Someone Left the Cake Out in the Rain

Hello everyone, hope you're all well as July draws to a close. Now I've know I've already done my Musical of the Month post (please click here to view) but Well I just got to say a little bit about my latest trip to see Priscilla. I know I've seen this many times before (please click the locations to view my previous blogs: Manchester, Oxford, Wimbledon, Southampton) but there are a few extra things I'd like to say. 

Firstly, it was really nice to see the show on sort of home turf. This past week the show was in Nottingham which is what I class as my local theatre...there is a theatre in Lincoln but it never gets any of the big tours. But, really, sitting down to watch the show so close to home was really something special plus it allowed me to see it three times in a week with breaking the bank on a hotel. 

The other thing I was amazed at was how many new things I saw, which considering by last Friday I was onto my 7th tour is something. 

I was, also, really pleased with Jason Donovan. I know I've seen him before but he really, really impressed me this time. There's some Priscilla fans who aren't too keen on his performance as Tick but to me he's just right for the role. I don't know whether it was because he was the first Tick I saw but when I imagine Tick I think of him. Furthermore, this time I was especially impressed with his voice and characterisation, which was really hilarious. Well done JD...you rocked Notts. 

Another thing to mention is that Nottingham was a venue where the Diva's didn't fly. I'm presuming that this was because the theatre didn't have capacity for flying as that is what was said when they didn't fly in Torquey. It was a bit of a shock to begin with but I don't feel it detracted anything from the show and, actually, they way they did it worked really well. 

Additionally, Nottingham was another venue, like Wimbledon, where the dance captain, Ian Oswald, along with Aaron Sweeney-Harris came out during the interval and chose people. Now you could only go up once in a week, which is fair enough, so I managed to get up on Thursday. I was picked to go on Wednesday but too many people had been picked by accident so I volunteered to go back as I had two more chances...what really impressed me was that both the guys remembered and saved me a slot on Thursday...this Priscilla cast is just so amazing and filled with such lovely people...perfection. 

Finally, I can't leave without mentioning the two guys who, for me, steal the show...I literally can't take my eyes off them. Please give a big cheer for Alan Hunter and Regan Shepherd. What makes them even better performers, other than their great legs, brilliant characterisation and stunning charm, is how nice they are at the stage door. I'm not saying that everyone else isn't nice, just that these two are exceptionally nice. Additionally, it was Regan's birthday last Thursday so I got him a little gift...just a framed painting I'd done. 

All in all I had a great time last week and can't wait to see it again on my birthday next Thursday in Belfast (yes I'm double showing as well!). 

I'll leave you with some pictures from my trip.

 

Me Outside the Theatre

Jason Donovan

 

Me with Regan Shepherd (with the birthday present I gave him)

Me with Alan Hunter

 

Now all that's left to say is I hope you enjoyed reading this. If any of you are Priscilla fans please either comment below or tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox...I'd love to hear from you. 

Love you lots

Kat

Xx

I Met Him on a Monday and my Heart Stood Still

Hi everyone, I thought I'd post my Musical of the Month post a tad early as on the 31st I'm jetting off to Belfast to see Priscilla for my birthday on the 1st August (best day of the year!). This is, also, a rather special post as on the yesterday (25th July) Stage Right celebrated it's first birthday. It's strange because it doesn't seem like yesterday since I started blogging and wondering if anyone would actually read what I wrote but then again so much has happened in this past year: I've made friends, lost friends, completed my 2nd year at uni, discovered a whole blogging and Musical Theatre community, found some great shows and revisited some old ones (many times) and just generally changed a lot as a person...here's to another great year :) 

On a similar note, watch this space come August as I'm extremely busy Musical Theatre wise...as mentioned I'm seeing Priscilla in Belfast but I'm, also, spending a week in London at the Arts Ed Musical Theatre Audition Techniques course, continuing working on Adult Child / Dead Child with Holly...oh and just happen to be spending 5 days in Washington and 5 days in New York...busy, busy, busy. I've, also, seen Priscilla in Nottingham twice already this week and am going back today (keep your eyes pealed for the blog on this). 

Well, anyway what's this month's Musical of the Month. At the start of July I decided to sort out my iTunes and whilst doing so I remembered my mum had brought me the Dreamboats and Petticoats CD for Christmas so after uploading it to iTunes I decided to bung the CD into my car CD player where it has stayed to this very day!

Now I haven't seen the show but it is currently touring so I  hoping to go when it comes to Nottingham in November. However, I do know the show is set in 1961...get your polka dot skirts and quiffs out...and the music is just stunning. 

