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We're doing a challenge badge called Do You Want To Build a Snowman? (and yes it is inspired by that film) at Rainbows this week and next week and one of the activities we're doing tonight is Ice Hands so the freezer at work is currently full of frozen gloves with beads, ribbons, foam shapes and glitter suspended in the ice *G* The girls are going to have LOTS of salt and some warm water to try and melt them and free the "treasure" but right now there are just disembodied hands in our freezer and it's a little creepy!
Right. Three theoretically quick/short reviews today and then I'm left with three that will probably be longer/more involved to write (ideally) before Friday when I'm off to see The Mikado in Cambridge.
Comedy of Errors @ Shakespeare's Globe
I was slightly wary about going to see this because the Globe touring production of Comedy of Errors I saw a few years ago remains one of the funniest things I have ever seen <3 but this was the last play of the season and I like to go to that if I can so I decided to give it a go and it was, of course, very funny and very different and totally worth seeing again!
To be honest it was easily worth the £5 I paid (oh Yard tickets how I love you) just to watch Jamie Wilkes as Dromio of Ephesus at the very start as he tried to take down washing that had been strung across the stage using ladders and poles and acrobatics and some truly brilliant slapstick <3
Of course the plot remains as utterly stupid as ever and whilst they'd done a great job with the casting I have no idea how you confused Jamie Wilkes with Brodie Ross or Simon Harrison with Matthew Needham for that matter though I guess the matching costumes helped! I did love the way that the Dromio's & Anthipholus' had a lot in common but were very definitely different characters- Matthew's Antipholus was absolutely awful to his Dromio pretty much all the time whereas Simon's Antipholus seemed much more friendly with Brodie as Dromio right up until he got fed up with the "tricks" being played.
Hattie Ladbury was wonderful as Adriana, all wounded pride and frustration but clearly still head over heels for her (awful) husband whilst Becci Gemmell was similarly hilarious as she struggled (not very hard) with falling for her sister's husband.
Mostly though I just absolutely adored the two Dromio's- Brodie was very sweet and confused and terrified of the kitchen maid and having FAR too much fun hurling flowerpots down at the street when stopping Antipholus of Ephesus coming in whilst Jamie's Dromio was more fed up and frustrated (and badly treated!) and his slapsticks skills were absolutely incredible. When they finally met it melted my heart completely as they sat at opposite sides of the stage shyly watching each other *sighs happily*
So a fun production all round and then Dominic Dromgoole came and stood in the rain to say all his thank you's bless him :D Only 18 months till he leaves and I will be heartbroken but I must remember that I was unconvinced by him when he took over from Mark and so giving the next person a fair chance is VERY important. He's done incredible things with the Globe though and now we have the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse as well I'm never going to have any money or time :-P
This next one isn't theatre exactly but I never wrote about it and I guess I should. I can't remember if the tour is still going but this won't be spoiler-y just in case!
Welcome to Night Vale @ Union Chapel
Firstly I had forgotten what it's like to go to things where the main bulk of the audience is teenagers/students and they queue FOREVER even though everyone's getting and we totally had great seats despite arriving "late" (on time). I like the Union Chapel though- I mean the loos were outside which is never great but it's beautiful and very atmospheric inside in that Victorian/Gothic kind of a way and they had candles in all the niches around the balcony and a high central dome which really added to the creepy factor at a couple of points in the show.
As is the case with listening to WTNV in general I could have lived without "the Weather" and in fact I could definitely have lived without having a whole set of her and then MORE of her during the show. I think the girl only had one song with just slightly different rhythms/speeds applied. I can't remember her name or a single one of her songs now just that I was massively irritated at the time :-P
But then I wasn't there for music I was there for WTNV and it was great fun to see it live and the episode they're using on this tour was a good one with some nicely creepy moments and a bunch of funny moments too and a lot of mentions for favourite characters.
I'm really glad I went but I think even more than most radio shows you actually kind of lose something important when seeing it because Cecil could be anyone until you've seen him.
But it was a great evening all the same and I did particularly enjoy the way they'd written the situation the audience was in into the script. Plus Librarians, who doesn't love hearing about Night Vale Librarians!
