Cagey
The other day I felt I'd better apologise to triomakesmehot for the fact that she's missing out on seeing Marc Warren onstage (she's a Hustle fan,) but I think yesterday's trip may make her explode with jealousy, so I'd probably better embed something here for her as consolation - breathe, it'll be all right. Friday was Children in Need night, the annual BBC telethon, and John Barrowman did the following:
Right, I hope that'll make up for the fact that you weren't tagging along with us the next day to see Barrowman in La Cage Aux Folles. I'd already seen the show back when this production was at the Menier Chocolate Factory and although I enjoyed it wouldn't have gone again, but this was my Christmas present to my mum. We'd actually had a hard time finding something she was interested in, until Penny reminded her she likes John Barrowman. (Obviously. She's a woman in her 60s and is therefore genetically programmed to love John Barrowman.) So she had to have her XmasTM present early this year, as La Barrowman's only with the show until the end of November.
Obviously Barrowman's brief run in the show has sold well and since we only thought of this a few weeks ago I couldn't get as good seats as I would have liked, and we ended up in the middle of the fourth row of the Upper Circle. Fortunately the Playhouse's Upper Circle is steeply raked so there was a good view - we only had to lean forward to see if the actors stood on the very edge of the stage. Apart from a new cast and being in a much bigger theatre it's not too different from the first time I saw it, although reading my original review I'd forgotten that one of the drag queens had been played by a real woman - this is no longer the case. And although I can take or leave Barrowman (I don't mind him but his ubiquity in recent years is a bit much) I'll happily admit he's great in this.
But the main thing is what my mum thought, and she laughed her head off and cried, twice (at "Song on the Sand" and "I Am What I Am") and since something making her cry is pretty much the main gauge of success as far as she's concerned, I think we can consider this job done. Penny also came along (she paid for her own ticket, her Christmas present isn't until Legally Blonde next month) and really enjoyed it as well so a good afternoon all round.
La Cage Aux Folles by Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein is booking until the 2nd of January at the Playhouse Theatre, and is expected to transfer to Broadway in 2010.
Click to viewRight, I hope that'll make up for the fact that you weren't tagging along with us the next day to see Barrowman in La Cage Aux Folles. I'd already seen the show back when this production was at the Menier Chocolate Factory and although I enjoyed it wouldn't have gone again, but this was my Christmas present to my mum. We'd actually had a hard time finding something she was interested in, until Penny reminded her she likes John Barrowman. (Obviously. She's a woman in her 60s and is therefore genetically programmed to love John Barrowman.) So she had to have her XmasTM present early this year, as La Barrowman's only with the show until the end of November.
Obviously Barrowman's brief run in the show has sold well and since we only thought of this a few weeks ago I couldn't get as good seats as I would have liked, and we ended up in the middle of the fourth row of the Upper Circle. Fortunately the Playhouse's Upper Circle is steeply raked so there was a good view - we only had to lean forward to see if the actors stood on the very edge of the stage. Apart from a new cast and being in a much bigger theatre it's not too different from the first time I saw it, although reading my original review I'd forgotten that one of the drag queens had been played by a real woman - this is no longer the case. And although I can take or leave Barrowman (I don't mind him but his ubiquity in recent years is a bit much) I'll happily admit he's great in this.
But the main thing is what my mum thought, and she laughed her head off and cried, twice (at "Song on the Sand" and "I Am What I Am") and since something making her cry is pretty much the main gauge of success as far as she's concerned, I think we can consider this job done. Penny also came along (she paid for her own ticket, her Christmas present isn't until Legally Blonde next month) and really enjoyed it as well so a good afternoon all round.
La Cage Aux Folles by Jerry Herman and Harvey Fierstein is booking until the 2nd of January at the Playhouse Theatre, and is expected to transfer to Broadway in 2010.