Other than musical theatre my music tastes consists on anything from between 1920-1960's oh and a bit of 1980's too...basically pop before I was born. This means that the music used in Dreamboats and Petticoats is, to me, perfect as not only is it from an era of music I like but it's got a musical theatre twist to it. The other thing that is perfect about these songs is that they just suit the warm, sunny days we are having down to a T. 

I can't really say much more about this show other than this is definitely a soundtrack worth buying...I just love it!

Have any of you seen Dreamboats and Petticoats? And are you doing anything interesting this summer? If so I'd love to hear from you either by commenting below it tweeting me at @GreenGirlsRox. 

Love

Kat

Xx

Taking Off the Heels and Make-Up of Rocky Horror (Spoiler Alert)

Heya everyone, hope you're loving all this sunny English weather...and to those of you who aren't English, hope you're having great weather too! So my last theatre trip was a road trip down to Cardiff, with my friend Ellie and her friend Mandy (who is really nice as well), to see Rocky Horror again. 

To put things in perspective I live in Lincolnshire (East Midlands) so am about 200miles away from Cardiff...crazy right!!! Well, after some crazy singing, a few wrong turns, a car boot that wouldn't open and a pit stop to buy and fill up with windscreen washer fluid we arrived at the Travelodge in boiling hot Wales! We then relaxed for a bit before grabbing a bite to eat at the conveniently placed Weatherspoons next door before donning our outfits and heading off to the theatre. 

Now I have been to see Rocky Horror three times already (please click here the locations to view: Grimsby, Cambridge and Manchester) so I've decided to do this review a little bit differently. I will start, however, with the few differences from the last time I went...

The differences with this performance were that Rhydian from the X Factor was playing Rocky. He actually surprised me in being a better than I had expected him to be. 

The theatre was, also, a bit smaller than Manchester (and had ridiculously too few ladies loos...I know most theatres don't have many but this was simply crazy!) and I was a bit disappointed by the atmosphere...I mean the cast were still on fire and Oliver Thornton was still perfection in motion but the audience weren't quite as hyper as they had been when I saw the show at Manchester...although this could be seen as a good thing as it meant I could practice my shouting out..."Just one big one!".

However, what I really wanted to talk about in this blog is the message of Rocky Horror. I think I may have skimmed over this briefly in past reviews but I'd like to go into a bit more depth...please prepare for me to go full drama nerd! Oh and, also, be warned there are some MAJOR SPOILERS...if you don't want to know the plot it's probably best if you stop reading now!

For the majority of the show it would appear that there isn't really a message and that the show is just fun...well I suppose the whole show may appear like this to some. However, as it says in my bio at the side I study drama at uni and, anyway, I always like to look into a show to see what meaning can be taken from it and applied to the my everyday life...maybe I look too deeply into these things but I really do think theatre is there to teach people things (please click here to see my blog on this). 

To start off let's take Brad and Janet, two seemingly normally young adults who seem to come out of a time of innocence where everyone was nice and weddings and your woman cooking tea were all that mattered. These two then get corrupted into a world if debauchery and sexual pleasure when their car breaks down and they decide to try the castle down the road for a phone. To me, Brad and Janet seem to portray how easily innocence can be corrupted and suggest that being a bit worldly wise about the constantly changing world (rather than sticking your head in the sand) can save you from corruption...after all look at Riff Raff, Magenta and Dr Scott. 

The three characters previously mentioned all demonstrate some knowledge of the world and the corruption that goes on in it yet none appear to fully succumb to it. Riff Raff and Magenta act along with Frank and his life of overindulgence and sexual pleasure yet we never see them in any sort of sexual manner. And it is suggested (despite his German twinges) that Dr Scott has been sent to by a government to put a stop to Frank's way of life and to end the corruption that takes place in the castle. By the end of the play these are the only three characters who have not changed for the worst which to me can be surmised to be because of the fact that they know of the corruption that goes on in the world but do not fully enter into it. 

And then we come to the most interesting character in the show...Frank, the main man himself; the epitome of corruption. Frank lives a life of sexual indulgence and expects everyone to bow before him. I always love to hear Columbia's line to him, "You chew people up and then you spit them out again...You're like a sponge. You take, take, take, and drain others of their love and emotion." as it just sums up the character of Frank; the only person he cares about is himself. It is because of this corruption, self-indulgence and caring only for himself that Frank ends up dead. To me this can teach people a lot particularly when combined with the fact that Columbia dies because she cares too much about someone who only cares for them self...in this world there is a fine balance that will lead to survival and happiness which involves sometimes putting others before yourself but making sure that those who you do would do the same for you...we can't go around treating people like dirt because all too soon we'll look around as see that there's no one there to really care for us. 

