It's Time to Dress Up!

Hi guys, I know it's been an age since I published a blog but I'm going to appeal to your better nature and ask if you can bare with me while I'm in my final year of university, which constitutes running around like a headless chicken for the majority of the time...I'm sure any of you who have been to university will understand.

This blog is going to focus on two shows, mainly because I have written blogs about them both before so don't want to go on about them too much, I do, however, feel that it is nice to write about them again as, as you'll know, every theatre experience is different, exciting and new in their own way. 

The first show is The Rocky Horror Show (to see my previous blogs please click the venues: Grimsby, Cambridge, Manchester and Cardiff), which sadly finished its tour during November (don't kill me if I'm wrong!). My last stop off at this show was in Nottingham on 28th November where I saw the show twice...yes I'm crazy enough to have seen the same show twice in one day! I saw the matinee performance with my mum and then saw the evening show with my mum and two friends who had never seen the show before. Well, a great time was had by all with much dressing up and time warping in the aisles.

Overall, the show was much the same as when I have previously reviewed it...which if you can't remember was A-MAZE-ING! However, there was one cast change, which was that Richard Meek was playing Eddie/Dr Scott rather than Joel Montague. I have to say that, although Richard played the role differently to Joel, I'm not sure which one I prefered as they were both great performances and really got the character of Eddie/Dr Scott across. It just goes to show that just because someone plays a role differently doesn't make them better or worse than the original, just different.

So I would say that I am rather gutted that the tour finished, though I do understand that a 40th anniversary tour cannot run forever, but if any of the main cast (I'll list them below) appear in another show I would be tempted to go and see them in that and I would, also, be tempted to go and see the show again in a future version of the tour...both cast and show are fabulous.

Rocky Horror Cast (some roles were played by more than one person over the course of the tour, I'll only list those who I saw):

Frank N Furter - Oliver Thornton

Ben Forester - Brad Majors 

Sam Attwater - Brad Majors

Danny Harmer - Jannet Weiss

Roxanne Pallett - Jannet Weiss

Harry Neale - Rocky

Henry Davis - Rocky

Rhydian - Rocky

Philip Franks - Narrator

Kristian Lavercombe - Riff Raff

Ceris Hine - Columbia

Abigail Jaye - Magenta

Maria Coyne - Magenta

The other show I wanted to talk about was my latest visit to see the tour of Priscilla, which this time was in Hull (for any of my previous blogs please click the venues: Manchester, Oxford, Wimbledon, Southampton, Nottingham, Belfast). The main thing to say about this show is I cannot believe how much I can still enjoy it after seeing it so many times yet each time I know that I will definitely be going back as many times as I can before it the tour finished (I'm secretly hoping that it won't and it will just be an ever going tour).

One thing that was different this time is something that is more to do with the business that goes on backstage than what the audience sees. I, reliably, found out that due to the backstage area of the theatre being really small it was only possible to fit one acts worth of props and costumes backstage so during the interval the company had to take all of act one's stuff back to the lorries that were parked outside the theatre and move act two's stuff into the theatre. I don't know about you but I found this particularly interesting and an insight into the complications of life with a touring show.

I, also, have to come out and say that I am now fully converted to the touring production of the show and will confess to preferring it more than the West End version...and yes that is even with the tour not having a 'full bus'. As well as the fantastic cast, what really has sold me on the tour is the replacement of Downtown with It's Raining Men, as an opening number this song really let's you know you're in for one of the most fantastic shows ever.

So that they don't feel left out I will, also, list the full Priscilla cast, and if the sad day comes when the tour closed I will be making a point of finding out which shows these guys are going into as they truly are fantastic. 

Priscilla Cast (some roles were played by more than one person over the course of the tour):

Jason Donovan - Tick/Mitzi

Noel Sullivan - Tick/Mitzi

Richard Grieve - Bernadette

Graham Weaver - Adam/Felicia

Giles Walting - Bob

Julie Stark - Marion

Emma Kingston - Diva

Ellie Leah - Diva/Shirley

Laura Mansell - Diva

Frances Mayli Mccann - Cynthia

Alan Hunter - Miss Understanding

Regan Shepherd - Farrah/Young Bernadette

Ian Oswald - Dance Captain

Bleu Woodward - Dance Captain

Hope all you're all ok and are having fun in the run up to Christmas. Keep looking out for my blog on Dreamboats and Petticoats, which I saw when it came to Nottingham in late November, and, also, a blog about Wicked, which I'll be seeing tomorrow :). If you have any questions or queries or just want a chat please comment below or on Facebook or tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox.

