hughes as Porgy and Bess were tender and passionate and always enthralling. I've heard I Loves You Porgy so many times as a song out of context but watching it on stage it stops being romantic really and starts to become what it is- an addict begging someone to save her and I did love the way they were together and that you could truly believe that Bess wanted to become a decent woman but couldn't quite break free on her own which is why the ending is as sad as it is.
The set & staging was very clever too- very simple props for the most part. There were tables & chairs moved around & used to build a boat or to show the edges of a room or different houses and when the women on Catfish Row were working they had towels folded diagonally to represent the fish which sounds weird but the choreography made it work perfectly.
I really REALLY enjoyed it in case you can't tell and if you get a chance I'd say go (and good luck on the weather front!)
Other than the whole open air thing the only other big down side to the Regents Park Open Air Theatre is that it takes FOREVER to get home afterwards especially as the park is shut by the time we come out so you have to walk halfway round the inner circle :-/
By contrast on Friday I went to the Menier Chocolate Factory which is a theatre I love that's super easy for me to get to AND where you can get meal deal tickets which mean we paid something like £35 for a two course meal and the show! I mean it doesn't include drinks or anything like that but the food's always good so it's well worth a try.
Forbidden Broadway @ Menier Chocolate Factory
I saw this last time it was at the Menier which, alarmingly, turns out to have been in 2009 *has minor time/age related panic attack* and I was more than happy to go back and see it again. This time we had numbers regarding Matilda & Book of Mormon & Charlie and the Chocolate Factory alongside the older songs and the whole thing was brilliant.
I do wonder how it plays to an audience who doesn't know the shows. I mean there were at least half a dozen I haven't seen (Once, Jersey Boys, The Lion King...) and I loved those numbers but at least I know a fair amount about those shows? The Once number actually included Damian Humbley very nearly succeeding in making the other three corpse- Ben Lewis was definitely biting down giggles (and if I tried to explain why it wouldn't work!)
The Miss Saigon section was also new and PERFECT, it hit all the things I didn't much like without really rubbishing the show AND there was even a helicopter (there was also a great glass elevator or two, better than in the actual Charlie I fear)
The best number though I think was still Les Miserables. I remember laughing so hard I almost cried when I saw it before and it's still just as ridiculous particularly the rather brilliant physical comedy behind mocking the revolve.
The whole cast (all four of them plus spectacular pianist/musical director Phillip George) were of course brilliant. I always love Damian Humbley and his Cameron Mackintosh send up (he was The Engineer!) was wicked and hilarious. Ben Lewis is new to the line up but first right in. Sophie-Louise Dann's impressions were all highlights, especially her Angela Lansbury but also I loved her Matilda. And then Anna-Jane Casey <333 I mean I'd watch her do anything but she's still utterly brilliant.
What else? I was enormously amused by N insisting that the Sondheim song wasn't funny because it was just TRUE and how he wrote (it's called Into The Words and it was very funny from where I was sitting)
If you like musical theatre at all then go and see it, you really don't need to know every show although having a good idea of what's on in the West End at the moment is a good idea AND it's transferring after it's Menier run :D
I was hoping I'd get Holy Warriors written up to but I've had this post open since about 10am when I had my first tea break this morning so it's probably time to post it before I lose everything.
Anyway we've got an event on tonight so I've got to go and be nice and friendly on the front desk for three hours (yay?)
When I'm back home I'm hoping I'll have time to go through my Nine Worlds schedule and maybe cut it back to only needing to be in 2 places at once rather than 3 or 4 *coughs*
The wedding was lovely though and it's been a fascinating mix of theatre! Starting on Thursday with...
Porgy & Bess @ Regents Park Open Air Theatre
I can't believe we didn't get rained on! The weather forecast did NOT look good but other than a few spots of rain as I was eating supper beforehand (they do a very good burger in the theatre BBQ area) it was sunny & the clouds lifted and I only actually put my cardigan on after the interval. Also worth noting is that it's very nice to be in a theatre where not only can you take your glass in with you but the people two rows in front of us had champagne in a proper ice bucket & glasses *g*
But back to the actual musical!
Which was brilliant. I've never seen Porgy & Bess on stage but I've wanted to for a long time and it absolutely didn't disappoint! Every single member of that cast had a stunning voice whether it was the leads, the bit parts or even just the chorus ("just" LOL it's never just is it?)
