Hiya everyone, hope you're enjoying the New Year, I certainly am having been
to two shows already (the second of which this blog is about) and having booked
3 more tickets for Priscilla and 1 more for Rocky Horror plus I now have a
lovely, personalised Priscilla phone case...2013 couldn't get much better!!!
Soooo...on with the blogging! Well on 9th January I went down to London with
my friend Rachel for a hospital appointment and as you all probably know you
CANNOT go to London without seeing a show!!! The show we chose was Cabaret as
it is closing soon plus my friends Jane and Faye had seen it and loved it so
much they went back again!!! To make the day better, my friend, Sharon, who I
hadn't seen since West End Bares (WEB), was coming with us.
To cut a long story short the hospital was a disaster as after waiting for
an hour we left as we were still no closer to being seen...well at least I'll
have to go back to another appointment and see another show!!!
As we were running quite late, Rachel and I hot footed it over to Balans to
meet Sharon who was waiting for us there. It was lovely to see her again and we
started chatting straight away, whilst drinking our Pornstar Martinis (what
else?), which, I'll say it once again, are delicious!!!
After eating we ended up getting a taxi to the theatre so that we could get there
in time. We just managed to get to our seats and get settled when the show
began and wow, just, wow! I know you lot are probably going to get suspicious
that I only do positive reviews but seriously there is so much good stuff in
the West End at the moment that it's hard to do a bad review!!!
The initial backdrop was black with the word 'Willkommen', which means
Welcome in German, on it. The space in between the O opened up to reveal the
Emcee. This was such a classy opening to the show and really set if off as a
great and technically pleasing piece of theatre.
The rest of the set was grand enough to make you feel like you were at the
theatre but simple enough to not over complicate the message of the show. Small
simple bits of set were used and during the cabaret scenes the back wall opened
up to reveal the band, which as an amateur musician myself, I thought was a
lovely touch.
Moving on, I'd tried to watch the film of Cabaret some years ago but in the
end gave up as it was too random, thus, I was quite worried about seeing the
musical. However, it was so different from the film, which, if I've done my
research correctly, is because it was recommend that the scenes outside the
cabaret were taken out; the director of the original musical ignored this whereas
the director of the film followed this. These scenes were for me what made the
show and meant that it was a meaningful show rather than being just the random
life of a cabaret actress. (Sorry if I've got this wrong but that's what I've
heard!) On this topic I found I very refreshing to see a musical with such a
strong political message, as well as a message about life. I do like the happy,
feel good shows as much as the next person but it's sometimes nice to see
something a bit different...I mean two of my favourites are Hair and Spring
Awakening so I've always liked show that actually makes a strong comment on the
wrongs of society.
Furthermore, I had listened to the soundtrack before but not for a while;
well going to the show reminded me how fab it is! The songs are so fun and
quirky with a few lovely ballads thrown in there to provide real flavour...a
real treat for the ears! I loved all the songs in one way or another, although
the performance of Two Ladies was hilarious to say the least.
Finally, we come to cast and what a cast they were!!! In the show that we
saw Emcee was played by Nuno Silva rather than Will Young. I wasn't too fussed
by this as I hadn't gone to see Young anyway so it didn't bother me too much.
Anyway, Nuno was AMAZING and I seriously don't know how he could be bettered!
He was the perfect mix of hilarious, serious and slightly crazy that was so
needed for the role and with a great voice thrown in on top of that, hopefully
we'll be seeing a lot more of Nuno in the years to come!!! Michelle Ryan was
the perfect Sally Bowles, perfectly ditsy and superbly talented. Sian Phillips
was just amazing as Fräulein Schneider and totally made the role come alive
with her humour, sarcasm and wonderful voice. Matt Rawle was fantastically talented
and made an excellent Clifford Bradshaw; he totally made the role come alive!!!
I could go on and on about the talents of the cast forever and I'm sure we'll
see them it major roles in the future, especially with vocals like theirs.
Before I finish a special mention has to go to John Brannoch (Victor) and
Matthew Wesley (Bobby) both of whom were brilliant and were the two I was most
excited to see as they had been in Priscilla, plus I have a brilliant photo of
Matt at WEB...they did not disappoint!!!
To finish off the day we went to the stage door and met Michelle, although
sadly John and Matt didn't come out. After this we went for a browse round
Covent Garden and took a few pictures with Sharon and telephone box (I don't
remember if I said in one of my WEB posts we had a lot a fun with a telephone
box but since then they're one of our symbols of friendship as they join us is
a common experience!). Finally, we headed for some tea (and chatter); we ended
up in a restaurant near Covent Garden called Wildwood as all the ones I normally
liked were full...well I can highly recommend it as the food was delicious and
they ever served a few cocktails!!!
All too soon, however it was time to say goodbye to Sharon and head home
back to reality.
Overall, I had a brilliant day with great friends, great cocktails and a
great musical to top it off! I would well recommend Cabaret to anyone who likes
something a little bit different from your average show...I loved it!!!
In true me style I'll leave you some pics of my time...
The Stage
Me with Michelle Ryan
Me at Platform 9 and 3/4
Sharon and me with a Black Telephone Box
The Reindeer and Covent Garden
Have any of you seen Cabaret? If so what did you think? Please let me know
either by commenting below or tweeting me at @GreenGirlsRox...I'd love to hear
from you!
Lots of love
Kat
Xx
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