Incidentally I never did catch up with WTNV- this weekend I just got up to A Blinking Light up on the Mountain so only 25(ish) episodes behind /o\
I wish I could at this point link to my previous Phantom review, I'm pretty sure there is one on LJ somewhere, but of course my theatre and musicals tags are utterly useless as they've been used more than the number you can go back. One of my "one day" projects" is to make myself a spreadsheet of all the things I've seen and include links to any reviews I've posted but that's clearly not going to happen any time soon!
Anyway Dad's social club were going to see Phantom and it's been a while since I'd seen it plus they always get pretty good seats so I figured why not go and see it from the stalls!
Phantom of the Opera @ Her Majesty's Theatre
When we got to the theatre I had the joy of remembering that Liam Tamne is currently playing Raoul and last time I saw him it was in a theatre approximately the same size as the stalls bar at Her Majesty's *g* I do love seeing people succeed (people I think are good anyway!) and he made a lovely Raoul. I like his voice a lot and he was very sweet and lovely with Harriet Jones as Christine.
I didn't really know anything about the rest of the cast bar Marin ball as Monsieur Andre (very funny, Mum was quite taken *g*) but they were all very good I mean I find it hard to judge Phantoms because I've heard so many recordings of incredible ones but Gerónimo Rauch had a proper intensity to his voice that I thought worked really well.
If I had a quibble it would be one that I suspect is an ongoing Phantom issue- if you case Christine from a pool of opera signers (Harriet Jones) and Meg from a pool of ballet dancers (Alicia Beck) then the minute they have to sing together you're going to have MASSIVE balance issues and actually I though Alicia was doing a fantastic job but of course her voice was quieter and less strong.
Mum wanted to know at the end if Meg Giry was going to be the next person the Phantom taught and then I remembered Love Never Dies and wanted to cry but I also basically want all the fic where Meg is in love with Christine and Raoul kind of knows and is lovely about it but encourages her to go off adventuring and she finds a lovely girl for herself. Not Christine because actually I want Raoul and Christine together (DAMN YOU ALW)
Anyway I love Phantom's music so much and it was fun seeing it with Mum who can identify which composers/operas are being pastiched at each moment. Plus it was a spectacularly tourist-y/never-been-to-the-theatre audience so they were thrilled by everything and someone genuinely gasped when the Phantom appeared on the roof of the opera house which I kind of loved <3 I mean it made me laugh a bit at a not-really-funny moment but genuine reactions like that I enjoy far more than people chatting which is what usually happens!
So... not THAT short but quick to write reviews anyway :-P
Right. Three theoretically quick/short reviews today and then I'm left with three that will probably be longer/more involved to write (ideally) before Friday when I'm off to see The Mikado in Cambridge.
Comedy of Errors @ Shakespeare's Globe
I was slightly wary about going to see this because the Globe touring production of Comedy of Errors I saw a few years ago remains one of the funniest things I have ever seen <3 but this was the last play of the season and I like to go to that if I can so I decided to give it a go and it was, of course, very funny and very different and totally worth seeing again!
To be honest it was easily worth the £5 I paid (oh Yard tickets how I love you) just to watch Jamie Wilkes as Dromio of Ephesus at the very start as he tried to take down washing that had been strung across the stage using ladders and poles and acrobatics and some truly brilliant slapstick <3
Of course the plot remains as utterly stupid as ever and whilst they'd done a great job with the casting I have no idea how you confused Jamie Wilkes with Brodie Ross or Simon Harrison with Matthew Needham for that matter though I guess the matching costumes helped! I did love the way that the Dromio's & Anthipholus' had a lot in common but were very definitely different characters- Matthew's Antipholus was absolutely awful to his Dromio pretty much all the time whereas Simon's Antipholus seemed much more friendly with Brodie as Dromio right up until he got fed up with the "tricks" being played.
Hattie Ladbury was wonderful as Adriana, all wounded pride and frustration but clearly still head over heels for her (awful) husband whilst Becci Gemmell was similarly hilarious as she struggled (not very hard) with falling for her sister's husband.