Love you all

Kat

xx

    

Manic Monday's (and other days as well)

Hello everyone, well I've officially started back at uni so my life is currently manic...I mean, for goodness sake, I haven't even written up my last Rocky experience from the end of September...it's coming soon people. Anyway, if truth be told my Musical of the Month would be exactly the same as last month as I still haven't managed to take the Newsies CD out of my car CD player for more than a day yet (well except for when I crashed my car but that's another story boo hoo). However, that may be a bit dull for me to go rabbiting on about the same show (I know I do it for Priscilla...oops) so for any of you who are interested in this fabulous show here's the link to my last Musical of the Month. But what about this month, well I'm going to cheat and do a play not a musical as the other show that has been completely taking up my life is Adult Child/Dead Child by Claire Dowie. 

This play has been monumental to me this past month (well actually for quite a few months) as my friend, Holly, and I decided to put it on at our university. The date we performed was the 10th October (so actually it was pretty near the start of October but hey ho) and, as far as we could tell, people seemed to enjoy it and learnt something from it. 

The play itself focuses on a person (who is non gender specific) who is assumed to be schizophrenic and explores the reasons why they have ended up that way. The play raises issues such as lack of love, loneliness, loss of childhood, friendship, parental abuse and mental health; however, Claire Dowie (the playwright) claims she wrote the play about nothing at all. 

For our depiction we chose to opt for portraying the play in a in-yer-face style so there was a lot of going up to people as shouting in their faces, pushing people and at one point I went over and sat on a person's knee for five minutes. This seemed to heighten the tension and create more dramatic impact to the play. 

We, also, had the audience sat separately and in the round. The separation was so that people would feel isolated and, particularly wouldn't be able to grab onto their friends hand if they became scared; they'd have to deal with their fear themselves, just like the character did. We chose to do the play in the round as we felt this made the audience closer to the play (they weren't just sat in one big block). Furthermore, the roundness of the audience was akin to a brain, which depicted the fact that the play was happening within the character's brain. We extended this thought by chalking words such as 'crazy' and 'lunatic' on the wall so as to show that these were the words spinning around the character's head as it was what other people were calling them; it, also, brought to life the phrase "The writing's on the wall". 

Additionally, we based our concept around childhood as we felt that the main impact on the character's life was their childhood. This resulted in the space being strewn with toys from our childhood, including building bricks, toy trains and a very large teddy to name a few. 

The highlight, and also the worst moment, of the play for me was when I accidentally pushed one of the audience members a bit too hard and they fell off their chair (ooops). Although I was extremely worried it was, also, very hard to stop laughing and lots of the audience came up to me at the end saying how bad they felt for laughing. Luckily said audience member, who just happened to be my boyfriend (and no I don't usually go around beating him up, I just didn't realise quite how strong I was) was ok and the show carried on quite well after that. 

We are now very sad that the experience is over and are hoping to revive it at some point. I hope you have enjoyed reading about my experience of performing Adult Child/Dead Child by Claire Dowie; if any of you have any other topics you'd like me to cover in the coming weeks please comment below or tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox and I'd be happy to oblige (I'm a bit theatre-less at the moment). 

Anyway, love you all

Kat

Xx

 

P.S. Please forgive me of any speling errors as my computer has only just been fixed (thanks to the my amazingly clever boyfriend and his brother) after becoming very infected so I don't have Microsoft Word yet to spell check everything on.

Carrying the Banner

Hi everyone, I can't believe we're nearly at the end of September already meaning that I'm about to start my 3rd and final year of my uni course...now that's majorly scary. Well anyway, enough of that, let's get going with the Musical of the Month for September. 

Now I did mention this show a bit in my vlog about Washington and New York but I wanted to do a bit more of a full review to just emphasise how amazing this show is. The show in question is said to be coming to London in Spring 2014 to either the Savoy or Piccadilly Theatre (but don't quote me on it). It, also, won the Tony for Best Choreography and Best Original Score. Finally, it is now one of my favourite shows ever and I cannot get enough of it. I am, of course, talking about Newsies, which is currently playing at the Nerderlander Theatre in New York. 

I was a bit sceptical about seeing this show as I didn't really know what it was about or too much about the music; but WOW when I came out of that theatre I had had one of the best night's I have ever had at a theatre!

The whole cast were just incredible, especially the young boy (Nicholas Lampiasi) who played Les and the guy (Corey Cott) who played Jack. I seriously don't think I've seen such a strong cast in a really long time. 

