So I haven't blogged in a while. I guess I should start by briefly covering the closing of Legally Blonde, although not much detail is needed. As many of you already know we camped all night for tickets, I'm not gonna lie it was quite painful with no sleep but we kept ourselves amused. The rest of the day was pretty shocking. The matinee was funny although I can't remember half of it and the evening show was a blur of mixed emotions and tears. It was sad that the show had ended, but on a different level to the actual show ending (if that makes sense lol). The show held many fond memories for me, it was the place I first met Sheridan and the place I met most of my current friends, it was a place we could all go and share a common interest and have a good time. The 'was' is probably the key word here, as near the end all that fizzled out. The show, for me, was picked apart bit by bit nearer the end and all the best bits were gradually taken out leaving the shell of a show that used to provide so much joy. Had the show have ended back in Oct with the cast, people and atmosphere I adored I think I may have felt a lot differently.
Did I sit and dwell on the end and swear against the theatre? Did I f**k! The next week we attended the Olivier event in Covent Garden, it was brilliant fun with some amazing performances, an awkward 'I've never seen another Glinda' moment, a fan gurl moment in the middle of Leicester Square and a signing lady who made for fantastic viewing!
Onwards and upwards and we throw ourselves back into the theatre with a double show day! Wizard of Oz matinee and Singing In The Rain for the evening! Great fun with great people! Wizard of Oz was your typical family fun show. Sophie Evans did a fantastic job as Dorothy and the Tin Man left a lasting memory! The show embraces the audience with its "snowing" all over you and the witch and a monkey appearing from the ceiling amongst the audience. Do I think the show will last? No. Although a good watch I'm not sure it's the type of show that will grab audiences to want to return over and over and with the stories of Andrew Lloyd Webber shutting all his theatres for the Olympics, I just can't see it reopening.
We then shuffle on over to the Palace for Singing In The Rain, I did enjoy the show although the first half did drag a little, apparently due to them having to wait for the rain before the interval so they can clean up after, but there was a kind of atmosphere around 15 to 20 minutes before the interval of everyone in the theatre thinking, yet not saying, 'hurry up and rain cos I need to move' lol! The cast were so enthusiastic and their performance's could not be faulted, I kinda wish we'd been sat in the splash zone though as the cast take great pleasure in soaking the audience during the title song, which is performed twice. And in-keeping with the theme, when we came out for the interval is was raining!
So next we head on down to West End Eurovision! The cast of WWRY did a brilliant opening number and it set an accurate standard for the rest of the show. All the shows that took part were full of enthusiasm and gave it there all. despite it being the early hours of the morning and most of them had probably done an evening show that day. A few surprises with some acts, with Shayne Ward making an appearance during Rock of Ages song and Michael Ball and Imelda Staunton appearing during Sweeney Todd's performance. The performance's that stick in my head are Rock of Ages, Sweeney Todd and Wizard of Oz.
Although the evening didn't go without a few (or 100) technical hitches! There were many problems with the backing screens, getting the video's up, keeping them in sync, having sound at all! Lots of problems with microphones, one time prompting Les Mis to rebegin their performance all together. And they even brought a megaphone at one point!!! The worst was probably the fact they couldn't seem to get the voting board to work correctly and after around 4-5 of the musicals had already read their results and the board not updating they decided to start it all again, which didn't work either. It's now around 2:15-2:30 in the morning and people were starting to get bored/frustrated and people did actually begin to leave. They decided to just work out the results back stage and announce the winner after. Gaby Roslin and John Partridge were doing their hardest to keep people gripped but in the end it fell to Kerry Ellis to come on and sing to bring the crowd back up again. She sung Somebody To Love, I'm guessing this was the easiest choice given where we were. You can't fault Kerry's voice, but there was a very slight awkwardness as she didn't seem to quite remember the words or arrangement of the song. But it did seem to gear everyone up a bit. Although evidentially not as awkward as the terrible performance given by Javine! I cringed for her, it was awful! The shows ending was very weird, they announced Sweeney Todd as the winner and they came on to collect the trophy, but they then walked off, the house lights went up and everyone left :/ There was no speech from them and no kind of ending speech from anyone to say thanx for coming, hope to see you again next year and I'm lead to believe that in past years the winner has preformed again after winning, which Sweeney Todd did not. I am guessing this may have been because the show had been pushed back due to technically hitches but still very odd.
I also found it weird that despite them making many references to last years show, not once was the fact Legally Blonde had won it mentioned.
So the next day we decided, that despite not going to bed til around 4:30am and being up at 7am we should go to the theatre that night! By some weird twist we ended up with tickets to The Sunshine Boys opening night. It all happened so quick, we only went into ask the price of dayseats and walked out with 3 front row tickets!
It was so surreal! A theatre which was once decorated with pink and fluffiness was now dull and life like. There was no cast board, just a lonely looking platform. Walking down the stairs to the auditorium felt almost normal, nice, comfortable. Then we step inside! It's weird, very weird. It was like being in a completely different theatre. The walls are no longer covered with red velvet, they are now stripped back to the original silver paint work (Which could really do with a lick of paint). This somehow makes it look so much bigger. And not forgetting the reintroduction of row AA due to no orchestra pit. The stage is also lower and looks wider without the side borders and lights etc. One of the strangest things was probably walking down and not being greeted with a 'At this performance the role of . . . . will be performed by . . . ' poster!
The show in itself was good, I can't say I'll be rushing back but it was a funny show. Danny DeVito was very good and was on the stage for most of the show. The chemistry between him and Adam Levy, who plays his nephew was brilliant, as was his chemistry with Richard Grffiths. The story line was ok, but not amazing. There were a couple of line stumbles, but being the first show I'm sure nerve's weren't helping with this! Stage door after was just a joke, loads of ebayers waiting before we'd even left the theatre. One of whom decided to tell me he had brought tickets for tonight (28th) But if he had tickets cos he was a fan it doesn't really explain why he bothered to stage door a day early and had a bag full of promo pictures to get signed! I'm not an idiot I know what ebayers look like lol! Especially when they have a clipboard in their hands with many promo pictures on, plus I've seen most of them at other stage doors and red carpet events. We decided not to bother with the stage door as we simply couldn't be bothered to compete. It annoys me that money grabbing ebayers ruin it for paying costumers. All we wanted to do was tell Danny DeVito we loved his work ;).
I also want to give a little mention to Dawn Sievewright, as before all this exciting stuff above happened we went to see her in a play showcase. She was brilliant! So much talent right there and I seriously believe someone needs to hire her soon cos the west end is missing out!
Also a mention to Carley Stenson's cabaret night, brilliant show, amazing voice. The 'And Friends' were also fantastic! I can't help but feel the audience could have given a little more, when she sang So Much Better I felt for the piano man who had to do the 'whoa' and 'hello' For the "And you'll go 'Whoa' much better, 'Hello' much better" I felt maybe they thought people would join in with it, but I guess there wasn't that many LB fans so maybe people didn't get it lol! Although there were 3 female LB cast members there so they could have got up really :P! I loved the song that Carley wanted to do on her return to Hollyoaks, which was Now I Can Dance. I don't really understand why Hollyoaks didn't pick it, as I feel the lyrics are much more fitting for the situation. I have uploaded it here for anyone who would like to listen, I'm sure you'll agree about the lyrics.
So what's next? A bit of Jersey Boys on Tuesday, a few different tours, a couple of trips to Shrek, maybe a trip back to Sing in the Rain if a certain understudy gets on and as for the rest, will have to see where the wind takes me!
