Hello everyone...and here we go again for another blog. I hope you have enjoyed my previous two on The Book of Mormon and my latest visit to see Rocky Horror. Well, time scale wise, it's now Saturday morning (22nd June) and we all know what that means...it's West End Live time!
For those of you who don't know (if so where have you been?) West End Live (WEL) is a concert in Trafalgar Square where musicals and other features of the West End come and perform. It's completely crazy and mad but very, very cool and provides a snap shot of everything the West End has to offer (for more information click here).
The performances started at 11am so my mum and I had planned to join the queue at 10am as the year before it wasn't too long at this point. Well, someone had obliviously been spreading the word about WEL as the queues were four times as long this year! We were quite lucky, however, as, after a bit of hassle, we managed to meet up with some people off a Facebook site I'm one of the admins for (called The Musical Theatre Appreciation Society) who were further up. This, also, made the wait go faster as meeting new musical theatre fans is always interesting and it was lovely to meet some new people...who were lovely themselves, as well :). As a group we had been trying to arrange a big meet up of all the members who were going to WEL, however, in hind sight this probably wasn't the best idea...needle and haystack comes to mind...and I'm sorry to anyone I didn't get to see :(.
When we finally were let into Trafalgar Square we opted for standing on the balcony area nearer the back rather than in the 'pit' section. All the years before (including those when it was at Leicester Square) I'd always stood in the pit and it was always really difficult to see due to the fact you always seem to get someone who is taller than you standing in front of you...I don't think it matters how tall you are there will always be a taller person ready to block your view. From the balcony the view was really good and it was nice to be able to watch the shows without straining to see. I do think that by standing on the balcony you lose some of the atmosphere but then I think it depends on what you're going for...to me both areas are equally good but for different reasons.
And then it started...now I won't go into describing every show that I saw at WEL as I'd be here forever (I've already written a ton and I'm not even onto describing the matinee I saw...bear with me people!). So my mum and I stayed until about 1.40pm when we decided to go to the TKTS booth that was positioned within Trafalgar Square to get some tickets for a matinee and an evening show. Whilst waiting I, also, bumped into fellow blogger Naomi from Ignited By A Dream and had a nice chat with her whilst booking to see Top Hat followed by War Horse...exciting times.
Before hot footing it (or rather grabbing a taxi) round to the Aldwych Theatre, where Top Hat is on, I had a quick go at the game TKTS was running and managed to win £7 in theatre tokens...result!
And the it was time for Top Hat to start...my mum and I had already seen the show once before (click here for my last blog) but wanted to see it again before it closed. We were a bit worried about the fact that Tom Chambers was no longer playing Jerry Travers (I know what I've said in previous blogs about giving people a fair chance so was trying to keep an open mind...but it was Tom Chambers who is the definition of suave)...well we needn't have been worried as Gavin Lee, who was now playing the role, did a superb job and tapped us into heaven. He maybe wasn't quite as easy on the eye as Tom but this probably was an impossible feat to ask, and he did have an Oscar winning smile.
The rest of the cast were Kristen Beth Williams as Dale Tremont who was the perfect lady but, also, put just enough naughtiness into the character to make her a brilliant Dale. Clive Hayward and Vivien Parry were very good as Horace and Madge Hardwick with their rendition of Outside of That, I Love You being hilarious. Additionally, Stephen Boswell was very, very funny as Bates and he was definitely one of my favourite characters in the show. The only disappointment I had was with Alex Gaumond who played Alberto Beddini. When I'd seen the show before I'd had an understudy (who I, rather foolishly, didn't note down the name of) who was absolutely brilliant and, in my opinion, Gaumond wasn't quite as good as the chap I'd seen before; that doesn't mean he was bad I just think the other chap was a lot funnier.
As for the rest of the show, the plot was just as funny, the songs were true sophistication, the type that make you want to lift up your head and walk (or dance) a little taller (plus were exactly my type of music), and the scenery was beautiful, with the best bit being these sliding grey panels that slid across to reveal the different scenes; a touch of real sophistication I thought.
We'd managed to get seats about 10 rows back in the stalls and to the left. Reading back what I wrote last time, these seats were a lot comfier than the ones from before (or maybe it was just because we'd been standing up for around 5 hours before so any seat would be comfortable). Additionally, the view was perfect and I would highly recommend sitting there to anyone.
To finish with, I must mention the superb tap dancing in this show. It was seeing the show last time that inspired me to actually start tap lessons myself, and seeing it again just boosted my love for tap even more. The guys in this show are flawless and really bring out the sophisticated yet funky air to this beautiful style of dance.
Overall, I was really pleased that we decided to go and see Top Hat again...it reminded me just how much I'd loved the show and I was amazed at how much I had forgotten. I would thoroughly recommend that you go and see this show before it closes as it will leave you with a glow in your heart and a spring (or should I say tap) in your step.
So, all that's left is to leave you with a few pictures from WEL and Top Hat...
The Square Filling Up
Wicked
Once
Top Hat
Les Miserables
Billy Elliot
We Will Rock You
Matilda - really can't get over how brave this girl was!!!
Jersey Boys
Mum and Me at WEL
Me outside the Theatre at Top Hat
and say, have any of you been to see Top Hat? If so what did you think? I'd love to hear from your, either by commenting below or tweeting me at @GreenGirlsRox.
Love you lots
Kat
xx
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