The dancing, well you could see why it won a Tony, was cool, quirky and very, very fun. There was even a tap number in King of New York, which was exactly my cup of tea. 

The set was simple yet effective as it mainly consisted of metal structures that interlinked and moved around...it was probably more exciting to witness. 

The story itself was sweet and had a brilliant message full of love, hope and joy. It was one of those stories you could watch again and again and again. 

The main reason Newsies is Musical of the Month though is because I have not taken CD out my CD Player since I got back from New York. The music is just phenomenal and I cannot get enough of it. I think the real amazing thing is that every song is amazing: you get so many shows where just one or two songs are great and you end up skipping the rest, well this isn't like that, all the songs on the album are fantastic and completely out if this world. I think my favourite of all would have to be Watch What Happens but that's mainly because it's the main female song so I can really get my teeth stuck in when singing it...truth be told they're all my favourites at different times of the day. 

Overall, Newsies is a great show and if the rumours are right I encourage everyone to go and get tickets as well as buying the CD right this moment. 

I hope you've enjoyed reading a bit about Newsies. If any of you want to ask any more questions about it my Twitter is @GreenGirlsRox but please remember if you don't follow me I won't be able to see your message which is sad. 

Love you all lots and see you soon. 

Love Kat

Xx

Bare it all at the Fun Fair

Hi everyone, I feel all behind like a dog's tail; it's already the 17th September and I have written about West End Bares. So, shall we get that sorted? 

I went down to London with my friend Ellie and after unpacking we headed for Covent Garden to do a bit of shopping, which, yes, did include the Disney Store of course. We, also, had dinner at a Bella Italia and got a tad tipsy and had great fun trying to get the waiters to bring us extra strawberries rather than straws! (You probably had to be there.)

After this we headed off back to our hotel to get ready for the party that is West End Bares. For those of you who don't know, West End Bares is a show where West End stars get together and take their clothes off to raise money for the charity MAD Trust, and this year's theme was All The Fun Of The Bare. And I tell you what, it certainly was fun!

Featuring stars such as Matt Krzan (Book of Mormon), Callum Train (Top Hat) and Jenny Victoria Wickham (Dirty Dancing) and acts such as Popping Candy, Bearded Ladies and House of Mirrors, West End Bares was certainly a night to be remembered. 

Personally, the highlight of the show for me was when Lisa Riley and Anita Dobson persuaded Robin Winsor (off Strictly Come Dancing) to strip by auctioning off his clothes...you may not see the attraction (other than the fact he's majorly hot) but when you're a huge Strictly fan like me, even being that close to him was pretty amazing!!! Plus I got a photo with him at the after party, which was pretty special. 

That's another good thing about West End Bares, if you go to the 11.59pm showing you can, also, but tickets to the after party and get to meet the stars of the show. The tickets when the after party is included are £65 which when you consider that's cheaper than your average top price West End show tickets plus the money is going to a good cause, it's definitely worth it. 

What I found incredibly special was that the entrance into the section where the show took place was done out like a circus tent and they were serving cocktails that were blue in colour and came in a zipper bag with a plastic fish in. To me it was these touches that made the night extra special. 

Overall, I had an amazing time and, as always will leave you with some pictures below. 

From Left To Right and Top to Bottom: 1. Bare it all at the Fun Fair, 2. The Carousel Horses, 3. Me with Robin Winsor, 4. The Rotation, 5. The Show, 6. Ellie and Me Getting Ready, 7. Ellie and Me with the Carousel Horses , 8. West End Bares Calendar, 9. The Robin Winsor Auction. 10. One of the Freaks, 11. It's Getting Bigger, 12. The Rotation, 13. Poppin' Candy, 14. The Freak Master.

 

I hope you enjoyed my blog about West End Bares and if you feel like supporting the MAD Trust please check out their eBay site which has some amazing things on it, as well as, checking out the West End Bares calendar. Also, I love to hear from you if you saw West End Bares or just like musical theatre in general so please either comment below or tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox (remember I can't get your tweets if you don't follow me). 

Love you all

Kat

Xx

Musical's of the Month - It's Up to You, New York, New York!

Hi everyone, I know I'm dreadfully late with August's Musical of the Month but it's because it's a little special. That's because it focuses on four musicals rather than one and is actually a vlog (well actually two vlogs, as if I'd done just one it would be mega long!). Now I've never done one before so I hope it's ok and I hope you enjoy. 