So there is a great deal that can be taken from this supposedly 'just for fun' show. I don't know whether you'll agree with it all, maybe you'll have found something different in it, but this is my opinion and what I get from it. 

I'll leave you with two things...a picture from my trip (and yes I've dressed up...there's nothing wrong with having fun at Rocky Horror, it's just, in my opinion, there's a bit more to it than that)...and a quote from the show for you to ponder, "And crawling on the planet's face, some insects called the human race. Lost in time. And lost in space, and meaning.".

 

 

Me Outside the Theatre

 

I hope you enjoyed reading my views, as mentioned they are just my opinions...but I'd love to hear what you get out of the show. Please either comment below or tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox. 

Love

Kat

Xx

Eating Jam, Ham and Spam-a-lot!!!

Hi everyone, hope you're all enjoying the sunny weather. This is a rather strange blog in the sense that most of the blog won't actually be on this page. This is because I was asked last Tuesday if I'd go and review Spamalot at the Playhouse Theatre on Friday (5th July)...umm yeah of course. 

So at about midday my friend, Ellie, and I set off to London with some glorious weather in tow. Because the show started at 6pm we decided to hit the shops in Covent Garden. Well after spending far too much, getting a rather strange look off the guy in Paperchase when I asked Ellie of we she wanted to go to the Disney store (I don't see what's wrong with an 18 and a 19 year old going to the Disney store) and Ellie buying a the gorgeous Lots-O-Huggin bear (who really smells of strawberries) we stopped off at Maxwell's for some dinner (and yes we did get the waiter to sniff the bear!). 

And then it was off the the theatre with us. Now as I mentioned at the top, I'm not actually writing about the show in this blog but for my full review please click here and please browse around the rest of the website as well :). 

After the show we decided to take a look at the River Thames as we were right near the Golden Jubilee Bridges. I know it goes without saying but the views were really breath-taking and it was really pleasant to stand there in the warm of a summer's evening. 

All to soon we had to head off back to Kings Cross (buying some chocolate pasta from Hotel Chocolat on the way...yes you did read that right!) and back home for us. 

Before I go I'll leave you with some pictures from the trip...

 

The Theatre

Ellie with Lots-O-Huggin Bear

View of the Houses of Parliament from the Golden Jubilee Bridge

View of the London Eye from the Golden Jubilee Bridge



Me Outside the Theatre

I have to say I really enjoyed this experience and am really grateful to Neil from Last Minute Theatre Tickets (@LondonTheatre1) for giving me the opportunity. Please do check out my full review, I hope you enjoy it. 

Love you lots

Kat

Xx

Musical of the Month - Turn It Off

Hi everyone, I can't believe it's July...come to think of that I think I've started all my Musical of the Month posts this year with practically the same sentence! But then this year is going super fast!!!

Well, anyway as it is July I suppose I should do June's Musical of the Month post. I'm going to keep it short as I've literally just published a blog about this musical (please click here to view). So what is it then...well to be honest I've only really been raving about this for the past week and a bit but the more I think about the show the more impressed I get, plus I am hooked onto the soundtrack...all of which explains why Book of Mormon has to be my Musical of the Month. 

I was really unsure about this show when during the show itself and I left the theatre, however, now I've put my drama student hat on I can now see that what initially comes over as a great big ball of cheese, is actually a really intelligent piece of theatre, when you start to unpick it. 

Firstly, it could be described as quite a postmodern musical...now I know from doing a whole module of postmodernism how difficult a concept it is to understand but for the purpose of this blog basically it means that the show has carefully taken bits from other places and inserted them into its own concept to create a fresh new show. After having the CD for Book of Mormon on repeat it's quite clear that there's a lot of cleverly taken ideas, for example: there are many references to The Lion King and Star Wars; the beginning of the song I Believe is rather like that of I Have Confidence from the Sound of Music; additionally, in the song Spooky Mormon Hell Dream there's part of the song Jesus Loves You, This I Know (just a children's religious song). To me, although this is copying, the way it is done just seems to make the musical a lot more interesting and exciting. 

Another interesting part I found was the Starbucks coffee cups being placed in the Mormon hell. At the time I just thought this was weird but looking back it makes perfect sense and it's placing consumerism in hell...a rather intelligent concept. 

I, also, liked the double meaning behind the majority of the songs, where basically the actions were telling a different story to the words. My favourite place for this was during Turn it Off as Elder McKinley sings about being gay as something wrong and how he's managed to turn off his gay-ness, yet he is exceptionally camp during the whole song. To me this really struck me as I thought it emphasised the point that you can't just turn off who you are more than if the show had just sung a straight meaning with no twist. 