Jade from the Sugababes, it turns out, has a very sweet soprano and did a great job with Summertime which isn't easy given it's so well known and also one of the very first songs in the score. Then Serena was played by Golda Rosheuvel who I've seen at the Globe before and I knew she had a good voice but Doctor Jesus was a properly showstopping number. And then of course Sharon D. Clarke as Mariah was magnificent.
Phillip Boykin's Crown was truly terrifying and Cedric Neal's Sportin' Life was cynical but oddly charming and so should have been even more terrifying (I was fascinated to note that, from where I was sitting, the Detective & Crown both got booed at the end but Sportin' Life didn't which I guess shows he was doing something right in the terrifying but seducing line... my friend N who was sitting nearer the stage said he did get some boos as well).
And then Rufus Bond Jr. & Nicola Hughes as Porgy and Bess were tender and passionate and always enthralling. I've heard I Loves You Porgy so many times as a song out of context but watching it on stage it stops being romantic really and starts to become what it is- an addict begging someone to save her and I did love the way they were together and that you could truly believe that Bess wanted to become a decent woman but couldn't quite break free on her own which is why the ending is as sad as it is.
The set & staging was very clever too- very simple props for the most part. There were tables & chairs moved around & used to build a boat or to show the edges of a room or different houses and when the women on Catfish Row were working they had towels folded diagonally to represent the fish which sounds weird but the choreography made it work perfectly.
I really REALLY enjoyed it in case you can't tell and if you get a chance I'd say go (and good luck on the weather front!)
Other than the whole open air thing the only other big down side to the Regents Park Open Air Theatre is that it takes FOREVER to get home afterwards especially as the park is shut by the time we come out so you have to walk halfway round the inner circle :-/
By contrast on Friday I went to the Menier Chocolate Factory which is a theatre I love that's super easy for me to get to AND where you can get meal deal tickets which mean we paid something like £35 for a two course meal and the show! I mean it doesn't include drinks or anything like that but the food's always good so it's well worth a try.
Forbidden Broadway @ Menier Chocolate Factory
I saw this last time it was at the Menier which, alarmingly, turns out to have been in 2009 *has minor time/age related panic attack* and I was more than happy to go back and see it again. This time we had numbers regarding Matilda & Book of Mormon & Charlie and the Chocolate Factory alongside the older songs and the whole thing was brilliant.
I do wonder how it plays to an audience who doesn't know the shows. I mean there were at least half a dozen I haven't seen (Once, Jersey Boys, The Lion King...) and I loved those numbers but at least I know a fair amount about those shows? The Once number actually included Damian Humbley very nearly succeeding in making the other three corpse- Ben Lewis was definitely biting down giggles (and if I tried to explain why it wouldn't work!)
The Miss Saigon section was also new and PERFECT, it hit all the things I didn't much like without really rubbishing the show AND there was even a helicopter (there was also a great glass elevator or two, better than in the actual Charlie I fear)
The best number though I think was still Les Miserables. I remember laughing so hard I almost cried when I saw it before and it's still just as ridiculous particularly the rather brilliant physical comedy behind mocking the revolve.
The whole cast (all four of them plus spectacular pianist/musical director Phillip George) were of course brilliant. I always love Damian Humbley and his Cameron Mackintosh send up (he was The Engineer!) was wicked and hilarious. Ben Lewis is new to the line up but first right in. Sophie-Louise Dann's impressions were all highlights, especially her Angela Lansbury but also I loved her Matilda. And then Anna-Jane Casey <333 I mean I'd watch her do anything but she's still utterly brilliant.
What else? I was enormously amused by N insisting that the Sondheim song wasn't funny because it was just TRUE and how he wrote (it's called Into The Words and it was very funny from where I was sitting)
If you like musical theatre at all then go and see it, you really don't need to know every show although having a good idea of what's on in the West End at the moment is a good idea AND it's transferring after it's Menier run :D
I was hoping I'd get Holy Warriors written up to but I've had this post open since about 10am when I had my first tea break this morning so it's probably time to post it before I lose everything.
Anyway we've got an event on tonight so I've got to go and be nice and friendly on the front desk for three hours (yay?)
When I'm back home I'm hoping I'll have time to go through my Nine Worlds schedule and maybe cut it back to only needing to be in 2 places at once rather than 3 or 4 *coughs*