Mostly though I just absolutely adored the two Dromio's- Brodie was very sweet and confused and terrified of the kitchen maid and having FAR too much fun hurling flowerpots down at the street when stopping Antipholus of Ephesus coming in whilst Jamie's Dromio was more fed up and frustrated (and badly treated!) and his slapsticks skills were absolutely incredible. When they finally met it melted my heart completely as they sat at opposite sides of the stage shyly watching each other *sighs happily*
So a fun production all round and then Dominic Dromgoole came and stood in the rain to say all his thank you's bless him :D Only 18 months till he leaves and I will be heartbroken but I must remember that I was unconvinced by him when he took over from Mark and so giving the next person a fair chance is VERY important. He's done incredible things with the Globe though and now we have the Sam Wanamaker Playhouse as well I'm never going to have any money or time :-P
This next one isn't theatre exactly but I never wrote about it and I guess I should. I can't remember if the tour is still going but this won't be spoiler-y just in case!
Welcome to Night Vale @ Union Chapel
Firstly I had forgotten what it's like to go to things where the main bulk of the audience is teenagers/students and they queue FOREVER even though everyone's getting and we totally had great seats despite arriving "late" (on time). I like the Union Chapel though- I mean the loos were outside which is never great but it's beautiful and very atmospheric inside in that Victorian/Gothic kind of a way and they had candles in all the niches around the balcony and a high central dome which really added to the creepy factor at a couple of points in the show.
As is the case with listening to WTNV in general I could have lived without "the Weather" and in fact I could definitely have lived without having a whole set of her and then MORE of her during the show. I think the girl only had one song with just slightly different rhythms/speeds applied. I can't remember her name or a single one of her songs now just that I was massively irritated at the time :-P
But then I wasn't there for music I was there for WTNV and it was great fun to see it live and the episode they're using on this tour was a good one with some nicely creepy moments and a bunch of funny moments too and a lot of mentions for favourite characters.
I'm really glad I went but I think even more than most radio shows you actually kind of lose something important when seeing it because Cecil could be anyone until you've seen him.
But it was a great evening all the same and I did particularly enjoy the way they'd written the situation the audience was in into the script. Plus Librarians, who doesn't love hearing about Night Vale Librarians!
Incidentally I never did catch up with WTNV- this weekend I just got up to A Blinking Light up on the Mountain so only 25(ish) episodes behind /o\
I wish I could at this point link to my previous Phantom review, I'm pretty sure there is one on LJ somewhere, but of course my theatre and musicals tags are utterly useless as they've been used more than the number you can go back. One of my "one day" projects" is to make myself a spreadsheet of all the things I've seen and include links to any reviews I've posted but that's clearly not going to happen any time soon!
Anyway Dad's social club were going to see Phantom and it's been a while since I'd seen it plus they always get pretty good seats so I figured why not go and see it from the stalls!
Phantom of the Opera @ Her Majesty's Theatre
When we got to the theatre I had the joy of remembering that Liam Tamne is currently playing Raoul and last time I saw him it was in a theatre approximately the same size as the stalls bar at Her Majesty's *g* I do love seeing people succeed (people I think are good anyway!) and he made a lovely Raoul. I like his voice a lot and he was very sweet and lovely with Harriet Jones as Christine.
I didn't really know anything about the rest of the cast bar Marin ball as Monsieur Andre (very funny, Mum was quite taken *g*) but they were all very good I mean I find it hard to judge Phantoms because I've heard so many recordings of incredible ones but Gerónimo Rauch had a proper intensity to his voice that I thought worked really well.
If I had a quibble it would be one that I suspect is an ongoing Phantom issue- if you case Christine from a pool of opera signers (Harriet Jones) and Meg from a pool of ballet dancers (Alicia Beck) then the minute they have to sing together you're going to have MASSIVE balance issues and actually I though Alicia was doing a fantastic job but of course her voice was quieter and less strong.
Mum wanted to know at the end if Meg Giry was going to be the next person the Phantom taught and then I remembered Love Never Dies and wanted to cry but I also basically want all the fic where Meg is in love with Christine and Raoul kind of knows and is lovely about it but encourages her to go off adventuring and she finds a lovely girl for herself. Not Christine because actually I want Raoul and Christine together (DAMN YOU ALW)
Anyway I love Phantom's music so much and it was fun seeing it with Mum who can identify which composers/operas are being pastiched at each moment. Plus it was a spectacularly tourist-y/never-been-to-the-theatre audience so they were thrilled by everything and someone genuinely gasped when the Phantom appeared on the roof of the opera house which I kind of loved <3 I mean it made me laugh a bit at a not-really-funny moment but genuine reactions like that I enjoy far more than people chatting which is what usually happens!
So... not THAT short but quick to write reviews anyway :-P