 

Part 1 - Washington D.C., Kinky Boots and Pippin

 

Part 2 - Newsies, Wicked and Ellen's Stardust Diner

 

 

Kinky Boots - The Al Hirschfeld Theatre

Cast in Order of Appearance - Main Parts Highlighted. 

Mr Price - Stephen Berger

Young Charlie - Sebastian Hedges Thomas

Young Lola - Marquise Neal

Simon Sr - Eugene Barry-Hill

Nicola - Lena Hall

Charlie Price - Stark Sands

George - Marcus Neville

Don - Daniel Stewart Sherman

Lauren - Annaleigh Ashford

Pat - Tory Ross

Harry - Andy Kelso

Lola - Billy Porter

Lola's Angels - Paul Canaan, Kevin Smith Kirkwood, Kyle Taylor Parker, Kyle Post, Charlie Sutton and Joey Taranto

Trish - Jennifer Perry

Richard Bailey - John Jeffrey Martin

Milan Stage Manager - Lucia Spina

Pippin - The Music Box

Cast in Order of Appearance - Main Parts Highlighted. 

Leading Player - Patina Miller

Fastrada - Charlotte d'Amboise

Berthe - Tovah Feldshuh

Lewis - Erik Altemus

Charles - Terrence Mann

Pippin - Matthew James Thomas

Catherine - Rachel Bay Jones

Theo - Ashton Woerz

Newsies - Nerderlander Theatre

Cast in Order of Appearance - Main Parts Highlighted. 

Jack Kelly - Corey Cott

Crutchie - Andy Richardson

Race - Ryan Breslin

Albert - Garett Hawe

Specs - John Michael Fiumara

Henry - Iain Young

Finch - JP Ferreri

Elmer - Evan Kasprzak

Romeo - Tommy Martinez

Mush - David Guzman

Katherine - Caitlyn Caughell

Darcy - Hogan Fulton

Nuns - LaVon Fisher-Wilson, Julie Foldesi and Liana Hunt

Morris Delancey - Michael Fatica

Oscar Delancey - Brendon Stimson

Wiesel - John E. Brady

Davey - Ben Fankhauser

Les - Nicholas Lampiasi

Joseph Pulitzer - John Dossett

Seitz - Mark Aldrich

Bunsen - Nick Sullivan

Hannah - Liana Hunt

Snyder - Stuart Marland

Medda Larkin - Julie Foldesi

Stage Manager - John E. Brady

Mr. Jacobs - John E. Brady

Scabs - Tommy Bracco, Jacob Guzman and Jess LeProtto

Mayor - John E. Brady

Spot Conlon - Tommy Bracco

Bill - Garett Hawe

Governor Roosevelt - Tom Alan Robbins

Wicked - Gershwin Theatre

Cast in Order of Appearance - Main Parts Highlighted. 

Glinda - Tiffany Haas

Witch's Father - Michael DeVries

Witch's Mother - Kristen Gorski-Wergeles

Midwife - Briana Yacavone

Elphaba - Lindsey Mendez

Nessarose - Catherine Charlebois

Boq - Michael Wartella

Madame Morrible - Carol Kane

Doctor Dillamond - John Schiappa

Fiyero - Derek Klena

Ozian Official - Michael DeVries

The Wonderful Wizard of Oz - Tom McGowan

Chistery - Christopher King

All cast lists are correct for the days I saw them on (some do include the understudies) 

The music used in the videos is:

The President's March - Victor Herbert

Step One - Kinky Boots

No Time At All - Pippin

King of New York - Newsies

What Is This Feeling - Wicked

Once again I hope you enjoyed watching my vlog's and I'd love to hear feedback from you either by commenting below or tweeting me at @GreenGirls Rox.

Love you lots

Kat

Xx

One Singular Sensation

Hi everyone, hope you're all ok...I'm feeling a little behind on blogging but here goes. 

Well last week I was living in London as I was doing the Musical Theatre Audition Techniques Course at Arts Educational. Over my life I've got used to the write up to courses being slightly exaggerated in relation to what the course delivers so was completely amazed when this did exactly what it said on the tin. I have to say it was, probably, the most useful, interesting and fun thing I've ever done! I haven't done any other Musical Theatre course so I haven't got anything to compare it to in that sense but in terms of life experience it was definitely one of the best. 