Finally, a I mentioned in my last review, I was amazed at how a show that takes the mick out of religion is actually remarkable religious in its message. 

I am definitely thinking of like to see this show again (once all the hype has dyed down) to watch out for more clever  bits. Overall, I think that the Book of Mormon is a show that can deliver on all levels (it can be cheesy for those who don't want to go to the theatre and think but, also, rather academic as well)...plus the music is addictive!!!

So that's it for June's Musical of the Month...I hope you enjoyed reading it...all that's left to do of for you to head off to The Prince of Wales theatre and when you have please either comment your views below or tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox. 

Love you all

Kat

Xx

Beautiful Striding

Hi everyone, here I am with my final post from my epic extended weekend. If you haven't read any of my previous blogs on this, this trip included seeing Rocky Horror in Manchester before whizzing down to London for West End Live (WEL) and combining it with seeing Book of Mormon, Top Hat and, the subject of this blog, War Horse. 

I'd always wanted to see War Horse as I'd loved the book and, also, really love horses. However, it was always one of those shows that was constantly on my list of shows to see but never quite reached the top. Well during our time at WEL my mum and I decided to take the bit between our teeth and go and see this, frankly superb, show.

War Horse is playing in the New London Theatre, which is quite an anomaly in itself. You enter into a small area and are directed up an escalator by one of the theatre stewards, before entering into a large foyer type area complete with the traditional theatre sights such as a merchandise stand and a bar. The theatre space itself is, yet again, slightly different from your typical proscenium arch theatre; there is no theatre curtain, the front of the stage is curved and the seats slope down towards the stage on a rather severe angle. I'll include some picture below so that you can see for yourself...not taken by me I hasten to add, just a quick Google search.

My mum and I were sat in row M of the stalls and to the right hand side; from here we could see everything really clearly. The seats themselves had loads of leg room, which is more than can be said for the two seats in the row behind. My personal opinion is that the seats were not the most comfortable, however, this could have been more to do with the fact that I was aching from WEL rather than being anything to do with the seats themselves.

The show itself was breath-taking-ly beautiful. This beauty was mainly due to the horses (I'll include a picture of these as well), which were life size puppets that could be road on by the actors. I really have to commend the puppeteers of these horses as after a short period of time I began to believe that the horses were real creatures for they moved so much like they were.

The other thing about the play I found beautiful was that the backdrop consisted of a jiggered white strip that ran across the stage (yet again, I'll include a picture) and was used to set the scene by portraying black and white film or moving sketches. This strip was, also, used to communicate the time scale of the piece. I don't really think I've done it justice here but during the play I was really impressed and it really added to the peaceful and beautiful quality of the play.

Like this strip, the rest of the props were very simple and sometimes, non existent. This added a simple quality to the play and allowed me to focus on the story itself rather than being wowed by fancy props. Saying this, however, the animal in the play, particularly the horses were rather technical, nevertheless, I think that the worked well with highlighting the story as the animals were an integral part to what was being told.

The cast themselves were a joy to behold and all worked well in tune with each other. I was particularly impressed by Siôn Daniel Young, who plays Albert Narracott, for his relationship with Joey, the horse, was so true and heartfelt and extremely believable. The other person who impressed me was Tom Meredith who operated the goose and was extremely funny in doing so.

My only criticism would be that I did have to make a conscious effort to stay awake...however I am pretty sure that this was more to do with the fact that I had been running around like a mad person since Wednesday evening, travelled about 360 miles of which approximately 200 was driving (please forgive me if my maths is wrong) and was just generally shattered anyway rather than it being anything to do with the show itself. I think what I'm trying to say is that if you're looking for a show that will have you dancing in the aisles, War Horse probably isn't your cup of tea (or bale of hay), however, if you're looking for a beautifully, simple show then I really think you'll love it.

Overall, I really enjoyed seeing War Horse and was very pleased that we finally went to see it. I'll leave you with the picture's I've mentioned below, along with the one I took myself.

   

Inside the New London Theatre

(Picture obtained from www.officiallondontheatre.co.uk)

The Strip

(Picture obtained from www.theatreone.co.uk) 

The Horses - Topthorn Right and Joey Left

(Picture obtained from www.reallyuseful.com)

 

Me Outside the Theatre

 

I hope you have enjoyed reading my four blogs on my extended weekend.

Have any of you seen War Horse? If so, what did you think? I'd love to hear from you either by commenting below or tweeting me at @GreenGirlsRox

 

Love you lots

Kat

xx