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Apr 21, 2015 17:20

Everything at work is manic and I don't just mean busy I mean MANIC with people rushing around frantically doing things that may or may not be the things that actually need doing :-P

So LJ as sanity check again (aka Sarah writes a post in multiple 2-3 minutes bursts and if any of it makes sense then it's a miracle!)

I had a GLORIOUS weekend- Fashion on the Ration at the Imperial War Museum on Saturday followed by a ratehr delicious supper at Tas and then Shakespeare's Birthday celebrations at the Globe on Sunday followed by cabaret at the Leicester Square Theatre (with a bottle of prosecco in between then two *coughs*)

I'd definitely go to the Shakespeare's Birthday party again, possibly earlier in the day so with some hope of getting a party bag but seiyaharris & I looked round the exhibition for free, were amused at the sheer quantity of sugar available for free/for money and then went and tried out ever seat in the Globe (well not EVERY seat but quite a lot) and established that the Gentlemen's boxes really have a rubbish view, or at least the end ones do, and that actually the view from right at the top at the sides isn't impossible, though it is pretty limited. They told us all the performances were over for the day but a young company of actors whose name I've entirely forgotten came on and did an adaptation of part of Romeo & Juliet (which involved Mercutio asking Tybalt if he thought he had some kind of Freedom Pass *g*) so that was fun.

Then I resisted the urge to buy ALL the things in the shop before heading off for food & wine and then STRALLENS (and also Caseys)

Unwrapped: May Contain Strallens & Musical Nuts @ Leicester Square Theatre

I wasn't entirely sure what to expect from this, a sort of cabaret/q&a/unwrapped thing with Summer & Zizi Strallen and Anna Jane & Natalie Casey (I ALWAYS forget that those two are actually sisters but watching them together I think maybe I'll remember now ♥)

There were songs and a bit of dancing and a lot of chat and somewhat random "segments" and I laughed a LOT mostly although I also cringed a fair amount because whilst I absolutely adore Summer Strallen and have done so for (having just looked this up) TEN YEARS since I first saw her in Guys and Dolls as the dancer in the Havana scene... where was this sentence going? Oh yes! I love her as a singer and a dancer and an actor but she really is spectacularly posh and incredibly stage-y and this is the first time I've heard her really say a lot all in one go and... well they banned her from speaking for a bit of the second half after she managed to slip from massively ridiculous and posh into actually racist :-/ Definitely needs to get out of her bubble but then if you come from a posh, stage-y family and go straight into the theatre it's not that surprising I guess?

*takes a deep breath*

Leaving that aside and sticking with the actual entertainment though it was great fun. They started with Sisters Are Doing It For Themselves (of course) and we had bursts of Sisters, Sisters and Lady Marmalade and Show Off from the Drowsy Chaperone (which Summer is about to be in) which all of them sang and then some solos and duets. Was particularly impressed with Natalie Casey's absolute refusal to do high kicks along with the others but then dropping straight into the splits at the end of a song.

The Strallens best moment probably had to be the rewritten Macavity about a 5th Strallen sister who can't dance and is never seen which they sang complete with the actual choregoraphy from Cats <3 the Caseys nearly made me cry when they sang The Most Beautiful Girl In The World because it was just after they were talking about Anna's children and Natalie actually did look a bit choked up <333

It was also VERY obvious that Anna Jane has the cabaret experience because whilst she chattered and rambled and told wonderful stories about hanging out with Charlize Theron she also always kept track of what was going on whereas Summer just got lost quite a bit. Zizi was fairly quiet but then she's currently in a show (The Car Man, I can't WAIT) and she was sweet and funny and she really does have a gorgeous voice. Natalie Casey was hilarious but then that's what she's best known for, I really hadn't appreciated how good her voice is though so that was nice.

It was one of those massively theatre in-crowd nights though when they pulled friends out of the crowd (obviously with some rehearsal) to replace a missing guest and where Michael Xavier did his best to spill mine & Becca's drinks every time he went past us into his sear :-P also a lot of jokes about Kevin Spacey and about auditions and about being siblings on stage and I really did enjoy it. Just maybe I will stick to seeing Summer in shows where someone else has written her words :-P

So that was a thing. Still need to see Sasi Strallen in an actual show at some point but she tends to do touring things & smaller things so it's not as easy as the other three.

Gok Wan was in the audience which did make us laugh rather as we also saw him at the Cynthia Erivo concert I went to earlier this year, clearly he's very in with the West End crowd! I never talked about that concert did I? It was SO brilliant and I am in love with everything about Cynthia, no reservations here :-P

Cynthia Erivo: Hear My Soul @ Kings Place

The thing about Cynthia Erivo is she's tiny and beautiful and sweet and lovely and then she opens her mouth and this incredible voice comes out and it's impossible not to just stop in your tracks and marvel. Or at least I'm yet to meet anyone who managed to remain unmoved by her singing when she's given free range.

She sang a number of very personal songs at this gig, some of which she'd written herself including the very beautiful Fly Before You Fall which was written for her friends and family and which deserves to be very much better know. If these are her first efforts at songwriting there is real promise (as if the singing and acting and general wonderfulness weren't enough talent for one person).

She also sang a duet of All Of Me with her boyfriend (Dean-John Wilson who I saw in Here Lies Love & is also pretty fab) which was weirdly maybe the weakest point of the concert BECAUSE they both got so emotional <3

But it was the big numbers where she really shone, Whitney Houston's I Wanna Dance With Somebody, One Night Only, Masterpiece and then she sang 'Ain't No Way and most people should really never try to sing Aretha because how can you match a voice like that but Cynthia absolutely owned the song and then pulled everything right back in to sing the Eva Cassidy setting of Somewhere Over the Rainbow.

She finished with And I'm Telling You which got everyone on their feet and me boggling yet again at that HUGE voice from such a small person *g* and then she sang a song from The Color Purple and I kicked myself all over again that I didn't drag myself to the Menier when it was on. That's definitely one of the list of regret.

And this was her first solo gig! She's still growing and improving but she's already absolutely brilliant and I can't wait to see what comes next (well, when she's back from her Liverpool & then Broadway adventures!)

(LOL started this post at 10am, finished it at 5.30pm...)

concerts, musicals, the globe, theatre

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