Well during the week (on the Wednesday) my mum came down and we went to see A Chorus Line together before it closed. My main reason for picking the show was because I love the song One and, thus, thought I'd love the show. I have to say I was a little worried about the fact there was no interval due to the show being set in real time. However, although I did get a tad restless toward the end, this didn't really seem to bother me; the only really strange thing was just getting up and walking out the theatre rather than having an ice cream in the middle, if that makes sense. 

The show itself was rather strange but very good. The plot centred around an audition and the life stories of the auditionees so probably doesn't sound the most exciting, however, it was fascinating and exiting with some great songs thrown in there. 

As I mentioned I went to go and see the show because of the song One so of course I loved it when they performed it. The other songs were really good too and all had little funny quirks, just like the characters who were singing them. The other song I knew already was What I Did For Love; now I don't want to spoil the show so I won't go into too much detail but I have to say I wasn't expecting it to be sung in that sort of context...any of you who've seen A Chorus Line will probably get what I mean and for those of you who haven't, well, it's probably not what you think...knowing what the song is actually about makes it so much more powerful to me now; it's a song anyone who wants to be in showbiz or has succeeded will get. 

Now onto the set...well what appears to be a rather bland black stage is transformed into a classy performance space when the mirrors turn round and actually create a beautiful space to perform. The addition of the mirrors adds depth and another layer to the dances. For a set that is very minimalistic it is, also, very beautiful. 

And, finally, the actors...well they were just amazing and all round triple threats. For the performance I went to there was quite a lot of understudies (LucyJane Adcock was Cassie, Genevieve Nicole was Sheila, Alice Jane Murray was Judy, Harry Francis was Mike and Michael Steeldon was Mark), nevertheless there were all fantastic and you couldn't tell at all. 

Overall, I really enjoyed the show and am very pleased that I went. I would urge you to go and see it before it closes as it was a one of a kind show. 

As usual, I'll leave you with a few photos from my trip.

The London Palladium

 

 Me Outside the Theatre

And finally, keep your eyes peeled as I'm jetting off to Washington and New York this coming Monday so will be blogging (or perhaps vlogging) about some of the theatre out there. 

Other than that I'd love to hear your opinions by either commenting below or tweeting me at @GreenGirlsRox. 

Love

Kat

Xx

It is a Plane...I've Just had its Wings Clipped!

Hiya everyone, just a quick-y this time as I know I've done many, many reviews on this show before (please click the venues to see: Manchester, Oxford, Wimbledon, Southampton and Nottingham). I've just a few points to add about the amazing show that is Priscilla. 

Well, after I'd seen the show in Wimbledon I turned to my mum and said that for my birthday I just wanted to be as happy as I was at that moment...and so it was decided that we'd go and see Priscilla as my birthday treat. It just so happened that the show was in Belfast!!!

So after a lot of planning we jetted off to Belfast. The city itself was really nice even considering we spent an hour on my birthday walking the wrong way in the pouring before deciding to get a taxi...this did mean we found a really nice hairdresser to re-straighten my hair!

So what do I have to say about the actual show? Well, firstly Noel Sullivan was playing Tick rather than Jason Donovan. When I'd seen Noel in Southampton I hadn't been too sure and, especially as I'd fallen in love with Jason in the role the week before in Nottingham, I was a bit disappointed when I realised it would be Noel. Well, I needn't have been as he was fantastic and had really grown into the role. I now really don't mind who I see play Tick again, out of the two, as both are a-maze-ing and play the role uniquely but super-ly as well. 

The other thing I really wanted to say was how beautiful Belfast Grand Opera House is. I walked into the auditorium and was just stunned by the magnificence and the ceiling was fantastic. It's such a shame it's so far to travel for me as it really was one of the most beautiful theatres I've ever been in and I urge you, if you're ever in Belfast, to see a show there just so you can marvel at its splendour. 

That's all I really need to say as I do know I go on about this show but there are so many new things to see plus each venue is different...I mean the evening performance in Belfast was the best and most electric yet! 

So all that's left to do is leave you with a few photos of my trip...

From Left to Right: Mum and Me at Belfast Grand Opera House; The Outside of Belfast Grand Opera House; Me with Liam Marcellino (Ensemble); Me Outside Belfast City Hall; Me with Regan Shepherd; Me at the Airport with Belfast Bear; The View from George Best Belfast Airport; Me with Richard Grieve; and Me in the Grand Opera House.

 

Right I'll love you and leave you. Please comment below or tweet me at @GreenGirlsRox if you have any comments on this blog or just want a chat. Keep your eyes peeled for my next blog on A Chorus Line. 

Love you lots

Kat

Xx